Janne Floris must persuade the prophetess, Veleda, that her deity, Niaerdh, has changed from a goddess of war to a goddess of peace. Is this possible? Floris quotes "olden wisdom," beginning:
"'To every thing there is a season..."
- and ending:
"'...a time of war; and a time of peace.'" (p. 613)
That does the trick with Veleda but they still have a warlike culture to contend with.
Whose is the point of view (pov) here? The opening paragraph about the smouldering sunset could have a collective pov. In the second paragraph, a hind shivers because of the weather and because he sees Wael-Edh. He reflects on her, mutters a spell and hastens home so the pov is his but then he is gone.
In the third paragraph, Edh approaches and enters her tower so the pov might be hers although only her externally observable movements and words are described. In the upper room, Janne Floris appears and the pov seems to become hers although again this might be an externally observed conversation between the two women. Finally, Floris subvocalizes and hears Everard's English language reply in her head. The pov is now definitely Floris's.
5 comments:
Testing. I tried to comment on how Ecclesiastes may have been a favorite part of the Bible for Anderson.
Sean
Kaor, Paul! Ecclesiastes does seems to have been one of Anderson's favorite parts of the Bible. I've seen him quoting from it in others of his works. Ad astra! Sean
C.S. Lewis said Ecclesiastes was a portrait of a mind that was without God.
(From SM Stirling.)
An interesting observation.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I recall some writers compared Eccleasiastes to Existentialist philosophy. And, long ago, I read an article in THE CATHOLIC DIGEST in which the author called its author sad but wise. Pity I don't have it, then I could quote something from that article.
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment