Tuesday, 28 September 2021

Old And Full Of Days

The Stars Are Also Fire, 34.

Dagny Beynac will download her personality so that she can retire from public life while her download continues to advise Moondwellers and Lunarians. Download Guthrie says that Dagny is:

"'Old and full of days.'" (p. 462)

- but does not make clear that this is a quote. (Gen. 25:8)

Then Guthrie says, "'...and lay you down with a will.'" (ibid.)

Thus, he quotes Robert Louis Stevenson's Requiem. Volume I of Robert Heinlein's Future History ends with a short story called "Requiem" that begins by quoting Stevenson's poem in full. So, over breakfast this morning, we contemplate Poul Anderson, Genesis, Robert Louis Stevenson and Robert Heinlein.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

True, but Dagny Beynac did not want to download her personality. She only did so from a sense of duty, so she could finish the tasks she still had. The Lady Dagny (as it seems natural to call her) planned to soon have her download issue instructions to be permanently switched off.

Ad astra! Sean