Poul Anderson fans know who the quotation (see right) is attributed to.
"His geniality was well nigh as overwhelming as his wrath would have been, assuming the legends about him were true. And he could be setting me up for a thunderbolt, Dalmady thought, and clung to his indignation..." (p. 521)
I knew someone like this but with a difference. I had passed a document to a colleague but felt overwhelmed and personally negated by his dramatic assurance that, whatever I said, the document was not in his possession. Later, when it transpired that that document had been in his possession all along, I felt overwhelmed and personally negated by his apology which was in no way an expression of concern for me but merely another dramatic performance by him. And there is the difference. Van Rijn's dramatics are carefully calculated and, throughout his conversation with Dalmady, his concern is to find the best way to treat the latter - but he must hear Dalmady's account before he can be sure whether the man should remain in employment at his present level or go higher.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And, of course, another difference would be that I don't believe Old Nick, unlike your acquaintance, would have lied to you or Dalmady about having a document submitted to him. Van Rijn would have needed to read Dalmady's report, after all!
I wonder how either of us would react to meeting a real Nicholas van Rijn in an alternate universe?
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I would like to share a meal with him or to work for him as a researcher/consultant but I would be no good as a "trouble twister."
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And I as well! And I'm sure Old Nick had plenty of academic types doing research or consulting for him. A trading company with operations over hundreds of light years would need some people like you.
Ad astra! Sean
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