The Shadow Of God

"As a dewdrop may reflect the glade wherein it lies, even so does the story which follows give a glimpse into some of the troubles which Technic civilization was bringing upon itself, among many others."

-Poul Anderson, INTRODUCTION IN Anderson, David Falkayn: Star Trader (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 559-600 AT p. 559.

 

This opening sentence of the Earth Book introduction to "A Little Knowledge" helps to integrate what might otherwise seem a peripheral story into the Technic History. The "troubles" become the Troubles.

The introduction continues:

"Ythrians, be not overly proud; only look back, from the heights of time, across Ythrian history, and then forward to the shadow of God across the future." (ibid.)

The two narrative threads of the first part of the Technic History are the Polesotechnic League and human-Ythrian interactions. Here, an Ythrian, Hloch, compares Technic and Ythrian histories. Since Ythrians of the New Faith neither address God the Hunter in prayer nor expect to meet him in a hereafter, his status as a personal deity rather than just a metaphor might be queried. 

As a metaphor, I am inclined to accept God the Hunter. I see His shadow over individual lives and also over Western civilization.