"...went to Terra on leave, was invited to the perpetual banquet of the Lyonid family, spent three epochal months..." (Flandry Of Terra, London, 1976, p. 9).
A perpetual banquet, like the Mad Tea Party in Alice? How would that work? Domestic slaves serve the family and guests who are seated at one half of a large circular table while a second team of slaves clears and resets the other half so that the banqueters can keep moving around the table? (I say "slaves" because we are talking about the Terran Empire here. Otherwise, domestic servants would play this role.)
Assuming eight hours for sleep, no one can possibly eat continuously for sixteen hours every day indefinitely. The family must take it in turns to host the meal while the guests change every three months or so. There must also be intervals, as at the theatre, when guests can attend to other business using computer consoles either set in the table or just behind where they sit or can stretch their legs by strolling around the Lyonid mansion and garden.
Tolkien's Hobbits eat seven meals a day, I think. If these were spaced out through the day, they might just provide enough instalments for a perpetual banquet.
8.00: rise, butler brings cup of tea.
9.00-10.00: breakfast.
10.00-11.00: second breakfast.
11.00-12.00: elevenses.
12.00-14.00: lunch.
14.00-16.00: buffet snacks available from tables set around the dining hall walls.
16.00-17.00: afternoon tea.
17.00-18.00: buffet snacks as above.
18.00-20.00: dinner.
20.00-22.00: buffet snacks available in the bar.
22.00-23.30: supper.
24.00: retire.
By eating and drinking sparingly while concentrating on enjoying the conversation and no doubt also entertainment provided, a guest might survive for a few months, as Flandry does.
14 comments:
Hi, Paul!
As regards this "perpetual banquet" of the Lyonid family, another possibility is that there were guests who did not stay for weeks or months. That is, some may have come for only a few hours (including being an overnight guest), as most of us would do for a more normal dinner or banquet).
Sean
That is far more likely! This is one of the many details in PA's works that it would be good if he had expanded on.
Hi, Paul!
Indeed! One detail I've wished Poul Anderson had expanded on being some information on what happened to Leon Ammon, the gang boss who hired Flandry to investigate Wayland in A CIRCUS OF HELLS, in later years. The mineral wealth of Wayland would have conferred much power on Ammon. Flandry himself reflected that despite his moral distaste for him, Ammon might have been a useful "associate" in the future.
Sean
Yes, you mentioned AMMON before. He would have fitted very well as a fourth person for Flandry to converse with at the Crystal Palace in A KNIGHT OF GHOSTS AND SHADOWS.
Hi, Paul!
I agree, esp. if Ammon had entered politics and even up as a member of the Policy Board. I think you meant the CORAL Palace, not the Crystal MOON. The former was one of the Imperial residences and the latter was purchased by the Merseians.
The Coral Palace is where we mostly see the Emperors and their Crown Princes in the Flandry stories. In fact, from the various descriptions given in books like ENSIGN FLANDRY, A KNIGHT OF GHOSTS AND SHADOWS, and A STONE IN HEAVEN, etc., we know quite a lot about the Palace, such as it was built on an atoll of the Pacific Ocean, was used by the Emperors as a residence, that the Policy Board sometimes met there, and was used to display ancient art works, etc. So, it would indeed be a natural place for Flandry to have again met Ammon.
And, it's also my view the Crystal Moon is best seen as a CONTRAST to the Coral Palace. An example of what the Merseians would like to do to the Empire and the human race. Flandry himself noted that contrast in Chapter I of WE CLAIM THESE STARS.
Sean
Came here after the Permanent Banquet resurfaced in a jan 2020 post regarding Flandry's career - it took a hit at the Banquet where an affaire with "the wrong man's wife" led to a duel, presumably with the cukolded husband.
While the Hobbits have good living down pat, to my mind a perpetual banquet is NEVER cleared away! I'm imaging like Paul armies of slaves/servants constantly at work, but I'm thinking guests are continously coming and going, sitting down for a while to enjoy an endless stream of delicacies and beverages placed before them by the attentive staff, to be absent-mindedly nibbled upon, or occasionaly devoured, while conversing, discussing or flirting with the neighbouring guests.
Perhaps each course would be announced and presented, although discreetely so, in order not to interrupt the conversation. There would be periodic entertainment offered by dancers, musicians or other performers. In a dueling culture, perhaps even Flandry's "reluctant" duel would have formed part of the entertainment?
The banquet hall would be surrounded by smaller rooms for drinks, smoking and games and the entire complex by vast gardens with elabourate fountains and small pavilions and other secluded spots where couples, temporary or otherwise, could share a private moment. On the top level floors, accesible by turbolift, but more commonly by grand monumental stairs would be the luxurious lodgings for those fortunate enough to be invited to the Perpetual Banquet.
Kaor, Johan!
It does make me wonder, was this Perpetual Banquet open to the public or only to invited guests? I would say the latter, because otherwise the banquet would become a hopeless chaos. And was there a large or small number of guests at any time? Say, no more than 24?
I hope we see more comments by you!
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Sean!
Well, Flandry at least was invited, and I would assume the banquet would be strictly open to those invited by the Lyonid family. One would also assume the Lyonids took some care in inviting a mixture of influential and entertaining guests, since at any banquet, perpetual or otherwise the company is as important or more than the meal. This would probably be why Flandry was invited, a famed hero of the Empire, an accomplished ladies man and redoubtable wit. And invitations would be from anything from an evening to several months, for those rare social treasures like Flandry!
The constant replenishment of guests must have taken up the full time of an outright department off staff, constantly monitoring the social elites of the Empire and neighbourhood for interesting new guests!
Regarding the number of guests, I would venture to guess there were a rather large number staying at the banquet at any one time - maybe in their hundreds - so that the banquet hall would be populated at any one time. I’d guess the guests would be required or encouraged to choose a time slot for their sleep in order to spread the guests out over the day.
Kaor, Johan!
I like these comments of yours! You have devoted a good deal of careful thought to the PRACTICALITIES of the Perpetual Banquet. Where I would still differ from you would be thinking a fairly small number of guests at anytime seems more likely than a large number.
And the immense wealth generated by an advanced civilization drawing on the resources of an interstellar domain like the Empire would enable the Lyonids to indulge in this extravaganza without it apparently being thought ruinous.
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor Sean,
This just begs to be made as a short story, although having read (and written!) a lot of fanficition, I'd worry about the quality of what anyone but a profesional could do with Flandry's stay at the Perpetual Banquet! Maybe we could convince Mr SM Stirling to have a go? :)
Kaor, Johan!
I like that idea as well! And I believe S.M. Stirling COULD do an excellent Dominic Flandry pastiche, as he had done of Manse Everard in "A Slip In Time." Perhaps in a second MULTIVERSE volume?
Besides a story featuring the Perpetual Banquet, I would like to have known more about Leon Ammon after A CIRCUS OF HELLS, the widow of Georgios, John Ridenour, or almost anyone else from the Flandry stories.
Ad astra! Sean
I would very much like to do a Dominic Flandry story... 8-).
Please do!
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I second what Paul said! And I hope the necessary legal arrangements and permissions from Anderson's estate will be possible.
Ad astra! Sean
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