Dayan and Nansen:
"'I'm remembering how Al Brent must have died.'
"'That was long ago and far away.' Six thousand years and light-years. Not enough time to grant forgetfulness." (p. 484)
John Amalfi, Mayor of the Okie city, New York:
"'The Rift wall,' he said... That was long ago - and far away.'"
-James Blish, Earthman, Come Home IN Blish, Cities In Flight (London, 1981), pp. 235-465 AT CHAPTER FOUR, p. 333.
Amalfi means that a lot has happened since New York set out to cross the Rift. "Long ago and far away..." is an evocative phrase, like "That was in another country..." or "The past is another country..." In both Anderson and Blish, the phrase refers to interstellar distances.
Earthman, Come Home presents another echo of a work by Poul Anderson. When Dee, the former Hamiltonian girl now an Okie, asks:
"'Where are we going?'"
-Blish, op. cit., p. 332
- Amalfi reflects:
"There was, of course, no real answer to this one. Where would an Okie go? They were going, that was all. If there was a destination, no one could know what it was." (p. 333)
Poul Anderson fans must know which of his works this recalls.
4 comments:
Brooding over the past is unproductive. I don't usually do it.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
A good attitude, one I agree with. But it's one of those things which is often easier to say than to do.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: well, it helps that I live mostly "inside my head", with elaborate narrartives. Some of which I write down!
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Your fans are glad you do!
Ad astra! Sean
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