(urth) Hyacinth and Seawrack

James Wynn crushtv at gmail.com
Fri Oct 22 11:06:04 PDT 2010


>> Dave Tallman-
>> I believe this is more about the Narrator's identity confusion than
>> any real identification of Hyacinth with Seawrack. He exchanges one
>> love for another because he is really two men. A similar mistake is
>> when he addresses one of his sons as "Horn" in the last book.
> I agree. IIRC, there are also other places where Silkhorn confuses one wife
> with the other, when he writes Hyacinth when he means Nettle. He also
> consciously substitutes Hyacinth's name for Nettle's at least once, when he
> spoke to Chandi: "As for me, I did not weep; but I was at least as homesick
> as she, and when she was calmer I told her about you, Nettle, calling you
> Hyacinth." (OBW, 222)
>
> He also mentions Seawrack's singing on the same page.

Hmmm... perhaps. But the fact that he is aware, in this event at least, 
that he is making these transpositions gives me pause.

u+16b9



More information about the Urth mailing list