It is recommended.
Poul Anderson pays homage to it in The Game Of Empire.
I quote a Kipling verse here.
Kipling describes Indian culture whereas sf writers like Anderson describe human and non-human cultures on others planets in the future.
It would be appropriate to compare Kipling and Anderson on this blog.
Meanwhile, I have found yet another of Anderson's list descriptions of busy street life. In the old Imperial city of Valkarion, there are:
merchants in cloaks and robes;
workers and artisans in tunics;
peasants in homemade clothes and fur caps;
soldiers in tunics and metal;
painted harlots;
beggars;
slaves;
tonsured priests of the Moons;
foreign traders on "dromads" (we are on another planet);
black-skinned men;
feather-cloaked mercenaries;
barbarians from different regions.
"...all the world seemed to meet at Valkarion, in a babble of tongues and a swirl of colors...A trading center like Valkarion necessarily tolerated all creeds..." (Poul Anderson's Planet Stories ebook.)
As ever, the emphasis is on human life and activity - and the civilizing influence of trade.
3 comments:
Hi, Paul!
I'm a bit surprised you don't seem to have read many of Kipling's works. I thought THE JUNGLE BOOKS, STALKY & COMPANY, KIM, THE LIGHT THAT FAILED, and many of Kipling's short stories great fun to read. To say nothing, of course, of his poetry!
We both know, of course, of how Poul Anderson was an enthusiastic fan and admirer of Kipling. And frequently quoted from or alluded to Kipling's works.
Sean
Sean,
We all have authors we should have read! James Blish had not read Stapledon. I have not read William Morris' NEWS FROM NOWHERE.
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
True, I can think of any number of writers, in and out of SF, whose works I really should read. William Morris? I know of him, but never read any of his books, alas!
Sean
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