In the night sky, Lucas:
"...recognized old friends, Arcturus, Vega, Polaris, the Twins, and white Venus." (p. 60)
We live in the midst of the stellar universe not only if we travel between stars but also if we remain on the surface of a single planet. In this passage of a historical novel, Poul Anderson reminds some of his readers that he also writes interstellar sf.
The universe remains our total environment. Even when we focus our attention entirely on Earthly events, heavenly bodies remain visible overhead and are frequently mentioned in works of fiction although authors do not usually list names of stars or planets. Poul Anderson emphasizes the point here. If we want to travel in imagination to Arcturus etc, then we turn to many of the same author's other works although, for the time being, we are concerned with Lucas' struggle to survive in Europe in 1306. That will sustain us until the end of the present novel.
14 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Soon, I hope, humans will be contemplating the stars from the Moon and Mars.
Ad astra! Sean
Note that medieval people didn't know the stars were suns. They thought they were lights in a crystal sphere, if they had any education. They also thought the Earth was the center of the universe and only about 6000 years old.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
That is true, but educated Europeans had known for scientific reasons since Eratosthenes that the Earth was round. In fact, Columbus' critics at the court of Ferdinand and Isabel complained he was underestimating the Earth's size.
Ad astra! Sean
Dante presents the medieval world view with a spherical Earth at the centre. Milton is ambiguous. Engels said Dante's COMEDY was the last great medieval poem and the first great modern poem.
Names to conjure with.
Kaor, Paul!
Of course, because Dante accepted the Ptolemaic astronomy dominant since Roman times. Yes, I agree the DIVINE COMEDY was the last great Medieval poem and first great modern poem. And far better than Milton's heavy, ponderously slogging effort. I've read three different translations of the COMEDY.
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Paul!
Poetry should be fun to read, not a bore, which is why I dislike PARADISE LOST.
Ad astra! Sean
Mind you, in Hellenistic times there was a rival sun-centric school of thought. But without telescopes, it was difficult to prove.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Interesting, that one I had not known about, or forgot. Your time travelers stranded in Antonine Rome would be introducing telescopes.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: Yup. And heliocentric astronomy, and pointing out (with telescopes to prove it) that the stars were also suns.
That makes "Imperium sine fine" a bit different.
(Did I get the Latin correct?)
Kaor, Mr. Stirling and Jim!
Mr. Stirling: Already seeing telescopes being used in THE WINDS OF FATE. And we can both imagine how agitated astronomers reared in Ptolemaic astronomy would soon be!
Jim: You reminded of these lines from a poem by Asimov: "Take an Empire that was Roman and you'll find it is at/home in all the starry Milky Way" (EARTH IS ROOM ENOUGH, Fawcett Crest, undated, page 55).
Should we imagine Stirling's Antonine Rome reaching the stars???
I no longer care much for what Asimov wrote, but some of it has stuck with me.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: well, there's going to be a follow-on series (collaborative) set many centuries later, named ITER STELLARE.
Given that the 1st story assumes time travel is possible, then so is Faster Than Light travel. That would certainly make an interstellar empire more plausible.
May you live long enough to write it.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
A fascinating notion, ITER STELLARE! I hope to read some of it. And ditto, what Jim said.
Ad astra! Sean
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