Catching Up
While 'netless, I drafted posts and did other rereading. I wondered how Poul Anderson's different time travelers might tackle the mystery investigated by Mikael Blomkvist in Stieg Larsson's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Then Mikael himself reflected:
"The key to the mystery was what it was that Harriet saw in Hedestad. He would never find that out unless he could invent a time machine and stand behind her, looking over her shoulder."
-Stieg Larsson, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (London, 2008), Chapter Sixteen, p. 277.
Thus, a Wellsian concept and phrase are used, and commonly understood, even in a contemporary thriller. (Wells himself referred to "Morlocks" in a contemporary novel. See here.) I will publish a post about how the mystery of Harriet's disappearance might have been investigated either by the Time Patrol or by Anderson's mutant time travelers. (Later: see here.)
The characters in Anderson's Harvest The Fire include a conscious AI simulation of Jorge Luis Borges, who pioneered what I call "approaches to fiction." An "approach" is a statement of a fictional premise that is not developed into a complete narrative. Thus, Borges' "The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim" is not a novel but a fictional review of an imaginary novel although it does summarize the plot of this nonexistent work. There are some "approaches to fiction" on these blogs. I will add one to the Science Fiction blog and another to the Logic of Time Travel blog. On this blog, I will discuss both "Kinds of Timelines" and "Experiences of Time Travelers." I will continue to reread The Dancer From Atlantis and should soon have some previously unread works by Anderson to discuss.
I might continue to lose Internet access and will also be in London from Thursday afternoon until late Sunday. Regular blog readers might recognize this as an annual pilgrimage is not too inaccurate a word.
There has been some creative thinking during the blog absence.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Welcome back, even if only tentatively!
I'm not sure I agree with your comments about THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. I have read that in classical mysteries the author should play fair with his readers. That is, he should leave some fact or clue in the story that would or should enable readers to arrive at the solution of the mystery or problem. Ideally, the reader should be able to figure out for himself the process of deductive reasoning thru which the detectives arrives at the solution.
To use a time machine to solve the problem in THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO seems too much like using a deus ex machina. And in his three Trygve Yamamura novels we see Anderson himself writing classical style mysteries. I recall Anderson saying somewhere that he would have liked to have written more mysteries, except that they didn't pay as well as his science fiction and fantasies. For that matter, we do see a mystery in THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS, which he expanded for that reason. And THE HARVEST OF STARS includes an ingenious mystery solved by "the mother of the Moon," using classically deductive methods.
Have a good time in London! And have you ever seen Westminster Cathedral, near Victoria Underground? It was one of my favorite places to visit the times I was in London. Twenty years ago there were two bookstores outside the Cathedral, which you might find interesting if either of them are still there.
I too look forward to getting a copy of the third volume recollecting Anderson's Psychotechnic INSTITUTE stories, including three hitherto never before republished tales. But I still disagree that "The Chapter Ends" belongs in that series.
Sean
Sean,
I have been in the Cathedral and up its tower, which was used for a murder in a film, but not recently.
I am interested only in the technicalities of applying time travel to DRAGON TATTOO. Of course it would be a deus ex machina to imagine literal time travel being written into the novel.
I have developed some criticisms of DRAGON TATTOO on this 3rd or 4th rereading but, if I decide to articulate these criticisms, it will have to be on a different blog.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I was not sure if you had ever visited Westminster Cathedral. And even been up the tower. Frankly, I liked Westminster Cathedral far better than I did the former Westminster Abbey. I found the first far more a house of prayer and reflection than I did the second.
I think any book that interests you can be legitimately discussed in the PA Appreciation blog as well.
Sean
Sean,
The Abbey is a tourist venue. One Dean said that the crowds descend like the hosts of Midian but leave like the Gadarene swine if a service is announced. He was going to "give up the ghost" and retire.
Paul.
SEan,
"Three Criticisms of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" has gone on the Personal and Literary Reflections blog.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Amusing use of Biblical metaphors by this Anglican Dean! I get a strong impression that not that many people take the Church of England very seriously anymore.
I saw lots of tourists in Westminster Cathedral as well. But it didn't prevent others from sitting or kneeling before the Reserved Sacrament or attending Vespers services or Masses. Another time I saw an infant being baptized. Most tourists sort of retreated a bit when the Cathedral was being used as a church.
I will look up your comments about THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO on the other blog.
Sean
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