Appreciating Fiction

Art-forms are as diverse as sense-organs and physical and mental faculties. Static visual art is spatial in the sense that it can be permanently displayed and simultaneously viewed as a whole whereas a novel is temporal in the sense that its words and sentences are appreciated successively while reading them. However, the novel can be remembered, quoted and reread. Some works of literature become permanent parts of our mental landscape. For example, images derived from Alice in Wonderland are instantly recognizable even in new illustrations or dramatizations. I hope to demonstrate that Poul Anderson's History of Technic Civilization warrants lengthier aesthetic appreciation than is possible on the basis of a single reading such as is appropriate for lighter fictions. It is more like the Bayeux tapestry of an imaginary future.

In The People Of The Wind, although the Imperial and Avalonian characters wage war against each other, we care equally about (most of) them. Some, like the two Marchwardens, are religious unbelievers but we might notice how many different religions are practiced by some of the others.

(i) Philippe Rochefort is a Jerusalem Catholic.

(ii) Admiral Juan de Jesus Cajal y Palomares is an (unspecified) Catholic. Since he is from Nuevo Mexico, not, e.g., Dennitza, I infer that his practice of praying before a crucifix is Catholic, not Orthodox.

(iii) Abdullah Helu from Huy Braseal is a Muslim. He says, "'Ullah akbar, Ullah akbar.'" (Rise Of The Terran Empire, p. 538) and "'Hand of Fatima...'" (p. 539).

(iv) Do Cynthians have any religion? When Rochefort and Helu survive a crash landing, each gives thanks and adds a wish for the soul of their Cynthian comrade, Wa Chaou. When they bury "Watch Out," Rochefort reads the Naval service which is monotheist but acknowledges that the deity is imagined in different forms.

(v) Most of Highsky Choth keep to the Ythrian Old Faith, use drugs in sacred revels and practice "...slaughterous sacrifices." (p. 548) When Draun kills Helu, he says, "'Hell-winds blow you before my chothmates! Tell Illarian they are coming!'" (p. 549)

(vi) Ferune departs Mistwood according to the New Faith. His litter and its torches are dropped from as high as Ythrians can fly. He becomes water and leaves and rises in the wind. His spirit is not prayed for but remembered.

High is heaven and holy.