Saturday 30 March 2019

Another Understated Biblical Reference In A Poul Anderson Novel

Poul Anderson, Tau Zero, CHAPTER 7.

I nearly read past this:

"The basic Mene, Mene stood unchanged on the panel." (p. 65)

What is "Mene" and why is it repeated? Since nowadays we can google, the answer is easily found. See Belshazzar's Feast. This is yet another Biblical reference and it would have been extremely remiss of me to read past it. Check everything in an Anderson text. Then reread the entire text and check everything that you missed the first time.

Breakfast is over and real life beckons. For each and all of us, the writing is on the wall. Every insect on Earth is on track to be wiped out and half of life could be gone by 2050. We are living in the Chaos.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Dang! I would probably have quickly read past this "Mene Mene" moment in TAU ZERO! And since I have read the Book of Daniel it would have been extremely remiss of me to have not noticed this Biblical reference.

The story of the greatness and then madness of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in
Daniel has stuck with me.

Sean