silver glass

James Wynn · 14 Jan 2005, 18:06 · from 2005-January.txt.gz

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From: thewynns at earthlink.net (James Wynn)
Date: Fri Jan 14 18:06:07 2005
Subject: (urth) silver glass
References: <BAY102-F25C0BBE6F863230BC49427868B0 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <006601c4faa6$c50794a0$4c1e4b0a at vcorp.ad.vrsn.com>

>Well, I did mention Nettle parenthetically, I just didn't feel like
>repeating "Horn and/or Nettle" throughout.

Ah! So you did. But I could extend this to every character in the story, not
just Nettle. But then, from this post (I think) I see you are getting at
something else.

>Now, during the portion of the books purportedly
>narrated by Silkhorn, does he ever actually claim to be Silk?

No, he doesn't. Not even when he comes to terms with "himself" through
Remora's counsel. Everywhere else he adamantly denies it.

I'm not sure I understand your point, but I'm going to take a crack at this
anyway.

>And how is it
>that we come to that conclusion anyway, despite his repeated denials in the
>text that he is Silk (so much so that we come up with explanations in which
>his denial that he is Silk somehow makes it *more* plausible that he
>actually is Silk)?

Well, for one thing, Mint and Bison are quite convinced he is. Hound says
he's seen pictures of Silk and that he is certain he is. They are certain he
is Silk because he looks like him, which suggests there was a Silk to look
like. This is the part written by Hide&co. but I suppose the conversations
could be made up as well.  Then again, Mint and Bison's description of how
Silk left the Caldeship does not seem designed to make him look heroic.

But then, all these characters could be all made up I suppose...they really
*are* all made up of course, so if they were made IN the narration as well,
how could we tell?

Remora on Blue certainly remembers a Silk. So does Marrow. And Scleroderma
wrote an alternate book about him.

>Is the reader exempt from being tricked in the same way
>characters in the book are?

Well, Civet, you know what I think on this. I believe he is not Silk. I
believe he is "Horn", but not the Horn he tells Hide that he is.
I also believe he *is* Silk and Horn, but in an entirely different sense.

>There are a lot of textual passages that suggest a real Silk, but
>unfortunately most of them aren't helpful for this particular purpose. The
>passages that are most of interest are the ones that could be verified or
>denied by a character (who is not the author/editor) that could be heard by
>the presumed audience (the people of Blue). This suggests to me that what
>may be the best place in the text to look is Silkhorn's final encounter
>with Remora. That scene certainly suggests that Silkhorn is really Silk,
>but the question is, on close reading, does it tell us this unequivocally?
>I'm going to check this passage tonight; it would be nice if it settled
>this nagging doubt, but I have a feeling that it is going to (deliberately)
>leave just enough ambiguity...

See, here's why I'm not sure I'm getting your point exactly. If we accept
the Narrator's telling of Remora and how he came to Lizard to talk enlist
Horn in a mission to get Silk, then isn't it clear that Silk is a real
person?

~ Crush

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