Third-person sections in RttW

James Jordan · 11 Apr 2001, 13:48 · from whorl-v0012.mbox · original

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From: James Jordan <jbjordan4 at home.com>
Subject: Re: (whorl) Third-person sections in RttW
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2001 13:48:37
Message-ID: <whorl-v0012-0581 at digest.urth.net>
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At 11:59 PM 4/10/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>At 8:32 PM -0500 4/9/01, James Jordan wrote:
>>         And I'll bring this up again, since nobody commented on in when=20
>> I brought it up the first time. I cannot find the place, but at one=20
>> point the Narrator, having been accused of being Silk for the nth time,=20
>> looks for a scar he expects to find on Silk's body, and claims not to=20
>> find it, thereby reassuring himself that he is not Silk. Of course, it=20
>> is pretty clear that he is in Silk's body, and is partly Silk; but he=20
>> himself thinks he has reasons to dismiss the views of everyone around hi=
m.
>
>I don't think you are going to get much help from this memory, which is=20
>inexact, if I have found the passage you are thinking of. I believe the=20
>passage you refer to is the one on page 188 of RttW:
>
>----------------------------------------
>... I actually pushed back my sleeve to look for the scars his beak had=20
>left on Silk's arm. Needless to say, they were not there--it was Silk, not=20
>I, who fought the white-headed one ...
>----------------------------------------
>
>This seems promising, but this scene takes place during an astral journey=20
>to Green, when Silk|Horn* is searching for Jahlee. I don't think we can=20
>base any firm conclusions about identity based on whether Silk|Horn's=20
>astral body has scars or not. And I don't think Silk|Horn rationally could=20
>either.
>
>By the way, no matter how much anyone reading this appreciates and admires=20
>the BotSS, I don't think anyone will deny that the elaborate structure=20
>Wolfe uses in these books makes finding a specific passage a royal pain in=20
>the ... neck.
>
>William Ansley

Good point. That was the passage I remembered, and as part of an astral=20
journey, it clearly does not count for what I thought it might. I stand=20
correctified.

Nutria


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