Poul Anderson Appreciation: Time, Space And History

Thursday 28 April 2016

Time, Space And History

Two further considerations differentiate a Time Patrolman's perception of time from ours. First, his time jumps are subjectively instantaneous. Thus, he does not perceive, e.g., the tenth century as any further away from 2016 than the twentieth. All are equidistant. Secondly, after any futureward jump, he might arrive in an altered timeline and might then be unable to return to his preferred timeline. This ineradicable element of uncertainty has got to add the final touch of unreality to any familiar concepts of temporal sequence.

There are two moments when the historical fantasy of the King of Ys Tetralogy touches on science fictional issues. First, a clairvoyant priestess says:

"'The stars are more far away than ever we knew; the cold of those vastnesses comes seeping down over the world, through and through me.'" (Roma Mater, p. 90)

Can she sense interstellar distances?

Secondly:

"'...his destiny has reached out of the future and touched him.
''He feels it.'" (p. 91)

Can the future affect the past, as in time travel?

Lastly for now, an event in Ys prefigures a similar occasion in seventeenth century England. Gratillonius, Mithraist, cannot accept the crown ''...for the God alone is Lord.'" (p. 126) Oliver Cromwell, Puritan, cannot accept the crown of England because Christ, not man, is King.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...: Kaor, Paul!

Would it seem cynical of me to say Oliver Cromwell already had the SUBSTANCE of power as Lord Protector and dictator of the British Isles and thus had no need for merely the form and symbol? Yes, it was more complicated than that, because the suggestion Cromwell should become king would be an attempt to legitimize and stabilize his power. And in fact Cromwell hesitated for six weeks before declining to assume the kingship.

Sean; 28 April 2016 at 16:18
Paul Shackley said...: Sean,
And Gratillonius exercised the full power of the King, refusing only to wear the crown.
Paul.; 28 April 2016 at 21:09
Sean M. Brooks said...: Kaor, Paul!

I agree! And Gratillonius accepted the title of King as well. It was agreed the Speaker for Taranis would simply hold the crown briefly over but not ON Gratillonius' head at his coronation.

Hmmmm, it might have been more difficult for a Mithraist to decline wearing an Imperial diadem or even the laurel wreath crown customarily worn by Roman Emperors.

Getting back to Cromwell--he, along with Napoleon, were what I would call the classic Western military dictators. Cromwell was MASTER of the Britsh Isles as no king or PM before or after him ever was. He had crushed all armed opposition or institutions which might have given him powerful resistance: Crown, parliaments, the aristocracy, the Anglican Church, etc.

Sean; 29 April 2016 at 08:34