Friday 27 May 2016

The Devil Speaks

The Devil speaks in:

parts of the Bible;
Paradise Lost by John Milton;
Magic Inc by Robert Heinlein;
Operation Chaos by Poul Anderson;
The Day After Judgment by James Blish;
Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle;
The Sandman by Neil Gaiman;
Lucifer by Mike Carey (see image).

A demon speaks in Perelandra by CS Lewis but Ransom does not ask which one.

Milton follows Genesis;
Anderson follows Heinlein;
Blish follows Dante and Milton;
Niven and Pournelle follow Dante;
Carey follows Gaiman;
Lewis follows Genesis and Milton.

Anderson's Adversary is actively malicious:

"...the end of every hope and every faith..."
-Operation Chaos (New York, 1995), Chapter XI, p. 75 -

- whereas Gaiman's Lucifer, as developed by Carey, aims only to enact his own will unimpeded by God or anyone else. After ten billion years spent ruling Hell merely because it is far from Heaven, he rejects the Adversary role and goes elsewhere.

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