one more for the train

Michael Straight · 25 Jun 1997, 08:38 · from whorl-v0006.mbox · original

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From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Subject: Re: (whorl) one more for the train
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 1997 08:38:46
Message-ID: <whorl-v0006-0393 at digest.urth.net>
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[Posted from WHORL, the mailing list for Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun]

On Tue, 24 Jun 1997, Reusch wrote:

> If there's room on the train, I'd like to refine my initial question=20
> about Quetzal's motives to:
> What was Quetzal's motive in wanting a thriving human colony on Green?
> Thanks again for this chance at getting some concrete(?) answers from the=20
> man himself,

I'm thinking Wolfe may not want to answer questions that might boil down
to "give us some big plot spoilers for the Short Sun series."=20

Do some people feel cheated that what they thought would be a
self-contained series ends with some loose ends to be tied up in a
subsequent series?

I'm having trouble formulating what I'd like to ask Wolfe as a single
question, but here's my try:

There are scenes in the series that are hard to imagine Horn hearing about
from witnesses (e.g. Musk training the hawk, Quetzal's thoughts and
actions before and after meeting with Remora, Silk's beautiful prayers to
the gods and to the Outsider).  Are these...=20

A) Extrapolations by Horn (possibly including hagiography of Silk)?
B) Examples like the very last chapter of Exodus of material in _The Book
   of the Long Sun_ that is not from _The Book of Silk_?

If this is too unwieldy (I'm obviously trying to squeeze several questions
into one), you might get something interesting just by asking, "How
trustworthy a narrator is Horn?" or even "Who is the narrator of the very
last chapter of Exodus?" I'll let you refine the question as you see fit.=20

-Rostrum

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