(urth) Dionysus

[Gerry Quinn]

From: "James Wynn" <crushtv at gmail.com>
>>> Lee Berman-
>>> 2. The suggestion is that Gene Wolfe, in associating Dionysus with 
>>> parasitic lianas, is not
>>> misinterpreting but engaging in word play as he often does. Nobody here 
>>> thinks Gene Wolfe
>>> is confused as to the meanings of "Theseus" and "thesis" but some think 
>>> he is engaging in
>>> word play there. Nor do we think Gene Wolfe is a dunce who thinks the 
>>> mother of Romulus and
>>> Remus, Rhea Silvia, was named for a Bird Of The Woods. Word play again.
>>
>> Gerry Quinn-
>> I think this would be a somewhat obscure word-game.  To get it one would 
>> have to identify Dionysus as the son of Thyone,
>
> There's a real leap. That's about as obscure as identifying Cain and Able 
> as the children of Eve. Or Mary as the mother of Jesus. Or Romulus as the 
> child of Rhea Silvia.
>
>> and then *misread* his association with vines - in other words, see him 
>> called 'god of vines' and not realise that this meant grape vines.
>
> Umm....I can't imagine why anyone would be expected to miss that 
> association since the inhumi feed on the red, red wine of the human body. 
> I guess unless the lianas (grape vines ARE lianas, btw) had humans growing 
> on them and the inhuma extracted the blood by mashing the people with 
> their feet, this would be just too hard an allusion for anyone to pick up 
> on.

Note that I was answering Lee, who seemed to be saying that this *was* an 
American misreading.of the 'god of vines' concept.  You seem to be saying 
the opposite.

Also, wouldn't your analogy above (the inhumi feeding on human blood, 
represented as wine) mean that it is the humans who are represented by the 
lianas, not the inhumi?

Lee seemed to be saying that Wolfe took Dionysus to be the god of vines and 
thus by wordplay to parasitic plants, with the parasitism of lianas being 
the connection to inhumi.

- Gerry Quinn