Tuesday 14 August 2018

Concluding Details, Josserek And Van Rijn

Poul Anderson, The Winter Of The World.

Is this yet another description of the Milky Way?:

"...beneath a winter-stark Argent Way." (XXI, p. 190)

Sensory Descriptions
In XIX, p. 173:
the myriad greens of the prairie grass pale and shine almost silver;
the wind smells of grass and of sunlight;
red-patched blackbirds cry sweetly;
high above, swans are white amidst blue.

(Since wind is felt as well as smelled, this paragraph evokes four senses.)

In XXII, p. 200:
ridges and valleys glitter;
warmth grows;
mists glimmer and vanish;
the breeze ruffles pools in hollows;
grass is intensely green;
forget-me-nots are blue;
pines abide;
willows shake;
new birch leaves dance;
sun, wings and song fill a cloudless sky;
cows are red;
hares bolt;
pheasants fly;
bees and dragonflies quest;
eddying air smells of earth or of river.

(Again, four senses.)

Josserek concludes that "...Rogaviki are wild animals." (XXII, p. 207)

- whereas all other human beings are domesticated.

In Anderson's "The Master Key," Nicholas van Rijn concludes that, on the planet Cain, the dominant species, the Yildivians, are intelligent wild animals - wild in the way that tigers or buffalo are - whereas the subordinate species, the Lugals, are not slaves but intelligent domesticated animals. Van Rijn concludes the story by claiming that he and his friends are wild animals doing what they want or what is right but that most human beings are domesticated at heart:

"He glared outward across the city, where it winked and glittered beneath the stars, around the curve of the planet. 'Do you think they yonder is free?' he shouted. His hand chopped downward in scorn."
-Poul Anderson, "The Master Key" IN Anderson, David Falkayn: Star Trader (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 273-327 AT p. 327.

I quote this passage partly because I like the image of the city winking and glittering beneath the stars around the curve of the planet, especially since we know that these characters travel to those stars and that their lives are a single phase in a long History.

Van Rijn is at least partly wrong. Wild animals do what they want but not what is right. Doing what is right, or even just knowing what is right and not doing it!, is specific to human beings and therefore is something that van Rijn shares with the scorned "domesticated" human beings who must include many of his co-religionists. The collective labor by hand and brain of human beings who stay at home and raise families builds and maintains a city that curves around the planet so I feel solidarity with them as well as with van Rijn's little band of wild adventurers.

In The Winter Of The World, at the end of Chapter XXI, Captain General Sidir, unwillingly plunged into a river, draws his saber and swims to the shore where his Rogaviki enemies wait. Will his story continue? Will the Rogaviki take him prisoner, then send him home to bear their defiant message to his Emperor? We should know better than that by now. The Rogaviki do not take prisoners.

On the concluding page, XXII, p. 208, the Rogaviki woman, Donya, demonstrates her "inhumanity" by tearing up the letter from her former human lover, saying that his words want their freedom.

This has been a long morning of blogging. My agenda for the rest of today is:

lunch with Ketlan;
start rereading and posting about Anderson's Twilight World;
read Leon Trotsky's My Life.

Onward, Earthlings!

6 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

While I agree with much of what you said about the "domesticated" humans who aroused Nicholas van Rijn's anger at the end of "The Master Key," I still think you are missing an important point Old Nick tried to make. His complaint was that too many humans are too willing to be like the Lugals of Cain. And not that not enough of them were spacefarers like him and his friends. Van Rijn's view was that too many humans wanted someone else to take care of them, to make for them all the major decisions of life.

Well, the Killimararaichians, being human, almost certainly would have accepted the surrender of any Rahidians who tried to do so to them. I recall Josserek's horror and dismay at how the Rogaviki murdered the herald and prisoners of war.

Josserek's letter to Donya mentioned his doubt, I think, of how long Arvanneth could remain independent of the Empire, considering how it was next door to it and Killimaraich so far away. I'm sure the Empire would make darn sure the Killimaraich could not pull off the same surprise on it by occupying the Caribbean islands they had hidden on. I've also wondered if Sidir's son by his Rahidian wife would grow up to become a soldier and reconquer Arvanneth for Rahid. By then I would expect Imperial scholars to be aware of the evolutionary theories worked out by "hereditarian savants" in Killimaraich. Theories which they would then apply to the Rogaviki to determine their strengths and weaknesses alike.

And Donya's reaction to Josserek's letter was to tear it up? NOT what I would have done, to say the least! MY reaction would have been to preserve the letter, pondering and trying to understand Josserek's words. Even to copy it and spread it among my fellows. Donya's tearing up of the letter makes me wonder how DEEPLY Josserek's words had truly affected her.

I've wondered why you have said almost nothing about Yurussun Soth-Zora, Sidir's Rahidian co-viceroy for civil affairs in Arvanneth and the Imperial Voice. Even if Yurussun only appeared in two or three chapters, I recalled him as a very interesting character in his own right.

I still have 44 more pages to go in my hardback copy of THE AVATAR. After which I plan to reread THE WINTER OF THE WORLD. Not sure if I will reread TWILIGHT WORLD, but I will definitely read your comments on that book with interest!

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
Yurussun didn't grab my attention as much but he is an interesting guy. He warns Sidir about Rogaviki women. Sidir ignores the warning - or is unable to resist Donya.
Paul.

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
OK. Got it about van Rijn's take on domesticated human beings.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Exactly! Yurussun Soth-Zora had had experience with Rogaviki women when he was young--and came to have some understanding of how dangerous they could be for non-Rogaviki men. And I wish Sidir had heeded Yurussun's warnings. I was also interested in Sidir's comments about Rahidian civilization.

Sean

Nicholas D. Rosen said...

Kaor, Paul and Sean!

First, it seems that wild animals may do what the6 see as right. I remember reading of an experiment in which a monkey remained hungry for a long period rather than press a button which, as he had discovered, had two effects: to dispense food to him, and to give an electric shock to another monkey in a different cage. The source where I read of this commented that the monkey seemed to have better ethics than the experimenter.

If I recall Josserek’s letter correctly, he didn’t expect the Rahidian Empire to reconquer Arvanneth; he speculated on whether Arvanneth, Rahid, or Killimaraich would dominate islands of the Caribbean. Donya tore up the letter, but she expressed the intention of passing on the ideas therein, while giving Josserek’s words their freedom, a matter of respecting his personal privacy, I believe.

Best Regards,
Nicholas

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Nicholas,

Thanks. A lot more research is necessary on animal behavior and psychology. But we still judge human beings in ways that we don't judge other species. Many animals can kill but only a human being can be found guilty of murder.

Your interpretation of Donya's action is valid.

Paul.