From: James Jordan <jbjordan4@home.com>
Subject: Re: (whorl) Silkhorn^H^H^H^H and Severian
Date: Fri, 01 Jun 2001 12:30:20 

         Hmmm. Others have objected that Silk merely recognizes who he has 
been all along at the end, but I've never been happy with that. I think you 
are on to something really important. I think up to this point, the 
Narrator really has been Horn in Silk's body, and that then Silk is 
resurrected in some important sense, with the result that both are now 
alive in Silk's body at the end. In fact, given how Severian himself 
exists, I'd say Silk is now primary, with Horn alive inside him, as Thecla 
and others are alive inside of Severian. Silk is primary, like Severian, 
because it is Silk's body and not Horn's.
         I'm thinking too of the words of the Neighbor, that Silk's 
"spirit" is dying. Clearly Silk's body does not die. When Silk's spirit is 
resurrected (and as Dan'l noted, he is in astral form, so a "spirit" 
resurrection makes perfect sense), it takes back over Silk's body, and Horn 
recedes to a Thecla status. Like Thecla, Horn's body is dead, but his 
spirit still lives, in Silk.
         Your thesis supports my "Christian theology" contention that 
Horn-Narrator has been living off the body and blood of Silk, and adds to 
it that after Silk's resurrection, Horn lives "in Silk." Both are core 
aspects of Christian thought (Christians live off the body and blood of the 
crucified Christ; Christians life "in" the resurrected Christ), and it 
makes a lot of sense to me that Wolfe would play with both ideas.
         I like your thesis a lot. It justifies what seems like a wholly 
gratuitous introduction of Severian into the text, and I think it ties up a 
lot of questions. I'm on your side (for now anyway).

Nutria

At 03:14 PM 5/31/2001 -0700, you wrote:
>I promised you folks an unfounded speculation.
>Several
>participants on this list have mentioned that some
>crucial event seems to occur between Silkhorn's last
>two astral trips to Urth.  In the second-last, Hoof
>says Silkhorn "looked more like our father there, not
>really like him, but more than on Blue."  (RRTTW,
>Chap.
>17, two trips in quick succession to the _Samru_.)  In
>the last, Hoof says, "Before he had looked a lot like
>our real father, and Hide says that is the way he
>always looked on the Red Sun Whorl. Now he did not."
>(Chap. 19, a mausoleum [apparently not Severian's
>hideout] in the necropolis, and the oubliette.)  But
>we're told about very little that happens between
>these two trips.  And what is the reason for this
>strange clarity on such an important point as the
>hero's
>astral appearance?
>
>Several people have also criticized Silkhorn's
>meetings
>with Severian for being indecisive, apparently just
>for
>decoration--"fanficcy", as Jacob Corbin aptly said.
>
>So could there be a connection between these two
>puzzles?  Are you already ahead of me?  Does Severian
>by his mere presence resurrect Silk?  Right around the
>same time, Triskele stirred to life beneath his hand,
>two years before the Claw came to him.  (From
>somewhere
>at the end of _Citadel_.)
>
>There's a strong objection to this speculation: the
>transformation happens at the wrong time.  We might
>have expected it at Silkhorn's first meeting with
>Severian (Chap. 13), or failing that, when he dreams
>of
>Severian (Chap. 15), or at their last meeting, but not
>in between.
>
>I can see two answers to the objection.  First, time
>does strange things around Severian and the Claw (or
>vice-versa).  Second, maybe it was a gradual process
>that Hoof didn't really notice till it was (almost?)
>complete.  This latter could also apply to other
>possible causes for the change of appearance.
>
>Incidentally, the trip on the _Samru_ to see the Great
>Scylla might also have had something to do with Silk's
>resurrection.  The trip ends on Ocean, and maybe they
>pass the beaches where the wild roses grow whose
>thorns
>are Claws.  (Yes, it's my favorite scene too.  And
>above I typed "horns" instead of "thorns".)
>
>Any comments?
>
>--
>Jerry Friedman
>
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