(urth) Dionysus

[DAVID STOCKHOFF]

One can imagine many simple reasons for a narrator to turn away from a memory. I think this situation arises often in Wolfe, and usually it's something really basic. When the context is more down to Earth, the guessing is easier.
Here, I sense that Horn feels the shock of recognition. He assures us, lest we feel fear, that the Neighbor's hand was not slimy or scaly, but will not say more. Some possibilities are: (1) the hand is jointed in a complex alien manner that requires closer attention than Horn could give it, and more detail than he wants to put into the narrative (2) the hand is that of an ungulate, showing that the Neighbor is a six-limbed forest deer/goat/whatever (3) the hand is the hand of a man, more or less (4) the hand is his own hand or that of someone he knows (this is Wolfe after all). 
These look like the basic options to me. I'd choose 2 or 3 but I don't think I can pick between them. Any thoughts?

--- On Tue, 12/7/10, Gerry Quinn <gerryq at indigo.ie> wrote:

From: Gerry Quinn <gerryq at indigo.ie>
Subject: Re: (urth) Dionysus
To: "The Urth Mailing List" <urth at lists.urth.net>
Date: Tuesday, December 7, 2010, 11:58 AM


From: "James Wynn" <crushtv at gmail.com>
> 
>>> " 'My name is Horn.' I offered my hand.
>>> He took it, and this time I felt his hand _and remembered it_ . It was
>>> hard, and seemed to be covered with short, stiff hairs. Beyond that I
>>> will not say."[oBW HB 272]
>> Roy-
>> I don't see why you attach such importance to that quote. It has nothing to
>> do with what happened in the pit. It is a direct reference to what Silkhorn
>> wrote on page 267, about the first moments after the Neighbor woke Horn and
>> told him to get up and come with him:
>> 
>>      " 'Come with me,' he said, and he helped me to stand up, grasping both
>> my hands while lifting me under the arms. I ought to remember how his hands
>> felt, I am sure - but I do not. My mind was on other things, perhaps.
>>      "He strode off through the trees, then turned to me and took my hand
>> again to make certain that I was following him."
> 
> I don't know why you can't see this is an important quote. First of all, HORN is up-front about holding information back here. In a first person memoir, that's a _big_ deal. And the scene involves memory...which is obviously also significant in a memoir. It's a big, big deal.
> 
> Even your reading of the quote is a strange one. But I say, by default HORN/Rajan can't or chooses not to remember his Neighborly past. This moment gives him access to those memories although he chooses to reject them.

Roy's reading makes a lot of sense.  He has previously mentioned that he doesn't remember what the neighbour's hands were loike on one occasion, so he mentions them now.

I agree the "Beyond that I will not say" part is a bit odd - if he just means he can't remember more details about the Neighbour, why not just say it directly?  But I think it is a great leap to go from that oddness to anything very specific...

- Gerry Quinn



_______________________________________________
Urth Mailing List
To post, write urth at urth.net
Subscription/information: http://www.urth.net
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.urth.net/pipermail/urth-urth.net/attachments/20101207/46eb6da2/attachment-0003.htm>