Tuesday, 19 July 2016

Anti-Magic II

Rereading Poul Anderson's The Merman's Children, I have reached the passage where Pavle Subitje predicts the end of Faerie. I previously summarized this passage here and have just now added some explanatory links to that earlier post.

Are mythological beings literally driven out of existence or do they adapt and adopt new forms? And are they joined or challenged by new entities that are gods in all but name? See the link to "gods fiction" here.

From the empirical datum that gods are not or no longer overtly present on Earth, it may variously be inferred that they:

never existed;
have ceased to exist;
are concealed;
have withdrawn;
have been superseded and replaced;
etc.

These inferences, except the first, generate alternative premises for modern fantasies. Poul Anderson, as ever, follows the implications of more than one premise.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Hmmmm, in THE GOLDEN SLAVE I think we see Poul Anderson using the idea that the pagan gods never existed. One Roman character dismisses the Olympians with contempt. And the Scandinavian gods are held to have their origins in human kings and warriors like Eodan and his followers (included a red bearded Tjorr who favored a hammer as his weapon).

Sean