(urth) the voice of the outsider is the conjunction ofpas/kypris

[Gerry Quinn]

You mention three points in favour of Mamelta being Kypris, or Silk's biological mother, or both.  Possibly a few more can be found too.  But none of them seem very definitive:

The first can easily be interpreted as just sleep imagery, lots of faces and people running together.

In the second, while it can certainly be argued that Silk's dream and Mamelta's name are tips to the reader, it is inescapable that Silk himself is thinking of his non-biological mother, and therefore not Mamelta.  (Also, he does fall asleep before he meets Mamelta.)

In the third, it may be that Kypris is - in Silk's thoughts -  representing all women.

As against these, we must weigh the evidence of what Mamelta actually does and says.  Surely these speak very heavily against the notion that Mamelta is Kypris?  Kypris was Typhon's favourite courtesan.  She speaks in a very characteristic voice, which Mamelta does not share.  Kypris herself says that she was scanned and her previous self remained on Urth.  Mamelta is a computer technician who was forced on board the Whorl.  She dreams of returning home to her mother, brothers and pet parrot.  She remembers the Monarch and his family, but those memories do not seem intimate. 

Could all this be reconciled with her being Kypris?  Only if one assumes that Typhon has for some perverse reason had her memory and personality wiped and replaced by another's, and loaded her on the whorl as a sleeper!  Why on Urth would he do such a thing?

- Gerry Quinn
  



----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Marc Aramini 

        Well, Gerry, this depends how much credence you put in dreams and throw away comments in the text.  Here are some quotes that outright say Kypris is Mamelta, and I infer that Kypris is just possessing Hyacinth.

        vision on page 534 of Litany of the Long Sun

        "the woman who slept in the glass tube, the tube in
        which he himself now slept beside Chenille, who was
        Kypris, who was Hyacinth, who was Mamelta, with
        Hyacinth's jet-black hair,"

        Chenille and Hyacinth were both possessed by Kypris -
        and since Mamelta has Hyacinth hair, and Kypris had
        Hyacinth hair, and they are all related here, I
        figured it would be neat if Mamelta were Kypris. Then
        I found this bit of niftiness: p 424

        "But quite soon now, as the swift floater sailed over
        a landscape grown liquid, his mother would come to
        kiss him good-night; he liked to be awake for it, to
        say distinctly, 'good night to you, too Mama,' when
        she left. He resolved not to sleep until she came"

        Here, Silk resolves not to sleep until his mommy comes
        (here, it is Mama). Well, who does he meet in the next
        chapter?  Mamelta! And later, what do we get in
        Epiphany of the Long Sun (Calde,actually) on page 220:
        "The Outsider was the dancing man on a toy, and the
        water the polished toy-top on which he danced with
        Kypris, who was Hyacinth and Mother, too."

        Kypris is Mother!  and she is probably Mamelta, too. 
        Now I understand why the Mamelta scene is so familiar
        - it is like the Dorcas scene in Shadow of the
        Torturer - except instead of Grandma, we get Silk's
        mom! In the scene where he leaves his body, I am
        certain that the tall man with blue eyes is Pas, and 
        the mother (not the one who raised him) was Mamelta.


        --- On Tue, 12/21/10, Gerry Quinn <gerryq at indigo.ie> wrote:


          From: Gerry Quinn gerryq at indigo.ie


            I don't think Mamelta fits the part of Kypris well.  She seems to remember an ordinary life on Urth.  She doesn't speak like Kypris.  She gives no evidence of special concern with her appearance.  She is trained as a computer technician.

          Without any obvious evidence to vthe contrary, I assume she was just an ordinary Sleeper, one of an indeterminate but large number which may run into millions.

          During her beief appearance does she give any clues to suggest she is someone special?  She was awakened by Mucor, certainly, but she was not the first to be so awakened.

          - Gerry Quinn


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