Reflections On Death

Fiction reflects life which includes death so some writers of fiction reflect on death:

 

"'That is the human mentality again,' said Aycharaych. 'Your instincts are such that you never accept dying. You, personally, down underneath everything, do you not feel death is just a little bit vulgar, not quite a gentleman?'

"'Maybe. What would you call it?'

"'A completion.'"

-Poul Anderson, "Hunters of the Sky Cave" IN Anderson, Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight Of Terra (Riverdale, NY, 2012), pp. 149-301 AT II, p. 164.

 

So Chereionites have instincts that do accept death? Well, we will learn in A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows that they are extinct, except for Aycharaych. Later in "Hunters...," he will set out to complete Flandry's life. 

In A Knight..., Aycharaych suggests that the consciousness of a mere few decades of life makes human beings always in haste. So Chereionites live longer than just a few decades? That makes sense and might make it easier for them to accept death.

Aycharaych continues:

"'It may be the root of your greatness as a race... Could a St. Matthew Passion have welled from an immortal Bach? Could a Rembrandt who knew naught of sorrow and had no need for steadfastness in it have brought those things alive by a few daubs of paint? Could a Tu Fu free of loss have been the poet of dead leaves flying amidst snow, cranes departing, or an old parrot shabby in its cage. What depth does the foreknowledge of doom give to your loves?'"

-Poul Anderson, A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows IN Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight Of Terra, pp. 339-606 AT IX, p. 460.

A futuristic sf novel does not need references to Bach, Rembrandt or Tu Fu but is nevertheless enriched by them, especially when expressed in Poul Anderson's prose. Dead Leaves have become a blog theme. There will be more "Reflections on Death."