Saturday 21 April 2018

Three Senses On Nike

"Sunset rays turned the hilltop fiery. Farther down, the land was already blue with a dusk through which river, bay, and distant sea glimmered argent. Cloud banks towered in the east, blood-colored, dwarfing the Sawtooth Mountains that marked Hanno's frontier."
-Poul Anderson, "A Tragedy of Errors" IN Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (Riverdale, NY, 2012), pp. 455-540 AT p. 518.

Mountains, sea and an immense sky. Colors: red, blue and silver. At least two other senses? In the following paragraph:

"...the air was savagely cold... Above the drone of the combustion power-plant, [Tom] heard Yano Aran's teeth clatter." (ibid.)

Intense cold, droning and clattering. The cold air sears Tom's nostrils and numbs his fingers. Thus, we are treated to the usual multi-sensory description before the next phase of the action. "A Tragedy of Errors," like "Eutopia," might seem a mere chase and fight sequence but, of course, Poul Anderson gives more than this or we would not read and reread.

4 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I hope you noticed how "A Tragedy of Errors" has names like HANNO, the same as that of a major character in THE BOAT OF A MILLION YEARS. And I noticed how the farm wife met by Dagny and Yasmin was named "Elanor," the name of both a flower and Samgee's first daughter in THE LORD OF THE RINGS. Because of you I'm trying to notice such details! (Smiles)

Sean

Sean M. Brooks said...

Drat, I meant writ "Sam Gamgee" in my first comment. Somehow I botched it!

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
"Samgee" sounds like an OK type of guy!
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And I see now how "Samgee" was an unintentionally comic mistake!

Sean