I just have equally compelling arguments in my head for each of those instances that point to other things, that's all.<br><br>It is a big book indeed.<br><br>And no, I'm not tweaking your ear about Oreb. Maybe Wolfe didn't do as good of a job in thinking about the inability to distinguish between alive and dead birds as you, but to me, it seems ridiculous to posit a resurrected Oreb. By whom? Is Silk Severian now, and Oreb Triskele? Was Oreb Scylla the entire time? Can Mainframe gods ressurect dead animals? What point would ressurecting a character have when that character was just introduced.<br>
<br>If you could answer any of those questions (maybe you can) then I might entertain the thought. I can't think of possible expliantions for any of them, though. <br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 3:50 PM, James Wynn <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:crushtv@gmail.com">crushtv@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div class="im"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
I also just don't see how it adds anything<br>
to the thematic content, and to me it also<br>
takes away from it, which is one of the tests<br>
I usually posit Wolfe Textual theories against.<br>
</blockquote>
<br></div>
It is loaded with thematic content.<br>
1) Foremost, it is a rationalization of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--the same and yet distinct. In Augustinian theology, the person of the Holy Spirit is the relationship, the love, the connection between the Father and the Son. Of course, it works even better if one accepts that Horn is a clone of Typhon and that Silk is the son of Typhon and Kypris and that Silk is possessed by (or in some other way *is*) Pas/Typhon. But it is not necessary.<br>
<br>
2) Also, the ability for the Ring Bearer Horn to receive the rights to Blue is analogous to the right of Jesus Christ to have redeem humanity and to be the Mediator between God and man: He must be 100% human and 100% Neighbor.<br>
<br>
3) It also fits with concepts that Wolfe has tinkered with elsewhere, such as the alien VRT becoming a "perfect" imitation of Marsch and Mani the cat being neither a cat nor an elemental spirit.<br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div class="im">
For instance, seeing someone unmoving at the bottom<br>
of a dimly lit pit from 30 feet, and assuming them dead,<br>
does not, to me, seem at all unusual.<br></div>
[snip]<div class="im"><br>
And Oreb was clearly faking it. Not resurrecting. ;)<br>
</div></blockquote>
<br>
(sigh)<br>
Maybe you're just tweaking my ear. But, there are readers who believe<br>
this so I'll act like you aren't:<br>
An ability to perfectly feign death well enough to fool four expert<br>
witnesses is a power I was not aware night choughs possessed. I'm sure<br>
you've held birds in your hand before. An avian heartbeat is not something<br>
that one would fail to detect. But maybe Horn learned it from Oreb.<div class="im"><br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
And as for the neighbor saying "I am Horn" I can write more<br>
on that later. That one line, if taken by itself, may indicate<br>
what you mean.<br>
</blockquote>
<br></div>
This would mean nothing to me except when combined with the other stuff.<br>
Sure, you can individually dispense each of these in turn. Seawrack could not be as sure Horn was dead as she claimed. The Neighbor identifying himself as Horn could mean many things (even if the *Rajan* is Horn, it's not absolutely clear what it means). Horn's denial that he was on Green was to draw out Fava (then why tell the story?). Silk is a an anorexic masochist.<br>
Oh yeah, then there is the *Rajan* saying that he killed Hide and Hoof's father.<br>
<br>
But you pile all these together and they point to something else. They do to me, anyway. I could be wrong in the particular explanation, I guess, but there is something more than Horn-->SilkHorn going on, and I don't know what resolves all these better than what I've presented.<br>
<br>
Of course, I'm right but Wolfe's stories are big enough for the both of us.<br>
;-)<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
J.<br>
<br>
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