(no subject)

Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · 12 Mar 2001, 08:41 · from whorl-v0012.mbox · original

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From: "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes" <ddanehy at siebel.com>
Subject: RE: (whorl)
Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 08:41:50
Message-ID: <whorl-v0012-0425 at digest.urth.net>
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> An Agnostic says:
>=20
> "I don't know whether or not there's a God.".
>=20
> A Militant Agnostic says:
>=20
> "I don't know whether or not there's a God.  And neither=20
> do you."

... so you're the guys who came over and burned a=20
question mark on my lawn last fall?

> ... did the exposition have to be so damn oblique
> that many of the very knowledgeable people here
> disagree about what happened?

Perhaps that was precisely the purpose? Not suggesting that=20
Wolfe is writing for/at this list (though I can think of at=20
least one case of an extraordinarily talented musician doing=20
the analogous thing, writing a song directed obliquely at an=20
online fan group); but that Wolfe deliberately might write a
Rorschach blot of a book, intentionally setting it up so that
what you find in it depends even more than usual on what you
bring to it.

> Were Silk's injuries caused by an attempted suicide or a=20
> fight?  Both viewpoints have been argued here and I'm=20
> still not sure which I believe.  I prefer a fight, since=20
> I just don't see sufficient motivation for Silk to=20
> attempt suicide.  He seems more aware than that.

Again, neither answer seems as likely as this: if you will
reread the account of Orpine's "final sacrifice," you will
note that gashing yourself is an accepted way of expressing=20
grief in Viron (as indeed it has been in some Urthly, uh,=20
Earthly cultures). Silk, in a fit of grief and despair,=20
tearing the room up and gashing himself seems to me the=20
most obvious answer.

> I also agree with those who deplored the fractured=20
> locution of Wijzer, Olivine, etc.  It began to wear thin=20
> after a while.  Especially Olivine. =20

Yes: especially Olivine. Pig I found difficult but
tolerable; I rather liked the Dorpish dialect, but I
used to live around Lancaster County PA & Pencildutch
dialect (which is how I read it) doesn't seem stilted
or unnatural to me.

> Quick question:  Does anyone know who originated the=20
> saying "The more I know people, the more I like=20
> animals."?  I personally couldn't agree more...

Le plus je connais des hommes, le plus j'aime ma
chatte. -- Voltaire

--Dan'l
(who thinks misanthropy is a probable symptom
of militant agnosticism, nyaaaah.)

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