En route to the monastery, we turned off the M6 Motorway at Penrith where I grew up and first read:
The Caves Of Steel by Isaac Asimov;
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester;
Seed Of Light by Edmund Cooper;
Orphans Of The Sky by Robert Heinlein;
The Guardians Of Time by Poul Anderson.
I was impressed to read adult prose fiction about spaceships etc and with the ideas of:
a self-conscious robot;
a society based on teleportation;
circular causality;
a generation ship;
a time travel police force.
Maybe a Poul Anderson fan cannot go anywhere without being somehow reminded of the Technic History or the Time Patrol?
A distant past, the eternal present and an uncertain future - to switch from the Buddha Dharma to the Ythrian New Faith, the shadow of God the Hunter lies across our way of life.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Do you mean Adzel? He's the Buddhist; Father Axor is a Christian.
Best Regards,
Nicholas D. Rosen
Kaor, Paul!
I've read all of these books except the one by Edmund Cooper. And I was esp. impressed by Alfred Bester's THE STARS MY DESTINATION. Altho I was disturbed to see Christianity being persecuted again and pictures of Christians praying being sold as PORNOGRAPHY.
Very interesting, Bester's speculations about how a society based on teleportation might shake itself out to be.
The fact I've read Anderson's Time Patrol stories more often than I have Asimov's THE CAVES OF STEELS indicates which of them I like better.
Sean
Kaor, Nicholas!
Correct. Adzel was the Buddhist Wodenite, Fr. Axor the Christian. We do see mention in MIRKHEIM of Adzel staying some years at a Buddhist monastery in the Andes Mountains, so I can imagine Fr. Axor visiting a Christina monastery.
Sean
I meant Adzel, of course - tied last night - but each could attend a ceremony in the other's tradition.
Sean,
Time Patrol infinitely more rereadable than Robots.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I agree! But I think it's right to point out some thing interested about THE CAVES OF STEEL. I think that book of Asimov's is the only one in the Robots/Foundation series to ever allude to, mention, or quote from the Bible (John 8.1-8)!
Asimov was much more emphatic in his disbelief in God than was Anderson (who was merely unsure). And Asimov's treatment of religion in most of his works was weak and rather pitiful. Think of the ridiculous Religion of Science cooked up by the Mayors of the First Foundation as an instrument for controlling other planets. Weak and implausible!
Anderson, by contrast, took religions seriously, both real and fictional. As can easily be seen in many of his stories and novels. Including frequently quoting from or allusions to the Bible.
While of course Fr. Axor would treat any Buddhists he met with courtesy, I don't think he would PARTICIPATE in Buddhist rites because of not believing in Buddhism. But, merely politely attending such rites? Yes, I agree.
Sean
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