(urth) Dionysus

[James Wynn]

On 12/9/2010 3:39 PM, Andrew Mason wrote:
>>
>> ed nicely with Dionysus
> Andrew Mason-
> Objections to what? I'm not objecting to the idea that inhumi are
> connected with Dionysus. I was only questioning your specific
> statement that 'we agree that he's is the god of the "vine", not just
> grape vines.I do not believe specific species of vines mattered to
> Wolfe for this association one little bit'. That sounded as though you
> thought Dionysus was traditionally venerated as the god of climbing
> plants generally, and that Wolfe understood things this way, and it
> did not occur to him that 'god of the vine' has anything specific to
> do with grapes. I think Gerry read you that way as well. If you did
> not mean this, I apologise.

What I meant was that *for purposes of literary allusion*, all that 
mattered to Wolfe is that Dionysus is called "the god of the vine". Yet, 
the term "liana" was still deftly chosen because could very well be used 
to refer to grape vines as it is not a grouping but a description of the 
way a plant grows. Obviously, Wolfe knows and cares that Dionysus is the 
god of the grape vine, because for the inhumi, their wine is blood. I 
thought I'd made that clear, but I guess not.

Looking back at Gerry's original objection I would be very surprised 
that that is what he is getting at. In his 12/7 post that started all 
this he responded thus:

Me: "Additionally, I have argued that the very word "inhuma" was chosen 
for its association with Dionysus, the god of the vine. There are 
undeniable, although unexplained, associations between the inhumi and 
vines."

Gerry: "If the inhumi are associated with vines, those are the lianas on 
Green, which as far as I know do not yield grapes."

Well, so what? Yet, it seemed to make a great difference to Gerry. I 
supposed the lianas would have to have fat purple humans growing from 
them for it to be a valid literary allusion for him. But, you might be 
right. It could be a big misunderstanding.

u+16b9




> I am sure Wolfe knows that this traditional title of Dionysus does
> have to do with grapes. This, obviously, does not limit what he does
> with the idea. A writer who can leap from 'thesis' to 'Theseus' and
> from 'Minotaur' to 'Monitor' can certainly leap from one sense of
> 'vine' to another.
>
> Lee Berman wrote:
>> Formally, the word, "dissertation" is most likely to be used for the Ph.D. paper while
>> "thesis" is most common for the final Masters project. That's my experience.
> Yes, that's what I had in mind. In Britain it's the other way round. I
> have heard Americans saying 'Oh, you don't mean a dissertation, you
> mean a thesis' or vice versa often enough to assume this was
> universal. But thanks, it's good to know in fact usage can be more
> flexible.
> Gerry Quinn wrote:
>
>>> I thought the claim was that Dionysius
> Nitpick: Dionysus. 'Dionysius' is a human name, one of whose bearers
> was a Christian saint.
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