tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538502828554372917.post1739618862063078969..comments2024-03-29T07:29:00.952+00:00Comments on Poul Anderson Appreciation: The UnambiguousKetlanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08588156788583883454noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538502828554372917.post-5080304886118298562017-03-29T15:08:31.997+01:002017-03-29T15:08:31.997+01:00Drat! Typos STRIKES again! I carelessly forgot to ...Drat! Typos STRIKES again! I carelessly forgot to include "treated" after "tactful way" in my first sentence. And, I'm frustrated at omitting "invited" after "and was never..." in my quote from "The Game of Glory."<br /><br />SeanSean M. Brookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13973738112230622557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538502828554372917.post-33218415989029677882017-03-29T15:03:50.643+01:002017-03-29T15:03:50.643+01:00Kaor, DAVID!
You offered a very good example of h...Kaor, DAVID!<br /><br />You offered a very good example of how decent Flandry truly was, one I agree with. Yes, Hurri Chundra Bannerji was an example of a fussy, rule bound, but well meaning Imperial civil servant, a class of people for whom Flandry had respect. <br /><br />And, yes, I recall the delicate, tactful way Flandry Lady Varvara. And he certainly noticed the cold "courtoisie" of the Nyanzans. I remembered this bit from Section III of "The Game of Glory," as Flandry was speaking QUITE bluntly to Light Mistress Tessa Hoorn, one of the Nyanzan nobles: "...Therefore," he finished soberly, "I'm afraid I'm a little more sympathetic to Hurri Chundra Bannerji, who fussed about and established extrasystemic employment contacts for your more ambitious young men and built breakwaters and ordered vaccines and was never to your clubs, than I am sorry for you." Here, among other things, we are reminded how for most of its planets, Imperial rule was generally mild and benign.<br /><br />SeanSean M. Brookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13973738112230622557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538502828554372917.post-37840725991523500482017-03-29T10:26:55.958+01:002017-03-29T10:26:55.958+01:00Sean and Paul:
With regard to enjoying women's...Sean and Paul:<br />With regard to enjoying women's favors, too, I particularly recall, from "The Game of Glory," how Flandry was uneasy at the notion of sleeping with Lady Varvara Ayres Bannerji. <br /><br />"Exquisite" though she was, her husband had been murdered the night before, and yet she made it clear Flandry could have her that very moment if he wanted. She was THAT sick of the colonials' cold "courtoisie" and even more the unsophisticated obsequiousness of the technical class ... and found Flandry's unthinking *savoir faire* SO refreshing after some four Terran years on Nyanza.<br /><br />So Flandry glanced at a portrait of the late Hurri Chundra Bannerji and apologized mentally in case he couldn't AVOID going to bed with the widow, "*but my job demands I be tactful. For the Empire and the Race!*"David Birrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08973889429164886381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538502828554372917.post-26784340237473268632017-03-29T07:20:14.998+01:002017-03-29T07:20:14.998+01:00Kaor, Paul!
I agree Dominic Flandry would have be...Kaor, Paul!<br /><br />I agree Dominic Flandry would have been able to enjoy the favors of the women you mentioned if that was what it took to complete his mission. But, he DID understand what corruption is, and the deleterious effects it has on persons and societies. And there were SOME things he simply would not do. And what he saw on some planets aroused so much disgust in him that he worked to undermine the ruling regime. Here I had the intolerably oppressive and corrupt regime misruling Unan Besar in mind, Biocontrol.<br /><br />SeanSean M. Brookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13973738112230622557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538502828554372917.post-45963628343739203752017-03-29T03:36:33.995+01:002017-03-29T03:36:33.995+01:00I should've added that if that WAS what Smith ...I should've added that if that WAS what Smith had in mind, he was ignoring ALL arguments against incest other than the problem of inbreeding causing genetic defects. A bit of a moral blind spot, there.David Birrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08973889429164886381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538502828554372917.post-54195784208624772022017-03-29T01:39:24.104+01:002017-03-29T01:39:24.104+01:00Paul:
I, likewise, have never read the entirety of...Paul:<br />I, likewise, have never read the entirety of the *Lensman* series. One thing I've read ABOUT the series, though, is that in the last book, *Children of the Lens*, Smith hinted toward the notion that Kinnison's children were "perfected" to the point that THEY would be the only suitable mates for each other, and for THEM and THEIR descendants only, incest would NO LONGER BE IMMORAL. They were true "post-humans," not *Homo sapiens*. Supposedly, only that it wouldn't be culturally acceptable to his editors and readers kept Smith from making this conclusion explicit. David Birrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08973889429164886381noreply@blogger.com