From: Reusch <newsun@freeway.net>
Subject: (whorl) identity crisis
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 97 22:34:57 


[Posted from WHORL, the mailing list for Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun]

Attention Mainframe! For some reason, I am no longer receiving =
messages from the Whorl. The last one was about a week ago. I've got =
a cat that I would love to sacrifice to you, if that would bring you =
back to my window.
Thanks for all of the responses to my questions. (I downloaded the =
archive to get them.) Vizcacha, I love the Rose as Echidna spin on =
her personality. It serves to further underscore the fact that NONE =
of the main characters in this book are who we (at first) think they =
are, or even who they think they are. But that brings me back to =
Pike; was he what he seemed? Silk "saw" that Pike was praying to the =
Outsider for help, and that he, Silk, was that help. Assuming that =
this is a true interpretation of a true vision, (and when dealing =
with Silk, that could be a dangerous assumption), why was Pike =
praying? For help, OK, but help for what? To save the manteion, Silk =
assumes. But what, in Pike's time, did the manteion need saving from? =
Tax collectors? Does a holy man pray for tax relief? And then get it? =
That seems pretty unlikely. And why did he pray to the outsider, =
instead of the gods of mainframe? Was he aware of their nature? =
Perhaps he was aware of Quetzal's nature, and was fighting against =
him? Perhaps he was working with Quetzal? Hmmm...
And yes, I agree with you that Rose is in effect a corpse. Was. Since =
a big chunk, if not all, of her memories and even personality get =
transferred to Marble via her "parts", it seems reasonable to assume =
that these are what was animating Rose, and not her brain.
As an aside, it seems unlikely that Horn would have any knowledge of =
that scene of Rose as Echidna kneeling before her daughter. Is this a =
contrived jab at a teacher that he didn't like?
About Silk's killing the bird on Blood's roof=8Byes, I'm aware of =
Silk's explanation of the bird "forgetting" that it couldn't fly, and =
falling to its death. It just seemed to me to be one of Silk's =
patented "all-too-quick-however-unlikely" assumptions. I was =
wondering if anyone had a more likely explanation. I guess that my =
thought was that it was further evidence of Silk's genetic super-hero =
abilities.
OK, Vance means fletcher (of arrows), so a natural choice for a =
pseudonym for myself would be some type of feather. Does anyone out =
there know anything about feathers? I don't. I'd like to use the name =
Ma'at, but that's a bit presumptuous, I suppose. 
May every god favor you
Vance