Wednesday 9 November 2016

Quotations

Ferune read three Terran languages and quoted the Bible, the Rubaiyat and a Winston Churchill speech:

"'"...their finest hour..."'" (Rise Of The Terran Empire, p. 567)

These quotations are probably in Anglic translation rather than in Hebrew, Persian or English - or, as van Rijn calls it, Old Anglic! Did Ferune quote any Shakespeare? How much Shakespeare is quoted in Poul Anderson's works? Here is one example. Merau Varagan compares the exile planet to:

"'That undiscovered country from whose bourn No traveler returns.'"
-Poul Anderson, The Shield Of Time (New York, 1991), p. 43.

This is Hamlet's description of death and provided a title for a Star Trek film. Shakespearean influence is all-pervasive.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Besides Shakespeare and the Bible Poul Anderson also quoted at times from the works of Rudyard Kipling. Anderson was VERY enthusiastic about Kipling!

Sean