Silk or Horn?

António Pedro Marques · 03 Sep 2013, 15:16 · from 2013-September.txt.gz

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From: entonio at gmail.com (=?UTF-8?B?QW50w7NuaW8gUGVkcm8gTWFycXVlcw==?=)
Date: Tue, 03 Sep 2013 16:16:08 +0100
Subject: (urth) Silk or Horn?
In-Reply-To: <15CF3FDA-4592-48F0-8536-D541C39A59FA at yahoo.com>
References: <BLU175-W106F4F5A4CA18538D839EDCF310 at phx.gbl>
	<15CF3FDA-4592-48F0-8536-D541C39A59FA at yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <5225FD38.1040700 at gmail.com>

I think Lee is quite on spot here - I'd just say I think killing Jahlee is 
not exclusively Horn's nor Silk's, it's maybe a defining point from where 
both characters become one. _Silk_'s suicide attempts seem to me quite in 
line with all the rest of _Silk_'s behaviour towards Hyacinth - that person 
with a central role in the events, who we know next to nothing about.

Marc Aramini wrote (03-09-2013 14:51):
> 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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