Digest whorl.v011.n018Whorl

My immediate reaction is outrage. That seems to me like the horrible yahoo Southern racism of the civil rights era when to sympathize was to compromise in the minds (so-called) of the racists. Horn is not an inhumu, no way. He has become a remarkably tolerant human (maybe superhuman) person, able at last in this book to react to another (maybe not-so-human) person on a personal level, not generically. I think that Wolfe has achieved a real breakthrough with both sexism and racism in IGJ. Because I am female, I welcome the sexist breakthrough particularly and the almost poetic way that it is celebrated. But I, and you, should not ignore the fact that the inhumi are metaphorically of another race. -alga *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.

In a message dated 8/15/00 10:29:35 PM Eastern Daylight Time, whorl-errors at lists.best.com writes: << SF WEEKLY has just published John Clute's review of IN GREEN'S JUNGLES, and (among other remarks of interest) Clute declares that it is "reasonably clear" that Horn/Silk is himself an inhumu. Any reactions? >> How about "Holy Shit!" Sorry, that's the best I can do. Need time . . . Need time to think . . . *This is WHORL, for discussion of Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun.

I'm with alga--Horn as an inhuma seems pointless and wrong. I may turn out to the wrong, but this seems like another example of Clute's real talent for working out Wolfe's mysteries working itself into an over-clever frenzy (ahem, momma Autarch). What evidence is there to suggest this, in contrast to the considerable evidence against it (the writing, Oreb, etc.)? On the other hand, this is a better review than Clute did of OBW. It does seem possible that Silk was committing suicide--the blood was very possibly from the funeral sacrifices (which I picture him doing alone) for Hyacinth, but Horn says "my hands and arms and face and neck were bleeding" which does sound as if Silk (assuming it is Silk, which seems very very likely) has been cut. On the other hand, bleeding hands, arms, face and neck seems like a pretty extreme and messy approach to suicide---it sounds more like Silk has been attacked and since his spirit wants to die, he hasn't bothered to deal with his wounds--suicide by omission, if you will. At any rate, the fact that suicide (while of sound mind) would be damning seems not to suggest against the idea--that there is now one whole man means, I take it, that Silk has a chance to escape his despair (the increasing intrusions of his personality through the narrative suggest that he is indeed moving away from his catatonia).