Thursday 24 November 2016

The Ocean

"Seen from the surface the swell was like the surge of a giant's muscle beneath them, infinite power enclosed in a silk-smooth skin, dangerous and beautiful...she could feel the living heave of the ocean..."
-SM Stirling, On The Oceans Of Eternity (New York, 2000), Chapter Ten, p. 205.

The ocean sustains life and seems to be alive, like a giant - or a god. That power abides even in a technological future:

"...the Pacific Ocean. Sheening and billowing under a full Luna, those waters gave a sense of ancient forces still within this planet...still biding their time."
-Poul Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (Riverdale, NY, 2012), p. 50.

Flandry's successors will probably invoke the gods when civilization falls.

4 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Not only will people invoke "gods" after the Empire fell, we see belief in ONE God surviving. We see one character, during a moment of frustration, exclaiming "In God's name!" in "The Sharing of Flesh."

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

Sean,
Indeed. Also, follow the link on this post to an earlier post where I have added a comment on an earlier discussion.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I assume you meant the link connecting readers to a discussion of how Poul Anderson's sea god Lir reminded us of the Tartessian Arucuttag of the Sea.

Paul Shackley said...

Sean,
Yes. The post "Two Gods And One Being" begins "Mananaan is humanoid (see image...," You rightly pointed out that the image on that post showed no humanoid form. However, the opening paragraph of the post was copied from an earlier post, "Lir." I have added another link after "(see image..., to make this clearer.
Paul.