If there are intelligent beings on extra-solar planets, are they similar enough to humanity to drink in bars? Sometimes, although not always, Poul Anderson assumes so.
On Avalon, the Nest is a tavern for ornithoids.
"...the bluefaced skipper had growled to Flandry in the tavern on Orma." (Scroll down.)
-"The Plague of Masters," II, p. 8.
"'The day Yael Blum came back from Yotl's Nest and told v'at she had heard, a song being sung by a spaceman from another cluster...'"
-Poul Anderson, After Doomsday (Frogmore, St Albans, Herts, 1975), CHAPTER FOURTEEN, p. 140.
Anderson describes the ornithoids, the Nest and the blue-skinned Alfzarians but not the tavern on Orma or Yotl's Nest. Film-makers would have to invent. The singing space-hand in Yotl's Nest would have to be able to pronounce "Kandemir" and "Earth" correctly in order to sing the ballad, The Battle of Brandobar, the first important work of art composed in the inter-cluster language, Uru.
Yet again in a work by Anderson, the wind punctuates or comments on the dialogue. After mentioning Yotl's Nest, Sigrid Holmen refers to two special days in her life. The first was when she knew from the ballad that other human beings were alive. The second will be:
"'V'en my first-born is laid in my arms.'
"For a while only the wind blew, loud in the trees." (ibid.)
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
You already know my basic view, if other intelligent races exist on reasonably terrestroid planets elsewhere, then I will expect some similarities due to parallel evolution, both genetic and cultural, analogous to what human beings do. And I would expect differences, including very real and serious differences, to exist as well.
I think you lean more to the view that similarities to humans, whether in appearance or culture/behavior, to be less likely.
And your mention of AFTER DOOMSDAY reminded me yet again of how fond Anderson was of writing mysteries or using the techniques of mysteries in his stories. And that was esp. true in DOOMSDAY, which is a murder mystery, with planet Earth as the victim. With the problem being how to solve the mystery, discover the perpetrators, and bring the killers to justice.
Truthfully, I think Anderson did better at writing science fictional mysteries than when he attempted writing straightforward "contemporary" mysteries. That is, AFTER DOOMSDAY was better than the three Trygvi Yamamura novels Anderson wrote.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I find multi-species bars intriguing but implausible.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I don't, tho! If two or more intelligent species from terrestroid planets are biochemically enough like each other that they can consume at least some of each other's foods and drinks, then bars and taverns of the kind seen in Anderson's stories are at least possible.
Let's get out there and find out!!!!!!
Ad astra! Sean
Probably what intelligent species would have in common would be "the basics" -- acquiring resources, etc.
Aesthetics would probably be low on the probability curve for shared experiences. That's quite hard even just with different human cultures; when you throw in instinctual differences, it'll be harder.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
We get glimpses of that in Anderson's stories. E.g., the layout of Castle Afon on Merseia had conventions and aesthetics subtly wrong by human standards, but RIGHT on Merseia.
Ad astra! Sean
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