Van Rijn and his companions have been rescued by a native dugout crew. Van Rijn makes some deductions. Of the crew, some wear helmets and breastplates and all are armed while their vessel bears a catapult. Therefore, this is a naval ship, not a merchant. Not good: van Rijn can talk with traders but only shout at officers.
And there is Someone else that he can address. Raising his eyes to heaven:
"'I am a poor old sinner,' he shouted, 'but this I have not deserved! Do you hear me?'" (p. 156)
He sounds like the lead character of Fiddler On The Roof who speaks conversationally with God: "I'll talk to You later," and so on. Indeed, the Hebrew prophetic experience is a prolonged dialogue with the God of a people, sometimes asking Him what He is doing. But we have wandered far from that dugout.
17 comments:
Van Rijn plays to the audience -- but he's genuinely religious, I think.
I have come to that conclusion about van Rijn.
Kaor, to Both!
I never doubted the sincerity of Old Nick's faith. And it was amusing how he talked to God.
I don't know if Stirling ever read any of them, but I was reminded of Giovannino Guareschi's stories about the parish priest Don Camillo, to whom Christ speaks to. Two of the four Don Camillo books I have are THE LITTLE WORLD OF DON CAMILLO and the hilarious DON CAMILLO MEETS THE FLOWER CHILDREN.
Happy New Year! Sean
Camillo's church team plays the Communist Mayor's team at football. The Mayor's team wins. Camillo complains to the Lord especially since he knows that the Mayor had bribed the referee. The Lord replies, "Maybe the ref thought that it was alright to accept a bribe since he had already been offered one by the parish priest..."
Kaor, Paul!
I remember that, and there were other times when Don Camillo rightly knocked down Peppone a peg or two when he got too full of himself.
And I loved COMRADE DON CAMILLO!
Happy New Year! Sean
That is one that I had not even heard of although Ketlan mentioned it.
Kaor, Paul!
I loved that book! Don Camillo forced Peppone to agree to him going on a Party tour of the USSR and then proceeded to wreak serio-comic havoc. One amusing touch was Don Camillo disguising his breviary a a collection of the works of Lenin!
Happy New Year! Sean
Nice one, Camillo! (I suppose...)
Kaor, Paul!
It was--and behind all the comedy we see Guareschi making hard hitting points.
Happy New Year! Sean
Yes, I read those books -- some time ago. I like seeing things from different viewpoints.
"while their vessel bears a catapult. Therefore, this is a naval ship, not a merchant"
In human history lots of ships have been both. Doing trading, but being armed for defense or a bit of on the side piracy.
It was also that all of the crew were armed and some were armoured.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I am glad you also read the Don Camillo books, which were immensely fun reading to me as a boy.
One thought inspired by this discussion was of how much Don Camillo reminded me of Old Nick! They were both tall, big, immensely strojng, shrewd, and wily men. If Nicholas van Rijn had become a priest I think he would have been a lot like an interstellar Don Camillo!
Happy New Year! Sean
Another anecdote about Don Camillo books. The author wrote in an introduction that, in one story, he had created a fictional scene in which an airplane was dropping leaflets during an election campaign. A political opponent grabbed a gun and threatened to shoot the plane down but was dissuaded. Someone said this was implausible. Then, in real life, someone did shoot down a plane dropping leaflets.
Kaor, Paul!
I remember that as well! As you said, either Guareschi decided or was persuaded that was too implausible to happen in real life--then it actually did happen. I was reminded of how Stirling said fiction has to be plausible, but real life/history so often is not "realistic."
Or as Anderson wrote in Chapter I of A CIRCUS OF HELLS: "A life which included no improbable events would be the real statistical impossibility."
Happy New Year! Sean
That would have been true of numerous merchant vessels. Eg., a Greek 'aktos', a merchant galley, had a ram. It was designed to carry valuable cargo, which meant it had to be prepared to fight pirates.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Esp. valuable, fairly light weight cargo? Stuff like silks, spices, amber, gems?
Happy New Year! Sean
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