See Anachronisms II.
The word "anachronism" catches our attention both because of its significance in time travel and because of its different use in CS Lewis' That Hideous Strength.
"From the pouch at his belt, Everard drew anachronisms he had permitted himself, hitherto used only in solitude: pipe, tobacco, lighter." (p. 245)
Since he had had to open his two leather sacks for the customs officer at the harbor, it strikes me that "Eborix" might have been searched, in which case carrying "anachronisms" would have been a bad idea.
Coincidentally, Lewis, parodying the style of a British newspaper editorial, again uses the dreaded word:
"At the same time we insisted that the complexity of modern society rendered it an anachronism to confine the actual execution of the will of society to a body of men whose real function was the prevention and detection of crime: that the police, in fact, must be relieved sooner or later of that growing body of coercive functions which do not properly fall within their sphere."
-CS Lewis, That Hideous Strength IN Lewis, The Cosmic Trilogy (London, 1990), pp. 349-753 AT CHAPTER 6, p. 6.
And that means what exactly? I think that Everard is faring better in ancient Tyre where:
"This race of businessmen had no use for the ponderous bureaucracy of Egypt or Mesopotamia." (p. 236)
However, I will now delve back into Lewis before turning in. Good night.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
But, as you hinted, even an easygoing Tyrian customs inspector might have hesitated at "Eborix's" pipe and lighter! Too strange and unfamiliar to simply ignore.
Ad astra! Sean
Well, tubes, herbs, and fire were all well known at the time — inhaling burning herbs was part of many folk-medicine systems, and opium and hashish were known well before tobacco was brought back from the New World.
So while pipe and tobacco would be strange and outlandish, they wouldn’t be obviously supernatural - just the weird custom of some outre savage from the back of beyond, like a bone through the nose.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I sit corrected: a strange and outlandish custom, but not something totally beyond the comprehension of that Tyrian customs inspector.
Ad astra! Sean
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