Saturday, 23 September 2023

Memories

In the concluding paragraph of some novels by Dornford Yates, the first person narrator recalls several highlights from the just-completed narrative and informs us that he frequently remembers those experiences later in life. 

I am having the familiar experience of remembering but not being able to find a passage near the end of A Circus of Hells. Djana remembers the time when when she and Flandry had hunted for wealth on Wayland. There is a similar passage near the end of The Rebel Worlds:

"Theirs had been a curious intimacy when they traveled hither... dreamy talk of old days and far places, much reminiscence about little events on Dido..."
-The Rebel Worlds, CHAPTER FIFTEEN, p. 505.

Those are events that we did not read about. We know that that journey was long whereas Anderson's narrative is almost telegrammatically compact. Those little events were too trivial to be mentioned.

One later incident on Dido stays in my memory. Passing himself off as a rebel, Flandry converses with white-bearded Director Jowett in Port Frederiksen. Jowett says that the Josipists:

"'...won't give our Emperor the decisive battle he needs.'"
-CHAPTER THIRTEEN, p. 493.

When asked whether the rebels should yield:

"The old head lifted. 'Not while our Emperor lives!'" (ibid.)

I appreciate the archaism of the director of a scientific base on an extra-solar planet surrounded by an interstellar civilization expressing loyalty to "our Emperor."

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I am sorry, but I think your own preferences, even "prejudices," colored your comments about "...our Emperor." I see nothing archaic in an interstellar civilization having an emperor. And I would equally well think it just as plausible to think the head of state was called Chairman (as in Stirling's CONQUISTADOR), First Consul (a la Napoleon), or President.

Many, many factors goes into what kind of gov't arises within a nation or civilization. Whether monarchies or "republics."* What really matters is whether the gov't of any state is believed to be legitimate. And does not govern too badly!

I am sure many Britons have no hesitation referring to King Charles III as "our king" and feeling loyal to him!

Ad astra! Sean


*Bluntly, most republics are farcical jokes, corrupt kleptocracies, or brutal despotisms a la Venezuela.

S.M. Stirling said...

The head of State often embodies the collective identity of the people in their consciousness. Loyalty to him/her is therefore loyalty to the group as a whole.

There's no contradiction there.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Mr. Stirling!

I agree. And the thought I had was that it matters if embodying that collective loyalty/identity in the head of state be done in ways a people believes are legitimate.

Ad astra! Sean