Optical connections

j e · 24 Oct 2002, 04:20 · from urth-v0210.mbox · original

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From: "j e" <lo_phan17 at hotmail.com>
Subject: (urth) Optical connections
Date: Thu, 24 Oct 2002 00:20:06 -0400
Message-ID: <urth-v0210-1922 at digest.urth.net>
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I haven't posted much, but I've been following the Peace discussion. It's=20
been very interesting and I'm going to have to get my copy of Peace back so=20
I can join in. I haven't read it in years, but Robert Borski's alchemical=20
reading makes me want to again.
One Peace note: in that stream of consciousness part near the beginning=20
(about the synthetic deer and the orange tribe) Weer asks "What is a wabe?"
It appears in Jabberwocky and I found a website which gives Carroll's=20
definitions as well as Humpty Dumpty's:

Wabe (derived from the verb to swab or soak).
The side of a hill (from its being soaked by the rain.)

http://www.math.luc.edu/~vande/jabglossary.html

Without the book here that definition doesn't help me at all. Anyone?

Now that I've made a stab at being with the current discussion let me bound=20
back to the Wolfe book I can't stop thinking about.

In the book of the short sun, I've noticed one of those nested significance=
s=20
Wolfe loves to employ to drive his themes. First, to establish some=20
background, the technology of the Whorl is clearly photonic rather than=20
electronic. We have several examples, the best of which is Incus' repair of=20
Hammerstone in the tunnels where flashes of light are described coming out=20
of the broken ends of the fibers. Photonics, based on the transmission of=20
packets of light is fitting for a society which features many examples of=20
technology that are just beyond our present level. It's also fitting=20
thematically...all three collections feature sun in their titles for a=20
reason.
When Horn and his men are on Green, trying to find the last part needed to=20
repair a lander, the monitor tells them it's a wave guide coupler. A wave=20
guide is what it sounds like - a way of directing a wave, the coupler would=20
then join together waves of different length or waves from different=20
sources. Horn's body was still there when Silkhorn returned to give Sinew=20
the ring that allowed Horn to be seen by the Neighbour who allowed his=20
spirit to be saved. This is part of the nested significance, the minor to=20
the major one described in RttW. Near the end of that book, when Silkhorn i=
s=20
at the pole to give Pig his eye, M'to talks about repairing his ship, the=20
Whorl, by re-connecting the many strands of what sounds like the Whorl's=20
optical backbone. When the book ends, Silk has left New Viron as he said: t=
o=20
go "to the stars". The implication is that he will lead M'to and the rest o=
f=20
the crew to make the repairs, and I don't think any reader doubts that he=20
will succeed.
I call Horn's episode the minor one because it involves a smaller ship, and=20
fewer people. It's a goal for few, normal men.  Also, it seems that his=20
failure is necessary in order to save the spirit of Silk (who was suicidal =
-=20
he was not fighting with anyone...imho).
It is also interesting that what's happening at the pole is the connection=20
of Silk's eye to Pig's optic nerve. All of these things are about attempts=20
to allow the passage of light.


I noticed there's another Joe posting so I'll go back to Owl, which is my=20
last name.






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