Tuesday 20 August 2024

Late Evening Coincidence

OK. I am reading "Fantasy in the Age of Science...," in which Poul Anderson devotes a paragraph to the uniqueness of Lord Dunsany and also rereading Mike Carey's Lucifer: The Divine Comedy (New York, 2003) in which two fallen cherubim approaching a massive house in a supernatural realm remark that it:

"...looks kind of faux Victorian...like something out of Lord Dunsany." (p. 169)

Coincidence.

Also, I found a cover image for Time And The Gods by Dunsany and have thought that Anderson's "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth" and "Star of the Sea" could appropriately be collected under a new title as The Gods Of Time.

And now I propose to return to mere reading for what is left of this evening.

5 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

As a Catholic I believe Satan and the other fallen angels are real beings. It is the Church's teaching that no one is in Hell who did not irreversibly choose to hate God. So stories about Satan/Lucifer "closing up shop" ring false to me.

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

Gaiman's and Carey's Lucifer is simply a different character from Milton's Satan.

Different passages in the Bible are combined to produce the later figure of the Devil.

Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I am not a fan of Milton's PARADISE LOST, so what he says about Satan is a matter of relative indifference to me.

Dante's depiction of Satan in the DIVINE COMEDY is far more theologically correct.

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

It is a matter of indifference to you but I mentioned it because it had been said elsewhere that LUCIFER followed from PARADISE LOST. Milton's Satan is theologically orthodox.

Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I am not sure you are correct. I do recall how Milton seemed far too sympathetic to Satan, with lines about "archangel ruin'd." Also, his description of Hell makes it look far too comfortable.

One critic thought Milton was of the Devil's party, unbeknownst to him. But that was probably too harsh!

Ad astra! Sean