British when Flandry drawls:
"'Abominably poor manners, but that's policy for you, what?...
"'See here, d'you mind if I bore for a few ticks? Mean to say, I'd like to diagram the situation as I see it. You correct me where I'm wrong, fill in any gaps, that kind of thing, eh?'"
-Poul Anderson, A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows IN Anderson, Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight Of Terra (Riverdale, NY, December 2010), pp. 239-426 AT VII, p. 308.
- and when Lady Varvara asks Flandry:
"'Do you know what it's like, Captain, to associate with no one but an inferior class? It rubs off on you. Your soul gets greasy.'"
-Poul Anderson, "The Game of Glory" IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, February 2010), pp. 303-339 AT II, p. 312.
Roman when Chunderban Desai is sent to take over as High Commissioner of a planet that has recently spearheaded a rebellion and where post-Imperial sentiment is increasingly transcendentalist with potential for a new religion to spread across known space.
9 comments:
That was a product of a schematic theory of history.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: But Flandry was pretending to be a harmless fop just going thru the motions, so the suspicions of the resident would not be aroused.
Why the stress on Lady Varvara's petty social snobbery? Such things have always been parts of human life, including in the US. IWHBD. (Shrugs)
Mr. Stirling: Yes, but a very well thought out and carefully developed schemata. The Chereionite master spy working for Merseia, Aycharaych, had carefully studied human history and saw potentialities for making more trouble for the Empire on Aeneas. He was inspired by the example of Islam to manipulate Cosmenosism to become a warlike religion and trigger a jihad which would "convulse and shatter" the Empire.
Ad astra! Sean
But Flandry was mimicking an established type.
Social attitudes differ enormously.
Kaor, Paul!
I agree, re Flandry. There he was being a bit Bertie Woosterist.
Some things are not going to change, like snobbery or vanity. IWHBD.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: Yeah. One can be too, too, too refined... 8-).
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Absolutely! I had a good laugh because of your comment.
Ad astra! Sean
One interesting fact about the British Empire:
Until after WW2, a subject of the Empire could move to Britain and immediarely enjoy all the privileges of a British citizen. There were several Indian/Hindu members of the British Parliament, for example.
That applied to Indians and Jamaicans and (black) South Africans, as well as Canuks and Aussies.
It wasn't very common -- people generally stuck to their native places, or went where labor was in demand. But it did happen.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Good, because it was legal and acceptable--not like the chaotic mess we have today in the UK/US, with millions of unabashed foreigners swarming in in the teeth of outraged protest.
We see something similar in Anderson's Terran Empire, people from many different species moving around--but generally in relatively small numbers. Most people generally lived on the planets where they were born.
Ad astra! Sean
Millions?
There is strong opposition to that "outraged protest," often outnumbering it.
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