Friday 16 February 2018

Daniel Holm And Ferune

The Avalonian rotation period is just under half the Terrestrial. That has to make a major difference to life. The axial tilt is just slightly less than Terrestrial. Gray, at about 43 degrees North, has short nights, especially in summer. Daniel Holm wonders if it is the short nights that make him tired but reasons that they cannot be the cause. His ancestors came to Avalon centuries previously with Falkayn.

Two details in Holm's conversation with his senior Marchwarden, Ferune -

in Planha, Ferune says in two syllables and three expressions what would have required a sentence in Anglic;

speaking of his son who has "gone bird"/joined a choth, Holm says:

"'Ordinary girls aren't his type any more; and bird girls -'"
-Poul Anderson, The People Of The Wind IN Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2011), pp. 437-662 AT p. 461.

It is authentic dialogue when a character leaves a sentence unfinished. But what would Holm have said about "bird girls" if he had completed that sentence? See:

Arinnian's Problem
Arinnian's Problem II
Arinnian's Problems
In The Nest

Anderson imagines a psychological problem that can arise only if human beings meet beings like the Ythrians.

3 comments:

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Kaor, Paul!

I'm not quite sure what Daniel Holm meant by "bird girls." Does he mean human women who had joined Ythrian choths or Ythrian females? Is he fearing that his son's longing to be literally Ythrian means he would be attracted by Ythrian females? That last would obviously be impossible and hopeless for Christopher Holm.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
"Bird girls" means human women who have "gone bird"/joined a choth and Chris does have a big problem in how he relates to them but I wish Daniel had completed his sentence.
Paul.

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Kaor, Paul!

It was that incomplete sentence of Daniel which made me wonder if he feared his son was hopelessly, impossibly, attracted to Ythrian females, esp. Eyath.

Sean