Thursday 6 August 2015

The Life Of Tyre

Poul Anderson's fiction celebrates life. See here and here. It may be in individuals:

"A priest...his features aquiline and lively." (Time Patrol, p. 267)

"Gisgo...his weathered nutcracker face full of life." (p. 313)

- or in collective activities and enterprises like busy docks, a market place or a crowded street. In the Tyrian docks:

"The vitality was well-nigh overwhelming." (p. 232)

"It would die at last, all of this, centuries hence, as everything must die; but first, how mightily would it have lived! How rich would be its heritage!" (p. 328)

In a Tyrian street, booths sell fabrics, draperies, rugs, glass, jewelry, figurines carved in ivory or cast in metal, amulets, charms, geegaws, food, drink, utensils, weapons, instruments, games, toys - this reminds me of a market place on another planet in Anderson's Technic History.

Pp. 327-328 present a colorful description of the commerce and traffic in the Egyptian Harbor. However, since I must shortly go out to seize some life on a sunny evening, I will end this summary here!

2 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

The market place in the Old Town of Olga's Landing on the planet Imhotep in THE GAME OF EMPIRE comes to mind.

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

Precisely!