Another connection: Stonehenge is built in The Corridors Of Time and visited in The Boat Of A Million Years. However, Corridors features time travelers waging war throughout history whereas Boat features immortals too few to do the same.
Chapter VIII of Boat introduces yet another immortal as she becomes a Buddhist nun and permanent pilgrim whereas Chapter IX reintroduces Svoboda as she ceases to be a Christian nun and convent-dweller!
Over the centuries, Aliyat has spent time in a harem, then in a brothel, whereas Svoboda has been in a convent - three ways for women to survive. They will live into a future when such means are no longer necessary.
Svoboda sees St Sophia in Kiev:
"...rising white and pale green in walls and bays, arched doorways and high glass windows, up and up to, yes, ten domes in all, six bearing crosses and four spangled with stars." (Boat, p. 141) (see image here)
"After that...she drifted like a rusalka beneath the water." (ibid.)
Two more connections: "...rusalka..." connects Boat to Anderson's The Merman's Children and Operation Luna, the latter the sequel to his Operation Chaos.
10 comments:
"(What is wrong with the blurb...)"
Centuries _past_, hmmmm?
It never ceases to amaze (and irritate) me when blurbs get something so *simple* exactly wrong.
David,
You have got it!
Paul.
Kaor, Paul (and Mr. Birr, if he wishes to comment)!
One of the things about Buddhism which has puzzled me is how what began as a PHILOSOPHY gained so many of the forms and structures of a RELIGION. Buddha, after all, did not claim to be a god or to speak in the name of God or gods. In fact, it could be argued that his philosophy was atheistic, or at least indifferent to questions relating to God or gods. But, in that case, how did Buddhism acquire abbots, monks, nuns, monasteriies, even relics of Buddhist "saints," etc.? I can't help but wonder if Buddha himself would have approved of such things!
Sean
Sean,
I think that: that is just how things were done then and it has stuck; people wanted both guidance from the Buddha's teaching and the consolations of religion; although he was influenced by materialist arguments against souls, he reinterpreted reincarnation (a powerful Indian idea) as "rebirth" and retained the idea of divine, demonic and ghostly realms. What is good about Buddhism is: we can practice meditation without accepting supernaturalist beliefs; we can participate in rituals but understand them in different ways.
Paul.
Also, religion is response to transcendence and enlightenment is transcendent.
Kaor, Paul!
Thanks for your two notes and the email linking to this blog piece you sent me!
Understood, what you said about "...that is just how things were done then and it has stucked.." about how Buddhism came to adopt many of the forms of a religion. And the bit about "consolation" also makes sense, altho, IMO, I don't see much to be "consoled" about in a philosophy which teaches the best we can hope for, ultimately, is the oblivion of nirvana. I was a bit surprised Buddha retained ideas about divine, demonic, and ghostly realms.
However, I could not pariticipate in religious rituals I did not BELIEVE in, or a philosophy I believed contains serious errors. More precisely, I am a Catholic supernaturalist! (Smiles)
Yes, I agree that a religion is a response to, or a search for the transcendent. And, hence, once found, will be an "englightenment." Alas, carper that I am, I have to point out I believe some religions and alleged enlightenments will be, in fact, erroneous.
Sean
Sean,
In zazen, we attend to whatever happens in the present moment. If any deity manifests to us, we will not shut him out.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Understood, altho I don't believe Amon-Ra, Baal, Jupiter, Odin, etc., were gods.
Sean
Also, the blurb seems to have "Dalloway" for Darroway, or was that Darraway?
Best Regards,
Nicholas D. Rosen
Nicholas,
Without checking the text immediately, I think you are right that it should read "Darroway."
Paul.
Post a Comment