Late Night Other Reading

Neil Gaiman, "A Tale of Two Cities" IN Gaiman, The Sandman: Worlds' End (New York, 1994), pp. 27-41.

We have found parallels between Poul Anderson and Neil Gaiman. Here we find an echo of Anderson in Gaiman.

"A cold wind blew down the thoroughfares and avenues..." (p. 32, panel 2)

The cold wind is a physical condition but also a threat. The viewpoint character, Robert, has found himself in a mysterious aspect of his familiar city.

"'I think...' The old man paused. There was a cold wind, up there on the bridge." (p. 34, panel 3)

An even greater threat, underlining the porteniousness of what the old man in saying and might say next.

"I like to believe that it was only the cold that made me shiver..." (p. 41, panel 1)

Only the cold? But we have learned that that in itself is part of the threat. The cold wind underlining the old man's as yet unarticulated thought is extremely Andersonian although the story as a whole is intended to be Lovecraftian.