The sun is Laura, a name with Classical associations.
The planet, Elysium, is described as "...sun-wracked..." (p. 503) so it must be close to Laura as Mercury is to Sol.
Camelot has multiple moons so it sounds like Jupiter.
Utgard is "...dark..." and "comet-haunted..." (ibid.) so it is in the outer system.
Phaeacia, a planet of "...frigid blue peace...," (ibid.) inspires Christopher Holm to quote Homer so that Tabitha Falkayn asks:
"...what else this Homer fellow had written..." (ibid.)
Homer did not write anything although Hesiod did.
Homer and Hesiod initiated European literature, thus the tradition that led to Poul Anderson - who wrote on the western edge of the Earth beyond Oceanus.
13 comments:
"Writing" is a term that contains multitudes.
Homer was probably written down fairly soon after the actual poet's lifetime.
But for a long time, oral and written were very closely linked.
Eg., until well into the Middle Ages, most people who read or wrote spoke the words aloud as they did.
In Roman times, "silent reading" -- the ability to or write read something -without- audibly pronouncing the words -- was rare and considered a mark of great scholarship.
Linked to that were the textual conventions in use.
For example, in Classical times most writing was done in "cursive", and cursive texts were written without gaps between words and without gaps between sentences; nor wax capitalization used, or most punctuation either. What we consider capital letters were used for inscriptions.
Those conventions didn't start to develop until roughly Carolingian times.
When I was a Careers Advisor, I gave a teenage client some printed info and he started to read it aloud. Irritated by this, I told him that he didn't need to do it. Then I realized that he DID need to do it. He was of low ability and that was the only way that he could read. With another client, I got some info on screen and scrolled down expecting her to ask when to stop when she saw something of interest. Then I saw that she was looking out the window. She explained that she couldn't read.
Too many whens.
Kaor, to Both!
Mr. Stirling: I remember reading of how St. Augustine was surprised to notice how St. Ambrose of Milan read without speaking aloud. As you seemed to say, reading and speaking at the same time was because of the writing conventions of their times: everything in upper case, no spacing of words, no periods or commas, etc.
Paul: A grimly bad commentary on the schools of our decadent times! They are failing to instill the most basic, ordinary skills anybody needs: literacy and writing. And I mean long hand, cursive writing, not mere printing!
Ad astra! Sean
Re: literacy
I recently read "Woke Racism" by John McWhorter, an 'African American'.
One of his recommendations for *actually* helping blacks out of poverty is teaching reading by Phonics. Apparently that isn't done in all US schools and it works for a far larger fraction of the population. My understanding is that 'whole word' is used in some schools and children who aren't read to by their parents tend to not become literate if that 'method' is used.
Kaor, Jim!
Exactly! Bad, unworkable, Politically Correct, woke leftist methods are being used in far too many "schools" for teaching "reading." I recall reading, in the late Jerry Pournelle's blog, how he sometimes discussed that phonics worked far more often than other methods in teaching children how to read.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
"Bad, unworkable, Politically Correct, woke, leftist..." reads like a string of cliches! Are there some data to show that school education is failing and specifically because of a particular kind of teaching method?
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Plenty of evidence, if you look for the evidence of how catastrophically badly leftists are at running cities like Baltimore, Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and far too many other cities and states in the US!!!!!
Yes, I am angry at the horrible, vile, disgusting, leftist Democrats in the US!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Can I check something with you? (Maybe I have got this wrong.) When someone that you agree with does something wrong, it is understandable as part of Fallen human nature? We must not expect perfection. But when someone that you disagree with does something wrong, they are horrible, vile, disgusting, leftist, scum, vermin etc? Maybe this is an exaggeration. It is an impression that I have got over a number of comments.
Paul.
The schools I went to were marked by hard work on the part of the students. For a number of reasons.
Good teachers... and the fact that if you screwed up, they beat you with split-bamboo canes.
I loved the courses in English, history, geography. But I sweated hard with the math and sciences, because after one experience, I was anxious to avoid the split-bamboo canes. Very anxious.
"Where there's a whip, there's a will", as the orc said.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: I am sorry if I got way too heated, which I should not have expressed here. But, more than half a century of observing what I'll call "counterproductive policies" and ideas by leftists in the US has not improved my view of them.
Mr. Stirling: While I hesitate at using corporal punishment for incompetence by students, I agree strict discipline has its proper place in education. And using methods that works, such as phonics for reading!
I admit to relishing that orc's line every time I reread THE LORD OF THE RINGS!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: when you've got 600 adolescent males away from their families, you -really need- strict discipline...
They didn't beat you for incompetence, though. Just for not -trying-.
They also had someone with one of those canes following along when we did cross-country runs... 8-).
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Certainly, in the situation described strict discipline would be needed! Still, I hope one rule was there was a maximum number of whacks allowed, such as six.
And that bit about someone following along with a split bamboo cane during cross country runs made me laugh. It again reminded me of the orc driving along that regiment!
What you said of your old school reminded me of Kipling's novel STALKY & CO.
Ad astra! Sean
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