Street Life

Whenever Poul Anderson's characters move, or often, as here, flee for their lives, along city streets, Anderson always shows us the busy street life going on around them:

"Thebes had wakened from its slumber and all the city was out on its various business. Merchants cried their sleazy wares from bazaars like caves in the clay-brick walls; porters hurried by, gasping under their loads; beggars and harlots plied their shrill trades; the narrow, twisting streets brawled with life, they were like rivers shouting between grimy walls..."

(Poul Anderson, "Son of the Sword" IN Anderson, Alight In The Void, New York, 1993, p. 124)

Yes, this is life, displayed by Anderson in many ages, both past and future. It is difficult to close the quotation marks but we cannot transcribe an entire story.

A reader of the pulp magazine in which this story first appeared would have read on quickly to find out how the characters evade their pursuers or whether they are apprehended without pausing to appreciate the image of a busy street as a shouting river. An ephemeral short story preserved by book publication is like a video that we can pause and rewind to notice its details.