In Poul Anderson's "The Game of Glory," published in 1958, when I was nine, Dominic Flandry, reflecting on the consequences for "...earnest, well-intentioned young patriots..." whose revolution has been defeated, thinks:
"...I suppose it all serves the larger good. It must. Our noble homosexual Emperor says so himself."
-Poul Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2010), p. 338,
- with the clear implication that homosexuality is reprehensible.
In Anderson's "Death And The Knight," published in 1995, when I was forty six, Manse Everard says of a homosexual relationship:
"'I'm not passing moral judgments. On the contrary...People's bedrooms are none of my business.'"
-Poul Anderson, Time Patrol (New York, 2006), p. 756.
Two stages: disapproval; denial of disapproval. The third stage is the assumption, without needing to state it, that this is not a matter for either approval or disapproval.
4 comments:
Hi, Paul!
I think you are making a mistake here. Poul Anderson himself, in one of his letters to me, stressed that very often he will have his characters saying or believing things he himself does or does not believe. That is, just because Characer A says something, that does not necessarily means the author believes it. I believe we need to keep in mind that plot and characer development often means that person saying or doing things the author himself would not do or agree with.
That said, I think it is plain that Poul Anderson himself did not like or approve of homosexuality. BUT, that does not mean he ever advocated being cruel and unjust to persons like that. He was, as we both know, a kind and tolerant man.
Sean
Hi, Paul!
By the way, I don't like how smokers are treated, as tho they were practicing some esp. disgusting and depraved vice. Mind you, I agree smoking is a bad and unhealthy habit, but does that mean smokers should be treated the way they are today? Why not have smoking and non smoking rooms in places like restaurants, offices, work places, etc.? Should they really be banished outside into cold, rainy, or snowy weather if they want to smoke?
Sean
I seem to be mildly allergic to tobacco smoke. When smoking was still allowed on intercity buses, the recirculation of the air made the trip miserable for me if there was even one smoker on the trip.
Whatever your drug of choice, if you take it by smoking you are forcing everyone nearby to partake as well. Sometimes the smoke seeps from the room you are smoking in, to neighboring rooms. Best to just take your nicotine or whatever some other way.
Kaor, Jim!
I have to partially disagree. Even tho I don't smoke, I still dislike the way smokers are treated. Some reasonable accommodation should be made for them.
Ad astra! Sean
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