(i) A later character refers to an earlier character as fictional.
(ii) It is revealed that the two characters coexist and even meet.
(iii) They exist in parallel universes which somehow interact. This is necessarily a fantasy or sf approach.
Needless to say, Poul Anderson does all three. When Manse Everard of the Time Patrol refers to Sherlock Holmes by name, it is as if to a fictional character. However, Everard also meets an unnamed investigator answering the description of Holmes. Finally, figures answering the descriptions of Holmes and Watson are also seen in the inter-universal inn, the Old Phoenix.
The same procedure applies to supernatural beings. In Operation Otherworld, God and his Adversary operate in one of the many universes whereas another such universe contains Yggdrasil and its inhabitants. But, in The Merman's Children, Norse and Christian supernatural entities operate in different parts of the same universe.
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
This might be only because of my memory being defective, but I don't recall SEEING any of the Scandinavian "gods" in THE MERMAN'S CHILDREN. And, of course, an educated Christian would not believe any pagan gods would be "real" in the sense of being actually gods.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Aegir and Ran are referred to as real beings.
Paul.
Sean: medieval Christians generally thought of pagan gods as quite real -- evil spirits, of course, but powerful ones.
They rejected them as worthy of worship, of course, but they rarely doubted their -existence-.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: I forgot or overlooked Aegir and Ran. But they never seemed to have been very important gods to the Scandinavians.
Mr. Stirling: I sit corrected! I thought educated Christians, circa AD 1300, did not believe pagan gods to be anything but literally nonentities.
Ad astra! Sean
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