Dornford Yates' novels, set in Austria in the early twentieth century, describe narrow winding cobbled streets with overhanging buildings such that, in one case, it would have been possible to pass a basket from an upper window to someone reaching across from the facing house.
In Poul Anderson's "The Chapter Ends," the far future Earth wallows in archaisms:
houses low, white and half-timbered;
roofs thatched or red-tiled;
smoking chimneys;
carved, overhanging galleries;
narrow, cobbled, twisting streets;
wooden clogs;
the ruined walls of Sol City;
wooded hills;
fields;
orchards;
distant sea;
farm buildings;
cattle;
winding roads;
marble and granite walls;
"...all dreaming under the sun..." (p. 196);
smells of leaf, earth, trees, salt, kelp and fish.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Except for a few items like thatched roofs and wooden clogs, I did not find that list you made all that archaic! All the other things you listed can be found quite easily in the here and now. Including ruined cities (or parts of cities).
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Yes but they are archaic in a remote Galactic future.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Except I assume the "Galactics" would still need farms, at least. We see them eating and drinking in "The Chapter Ends," after all.
Ad astra! Sean
"would still need farms, at least"
That might end up sounding like someone from 10000 years ago saying "would still need hunting grounds, at least".
From
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/dec-7-hacking-photosynthesis-how-we-ll-improve-on-mother-nature-and-more-1.7403219
"Another approach scientists are investigating involves replacing photosynthesis with more efficient chemical reaction to produce acetate as fuel for the plants' growth. This reaction could be powered by solar energy or any other form of electricity."
& that is just what might be done with near future technology, much less something that might be achieved several millennia from now.
In the far future people might farm as a modest supplement to whatever the main source of food is. Just as now for most of humanity hunting is a modest supplement to farming for providing food.
Kaor, Jim!
I have nothing against using advanced tech for improving the production of food. What you wrote above would or should be esp. useful for off Earth space stations and O'Neill habitats. And maybe it can used by farms on Earth.
Ad astra! Sean
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