(urth) Like a good Neighbor

[Sergei SOLOVIEV]

Dear James,

James Wynn wrote:
> On 11/21/2011 3:43 PM, Sergei SOLOVIEV wrote:
>> People who insist that Horn died in the pit apparently never lost 
>> consciousness
>> themselves - and do not remember how often in literature it is 
>> compared to death.
>> And what about people in so called "vegetable state"?
>> Is it easy to distinguish even medically? Some awake after many years
>> (without outside help!).
>> Some are killed legally.
>
> I don't know what to say to this, Sergei.
> I think people who claim that Seawrack was wrong need to explain why 
> Wolfe would have her make such a false diagnosis in the first place. 
> After all, he could have just had Horn get separated from Seawrack and 
> Babbie, to allow his encounter with Krait.
I think that Wolfe is step by step "building" (for us) her character. 
Mostly she is
shown through the eyes of Horn. False diagnosis says a lot about her - 
her naivety,
but also her "partly animal" nature acquired when she was living with Mother
and her cruelty - and simple way to look at live and death. In the 
beginning she is
just dazzlingly beautiful naked girl with one
hand (we quickly understand that it was eaten by Babbie, but this was 
not said directly),
but soon we start to understand her as a complex personality.

The idea that Horn literally died in the pit adds much less
from the point of view of understanding of his personality and quest.

I think that Wolfe himself is interested in various nuances on the
border of life and death. In the pit died the best part of Horn's life.

What part of his life died when he met his father in the Whorl? I think
that this encounter has to be considered under this angle as well.

Something died when he met (during a "ghost visit" to Green) chained
Chenille and learned what happened to her and Auk on Green. (I am
not sure, was it some part of Horn or Silk's soul that was in danger there.)

In the end of the OBW, the scene where one hypothesis says that
Horn's soul went into Babbie, I see a possibility of different reading.
I think the Outsider is involved, and in some sense Silkhorn runs
to him in the forest LIKE Babbie did (or would) run to himself.

And if Horn completely died (departed) in the very end (after
Remora quoted the lines about Hyacinth), who (he or Silk) wanted
so much to call Seawrack - and why Silk (if only Silk remains)
departed with her? Did she replace in some way Hyacinth for
him? Why did she accept him, instead of Horn?

> Additionally, they need to explain why the text is justified at the 
> end of Chapter 8, entitled "The End".
>
> ***************
> Very suddenly I was falling into darkness.
>
> Here and thus baldly I had intended to end both tonight’s labor and 
> this whole section of my narrative. I wiped this new quill of Oreb’s 
> and put it away, shut up the scuffed little pen case I found where my 
> father must have left it in the ashes of our old shop, and locked the 
> drawer that holds this record, a thick sheaf of paper already.
>
> But it cannot be. It cannot be a mere incident like Wijzer’s drawing 
> his map and the rest. Either that fall must be the end of the entire 
> work (which might be wisest) or else it cannot close at all.
>
> So let me say this to whoever may read. With that fall, the best part 
> of my life was over. The pit was its grave.
> ***************

As I explain, it is one of many ends. And I think the reading is richer 
if you do
not see maximal "yes" or maximal "no" on any occasion.

Best

Sergei
>
> _______________________________________________
> Urth Mailing List
> To post, write urth at urth.net
> Subscription/information: http://www.urth.net