"A being stood unclad against a background of enigmatic apparatus. The first word aboard for it had been 'centaur,' but that was like calling a man an ostrich because both were bipeds." (p. 211)
We have read this before, at least twice in the Technic History:
"[Falkayn] confronted the Minotaur.
"No...not that exactly...any more than Adzel was exactly a dragon. The impression was archetypal rather than literal. Yet as such it was overwhelming."
-Poul Anderson, Satan's World IN Anderson, David Falkayn: Star Trader (Riverdale, NY, January 2009), pp. 235-423 AT XV-XVI, pp. 344-345.
"Preconceptions always get in the way. Flandry's first startled thought was Wolf! Now he realized that of course the Ardazhiro was not lupine, didn't even look notably wolfish. Yet the impression lingered."
-Poul Anderson, "Hunters of the Sky Cave" IN Anderson, Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight Of Terra (Riverdale, NY, March 2012), pp. 149-301 AT VII, p. 199.
Centaur, Minotaur, dragon, wolf: is Poul Anderson trying to have it both ways here? He has to avoid stating that an alien organism resembles anything Terrestrial, whether biological or mythological, but he wants us to think of something so he presents a description, then immediately denies that description!, knowing however that the description will remain in his readers' minds: an overwhelming impression, a lingering impression...
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And I agree with Anderson, when humans first meet non-human xenosophonts I think that is exactly how they will react, and naturally think of analogies and metaphors. What will be needed is not to let such preconceptions get in the way of objectivity.
Ad astra! Sean
Humans make that sort of association instinctually.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Exactly, because it's natural to us.
Ad astra! Sean
I suppose it would be like these optical illusions. The human brain makes assumptions that have worked *most of the time* in the past, but give faulty results occasionally.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ames_room
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepard_tables
Kaor, Jim!
That also makes sense to me.
Ad astra! Sean
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