CHAPTER II: conversation in the Crystal Moon in Jovian orbit.
CHAPTER XVII: conflict and confrontation in the Sky Cave.
In A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows
IX: remembered conversation on Talwin.
XX: conflict and confrontation on Chereion.
Don't these two works look more and more like parallels of each other?
Another (Sort of) Parallel: The Two Heroines
Flandry tells Kit Kittredge that he is:
"'...just not the forever-and-ever sort.'"
-CHAPTER XVIII, p. 125.
- and leaves her on Vixen.
Later, he has become the forever-and-ever sort but Kossara is assassinated.
Same result: he remains a bachelor, ready for the next assignment and heroine.
I think that his treatment of Kit is callous.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I can see why some might think Flandry was callous to Kit, but I would disagree. He did not mislead or deceive Kit, promising her marriage or a long term relationship. After a moment of hesitation Flandry told her frankly why he did not think he could stay with Kit.
Aside from Djana, the impression I got about the women we know of Flandry associating with was that they remembered him affectionately. In many ways, before meeting Kossara Vymezal, I think Aline Chang-Lei, the Lady Marr of Syrtis, would have been ideal for Flandry.
That title of Aline, "Lady Marr of Syrtis," made me wonder if she was a baroness of the Empire in her own right.
Ad astra! Sean
Addendum: I like to think the Barony Marr of Syrtis was located in the Syrtis Major region of Mars.
Sean
Many a sailor, historically, had "a girl in every port" (and vice-versa). From the time Anderson (and had come of age, to be frank) was writing, it's a respectable point of view from the point of adults (male and female) being realistic about intimacy and relationships, as opposed to romantics ... quite different than - say - Ian Fleming or John D. MacDonald.
Kaor, Dave!
My impression, however, was that the ladies most prominently in Flandry's life: Persis D'Io, Kathryn McCormac, Aline Chang-Lei, Bourtai on Altai, etc., remembered him, mostly, quite seriously and with affection.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean - Yes, that would be my inference from the stories as well. Very "Gallic" as Sandra Meisel wrote. ;)
But as said, Bond weas definitely a love 'em and leave 'em archetype, and McGee either left them between novels or they got killed in the next novel. Kind of a trope for Travis McGee, actually.
Trying to think if many of Anderson's peers in SF had those sort of on-going protagonists who lasted long enough. Harry Harrison's closest, Jim and Angelina DiGriz, basically staid true to each other once they "met" (whether one would call it a meet cute or not depends on one's pathologies, I suppose) but there's some Hammett influence there, I think.
Anyone else come to mind?
Kaor, Jim!
I would rather say that Flandry, in his own way, and despite his faults, was a gentleman. That was certainly how Kathryn McCormac thought of him in THE REBEL WORLDS!
Bond did fall seriously in love with one girl, but she was killed by SPECTRE.
It's been too long since I read Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat stories, so I can't comment about the DiGrizs.
Ad astra! Sean
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