When enough evidence has accumulated, Holger deduces that he is in a universe where the myths of Charlemagne are literally true just as later, in A Midsummer Tempest, Valeria Matuchek deduces that Prince Rupert is from a universe where the plays of Shakespeare are literally true.
"'...that what was myth in one world might always be fact in some other.' PERELANDRA"
-CS Lewis, "Forms of Things Unknown" IN Lewis, The Dark Tower and other stories (London, 1983), pp. 124-132 AT p. 124.
(Lewis based a short story on a quotation from his own novel, Perelandra.)
Holger goes further:
"The mystics, dreamers, poets, and hack writers of home had in some unconscious way been in tune with whatever force linked the two universes; the corpus of stories which they gradually evolved had been a better job of reporting than they knew." (ibid.)
- which is precisely how DC Comics explained the differences between the Golden Age and Silver Age versions of their superheroes.
This idea covers a lot of territory and can unite a lot of literature.
8 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
THE SONG OF ROLAND and other Carolingian gests comes to mind.
I recall an elf baron in THREE HEARTS mentioning legends about Napoleon and his Old Guard!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
That happened just before the passage I quoted. Anderson made clear that the tuning in to other universes worked both ways.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Exactly, albeit I make no claims about understanding how or if alternate worlds exist and can somehow be "linked" to one another.
Ad astra! Sean
Of course, the thought that legends could be literally true in another universe opens up endless artistic possibilities!
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
It does! I'm glad you and Anderson developed some of those possibilities.
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
For many years now I've had a copy of Stephen Hawking's A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME. I've tried more than once to read it, but I never got further than page 46. Oh, well!
Ad astra! Sean
Kind of related:
I'm currently reading "Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global", about the Indo-European languages.
In the section about the Slavic languages this is mentioned.
Some (at least) Slavic languages borrowed 'krol' meaning 'king' which is a corruption of the name of the Frankish king Kar(a)l, better known to English speakers as Charlemagne.
Kaor, Jim!
A good example. You reminded me of other examples like "Caesar," originally the name of a branch of the gens Julia of Rome. It became an Imperial title because of Julius and Augustus Caesar. And passed into other languages like German ("Kaiser") and Russian ("Tsar").
Ad astra! Sean
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