"In the autumn of 1947 Krishna, fully recovered, left Ojai on his first trip abroad since before the war."
-Radha Rajagopal Sloss, Life In The Shadow With J. Krishnamurti (London, 1991), PART THREE, 20, p. 215.
("Krishna" is not the Hindu god but someone named after him.) Obviously, in 1947, "the war" can only mean World War II but it continued to mean that for decades afterwards.
Flora, the immortal escaped slave says:
"'Po' young Marse Brett, he done get killed in de waw.'"
-The Boat Of A Million Years, XIII, p. 272.
We accept this reference to "de waw." Then we reflect that Flora must be speaking before the American Civil War. Edmonds wonders and asks:
"'What war?'
"'De Rebolution, it was. Yay, eben us slaves heard 'bout dat.'" (p. 273)
That makes her about a hundred - which the Edmonds do not believe. A more plausible explanation is that:
"'She's overwrought.'" (ibid.)
- and:
"'...kind of crazy.'" (ibid.)
Well, it is obvious that "de waw" has different meanings in different contexts. I remember a good-humoured exchange between some students and a barman:
First student: "Ah, but I was referring to the Second World War, Jim!"
Barman: "So was I, you cheeky devil!"
Second student: "I assumed you meant American Civil!"
If only we lived that long.
8 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I had been wondering when Flora was born. Possibly around 1750? That would make her the youngest of the Eight Survivors.
I've read Churchill's history of WW II. One of the many things I should reread.
Ad astra! Sean
And of course the World Wars reshaped the world rather drastically. There wouldn't have been a Russian Revolution without them, of course.
Incidentally, if there hadn't been a Russian Revolution, there would probably be between 50 and 100 million more Russians in the world now. Stalin had his demographers shot or sent to the Gulag in 1938, when they reported (accurately) that the population of the Soviet Union was declining.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
It's outrageous that we got the world wars because of something as trivia; as Archduke Francis Ferdinand's driver making a wrong turn!
No Russian Revolution means monsters like Lenin and Stalin never coming to power in Russia. The purges and the gulags that Lenin started and Stalin continued/extended was horrifically devastating to the Russian people.
Stalin's brutality to those hapless demographers would only the bureaucracy to lie, because that would be safer than telling the truth to the top people.
Incidentally, I read that one reason Putin is so desperate to conquer Ukraine is because Russia needs more people. That population decline has not stopped!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: we got WW1 because FF's driver took a wrong turn and then stalled his car backing up.
We got WW2 because of WW1, -and- because Hitler miraculously survived 4 years on the Western Front in a very dangerous job (messenger), -and- survived his coup attempt in the 1920's, -and- survived several attempts to kill him. Luck of the damned.
It's very unlikely that a nationalist regime in Germany would have started WW2 without someone like Hitler who could dominate the military. They thought they'd lose another world war.
So did Hitler, btw.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And all because the Archduke's driver made a wrong turn! History is so contingent!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: yes, it's a mass of low-probability accidents.
For example, the Spanish crown was terrified that successful Conquistadores would make themselves kings. As it happened, Cortez and Pizzaro were loyal to the Spanish crown. If they hadn't been...
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
...our history would be very different!" Even Gonzalo Pizarro, Francisco's brother, who quarreled with and killed the first viceroy of Peru, couldn't bring himself to openly renounce loyalty to the King.
Ad astra! Sean
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