Literature and Writing Quotes in Hyperion

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #1

Who orchestrates this s***pot of a plot, anyway? (1.71)

Silenus makes a lot of meta statements, this being one of the first. Here, he's comparing life to a novel. Truth is stranger than fiction, and all that. He's also saying that the plot of this book is absolutely bananas. Hey, he said it. Not us!

Quote #2

In the beginning was the Word. Then came the f***ing word processor. Then came the thought processor. Then came the death of literature. And so it goes. (3.23)

This is a Slaughterhouse-Five reference, where they say "so it goes" when something dies. Even intangible objects, like literacy.

Quote #3

Dislinear plotting and non-contiguous prose have their adherents [...] but in the end, my friends, it is character which wins or loses immortality upon the vellum. (3.34)

The Poet's Tale, told by Silenus, is dislinear, so clearly he's one of those adherents. Only time will tell if his character will achieve immortality, both in the story and in the course of literary history.