Alfred And I
Joker, Ivy And Alfred
Marvel And Me
I am currently expanding the blogverse with more posts on other blogs, particularly Personal and Literary Reflections while reading Alan Moore's 1174-page Jerusalem. However, Poul Anderson Appreciation continues to receive more page views than any of the others and there is always something to be said here.
10 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I was amused by the picture of you posing as a butler. You actually looked a lot like what Alfred SHOULD look like as Bruce Wayne's trusted butler.
Trying to think of where Poul Anderson had butlers in his works. The clearest and most obvious example, of course, being Dominic Flandry's non-human and multi-talented retainer Chives.
And I remember a butler being mentioned/seen in one of Anderson's Flying Mountains stories: "Ramble With A Gamblin' Man" (Macmillan hardcover edition, 1970,pages 117-18). Donald Bell's guest, James Harker, expressed surprise at his host employing a domestic staff, saying Americans "traditionally" thought that was degrading. Bell replied a different tradition had evolved in space, when it was often the case that people had to work with their hands when no machines were yet available. Bell added: "The pioneers had to be self-reliant, or they died. But they also had to be mutually helpful, or they died. So they evolved, more or less unconsciously, the notion that anyone who did well was morally obliged to find jobs for the less fortunate, and that there was no disgrace in takin' those jobs, because every erg of work contributed. The disgrace would lie in freeloadin'."
As usual, I find Poul Anderson to make far more sense than those who would object to wealthy persons hiring a domestic staff!
Sean
Sean,
Thanks. The photo generated an interesting discussion of a Poul Anderson work.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And anyone familiar with the works of Poul Anderson would not be surprised by that! PA wrote so wall on so many different topics over so many years that a determined reader can almost certainly find an appropriate text to quote.
Sean
Paul and Sean:
A quirky fact is that the Alfred pictures WOULD be relevant if the usual topic here were Isaac Asimov, because one of his *Black Widowers* mysteries involved the proposition that the *Batman* comics had been VERY loosely based on the crime-fighting adventures of a real Bruce Wayne, who really had a versatile butler named Alfred.
David,
That was a clever way for Asimov to contribute to a Batman anthology. There are many versions of the Batman. Asimov's was yet another.
Paul.
Kaor, DAVID!
Thanks for your comments. I, of course, as should be true of any SF fan who was adult before Asimov died in 1992, have read some of his Black Widowers mysteries. Alas, I don't recall this particular BW story.
Sean
Sean,
It was in an anthology of original Batman prose stories. I don't know whether it made it into a BW collection.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I did read some Superman and Batman comics as a boy, but I fear, given my childish tastes, more attracted to the Walt Disney comics about Donald Duck and his arch capitalist uncle Scrooge McDuck! (Smiles)
I want to reply to your "Service In Space And The Anderson Challenge" blog piece. And I've already thought of some examples to cite--but it's time I went to bed!
Sean
Paul and Sean:
The Batman story was published in a BW tribute collection, *The Return of the Black Widowers*, ten years after Asimov's death. There were five other stories that had never been in any BW collection, ten of what were judged the best from earlier books, and two stories by other authors: one of a small-town group trying to emulate the Widowers' mystery-solving, and one in which the Black Widowers look into the question of an alleged "lost" story by Asimov. There was also a rather touching introduction by Harlan Ellison about his friendship with Isaac Asimov and how much he missed him.
(A couple of years ago, I bought ALL of the BW books from online used-book service *Alibris*.)
A funny touch in one of the previously uncollected stories was that one Widower told another that Henry couldn't possibly "pull an answer out of a hat" in this particular case. A moment later, Henry produced the solution. Although it wasn't emphasized, he had indeed found it on a piece of paper tucked into someone's hat....
Kaor, DAVID!
Your mention of Henry from the BW stories reminded me of something about him: he too was very "butlerish," discreet, efficient, unfailingly courteous, and astoundingly shrewd. Very "Alfredish," iow!
Sean
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