Wednesday 3 September 2014

A View From Space

"President Kies Farren Siliom stood on a broad transparent platform, the wide orb of the Earth coming into view beneath him as Axis Euclid rotated. Five hundred square meters of stressed and ion-anchored glass and two layers of traction field lay between the president's conference chamber and empty space; he seemed to stand on a stretch of open nothingness."
-Greg Bear, Eternity (London, 1989), p. 9.

This passage is a visual description. We think that it should be drawn or filmed. But we also appreciate prose, especially since it tells us what a picture cannot, i.e., the real nature of that "...open nothingness."

Under Recovery legislation, mental therapies have been applied on Earth. Belligerents have been pacified and:

"Mental illness and and dysfunction were virtually eradicated." (ibid.)

Meanwhile, I have received a vision of the future from an unexpected quarter. Waiting for a funeral service to begin, I read the introduction to the Anglican hymn book, revised in 2000. Whereas the original version had been used throughout the British Empire, the editors recognized, first, that life had changed and that many issues had become less certain in the twentieth century and, secondly, that this most recently revised edition is to be used in a new century of probably unimaginable social changes - in other words, a science fictional century.

5 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Hi, Paul!

Exactly how did the older and newer versions of this Anglican hymnbook differ from each other? The older form used a recognizably Shakespearian/Jacobean English while the new edition used the flatter, more prosaic English of our time?

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

Sean,
As far as I remember from what I read, the first edition, called HYMNS ANCIENT AND MODERN, dated from the 19th century (?) so it wasn't that old. The 2000 version, called COMMON PRAISE, had updated the language and included newer hymns. There were intermediate revisions. I hope that, with this amount of info, you will be able to google and find out more?
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Hi, Paul!

Thanks! I might try looking up these hymnbooks. The bit about the "updated" language is a bit worrisome. Because I fear the newer edition might be lacking in the stateliness and dignity proper for hymns and liturgies.

I'm reminded of the preface Poul Anderson added to his short story "Kyrie," in which he mentioned liking the Latin Mass.

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

Sean,
I think updated just means "you" instead of "thou." Stuff like that. After I replied, I googled HYMNS ANCIENT AND MODERN and COMMON PRAISE and there's plenty of info there.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Hi, Paul!

Yes, I googled COMMON PRAISE and foud links to both the older and later editions.

Understood, what you said about how "thou" was replaced by "you." Altho I have read of grammatical purists who insist "thou" is still more technically accurate to use.

And, of course. PA wrote A MIDSUMMER TEMPEST using a largely Jacobean form of English (in blank verse, to boot!). And did so in such a way as not to make it boring.

Sean