"'You're a strider, sir,' she told him. He cocked his brows. 'Aenean word,' she explained. 'A strong, good man...let me say a gentleman.'"
-Poul Anderson, The Rebel Worlds IN Anderson, Young Flandry (Riverdale, NY, January 2010), pp. 367-520 AT CHAPTER FIVE, p. 414.
"A few persons rode in the saddle, a few more in or on the vehicles; most walked. The long Aenean stride readily matched wagons bumping and groaning over roadless wrinkled hills."
-The Day Of Their Return, 6, p. 113.
It makes sense that, if Aeneans have a distinctive stride, then "strider" becomes a term of commendation. If we are sufficiently familiar with the Technic History, then the phrase used casually in The Day Of Their Return reminds us of Kathryn McCormac's compliment to Dominic Flandry in the previous volume, The Rebel Worlds. The texts are embedded with details and meanings.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And I immediately thought, as might other readers of Tolkien, of Aragorn Arathorn's son, in THE LORD OF THE RINGS. Aragorn was a tall man with a naturally long stride, gaining the nickname of "Strider."
Ad astra! Sean
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