James Blish was a James Joyce scholar. See Blish's
A Case Of Conscience. This morning in London, I attended a talk by two Irishmen to mark the centenary of Joyce's
Ulysses. In the opening chapter of
Ulysses, Stephen Dedalus sees his own face in a servant's cracked mirror. Art holds a mirror to life. A cracked mirror shows multiple images and is a metaphor for Joyce's works which show multiple viewpoints, including those, e.g., of servants, disregarded by previous literature.
Sf both subverts familiar experience and holds a mirror to life. Thus, we appreciate both the imagination and the verisimilitude displayed, e.g., in Poul Anderson's Technic Civilization future history series. Another metaphor for fictional or alternative history is a knight's move, two squares forward and one sideways. Joyce/Dedalus, flying beyond received traditions, anticipates new discoveries, like Wells and Anderson.
9 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Ha! After more than 70 years in my family, my house includes a mirror which seems to be flaking, but I haven't the heart to get rid of it. Albeit I don't want other items of furniture!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Imagine stepping through the flaky mirror into a flaky mirror world.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Which is exactly what Alice did in Lewis Carroll's THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS!
Ad astra! Sean
Actually, Dickens wrote from servants' p.o.v. fairly often, particularly in his earlier stories.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I'm reminded of how, in your Emberverse books, you had Lady Sandra taking her servants very seriously, selecting them for intelligence, ability, discretion, and loyalty.
Ad astra! Sean
Note that in the scenes set in Mycenae, Odysseus (Odikweos) considers men who ignore servants and don't remember that they have eyes and ears and know and remember things to be idiots.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
While I don't remember that, I do recall in "Tiger By The Tail" how Flandry blackmailed a corrupt Scothan aristocrat because that being was that kind of idiot.
Ad astra! Sean
I've lived in settings in which domestic servants are ubiquitous, and I can testify that a lot of people effectively forget they're there.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Which is not very smart of anyone to do, if you want to keep something secret!
Ad astra! Sean
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