The male and female crews have met:
"We are together, the two halves of the human race. We know now that man will live; there will be children and hearthfires on another Earth - in the end on a thousand or a million other Earths." (14, p. 112)
A new beginning - a novel's length away from the end of Earth in the opening sentence. In a work by Poul Anderson, it is time for an appropriate wind to blow and, right on cue:
"When Sigrid stepped out, the wind blew odors of springtime at her." (ibid.)
It could have been autumn or winter when Sigrid agreed to meet Donnan on the planet Varg but of course it has to be spring. How many readers notice that the seasons match the cycles of the narrative like this? We are affected by reading Poul Anderson's texts whether or not we consciously reflect on them.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
You are to be commended for pointing out these subtleties to us, points I and most other readers would very likely have missed.
Ad astra! Sean
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