Suicide & Hyacinth

Jason Ingram · 13 Jul 2002, 00:57 · from urth-v0207.mbox · original

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From: Jason Ingram <j_ingram at mac.com>
Subject: Re: (urth) Suicide & Hyacinth
Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2002 17:57:46 -0700
Message-ID: <urth-v0207-1341 at digest.urth.net>
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It has been written:

>> What people are persistently failing to acknowledge, though Wolfe=20
>> flags it
>> again and again,  is that Hyacinth was a bad woman, and disastrous for=20
>> Silk.

Hyacinth *was* what most would call a bad woman, but I think the picture=20
presented of her in the Long Sun series is distorted: we have only Horn=20
and Nettle's rendition of her character.  Though they may strive for=20
impartiality, they are also admittedly jealous of her hold on Silk's=20
attention.  Horn dislikes the way Hyacinth can be cruel to Nettle, and=20
Nettle must mislike Hyacinth's interaction with Horn.

What this amounts to, in my view, is only that we have to 'read in' to=20
the narrative what Silk sees in Hyacinth.  He sees the best in=20
people--although recent discussion of how he focuses on the flaws in=20
others rather than his own makes me rethink this claim, there seem to be=20
plenty of instances where Silk bemoans his own limitations and strives=20
for humility.  He is also clearly prideful, but in my view balances the=20
two effectively.  And his distress seems based on the gap between what=20
people could be and what they allow themselves to become--yet the=20
narrative presents readers with the worst of Hyacinth.

I don't suppose Wolfe had a gnostic take on their relationship, but=20
Simon magus and Helen do come to mind.  There may have been a=20
destructive element in their relationship, but "where danger threatens,=20
there the saving power grows" (Holderlin) or some such.

btw,

have I become the tomato that ate Kansas?

Sepia

--=20

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