Silkhorn^H^H^H^H and Severian

James Jordan · 01 Jun 2001, 12:30 · from whorl-v0012.mbox · original

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From: James Jordan <jbjordan4 at home.com>
Subject: Re: (whorl) Silkhorn^H^H^H^H and Severian
Date: Fri, 01 Jun 2001 12:30:20
Message-ID: <whorl-v0012-0790 at digest.urth.net>
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         Hmmm. Others have objected that Silk merely recognizes who he has=20
been all along at the end, but I've never been happy with that. I think you=20
are on to something really important. I think up to this point, the=20
Narrator really has been Horn in Silk's body, and that then Silk is=20
resurrected in some important sense, with the result that both are now=20
alive in Silk's body at the end. In fact, given how Severian himself=20
exists, I'd say Silk is now primary, with Horn alive inside him, as Thecla=20
and others are alive inside of Severian. Silk is primary, like Severian,=20
because it is Silk's body and not Horn's.
         I'm thinking too of the words of the Neighbor, that Silk's=20
"spirit" is dying. Clearly Silk's body does not die. When Silk's spirit is=20
resurrected (and as Dan'l noted, he is in astral form, so a "spirit"=20
resurrection makes perfect sense), it takes back over Silk's body, and Horn=20
recedes to a Thecla status. Like Thecla, Horn's body is dead, but his=20
spirit still lives, in Silk.
         Your thesis supports my "Christian theology" contention that=20
Horn-Narrator has been living off the body and blood of Silk, and adds to=20
it that after Silk's resurrection, Horn lives "in Silk." Both are core=20
aspects of Christian thought (Christians live off the body and blood of the=20
crucified Christ; Christians life "in" the resurrected Christ), and it=20
makes a lot of sense to me that Wolfe would play with both ideas.
         I like your thesis a lot. It justifies what seems like a wholly=20
gratuitous introduction of Severian into the text, and I think it ties up a=20
lot of questions. I'm on your side (for now anyway).

Nutria

At 03:14 PM 5/31/2001 -0700, you wrote:
>I promised you folks an unfounded speculation.
>Several
>participants on this list have mentioned that some
>crucial event seems to occur between Silkhorn's last
>two astral trips to Urth.  In the second-last, Hoof
>says Silkhorn "looked more like our father there, not
>really like him, but more than on Blue."  (RRTTW,
>Chap.
>17, two trips in quick succession to the _Samru_.)  In
>the last, Hoof says, "Before he had looked a lot like
>our real father, and Hide says that is the way he
>always looked on the Red Sun Whorl. Now he did not."
>(Chap. 19, a mausoleum [apparently not Severian's
>hideout] in the necropolis, and the oubliette.)  But
>we're told about very little that happens between
>these two trips.  And what is the reason for this
>strange clarity on such an important point as the
>hero's
>astral appearance?
>
>Several people have also criticized Silkhorn's
>meetings
>with Severian for being indecisive, apparently just
>for
>decoration--"fanficcy", as Jacob Corbin aptly said.
>
>So could there be a connection between these two
>puzzles?  Are you already ahead of me?  Does Severian
>by his mere presence resurrect Silk?  Right around the
>same time, Triskele stirred to life beneath his hand,
>two years before the Claw came to him.  (From
>somewhere
>at the end of _Citadel_.)
>
>There's a strong objection to this speculation: the
>transformation happens at the wrong time.  We might
>have expected it at Silkhorn's first meeting with
>Severian (Chap. 13), or failing that, when he dreams
>of
>Severian (Chap. 15), or at their last meeting, but not
>in between.
>
>I can see two answers to the objection.  First, time
>does strange things around Severian and the Claw (or
>vice-versa).  Second, maybe it was a gradual process
>that Hoof didn't really notice till it was (almost?)
>complete.  This latter could also apply to other
>possible causes for the change of appearance.
>
>Incidentally, the trip on the _Samru_ to see the Great
>Scylla might also have had something to do with Silk's
>resurrection.  The trip ends on Ocean, and maybe they
>pass the beaches where the wild roses grow whose
>thorns
>are Claws.  (Yes, it's my favorite scene too.  And
>above I typed "horns" instead of "thorns".)
>
>Any comments?
>
>--
>Jerry Friedman
>
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>*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.moonmilk.com/whorl/
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>ranjit at moonmilk.com
>*If it's Wolfe but not Long Sun, please use the URTH list: urth at lists.best=
.com


*This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.
*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.moonmilk.com/whorl/
*To leave the list, send "unsubscribe" to whorl-request at lists.best.com
*If it's Wolfe but not Long Sun, please use the URTH list: urth at lists.best.=
com

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