Friday 29 January 2021

Unseen Presence II

Since Poul Anderson quotes Percy Shelley twice in Trader To The Stars (see Percy Shelley), it seems appropriate to quote here another poetic "unseen presence":

"O wild West Wind, thou breath of autumn's being
"Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
"Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing..."
-see here.
 
Literary allusions abound. I would have gone on to say that Shelley's wife, Mary, wrote the first science fiction novel, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, asking whether it was right to create human beings, and that Poul Anderson wrote perhaps a culminating novel on this issue, Genesis. The first link above shows that I have already said this - but it bears repetition.

The Spirit is like a wind (Acts 2:2) and Clifford Simak connects wind with religious images. See A Winter Wind.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Do you think Anderson made any allusions or references to Mary Shelley's novel FRANKENSTEIN in any of his works? Off hand, I can't think of any.

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

I cannot think of any but will remain alert.

Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Maybe Anderson liked Percy Shelley's works better than those of his wife?

I do recall how Anderson referred at least once to Mervyn Peake's GORMENGHAST books. In OPERATION CHAOS we see the Johannine "Cathedral" compared to the vast, sprawling Gormenghast Castle.

Ad astra! Sean