Digest whorl.v011.n002

William Ansley · 01 Aug 2000, 00:09 · from whorl-v0011.mbox · original

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From: William Ansley <wansley at warwick.net>
Subject: Re: (whorl) Re: Digest whorl.v011.n002
Date: Tue, 1 Aug 2000 00:09:59
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At 6:24 PM +0100 7/30/00, Ian Smith wrote:
>No-one seems to have queried yet the reason for the sudeen change in Horn
>between the first two volumes. At the end of OBW we leave Horn still
>wallowing to some extent in self-loathing, still questioning whether he
>should be writing his book.  At the start of IGJ this has disapppeared, and
>throughout he confines himself to minor self-depreceatory remarks (very mu=
ch
>in the manner of Silk...).  As the time lapse between the end of writing t=
he
>end of OBW and the start of OGJ is purportedly very short (I think there a=
re
>hints that it is only around 2 days?) what as caused this transformation?
>Could it have something to do with the mysterious encounter in the woods
>before Horn meets brother and sister?
>
>"I found him in he forest, sitting in the dark under the trees.  I could n=
ot
>see him, it was too dark to see anything.  But I knelt beside him, and lay
>my head upon his knee, and he comforted me."(OBW p.378)
>
>At first I thought this was another neighbor encounter, but in IGJ Horn sa=
ys
>he hasn't encountered them since they moved him to a new body.  It could
>also be a particularly obtuse dream sequence, I suppose.  Any ideas?

Actually, Adam Stephanides noted the change:

At 10:29 AM -0700 7/23/00, Adam Stephanides wrote:
>The Horn of OBW resembles the non-apotheosized Severian: someone who
>feels strongly, suffers greatly, and is very human, to the point of
>being unsympathetic.  The Horn of IGJ is much more like Silk in more
>than a physical sense; he's clearly a good man, and a dispenser of
>wisdom and good counsel, while humbly insisting all the time that he is
>no such thing.  I have to admit that as a protagonist I prefer the first
>model to the second.

And, in response, I made a speculation much like yours:

At 11:40 PM -0400 7/23/00, William Ansley wrote:
>I agree that the Horn that narrates OBW seems to be significantly=20
>different from the Horn that narrates IGJ. This makes me wonder what=20
>happened to cause the change. It seems to me that it may have=20
>something to do with the very odd section towards the very end of=20
>OBW where Horn's identity seems to become confused with Babbie's and=20
>Horn meets the little boy and girl who are named Brother and Sister.=20
>I readily admit that I didn't understand the section of OBW at all=20
>and that I am disappointed that it wasn't explicated at all in IGJ.

I think the section of the book that you quote from is probably=20
important, perhaps only because it is so incomprehensible. I hope=20
that we will receive a little more help in teasing out what is really=20
going on here in RttW, but I don't expect much help if any will=20
actually be forthcoming.

Then before I got around to posting this message, alga replied to the=20
the same message:

At 10:46 PM -0400 7/31/00, Alice Turner wrote:
>No, I think it is, as has been discussed quite recently, Horn's transfer
>to Silk's body, with Silk's powerful gene-spliced leadership DNA having
>an effect on those he encounters. I'm not quite sure from your post that
>you have finished IGJ--this will become clearer.
>

alga,

I think you are missing the point here. The writer of both OBW and=20
IGJ is the same version of Horn, the one that has come back from _The=20
Whorl_ looking a lot like Silk, however he got that way. But his=20
narrative voice differs considerably, at least to me and Adam and=20
Ian, from the first book to the second. So whatever happened to cause=20
that change (if the change is real) had to happen between (or close=20
to) the end of OBW and the beginning of IGJ.

--=20
William Ansley

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