Having called for:
"'...a bowl of Brazils!'"
-Poul Anderson, "Margin of Profit" IN Anderson, Un-Man and other novellas (New York, 1962), pp. 103-129 AT p. 112 -
"Van Rijn cracked a nut between his teeth and reached for a glass of brandy."
-ibid., p. 113.
"Van Rijn simply cracked a Brazil nut between his teeth, awing everybody present except for Gornas-Kiev, and reached for a snifter of brandy."
-"Margin of Profit," p. 150.
Like Poul Anderson's many Pathetic Fallacies, this passage is significant. "A hard nut to crack" is a metaphor for a difficult problem. Van Rijn's performance with the Brazil nut informs us both that he is physically tough and that he will solve the problem at hand.
Regarding physical toughness, van Rijn proves more than once later in the series that there is muscle beneath the fat and that he can handle himself in combat.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Except as a half friendly, not un-amiable business competitor, I would NOT want to be one of Old Nick's enemies, thank you very much! Real enemies of van Rijn tend to come to unhappy ends in ways that also enriched him, providing him a few more hard earned credits to support his impoverished old age. (Smiles)
Ad astra! Sean
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