Aycharaych tells Desai that he has studied:
Aeschylus
Li Po
Shakespeare
Goethe
Sturgeon
Bach
Richard Strauss
Rembrandt
Hiroshige
He knows of the Taiping Rebellion and the Indian Mutiny and borrows an Anglic translation of Tagore.
Aycharaych would be a good guy to have around if (i) he could be persuaded to transfer his allegiance from the Roidhun to the Emperor and (ii) he could also be persuaded that a worthy end does not justify diabolical means.
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Wait a bit! Sturgeon? THEODORE Sturgeon (b. 1918, d. 1985)? The fantasy and SF writer? Now that's an interesting detail I missed in my previous readings of THE DAY OF THEIR RETURN! I'm most familiar with him from his novel MORE THAN HUMAN. Here we see Anderson including a nice science fictional touch from our times. And whose works Anderson thought later generations would appreciate. As I hope will be done to his own works!
I too knew of the Taiping Rebellion and the Indian Mutiny and of how the former was so devastating to China.
I agree with you in wishing Chereion could somehow have been in the sphere of space ruled by Terra and Aycharaych had decided to be loyal to the Emperor instead of the Roidhun. And that a worthy end did not justify the diabolical means he often used for achieving it.
I know THE DAY OF THEIR RETURN is one of your favorites among Anderson's Technic stories, but I'm a bit surprised, after rereading THE REBEL WORLDS, you did not choose to first go back toe ENSIGN FLANDRY and A CIRCUS OF HELL before going on to TDOTR.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I have in fact read and posted about all these works less than a year ago! They are all still fresh so I am surprised to be finding still more in them to post about. The reference to an image of Saturn in ORION SHALL RISE led me back to THE REBEL WORLDS which in turn has led directly to its sequel, THE DAY OF THEIR RETURN. I never know what will come next. I thought that the Maurai History would lead back to the Kith History.
Paul.
Sean,
It is more likely that you did notice the reference to Sturgeon before but have completely forgotten about it. Now that it has been discussed, it should be remembered longer.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Understood, it is completely SERENDIPITOUS on your part over which of Anderson's works you will reread and comment on.
I might have noticed Sturgeon's name in past re-readings of TDOTR, but I don't recall that. But I should remember that better now!
Ad astra! Sean
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