See Dream Country plus combox.
OK. I got it wrong about Thor so here's the deal. Valland tells young Wenli that:
Thor has a red beard;
goats pull his wagon;
the wheels make thunder;
Thor throws a hammer at trolls;
he will come if they ask him;
Valland helped Thor in an argument with an electrostatic generator;
Thor caught the snake that encircles the world.
Born in the twenty-first century, Valland remembers - and adds to - the myths.
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I know, but Valland was simply trying to amuse/distract a little girl feeling miserable from a bad cold.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Of course he was. What is the point at issue here? On the one hand, Gaiman gives us a comprehensive framework for fictional treatment of all mythologies. On the other hand and on a very prosaic level, Valland is merely amusing a child. That is all that is happening in Valland's head. We can either leave it there or think about it in a wider context if we want to.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Of course we can think of "wider" contexts, but sometimes all I think Anderson had in mind were "narrower," simpler contexts, using whatever came to mind as he was writing a story. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the best one!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
In WORLD WITJOUT STARS, Anderson did not intend to imply the existence of Thor in a "dream country." If we imagine any kind of link between WORLD WITHOUT STARS and Anderson's Norse fantasies, e.g., via the Old Phoenix, then that is us adding another dimension to the narratives - but a dimension that could be valid, e.g., in the light of van Rijn visiting the Old Phoenix. When Gaiman's character, Death, says that mythologies linger on in a dream country, that opens up all sorts of possibilities for readers or other writers to imagine links between texts - but that does not mean that Anderson had such links in mind when he wrote WORLD WITHOUT STARS.
Paul.
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