dog-headed ape, 1st vs. 3rd vp

maa32 · 01 Aug 2003, 07:26 · from urth-v0308.mbox · original

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From: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
Subject: (urth) dog-headed ape, 1st vs. 3rd vp
Date: Fri, 01 Aug 2003 00:26:34 -0700
Message-ID: <urth-v0308-3836 at digest.urth.net>
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I don't know if anyone mentioned this, but I thought it was a weird repetit=
ive=20
image.  In the Chapter entitled Carnifex after the duel of flowers in Shado=
w=20
of the torturer, a dog-headed ape shows up and walks up the wall.  I never=20
made up my mind about that guy.  A masked hierodule/cacogen?

Then, I was reading Long Sun again, because I have neglected it.  And lo, i=
n=20
the second chapter of Nightside while Silk looks for sacrifices, we run int=
o=20
...=20
"This dog-headed ape, trained to light its master's way with cresset or=20
langern, and (according to a badly lettered placard) to defend him from=20
footpads and assassins"

What do you think?  The same creature?  Any other places where the dog-head=
ed=20
ape shows up?  Do these two descriptions reveal anything about the creature?

Is Silk doomed to run into many of the same creatures as Severian?  Typhon =
and=20
the sea monster Scylla ... Is the catachrest like the dead bottle creature?

I'd like to shift over to some small viewpoint considerations.

By the way, thanks to Don and Civet for commenting on Wolfe's comments abou=
t=20
my story.  I appreciate your input!  Part of my problem could be that the=20
complexity of the story in question seemed to demand a third-person viewpoi=
nt,=20
one which I have a hard time finding the right voice for.

I find Wolfe's first person work pretty much flawless ... with male narrato=
rs.
Latro, New Sun, Short Sun, Peace, Fifth Head of Cerberus ... I can't think =
of=20
finer fiction anywhere.  Castleview, There Are Doors, Free Live Free, Devil=
 in=20
a Forest ... definitely, to me, not quite as fun to re-read over and over.

For me, I think I prefer 1st person from almost every author, but I am=20
interested in hearing whether this is so for others. =20
Anybody else find 1st person fiction more compelling than 3rd in general, o=
r=20
is this limited to Wolfe?  I think almost every book that Wolfe has written=
 in=20
the 1st person has worked extraordinarily well ... because he knows how to=20
present a narrator that has all the facts but can't put them together ...=20
whereas it is difficult for me to extrapolate too much from a 3rd person=20
manuscript - shouldn't the omniscient "story teller" already have put toget=
her=20
all the cogent facts?  There are motives in 1st person, but it is very=20
difficult to find "motives" in a work like "The ziggurat" - why should we=20
think that the whole thing is a hallucination, when the 3rd person voice of=20
history presents it as fact?  Where is the motivation for the 3rd person vo=
ice=20
to pander to the mental incapacity of the main character? Long Sun is an=20
interesting case, because we have raw history, but we also have clear=20
motivation, so it operates more like a 1st person manuscript.  Anybody else=20
have problems with, say, "Ziggurat" or "The Island of Doctor Death and Othe=
r=20
Stories" due to an unwillingness to challenge the voice of the uncharacteri=
zed=20
narrator?

Just a few banal thoughts.
Marc Aramini

--=20

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