(urth) fifth head owlet- wolf
Gerry Quinn
gerry at bindweed.com
Fri Mar 29 19:43:23 PDT 2013
From: Gerry Quinn
> I don't think we know that VRT is half-human. It is a wise child that
> knows his father.
'A Story' (written by VRT), indicates that the abos recognise only the
female genetic line:
***********************************
"[You] resemble BloodyFinger"
"His mother's mother and my mother's were probably sisters or something"
**********************************
One interpretation, perhaps a tad postmodern for SF, is that this relates to
Victor's childhood - his 'father' may have traded his mother as a whore, so
even if human he would not know his genetic father, and this is reflected in
the gloss he puts on abo sexual theory. However, I think this is the wrong
sort of fifty pound theory to be hanging on anything.
It is not unreasonable to assume that the abos (I mean Hillmen and Marshmen)
reproduce as we do and either wilfully or ignorantly ignore the male genetic
strand. One could also speculate that their reproductive system is
otherwise, though I still don't really find a direct influence of trees very
plausible. Still, there are a few other lines that might point that way -
"mostly we were long and lived between the roots of trees" is one, and
another is the mysterious "old wood" phrase of Monsieur Culot's deceased
father. Has anyone figured out what exact French phrase could be being
referenced here?
All in all, I tend to think of these issues as unknown and not really
important. The genetic heritage of a shapeshifter is less significant than
that of a human [of course this can be tied to the resonances with Earthly
colonisation]. Essentially, I don't like to make the machine too
complicated. The book is not a puzzle with a precise solution. Certain
parts of the picture are precise; others would require further research, in
a parallel universe in which the book were continued.
- Gerry Quinn
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