Ingrid Lindgren grew up near Drottningholm.
She reflects that St. John's Eve balfires:
"...had once been lit to welcome Baldr home from the underworld..." (p. 15)
Were they? I thought that he was not due to return until after the Ragnarok - which Reymont mentions on p. 14.
Lindgren also thinks that:
"...it would be a joy to believe in some kind of religion, since that would perfect the world by giving it purpose, but in the absence of convincing proof she could still do her best to help supply that meaning, help mankind move toward something loftier -" (p. 16)
Purpose and meaning are not identical. The world has value most of the time because it sustains life and consciousness but it cannot have a purpose because only consciousnesses, existing within the world, are purposive. It is the European religious tradition that has sought intellectual proof of its doctrines. Other traditions express contemplative experience.
A character's views are not necessarily those of the author but they can be. Sean M. Brooks thinks that Anderson at least wanted to believe.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Exactly, one of the conclusions I have drawn from the works of Anderson is that he at least wished to believe in God, or that he could believe in God. And my belief is that this desire became plainer in his late phase works. I was esp. struck by the poem Anderson wrote called "Prayer in War," which he included as part of ORION SHALL RISE. And certain parts of STARFARERS and GENESIS comes to mind as well.
Sean
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