In this Rustum History series, the titles of the individual instalments do not seem very relevant to their particular narratives and also are quickly forgotten because we just think of each instalment as the first, second, third or fourth in the first or second volume. These individual titles are:
"Robin Hood's Barn"
"The Burning Bridge"
"And Yet So Far"
"The Mills of the Gods"
"My Own, My Native Land"
"Passing the Love of Women"
"A Fair Exchange"
"To Promote the General Welfare"
Starting to (re)read the sixth instalment, we immediately recognize the viewpoint character who is named in the opening sentence:
"...Dan Coffin awoke..." (p. 53)
Joshua Coffin appeared in instalments 1, 2, 4 and 5 and his son Danny in instalments 4 and 5. Now we know that the son is still alive although not yet whether the father is. The Rustum series grows at a leisurely pace towards the status of a future history, which has to cover more than one future generation.
Two more "ficts," fictional facts, soon become apparent:
Dan and others are in a settlement in the lowlands, with buildings, pastures and grain fields, so the colony is expanding;
Dan is now in a relationship with Mary Lochaber who had stood up for him when he was bullied at school in instalment 4.
The pace is leisurely but life continues, nevertheless.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I don't think all of the titles for the Rustum stories are that obscure or irrelevant.
"Robin Hood's Barn" refers to idiom about taking lengthy, often needlessly complicated routes to a destination. It should remind us of the convoluted intrigues of Commissioner Svoboda as he schemed and maneuvered to get the Constitutionalists exiled to Rustum.
The Commissioner was motivated by his realization the Federation was decadent, that a scientific minded outlook needed for a real space effort/off Earth colonization, etc., was dying. He also wanted his descendants to have a chance at a better life on another world.
"The Burning Bridge" refers to the means chosen by Joshua Coffin to make sure the colonization of Rustum was not aborted. Iow, he burned the bridge of the Constitutionalists so they would not quit.
Since his methods were questionable, including the possible death of one of his subordinates, Joshua Coffin judged himself unfit to remain a spaceman and resolved to resign as Fleet Captain on reaching Rustum, joining the new colony.
"And Yet So Far" can be more briefly explained. It refers to an accident which might yet have wrecked the Rustum colony, when it was so far away in time and space from Earth. And the means found by Jan Svoboda to prevent the new Fleet Captain, Nils Kivi, from forcing the cancellation of the colony.
I admit "The Mills of the Gods" is a more obscure title, one I'm not sure how to interpret.
"My Own, My Native Land" is much easier to understand. It refers to how the young Daniel Coffin overcame dislike of the lowlands of Rustum due to a traumatic experience there as a child.
"Passing the Love of Women" might be understood in several ways. First, it refers to Dan Coffin reluctantly accepting he was never going to have the woman he wanted. Second, it refers to the risks he took saving a herd of "dinosaurians" in the lowlands, risks that might have endangered his friends.
"A Fair Exchange" refers to how best the Constitutionalists should interpret their economic beliefs as changing circumstances on Rustum inevitably affected them.
"To Promote the General Welfare" occurred at the time when, as most wealth and population shifted to the lowlands, it was necessary to revise the gov't of Rustum to reflect those changes. Here the problem the now aged Daniel Coffin sought to resolve was to maneuver and scheme to make sure High America would not become a dangerously embittered enclave inhabited only by those unable to live in the lowlands.
And most Americans should recognize the title as a phrase taken from the US Constitution.
I remember how Mary Lochaber was described in "Mills"! It immediately reminded me of Sir John Tenniel's classic illustrations for Lewis Carroll's ALICE IN WONDERLAND books.
Ad astra! Sean
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