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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=dstockhoff@verizon.net
href="mailto:dstockhoff@verizon.net">David Stockhoff</A>
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<DIV><BR>> (1) You're right that no knowledge of obscure fauns is "needed."
Full <BR>> understanding of exactly how Wolfe composes and constructs his
stories <BR>> is not "needed." Not every reader knows his/her mythology
backwards and <BR>> forwards or wants to. But Wolfe does.<BR></DIV>
<DIV>That doesn’t mean he sets cryptic crossword puzzles using this
knowledge. I think he chooses names that he feels are appropriate, but
they do *not* indicate that the bearer is similar to or replicating behaviour of
his namesake. That would be ugly and obvious. (If a character is
performing something like the labours of Hercules, he will not be named Hercules
or Hercule.) Instead, the names create an ambiance. If he does
tricks with the names they are in-story, like the councillors getting names of
old world monkeys.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Rhea Silvia doesn’t contradict this: she is a particular identifiable
character, not a clone. The same for Dionysus et al. Jesus on Palm
Sunday isn’t named (indeed, I think Wolfe usually avoids giving names to
characters we are supposed to recognise) but it’s obvious who is meant.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>> (2) These fauns are hardly "obscure"!<BR></DIV>
<DIV>All fauns are obscure! Except maybe Tumnus.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>> (3) The syllables "silen" and "silv" are not exactly random. If
they <BR>> were random, they might be "xy" or "kra" or "chih." Perhaps you
mean <BR>> it's pure alliteration? Silly Silk would do just as well then.
Sober <BR>> Silk. Serious Silk. Anything that starts with S and fits Silk
would do.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>‘Silent’ and ‘Silver’ are not random. The reasons they are used is
given, and is clear. Actually it would be hard to find equally good
alternatives given the story, but of course Wolfe, if he wanted to put in some
cryptic reference of the kind postulated, could have had Silk develop some
characteristic other than looking silently through the Sacred Windows. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The ‘link’ to Silenus and Silvanus is random, IMO. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Tartaros is called ‘Tenebrous Tartarus’. In Magic the Gathering
there’s a card:</DIV>
<DIV id=ctl00_ctl00_ctl00_MainContent_SubContent_SubContent_nameRow class=row>
<DIV class=label> </DIV>
<DIV class=value><FONT face="Times New Roman">Teneb, the
Harvester</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV id=ctl00_ctl00_ctl00_MainContent_SubContent_SubContent_manaRow class=row>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: 25px" class=label><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Legendary Creature — Dragon</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV id=ctl00_ctl00_ctl00_MainContent_SubContent_SubContent_textRow class=row>
<DIV class=value>
<DIV class=cardtextbox><FONT face="Times New Roman">Flying</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=cardtextbox><FONT face="Times New Roman">Whenever Teneb, the
Harvester deals combat damage to a player, you may pay 2 Black mana. If you do,
put target creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your
control.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=cardtextbox><FONT face="Times New Roman">So... maybe Tartaros killed
that mysterious dead woman in the alley, and that gave him the power to restore
Auk (who actually died of his head injury) to life?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=cardtextbox><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV class=cardtextbox><FONT face="Times New Roman">Or we could try the Sith
Lord Teneb from Star wars, that might work better with the gods of Mainframe.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=cardtextbox><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV class=cardtextbox><FONT face="Times New Roman">You may think these are
laughable, but with a bit of effort I could find better syllables
everywhere. If I boned up on ancient mythology, I could do just as well as
googling for nerd mythology.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=cardtextbox><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV>> You may not realize it but you are actually formulating a separate
<BR>> theory here, based on nothing visible, that says "why we should reject
<BR>> particular data as evidence." It's the intellectual opposite of "all
<BR>> noise (i.e., linkage) is evidence."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>What theory do you think I’m formulating, exactly? I’ll allow that
syllabic evidence like this might in principle mean something in some
cases. I’m pointing out that in assessing it you must realise how much
similar stuff can be found in random noise – I think people underestimate
that.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Do we have cases where the syllables clearly mean something in terms of a
particular seemingly unconnected referent?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>- Gerry Quinn</DIV>
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