"Poul likes the flamboyant character but I think it's about played out."
Could we have taken more of van Rijn? We could certainly have taken a lot more of the Technic History.
Blish's closest equivalent to van Rijn would be John Amalfi, Mayor of Manhattan in Fight. Not flamboyant in anything like the same way but nevertheless an interstellar trader, an unorthodox problem solver, a cigar smoker and larger than life.
And here is one difference between the treatments of these two characters. Blish wanted to make the point that, even with antiagathics, everyone eventually dies so he concluded his future history series with a novel, The Triumph Of Time, in which Amalfi and his fellow Okies must face the imminent end of the universe. The very last sentence is Amalfi's death and a new creation.
It is nearly midnight here. Good night.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Amalfi might be larger than life, but he never stood out as flamboyantly to me as did van Rijn.
Some flamboyant fictional characters might wear out the patience of readers, but I never felt that way about Old Nick!
Ad astra! Sean
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