-The Forge, CHAPTER SIXTEEN, p. 300.
Here are peasants and aristocrats again. See Pride And Patience which refers to:
Ythrian pride;
Wodenite patience;
peasant cunning;
aristocratic honor.
See also Honor And Gild, which is about what these concepts mean to Ythrians.
One-word summaries of social groups and even of entire species are welcome if succinct and accurate. Dornford Yates's characterization of Germans as bestial does not qualify. It should remind us of other equally unwelcome examples.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I recall that Raj was a bit more sympathetic about Barholm's timidity, thinking that what he needed was a staff who could steady the governor and let others take care of the things that needed courage to master. Such as Raj himself.
And what struck me most about Dornford Yates characterization of the Germams was him mentioning the obsolete pseudoscience of PHRENOLOGY.
And what was that image you chose for this blog piece? A scene from the life and court of Louis XIV of France?
Sean
Sean,
It was Denis Wheatley who applied phrenology to the Germans.
The image is "Louis XIV receiving the future King of Poland, Augustus III, in Fountainebleau" and is on the Wikipedia article about "Aristocracy."
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I sit corrected about Wheatley!
I did think the formal clothing worn in the painting had a French look, set around 1700, and thus made me think of Louis XIV.
Poland had a very curious constitution after the extinction of the Jagiellon dynasty, becoming an elective monarchy. That would have been fine with me if the kingship and then the Sejm hadn't both become increasingly powerless and helpless.
Sean
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