Sunday 13 August 2017

Literary References

Poul Anderson, A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows IN Anderson, Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight Of Terra (Riverdale, NY, 2012), pp. 339-606.

I am carefully rereading a text, this time trying to understand every obscure or esoteric reference.

"'...remind me and I'll tell you about Jenkin's Ear. Nations on the brink don't need a large push to send them toppling." (Chapter XI, p. 485)

"'Trohdwyr would like a toast to his manes, wouldn't he?'" (Chapter XII, p. 489)

"'Hindsight is always keen, isn't it, while foresight stays myopic, astigmatic, strabismic, and drunk.'" (Chapter XI, p. 482)

"He drew on a cigaret, rolled acridity over his tongue and streamed it out his nostrils, as if this mordant would give reality a fast hold on him." (Chapter XII, p. 503)

(Apparently, "cigaret" is dated. I was not familiar with "mordant" as a noun.)

Two gas giants in the Zorian System are called "Svarog" and "Perun." (Chapter XIII, p. 512)

"'I was the Fabian this time, not you.'
"'The what? ...Never mind.'" (Chapter XIV, p. 523)

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And one literary reference I esp. appreciated in A KNIGHT OF GHOSTS AND SHADOWS was how Anderson had Aycharaych quoting part of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poem "A Musical Instrument." How much of a subtle sadist was he?

Sean