(urth) the prime calcula/his citadel and other quotes

[Gerry Quinn]

From: "James Wynn" <crushtv at gmail.com>

> On 1/19/2011 9:14 AM, Gerry Quinn wrote:
>> You forget that people like Kypris and Echidna knew him intimately, and 
>> Mamelta and Rigoglio knew him recently (in their terms). And Silk isn't 
>> just a random guy, the guy on the Whorl most likely to win a Typhon 
>> lookalike contest.  He's the main character.
>
> Why do you think the gods would have remarked on it at all?

Why not?  We have three gods at least that have long conversations with 
Silk, and all three have completely different motivations.  I can imagine 
good reasons for Kypris to keep silent.  I can't imagine any plausible 
reasons why Wolfe would not have Echidna and/or Scylla acknowledge it in 
some way.  It doesn't have to be Burroughs style (though something along the 
lines of your Burroughs parody might actually work well enough for Echidna). 
Even a "You look like him, a little" from Scylla would be something.  But 
there's nothing - nothing at all.


> Why do you think, after their memory tinkering, that it is self-evident 
> that Mamelta and Rigoglio would have recognized Typhon (rather than Pas) 
> if he walked in the room?

Mamelta is very clear about how Molpe (she doesn't use that name, nor 
Pas's - she calls Pas the Monarch, and Rigoglio also makes it clear that he 
knew Pas by a different name) danced through her dreams.  Rigoglio talks 
about Typhons life and deeds, right down to his military strategy.  It's 
clear that the amount of memory tinkering is quite limited ("as much as they 
dared").

Now in truth the memory tinkering actually seems a bit odd and mysterious. 
My pet theory is that maybe the operations were not about memory at all, but 
to remove technology that allowed people on Urth to communicate 
telepathically but also allowed the rulers to prowl through their minds, but 
there's little real evidence for it - it just seems like a more plausible 
reason for the operations).  But one thing we do know for sure is that the 
memory loss was very incomplete.

Anyway, that's beside the point.  Some of these people - and others, such as 
Mint - can have their not mentioning the resemblance explained away.  But 
ALL of them?  Why?  It's like Murder on the Orient Express, but with no 
detective!  When has Wolfe ever worked like that?

- Gerry Quinn