Magisterium police fly down to search a Gyptian riverboat for the fugitive, Lyra Belacqua, just as Imperial troops fly down to search a Riverfolk boat for the fugitive, Ivar Frederiksen. Pullman's TV serialization reminds us of Anderson's novel although we might have to reflect to recognize what the resemblance is. Last week, we noticed another resemblance between His Dark Materials and several other works by Anderson. See Our Alternative Universe.
After lunch today, Ketlan and I also watched the harrowing opening scenes of Joker. We appreciated the fact that, although we are familiar with Gotham City as a dramatic setting, this film showed us a completely different aspect of that fictional city. Similarly, Anderson's "How To Be Ethnic In One Easy Lesson" shows us (happier) domestic life on the Earth of the Solar Commonwealth and the Polesotechnic League. I would like to read more about everyday life on the future Earth inhabited by characters like Nicholas van Rijn and Dominic Flandry.
6 comments:
Paul:
Apropos of nothing except the mention of van Rijn, I happened to be looking up something historical yesterday and found an amusing (albeit minor) coincidence. A work of historical fiction, Dragonwyck (1944) by Anya Seton, includes a major character named Nicholas Van Ryn. He was landed pseudo-aristocracy although a U.S. citizen, and turned out to be a murderer ... but in the end, he died trying to save lives during a serious accident, so he wasn't all bad. Still, not much like PA's Old Nick; notice, however, which of them was created first.
David,
Possibilities are:
coincidence;
Anderson borrowed the name;
unconscious influence on Anderson.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul and DAVID!
Paul: I dunno, stories about ordinary people living ordinary lives don't seem very interesting, never mind EXCITING. I know darn well the petty details of my every day life are NOT interesting. So, I don't quite see why you put so much stress on that.
My thought rather is that the details of every day life gets more interesting when experienced or observed by characters in the works of Anderson and Stirling who were not ordinary. Such as the details observed by Dominic Flandry as he went to his first meeting with Leon Ammon in A CIRCUS OF HELLS.
David: I've heard of Anya Seton and her historical romances (which she preferred to call "biographical novels"). Albeit, I've read only one of her books, KATHERINE, about the mistress and eventual third wife of John of Gaunt, Katherine Swynford.
The contemplative and mystic Dame Julian of Norwich is sometimes mentioned here, and Seton has Katherine Swynford eventually meeting and being counselled by Dame Julian. But I don't know if that actually happened!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean:
Ordinary people living ordinary lives ... in a star-faring future? That can be very interesting. The people may be ordinary for their milieu, but not so much by early-21st-century norms. It can be soothing, too, to read about or watch people going about mostly-peaceful lives, enjoying the beauty of the world about them.
Slightly paraphrased from another site I visit:
Japanese has a term, iyashikei (癒し系), which more-or-less translates as "healing," used for anime and manga created with the specific purpose of having a healing or soothing effect on the audience. Works of this kind often involve alternative realities with little to no conflict, emphasizing nature and the little delights in life. Even though many iyashikei creations seem to have a strong escapist basis, the goal is not only to offer a means of getting away from daily worries, but to let the audience embrace a calming state of mind.
Kaor, David!
I think I mentioned on the blog, some time ago, seeing scenes from the movie version of DRAGONWYCK (starring Vincent Price as van Ryn), and wondering whether there was a connection. I don’t know.
Best Regards,
Nicholas D. Rosen
Kaor, DAVID and Nicholas!
David: You made some good points, but, even so, I would only partially agree with you. Yes, the details of every day life, when set in an interstellar, high tech society with FTL, would probably be very interesting for people like us, living in earlier and less advanced times.
All the same I would still argue that for a story to be truly interesting, it should include a problem or conflict needing to be solved or settled. E.g., absent such things, I really can't see much that would keep us interesting in a narration of the life of a synthetic food plant worker or a medium rank civil servant living in the days of Emperors Georgios and Josip.
Nicholas: And any actor who played Nicholas van Rijn would need to be over six feet tall and MASSIVELY built! And be extravagantly exuberant.
Ad Astra! Sean
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