North and south are directions and the Poles are places. East and West are directions and can be places. Thus, the Americas and Europe are "West" whereas Asia is "East." Buddhism went to China from India so that, for Chinese Buddhists, their wisdom came from "the West" and, mythologically, there is a "Buddha's Western Paradise."
In Larry Niven's Known Space future history, the egg-shaped planet, Jinx, has East and West Ends reaching above the atmosphere and I think that I have seen them referred to as "Poles."
In another sf series, the returned Merlinus Ambrosius (Merlin) asks:
"'Tell me, slave, what is Numinor?'
"'The true West,' said Ransom."
-CS Lewis, That Hideous Strength IN Lewis, The Cosmic Trilogy (London, 1990), pp. 349-753 AT CHAPTER 13, p. 634.
"Those who would like to learn further about Numinor and the True West must (alas!) await the publication of much that still exists only in the MSS of my friend, Professor J. R. R. Tolkien."
-ibid., Preface, pp. 353-354 AT p. 354. (Preface dated 1943)
All of this connects with something in the Time Patrol story. The Mongol chief, Noyon Toktai, and the Chinese scholar, Li Tai-Tsung, meet Manse Everard and John Sandoval of the Time Patrol in North America in 1280. Recognizing that Everard is of European descent, Li says:
"'Ah...so men of the Western lands have also reached this country. We did not know that.'" (p. 137)
This dialogue is full of ironies. "This country," as Li calls it, is east of China. Thus, if not Europeans but Chinese had conquered the American continents, then those continents would have been "the East," not "the West." Li correctly deduces that "men of the Western lands have...reached this country" but does not suspect that Everard is a descendant of those Europeans or that, in Everard's time, "this country" has become the preeminent Western land.
Everard claims that he and Sandoval are of "'...the border guardians...'" (p. 138) and are from "'...the great realm farther south.'" (p. 137) Essentially, this is correct if, by "border guardians" is meant "Guardians of Time" and, by "farther south," is meant "another direction that Li has not imagined."
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Of course we both realize that these uses of "West" and "East" is largely due to cultural, literary, and mythological factors. In Tolkien's Middle Earth legendarium the True West referred to Valinor, the land of the Valar, the angelic vicegerents on Arda of Eru Iluvatar (God). East became associated with evil because Mordor, the land ruled by the Dark Lord Sauron, was to the east of the Numenorean lands.'
Our use of West or East came from the fact that the civilization which arose in Europe after Rome fell was to the East of India, China, Japan. And came to include those lands where Western civilization firmly implanted itself: the Americas, Australia, New Zealand, etc.
Ad astra! Sean
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