identity crisis

Reusch · 11 Apr 1997, 22:34 · from whorl-v0004.mbox · original

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From: Reusch <newsun at freeway.net>
Subject: (whorl) identity crisis
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 97 22:34:57
Message-ID: <whorl-v0004-0040 at digest.urth.net>
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[Posted from WHORL, the mailing list for Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun]

Attention Mainframe! For some reason, I am no longer receiving =3D
messages from the Whorl. The last one was about a week ago. I've got =3D
a cat that I would love to sacrifice to you, if that would bring you =3D
back to my window.
Thanks for all of the responses to my questions. (I downloaded the =3D
archive to get them.) Vizcacha, I love the Rose as Echidna spin on =3D
her personality. It serves to further underscore the fact that NONE =3D
of the main characters in this book are who we (at first) think they =3D
are, or even who they think they are. But that brings me back to =3D
Pike; was he what he seemed? Silk "saw" that Pike was praying to the =3D
Outsider for help, and that he, Silk, was that help. Assuming that =3D
this is a true interpretation of a true vision, (and when dealing =3D
with Silk, that could be a dangerous assumption), why was Pike =3D
praying? For help, OK, but help for what? To save the manteion, Silk =3D
assumes. But what, in Pike's time, did the manteion need saving from? =3D
Tax collectors? Does a holy man pray for tax relief? And then get it? =3D
That seems pretty unlikely. And why did he pray to the outsider, =3D
instead of the gods of mainframe? Was he aware of their nature? =3D
Perhaps he was aware of Quetzal's nature, and was fighting against =3D
him? Perhaps he was working with Quetzal? Hmmm...
And yes, I agree with you that Rose is in effect a corpse. Was. Since =3D
a big chunk, if not all, of her memories and even personality get =3D
transferred to Marble via her "parts", it seems reasonable to assume =3D
that these are what was animating Rose, and not her brain.
As an aside, it seems unlikely that Horn would have any knowledge of =3D
that scene of Rose as Echidna kneeling before her daughter. Is this a =3D
contrived jab at a teacher that he didn't like?
About Silk's killing the bird on Blood's roof=3D8Byes, I'm aware of =3D
Silk's explanation of the bird "forgetting" that it couldn't fly, and =3D
falling to its death. It just seemed to me to be one of Silk's =3D
patented "all-too-quick-however-unlikely" assumptions. I was =3D
wondering if anyone had a more likely explanation. I guess that my =3D
thought was that it was further evidence of Silk's genetic super-hero =3D
abilities.
OK, Vance means fletcher (of arrows), so a natural choice for a =3D
pseudonym for myself would be some type of feather. Does anyone out =3D
there know anything about feathers? I don't. I'd like to use the name =3D
Ma'at, but that's a bit presumptuous, I suppose.=20
May every god favor you
Vance

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