Pytheas' voyage was "'...in search of the Amber Island...'" (p. 30). I have not found this Island on google. It might be a suitably mythological name invented by Anderson. Pytheas lingers in Thule where a young woman brings him "'...a springtime you thought you'd lost...'" (ibid.) but Hanno persuades him to continue and return home, leaving the woman behind.
For the present, I have been drawn back into rereading Boat... Although I have reread and posted about this novel before (see here), there is a great deal more to be found in the text. Having paid closer attention to Hanno's exploits in 310 BC, I now want to reread his second appearance although I know that other immortals interweave and interact through successive periods from 310 BC to 1975 AD and ? (a remote future).
The immortals in Anderson's World Without Stars employ an artificial means to edit their memories whereas Hanno and his colleagues must deploy their own inner resources to avoid being overwhelmed by accumulating memories. Time Patrol agents are not only time travelers but also immortals because they receive a future anti-age treatment. However, this aspect is not addressed in that series.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
One of the things about both THE DEVIL'S GAME and THE BOAT OF A MILLION YEARS is how the former is entirely, and parts of the latter, is set in the 20th century, our own century. In other words, in times I have personally seen. My view is that when he wanted to, or had to, Poul Anderson was perfectly capable of writing "contemporary" novels.
I am not sure, however, that Time Patrol agents are made "immortal" (unless slain by violence or accidents). My impression was that they received life extending treatments. Perhaps something like what we see in FOR LOVE AND GLORY, where these life extending treatments had to be renewed from time to time to remain effective. But I might well be wrong!
Sean
Sean,
I think that Patrol medical treatment prevents death by age or disease so that the only remaining causes of death are violence or accident but, as ever, I would have to find specific passages to back this up.
Paul.
Sean,
It is definitely stated that the Patrol has antisenescence, or an antithanatic, that arrests aging and also that they are immunized against every disease. I took this to mean that they die only from accident or violence but have yet to find a passage that states this latter proposition explicitly.
Paul.
Re: Amber Island
The peoples of the ancient Mediterranean knew that amber (elektron in Greek, yes that is the origin of a lot of technical terms in modern English) came from somewhere in northern Europe, so it was a reasonable guess that there was an island in the Baltic or North Sea where amber was particularly abundant.
Kaor, Jim!
I recently finished rereading STAR OF THE SEA, and it's explicitly stated that a major source of amber was from northern Europe, esp. the lands around the Baltic Sea. And that Roman or Gallo-Roman merchant ships sometimes tried their luck there.
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment