"Since Wayland always turned the same face to Regin, there was continuous daylight for the span of their journey, except at high noon when the planet would eclipse Mimir." (pp. 237-238)
"At noon, darkness came over the whole land..." (Mark 15:33)
"They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night." (Job 5:14)
According to Wikipedia, Arthur Koestler's title (see image) refers to Job, not, as I had thought, to Mark.
Is Anderson's eclipse at high noon on Wayland an obscure Biblical allusion? I don't know.
I was wrong to think that these chapters set on Wayland would be uninteresting.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I recently finished rereading St. Mark's gospel in its entirety, not just the excerpts recited at Mass this year. Given his familiarity with the Bible, these may have been unconscious Scriptural allusions by Anderson.
I've read Koestler's nightmarish DARKNESS AT NOON many years ago, along with Orwell's 1984. Grim visions of what a totalitarian world might be like; to which Anderson contributed "The High Ones" and "The Pugilist."
Albeit I've wondered since then if the "soft" totalitarianism of Huxley's BRAVE NEW WORLD might be a greater danger, using sex and drugs like Soma to stupefy most people into quiescent obedience to the masters.
ad astra! Sean
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