We have been in Gamla Stan, Old Town, with Stieg Larsson's Mikael Blomkvist. Now Poul Anderson's Charles Reymont and Ingrid Lindgren go there:
Reymont docks in Strommen;
they cross the bridge to Old Town;
passing the royal palace, they walk along narrow streets between high, centuries-old buildings;
Lindgren mentions -
Birger Jarl's Tower
the Riddarholm Church
the House of Nobles
"'...the Golden Peace where Bellman drank and sang...'" (p. 14)
A Poul Anderson text is nothing if not fact-packed.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Since I've been looking up all the links you gave here to the history cited by Poul Anderson in TAU ZERO, I certainly agree with you!
Sean
Poul used facts to give scenes -particularity-. You're not in a generalized city somewhere indefinite; you're in a particular time and place. He did it just as effectively with fictional settings, which gives them density in ways that aren't immediately apparent but which hit below the conscious level;.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree, and that is one reason why I enjoy your own books as well. You too give us facts to endow the scenes you create with "particularity." In both fictional and non fictional settings. You both appeal to readers below that conscious level.
Sean
Kaor, Paul!
Your links connected me to something else about Poul Anderson. The article about Bellman mentioned a character in his songs, a woman of negotiable affection named Ulla Winblad, the name meaning Vineleaf; the bard in ORION SHALL RISE addressed a tavern girl as Vineleaf in his poems, and used the same name in a song directed to woman of the Northwestern Union. Piet Rensoon — I think that was the name — pretended that his song was an original for the Norrwoman of his current desire, and she said that she would be equally conventional, and pretend to believe him. This was an allusion to Bellman, if only I had been cultured enough to get it at the time.
Best Regards,
Nicholas
I wonder what the climate of Stockholm will be like in ~200 years?
-Keith
Keith,
Current guesstimates would diverge considerably from whatever Anderson assumed when he wrote TAU ZERO.
Paul.
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