After Such Knowledge And Time Blowing Past

Genesis, PART TWO, XII.

In Poul Anderson's works, we notice significant phrases.

Gaia, discussing Laurinda and Christian with Wayfarer, asks:

"'After such knowledge as they have tasted of, how could they return to me?'" (p. 246)

I imagine that Anderson knowingly quoted the title of James Blish's After Such Knowledge Trilogy.

The opening paragraph of the novel (PART ONE, I, p. 3) had informed us that ghosts, gods and time pass through the story and that, of these, time is the most mysterious. In the concluding chapter, when Gaia and Wayfarer converse, the latter hears:

"A sigh as of time itself blowing past." (p. 243)

Readers probably do not remember that opening paragraph. Nevertheless, beginning and end connect. And time blowing past evokes many other works by Anderson, notably the Time Patrol, especially since Gaia's:

"'...ultimate annihilations of history after history...'" (p. 243)

- is something that could have been done with real histories in the mutable timeline of the Time Patrol.

Apart from cosmic issues, Anderson presents a love story with a happy ending:

"...what they were will be together, as one, and will live on, unforgotten." (p. 248)

Much later, they might again be resurrected in an appropriate emulation.