"The dim splendour of the castle which was also a barren tor, the sorceries adrift through its eternal warm twilight, the presences that haunted hills and woods and waters - oppressed [Freda] with strangeness." (p. 86)
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Here again, Poul Anderson's text expresses two levels of reality or perception. People saw tors and imagined or interpreted them as elven castles. They saw hills, woods and waters and sensed haunting presences. I do not expect to meet a ghost in a wood but I do expect to experience some of what our ancestors felt as twilight deepened in such places. We must follow the narrative and also feel its atmosphere.
"Go with G - !" Well, no. Freda cannot say that in Elfheugh. But the Faerie realms are fading or withdrawing...
8 comments:
It's a melancholy passage.
Kaor, to Both!
One thing I noticed reading the original version of THE BROKEN SWORD was mention being made of the boredom felt by the elves as centuries passed. Everything that could be done had been done over and over again, ending with ennui.
Ad astra! Sean
Oh, I don't know. I still enjoy breakfast, and I've been doing that for a long time.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Ha, and that's good! But ennui can still be a problem, as when Leea said in THE BROKEN SWORD that the rough caresses of the trolls would make an interesting change after centuries of life with sophisticated elves.
Ad astra! Sean
Well, I always enjoy reading history and archaeology. And new stuff comes up in those all the time -- for example, ancient DNA research has totally upended beliefs about migration in prehistory.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And that's good! I esp. appreciated reading translations of historical works by writers of centuries past, some of which were pub. by Penguin Books and the Loeb Classics. A favorite being St. Gregory's HISTORY OF THE FRANKS.
I've also read translations of Chinese histories, such as parts of THE RECORDS OF THE GRAND HISTORIAN or the HISTORY OF THE FORMER HAN. And Backhouse/Bland's questionable CHINA UNDER THE EMPRESS DOWAGER.
It must have been a matter of some chagrin how some of that new archeological/DNA research would have forced you to rewrite some of your own stories--if you had known of it before they were pub.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: actually, I'm enthusiastic about new knowledge. Just wish I'd known it earlier!
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Good, I'm glad. I like that attitude.
Ad astra! Sean
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