prophecy in a novel, Q's coming for dinnerWhorl

Re: the prophecy thing. I'd like to point out that TBOTLS is a novelistic construct even within its own context. A historical novel written by Horn to capture the lost world of his youth; like Twain or Proust, if you will. More than usual, even with Wolfe: after all, this is part of the deep tension in the Short Sun series (or so it seems to me); the clash between the "realistic historical record" and something that seems (or is wanted to be) larger than that (the seed of a new religion, among other possibilities); the gap between talking the talk and walking the walk. Re: Pike's ghost as Q. Not to give new life to this notion, but now that we know an awful lot more about inhumu and how they come to be like people, well then, it makes it seem (possible/probable/essential) as if Q bit Pike and got some of his essence (must be embarassing for an old codger to suddenly start skipping like a wee girl, after all); thus no surprise that Pike an Q look alike (more alike than, say, any two old white guys). =mantis= *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.

Good point. I left off "Horn embellishing" from my list of possible explanations for the dreams/prophesies. That whole ambiguity regarding Horn's role as the storyteller is one of my favorite things about the series. I gather there's more good stuff to come in OBW in that regard. -Rostrum *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.