Abrams to Hauksberg in the Dronning Margrete:
"'While on Merseia, I hope to read a lot of their philosophers.'"
-CHAPTER NINE, p. 83.
Abrams to Brechdan in Ardaig:
"'...I'd like access to your libraries, journals, whatever is public information as far as you're concerned but may not have reached Terra.'"
-CHAPTER TEN, p. 97.
"The Merseians were most courteous and helpful. They flooded him with books and periodicals... he learned precisely nothing of value."
-CHAPTER ELEVEN, p. 103.
Desai to Flandry in the Coral Palace, discussing whether the Merseians are already decadent:
"'...what is decadence to a nonhuman? I hope to do more then read sutras in my retirement; I hope to apply my experience and my studies to thought about just such problems.'"
-Poul Anderson, A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows IN Anderson, Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight Of Terra (Riverdale, NY, 2012), pp. 339-606 AT III, p. 390.
We hope that Abrams returned to Terra with material that helped Desai.
(Since we cannot display the title page of a work of Merseian philosophy, we make do instead with Hegel.)
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
It wasn't quite all for nothing! True, Abrams did not learn from the Merseians he met just WHY Starkad was so important to the Roidhunate. The scholarly books and periodicals "flooded" on him by those Merseians did give him some insights on their basic setup.
And I'm sure Abrams took those books and periodicals back to the Empire, to be deposited in the libraries of Admiralty Center and elsewhere on Terra. Later, in this same Chapter 11 of ENSIGN FLANDRY, we see Abrams aide Dominic toiling over those donated materials: "Right now I feel as if every library in the universe should be bombed." Flandry had been kept busy recording, cataloging, organizing, etc., the materials given to Abrams.
So I'm sure Desai was able to find much that was of value to his studies in retirement!
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment