"...a story laid some centuries hence must be thought of as a translation, not merely of language but of personalities and concepts corresponding only approximately to anything we know."
-see here.
Too true. Like some passages in The Game Of Empire, the conversation between Flandry/"Captain Ahab Whaling" and the Imperial Resident on Diomedes makes us think of Kipling.
"'Abominably poor manners, but that's policy for you, what?'" (p.437)
"'You and Maspes seem offhand to've put on a jolly good show.'" (p. 441)
Flandry's affected persona and conversational style are presented to us as if they were those of a British Imperialist but he could have been made to sound like a CIA man or like an Intelligence agent from any other historical milieu.
8 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, but Flandry was trying to get himself underrated, to have the Resident and his staff think he was just a dolt going thru enough of the motions to "Justify" promoting him. That would have been harder to if he had behaved and spoken in a businesslike, sensible way.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Yes, I understand that. But, when his Anglic dialogue is translated into English for our benefit, he sounds like a Brit. He could equally have been made to sound like a Yank or something else.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Anderson probably did not do that because it might have seemed too ordinary and everyday, it would not stand OUT enough. So, he had Flandry talking like Bertie Wooster. (Smiles)
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Again, I understand. But it is interesting to reflect that it is a translation and could have been done differently.
Paul.
Also, Technic society in Flandry’s day is a monarchy and has a hereditary aristocracy. Even nepotism — a universal phenomenon — takes a different form than it would in contemporary America.
CIA officers don’t affect that surface-negligent, gentleman-amateur tone; they’re more likely to be meritocratic and intensely work-oriented, conscious of educational credentials, and if flamboyant they’ll do it in a.”cowboy” style rather than dashing-aristocrat.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: You made a good point. I do tend to forget that we should think of Flandry and his contemporaries speaking in ANGLIC, with us reading translations. But keep in mind what Mr. Stirling said.
Mr. Stirling: you made points I wish I had thought of, and came near to doing
when I thought Flandry was channeling Bertie Wooster!
Hmmmm, so nepotism in American terms would take the form of incompetents pretending to have credentials or actually gaining those credentials, without the ability to make proper use of that knowledge? And using those credentials to obtain comfortable, undemanding sinecures?
Ad astra! Sean
Nepotism in a system that exalts meritocracy is likely to take the form of requiring “ credentials” that are actually irrelevant to job performance. A 4-year degree is irrelevant to many of the fields where it’s currently officially or unofficially required, which enables credentialists to exclude those who are ‘not one of us’.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
That's basically what I had in mind. Including the debasing and corrupting of universities in the ways you mentioned. Which has included parents bribing universities into accepting their children as students. And I have been reading criticisms of this kind of nepotism and the worship of "credentials" in magazines like NATIONAL REVIEW.
Ad astra! Sean
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