Coya Conyon's mixed - Dutch, Malay, Mexican, Chinese, Scottish/Hermetian and African/Nyanzan - ancestry and her more restrained lifestyle make her "...a typical modern human..." (pp. 643-644) but she also sounds as if she would belong in the twentieth century when this story was written. When referring to a comrade called Yunus Bakhsh, I was asked where he was from. I replied, "He is from the North East of England. His ancestry is elsewhere." (I am not sure where.)
The gulf between Coya and her grandfather is shown when he offers her a choice of:
beer
gin
whisky
cognac
vodka
arrack
akvavit
wines
liqueurs
ansa
totipot
slumthunder
maryjane
ops
gait
Xanadu radium
a soft drink (he winces)
- but she prefers coffee and does not smoke.
Van Rijn: "Ah, they don't put the kind of stuff in youngsters like when I was your age." (p. 648)
Coya: "A few of us try to exercise some forethought as well as our consciences..." (ibid.)
Coya: "I'm sorry. Didn't mean to sound self-righteous." (ibid.)
Van Rijn: "But you did." (ibid.)
Just before that, he had thought it a shame that "'Customs has changed.'" (ibid.) An earlier "custom" would have been for a young woman like Coya to appear half naked in company. She reddens at his remarks. It is good to read about a generation gap working the other way. (I was certainly alienated from my parents but not from my daughter. We crossed a threshold in our lifetimes.)
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
That should not be thought surprising. Technic civilization descended directly from Western civilization. Meaning that much we would think familiar would still exist in Coya's lifetime.
And considering the social chaos and lunacies of the past 50/60 years I would not be suprised if an upcoming generation reacts against such things in a more "prudish" way!
Happy New Year! Sean
I want a synthesis, the best of old and new, not just another action and reaction.
Kaor, Paul!
And that is not going to happen--because human affairs are so chaotic and contingent.
Happy New Year! Sean
Sean,
We do not know what is going to happen. Right now, negative outcomes seem likely. The forces that want to continue business as usual whatever the consequences are extremely powerful. They have massive armaments, including nukes.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
No, that is too superficial. I believe that whatever may happen in the future will continue to have the usual mix of good and bad we have seen in all recorded history. At most some civilizations will arise which, on balance, will have more good than bad (such as Western civilization). And I believe Christianity will be an important factor making that likely to happen.
Happy New Year! Sean
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