Tuesday, 9 October 2018

Flashbacks

Poul Anderson, The Stars Are Also Fire

At the end of Chapter 1, Ian Kenmuir's imagination slips pastward, as if he could see Dagny Beynac then. Chapter 2 is about Dagny Ebbesen, later Beynac.

Chapter 3 ends by referring to events hundreds of years previously on the Moon and to Dagny Beynac. Chapter 4 is about Dagny Beynac on the Moon.

Chapter 5 ends with Aleka thinking about the earliest years on the Moon. Chapter 6 is set during those years.

Chapter 7 ends by referring to the terrible necessity that had brought the Lunarians into being. In Chapter 8, Dagny Beynac has a miscarriage on the Moon.

Chapter 9 ends with Kenmuir reflecting that the Lunarian spirit is Luciferian. Chapter 10 shows the first generation of Lunarians.

Chapter 11 ends by referring to early days of Lunar colonization. Chapter 12 describes the Beynac's place on the Moon.

Chapter 13 ends by referring to the first Rydberg. Chapter 14 presents the first Rydberg.

Chapter 15 ends by referring to crises in the distant past. Chapter 16 is another flashback to that distant past.

There are 46 chapters but so far I have reread only as far as the end of 15. Each flashback is prepared for. Flashbacks and scene-changes happen only in fiction, not in reality! We appreciate how the author presents his narrative while also noticing the various ways that fictional narratives differ from the real life experiences that they reflect.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Very elaborate, the way Anderson chose to organize THE STARS ARE ALSO FIRE!

I would say, rather, that the "spirit" of the Lunarians (as genetically modidied) reminds me more of the elves as seen in Anderson's THE BROKEN SWORD and Tolkien's THE SILMARILLION and THE CHILDREN OF HURIN.

Sean