(urth) Babbiehorn?: Was: a sincere question mostly for roy

[Gerry Quinn]

From: James Wynn 


  From: James Wynn 
  > > Why is she hanging out with her own "Oreb"?
  > Gerry Quinn wrote:
  > > Is she?  Mucor, Pike and Oreb appear at roughly the same time 
  > > and place, but no one of them is actually “with” any other. Silk 
  > > wakes up and sees Oreb hop out the window.  Then he sees Mucor 
  > > by his bed.  Mucor vanishes. 

> Just a big coincidence? 

I’m just saying that there is no indication that they are together.  Which is very odd, if your time travelling explanation has any validity.  Where’s Pike at this time?  Mucor is long gone when he appears.  And when he appears he has no raven.
  > > He goes down and interrogates Oreb, who denies being there, although
  >  > Silk doesn’t believe him.  [Silk thinks Oreb was frightened by Mucor and 
  > > jumped out the windows, dropping down to the kitchen window below. 
  > >  We aren’t told whether this is what happened or not, but it’s at least possible.] 

> This is Silk's rationalization since...what else could it be? In literature, this is
>  called irony. The reader is expected to arrive at meaning that the character 
> cannot. But this is a Wolfe novel. The meaning is unavailable to the reader 
> until after he has read all 7 volumes. Even before SS was published, readers 
> recognized that the Oreb in the window was problem.

Sure.  Silk may well be rationalising – I don’t dispute that.  On the other hand, his detective work is good elsewhere, such as when he pins the killing of Orpine on Chenille, so I don’t arbitrarily discount the explanation either.


> This post demonstrates how unuseful your pose is toward Wolfe's works. It 
> is one thing to say "I want to use only overt statements of fact in the books 
> to resolve puzzles" (good luck to you). It is another thing to say, "I have not 
> succeeded in resolving a puzzle using my method, therefore no puzzle exists".

If you’re going to put words in my mouth, try to use words that approximate in some way to what I have said.  I said Silk’s explanation for Oreb is at least possible.  I did not say it was correct, nor that no puzzle exists.  

  > > Silk hears noises upstairs again and goes up.  This time he sees Pike’s 
  > > ghost.  He recognises “the aged augur” as Pike.  No staves or missing 
  > > eyes are mentioned.  No bird is present.Pike is wearing a blue-trimmed 
  > > calot hat – does the Rajan wear such a thing?

> Um...(as soothingly as possible) no. This is *Pike's* callotte that Silk wore in his
>  robbery.  The Rajan leaves it behind when he leaves. Why would you even ask 
> such a question?

So why is the Rajan (if it is he) wearing it?  It seems a reasonable question.  Mind you, at least it is something he actually *does* on this supposed time-travelling excursion, which otherwise seems largely unmotivated.  

  > > I don’t know where Pike’s ghost comes from.  But I am unconvinced 
  > > that he is Silk from the future.  Does Pike look like Silk?  He should look 
  > > like Blood, if anyone.

> One very obvious conclusion is that Pike looks as Silk will look when he is old. 
> Alternately, an obvious conclusion following from that is that Pike and Master 
> Malrubius look strikingly similar.

But Silk as the Rajan is *not* all that old.  Also, he has only one eye.  I don’t know what Master Malrubius has to do with the issue of whether Pike looks like an older Silk, but there doesn’t seem like there should be any biological reason for such a resemblance between Pike and Silk.

- Gerry Quinn






 


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