Silk or Horn?

Marc Aramini · 03 Sep 2013, 13:51 · from 2013-September.txt.gz

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From: marcaramini at yahoo.com (Marc Aramini)
Date: Tue, 3 Sep 2013 06:51:00 -0700
Subject: (urth) Silk or Horn?
In-Reply-To: <BLU175-W106F4F5A4CA18538D839EDCF310 at phx.gbl>
References: <BLU175-W106F4F5A4CA18538D839EDCF310 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <15CF3FDA-4592-48F0-8536-D541C39A59FA at yahoo.com>

Infinite reproducibility certainly, as a name can be written over and over, but can it be effectively erased, as when Scylla vacates Oreb, or the fragments of Pas are retrieved in Long Sun?  I think in Wolfe's system- yes.  It changes the one possessed, but can ultimately leave.  Silk is more confused than his wisdom and goodness at first indicate, as his two (or more) suicide attempts seem oddly out of context with the character Horn presents.  To be honest not much except the didactic message has been bashed over the head in Short Sun, in my opinion.  Everything else is sometimes frustratingly ephemeral. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 3, 2013, at 5:53 AM, Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com> wrote:

>> Marc Aramini: Of course there is a fragment, but OBW is Horn's 1st 
>> person account of the past.  He leaves, and then Silk begins his 1st 
>> person PRESENT tense narrative, the story of Horn on green told in 3rd 
>> person.
> 
> Marc, as previously stated, I don't discount any of the evidence you present.
> Perhaps our only real disagreement is on the size of the "fragment".
> 
> For me, it seems your model does not account for why Silkhorn appears more
> like Horn in dream travel. And it forces the reader to feel bashed over the
> head with the depth of Silk's self-delusion. That bashing doesn't seem like 
> Wolfe, to me. 
> 
> We spent a book and a half thinking Silk is self-delusional about 
> being Horn, so why do we need extra emphasis on that at the end of RttW? For me it
> is Wolfe telling the reader that there is more Horn in this character than he
> previously had led us to believe. 
> 
> Jahlee's death also serves this purpose. Would Silk really brutally kill her like 
> that just to pretend he is Horn? The emotions there seem real to me, not pretense. 
> And only Horn could have felt strongly enough about Nettle to brutally kill his 
> "daughter" like that.
> 
> In regard to Babbie, I get the impression you are viewing spirit as something
> finite in volume. So if Babbie has acquired a portion of Horn's spirit, then
> Silkhorn must have less of it.
> 
> But my impression is that Wolfe is presenting spirit as something with infinite
> potential volume. Like a flame it can be passed on without being diminished. I 
> think we see this among the "evil" characters also. Like the essence of Scylla,
> pieces of which can be found (I think) in Chenille, in a giant fish in Lake Limna, 
> in Oreb, in Cilinia and in Great Scylla on Urth.                         
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