"President Lambert's pork barrel politics..." (12, p. 116)
"Give humans power, any kind of capability but especially power over other humans, and some will misuse it. And probably the rogues are less of a menace than the busybodies." (13, p. 127)
Corruption is preferable to concern?
"Enough celestonauts had grumbled to me and others. They were willing to take chances for the sake of getting on with the job, the vision. Why didn't the bureaucrats let them?" (12, p. 120)
A space program is a product of governmental priorities, not of astronauts' "vision." The US government did not put six men on the Moon because those men wanted to go there.
"He set down his demitasse..." (ibid.)
The Matucheks' Sunday breakfasts:
Ginny's "...Cordon Bleu touch with crepes..." (13, p. 123);
Steve's flapjacks or huevos rancheros.
(This post will make a guest appearance on our Food Thread.)
The goetic Earth has "reckoners" (p. 126) instead of computers but are they technological or magical?
A rusalka haunted Lake Ilmen. (p. 128)
A Scandinavian nisse is paid for housework with a bowl of milk. (ibid.)
Steve is a Bohunk. (15, p. 139) Ginny thinks that he is:
"'No smarter than Karel Capek, no more of a threat to the establishment than John Huss.'" (ibid.)
He would prefer to be compared to Thomas Masaryk (ibid.) who seems to have played a similar role in their history and ours.
Ginny wears a cloak which is a talisman because Fritz Leiber played Prospero in it. (16, p. 145) I expect that that cloak exists in our timeline.
I rest my case, that Poul Anderson's texts are richer and denser than most other writers'.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, within limits, a corrupt politician or bureaucrat does vastly less harm than any fanatical ideologue. "Concern" is overrated in many cases.
And I sympathize with the astronauts (or celestonauts) willing, even eager to take chances and risks for the sake of a REAL space program. What makes politicians and bureaucrats so slow, timid, and cautious is the bad "optics" when things go wrong (as the "Challenger" case shows).
And that brings me why I'm glad people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are shaking up the long stagnant space effort. Private entities like SpaceX are more able and willing to accept risks if that is what it takes to get the job DONE.
I actually discussed cases like Austria-Hungary and Thomas Masaryk with Poul Anderson. I frankly did not agree that the destruction of the Dual Monarchy was a good thing. The weak successor states which arose from its ruins fell prey to first vicious internal and then to Nazi and Soviet domination. Czechoslovakia, for example, was wracked by strife between Czechs, Slovaks, Germans, Magyars, Jews, etc., who despised one another. So what good did Masaryk and his artificial Czechoslovakia really do? Apparently, tho, it was not that bad in the OPERATION timeline.
I certainly agree that Anderson's stories are "richer and denser" than the works of most other writers!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I don't think that mere "busybodies" become fanatical ideologues, though.
"Concern" runs many charities.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Granted, but too many can be and have been fanatical ideologues. Or mere busybodies of the Sneep kind.
Ad astra! Sean
There's an old saying that if a man comes up to your door determined to do you good, the best response is to shoot him dead immediately.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I recall reading somewhere that the most terrifying words in the English language is this statement: "I'm from the government and I'm here to ' help ' you."
Ad astra! Sean
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