(In case any Poul Anderson fans are also interested in James Blish, may I say that I have just added a brief note to James Blish Appreciation. See here.)
I have already summarized Manse Everard's walk through Sicily to Palermo. See the above link to "A Long Walk." However, rereading that chapter of The Shield Of Time, I find plenty more to post about - details of life in the twelfth century.
"Everard...did carry a knife like most men, a utensil for eating and odd jobs..." (The Shield Of Time, p. 318)
Nowadays an offensive weapon, not good to have in your possession during a police search.
"Without artificial light to choke off night vision, people saw astonishingly well after dark." (ibid.)
Good thinking. And probably still true in some places.
"Mariners generally fared by day, hugging coasts, and eschewed voyages of any length this late in the year." (p. 319)
Thus it had been when Everard visited Tyre in 950 BC:
"...sailing along the coast and camping ashore every night..." (Time Patrol, p. 232)
"...that was an eldritch journey, 'twas. Bad time of year, equinox drawing nigh..." (Time Patrol, p. 314)
The landscapes are similar:
"...the tawniness of mountains." (The Shield Of Time, p. 319)
"...the mainland rose toward the Lebanon Mountains. It was summer-tawny..." (Time Patrol, p. 231)
However, conditions are slightly improved in the twelfth century:
"...along Sicily you were never far from a safe harbor, and the Normans had cleared these waters of pirates." (Shield, p. 319)
On the other hand, folk still have cause for fatalism. Kings are remote and their deaths:
".. nearly unreal, to folk who seldom went more than a day's walk from wherever they were born." (ibid.)
Everard compares eras:
"History was something to be endured, war, piracy, plague, taxes, tribute, forced labor, lives shattered without warning or meaning.
"The common man in the twentieth century was more widely, if more shallowly, aware of his world; but did he have any more say in his fate?" (Shield, pp. 319-320)
As individuals, we do not - but we can come together...
10 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Re your last comment about "coming together." I would have added that people, being so various and having such a wide variety of ideas and beliefs, will "come together" for different reasons, at different times, for different causes. Both good and bad. For economic, religious, political, etc., reasons. They most certainly will not come ALL together for the same reason or cause.
Sean
Sean,
Yes, there has to be a very big crisis or problem before a majority come together on a single issue. But enough people do come together to overthrow apparently impregnable dictators from time to time. Suddenly people find that they do, collectively, own their own country. It does not belong to Saddam, Gadaffi etc.
Paul.
When Everard visits Tyre, there's a brief mention of an innkeeper called Hanno. The same name as the main character in Boat of a Million Years. I'd like to think he's the same before finding out he's immortal.
John,
That would be good but it is a different timeline.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Re the Hanno by John, unless it's a different timeline which split off from the Danellian timeline.
And, unfortunately, the tyrants you cited were NOT overthrown by their victimized peoples. It still needed outside intervention for that to happen. And, at leas as unfortunately, that BUNGLER Barack Obama has thrown away and wasted all the hard won gains of the US military and their allies. New and probably worse tyrants are arising in Syria/Iraq and Libya.
Sean
Sean,
Saddam should not have been on my list but tyrants have been brought down by mass resistance - but such struggles are on-going. We are still at the beginning of great potentials - and also of potentially enormous disasters...
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I can't think of many tyrants brought down by "mass movements." One who was being the last Communist dictator of Romania, Nicolae Ceaucescu (possibly incorrect spelling).
And, unfortunately, right now, I think great disasters are more likely than not. Obama's disastrous nuclear weapons deal with Iran being one example of something too likely to have very bad consequences.
Sean
Sean,
I also was wondering how to spell "Ceaucescu"! Also, how about Mubarak? Anyhow, I think that mass movements are good things which at least influence what happens and demonstrate that the masses need not be passive.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Mubarak's mistake was clinging too long to power. He should have made arrangements with the Army for a suitable successor to take over and then peacefully resign. The short lived Muslim Brotherhood regime which succeeded and then it's blessed overthrow by the Army shows how hard it is for a despot to peacefully transfer power. The fact that the fanatics of the Muslim Brotherhood is the only realistic alternative to military rule in Egypt is a very bad sign.
So, compared to the Muslim Brotherhood, Mubarak was far better! I have next to no confidence in "mass movements" bringing about any really good change.
Sean
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"Everard...did carry a knife like most men, a utensil for eating and odd jobs..." (The Shield Of Time, p. 318)
Nowadays an offensive weapon, not good to have in your possession during a police search."
How big does the knife have to be to be considered an 'offensive weapon'?
I have almost always had a swiss army knife in my pocket since I was a child.
The largest blade is about 8 cm long.
I have no sympathy for people who wish to carry a gun about everywhere, & I have no sympathy for those who would forbid me carrying a knife such as mine, even on an airplane.
On 2001/9/11 a knife to stab a hijacker would have been desirable.
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