time/space - whorl purpose, Pas heads

maa32 · 12 Nov 2002, 18:53 · from urth-v0211.mbox · original

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From: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
Subject: (urth) time/space - whorl purpose, Pas heads
Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2002 11:53:27 -0700
Message-ID: <urth-v0211-2084 at digest.urth.net>
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Roy stated that the time travelled by the Samru was accounted for by Silk=20
before he returned.  I say that the DISTANCE was accounted for - he needed =
to=20
be in the same place to reach back to where the Samru encountered the Mothe=
r;=20
Silk can overcome both distance and time in his travels.  It is very diffic=
ult=20
to separate distance and time, but keep in mind how the narrator goes on ad=20
nauseum about the symbolic anchor - an item which keeps one in one place.

My evidence for time travel is as follows: Silk appears in the story of=20
Inclito's mother.  It isn't her made up story - it's real, and Silk dreams =
it=20
and makes it real by manifesting himself in her past.  In a way, it's kind =
of=20
Philip K. Dickish - Silk's dreams affect the past.  Reality depends on his=20
mind.  Perhaps he is a bit more of the primary observer than we at first=20
believe.

Also, the real purpose of the whorl is quite simple - it is the second stag=
e=20
of (re)colonization from the stars that is heralded in with the play=20
Eschatology and Genesis.  Meschia and Meschiane have come - and they are th=
e=20
new people - the people from the beginning (or at least Typhonic times) com=
e=20
to repopulate the world and do it in a shocking fashion - by becoming the=20
Green Man.  Riddle me this - where do Meschia and Meschiane come from?  The=
y=20
spring from a tree.  Where do A man and Wo man go?  Up a tree, and they don=
't=20
come down.

Typhon wants to re-establish his authority after he's gone - and the best=20
reason for having two heads is because Gene Wolfe wants us to recognize Pas=20
and associate him with the Typhon of Urth - Typhon's desires don't matter -=20
it's an authorial tip of the hat to us, his careful readers, who would have=20
recognized the double headed motiff far before Typhon's name was ever, ever=20
mentioned in the text, way back when we first picked up Nightside the Long=20
Sun.  That's why Pas has two heads.

Whatever your stance on Blue as Ushas, you have to admit that Horn, with th=
e=20
help of the trees, flees Silk's body at the end of On Blue's Water and leav=
es=20
us with mostly Silk.  And it is Silk's body which has these miraculous powe=
rs=20
- Horn can only travel in conjunction with the vanished gods (trees) or the=20
vanished people.  (Of course, Silk carries an inhuma of his own with him at=20
all times)

Marc Aramini

--=20

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