(urth) Lupiverse(es)

[James Wynn]

On 3/15/2012 2:16 PM, Lee Berman wrote:
> James when you discuss the gnostic principle of creator gods who are not God,
> I am assuming (hopefully correctly) that you are acknowledging the attribution
> of demonic, perhaps satanic identity to the demiurge.
>
> By tying The Outsider to Dionysus, I think Wolfe creates a similar connection of
> the Outsider to Typhon/Pas as for Dionysus to Pan. (and we know from BotNS that
> TYphon has some satanic allusions to him).
> We know that the popular horned-goat image of Satan is derived from a demonization
> of Dionysus/Great God Pan. Pas, whose name is suggested as derived from Pan, is a
> clearly demiurgical figure in the creation and rule of the Whorl.

I think we also disagree that The Short Sun conflates the Outsider with 
Dionysus. I think it is more likely that it conflates Dionysus with the 
inhabitants of Green and with the Rajan (who is a Neighbor).  It seems 
there are other instances in which Wolfe associates Dionysus with Faeri.

I know there is a connection to the inhumi generally and to Quetzal 
particularly.

So to associate the Outsider with Dionysus as well would put of very 
dark spin on the Outsider indeed.

I don't think Silk/Pas-as-Pan is to be  *directly* identified with 
Dionysus. Let's assume Wolfe is riffing on the Pan-to-Faun-to-Satyr 
association. Well, the satyrs are in the /company/ of Dionysus. This 
works with the Silver Silk/Silent Silk as Silvanus and Silenius. Also, 
the prophet Aristaeus (to whose life Silk tracks) was a devotee of 
Orpheus and later a /follower/ of Dionysus.

All this distinctly separates Silk/Pas/Typhon (at least in the 
Long/Short Sun) from the Outsider. There is a good chance that were are 
expected to associate the natives of Green and Blue with Dionysus. And 
to see Silk as their ultimate "companion".

J.