(urth) Short Sun blog

[Lee Berman]

>Gerry Quinn: Not a strong 'Spring' association.  And if we lose the 'typhoon' 
>association, the wind connection is even weaker.
 
Agreed. But if the sirrocco winds of Typhon-Set were a spring-only phenomenon my 
skepticism on this theory would be significantly erased. Typhon-Set was a god of
wind. 
 
>The drought (as well as any unexpectedly hot winds) is a consequence of the 
>blockage of some of the Whorl's ventilation tunnels over time; it is an 
>indication of the decrepitude of the Whorl.  The Whorl as built by 
>Pas/Typhon did not suffer from drought.

There are some who feel the Whorl's failures are the result of planned obsolescence.
i.e. Typhon/Pas wanted it to fail to discourage the residents from staying on. (FWIW-
the Babylonian cognate to Typhon, Pazuzu, was also a god/demon of winds. I suspect this
is at least a partial inspiration for the name "Pas")
 
>If there were strong associations between Spring Wind and Typhon, such as a suggestion of 
>two heads, I'd credit it.  But I think it's a stretch to read an identification into what 
>we see here.

Surely it is a stretch. But many think that stretching one's intuition is necessary to 
understand these stories. If all the implied associations were strong, obvious ones, it 
wouldn't be a Gene Wolfe book.
 
On the other hand, guarding against over-stretching is surely also a necessary function of 
understanding. Finding a balance is the reason we are here, is it not?  Happily the 
decision on where to draw the line is quite individualized for each person and for each
Wolfe mystery.