Winter And Spring

"The Sorrow of Odin the Goth," 300-302, pp.362-374.

Time travel fiction should recognize the ordinary passage of time. HG Wells' Time Traveller and Poul Anderson's mutant time travellers witness the passage of days, nights and seasons while time travelling whereas Time Patrol agents jump instantly from one place and time to another. However, the people visited by the agents experience time in the ordinary way:

"Winter descended and then slowly, in surges of wind, snow, icy rain, drew back." (p. 362)

Winter is lightened in the thorp by the river by the presence of Carl. He comes and goes and we know that he sometimes jumps ahead in time but that is unknown to his hosts and not mentioned in this chapter.

"Spring stole northward, snow melted, buds burst into leaf and flower, the river brawled in spate. Homebound birds filled heaven with wings and clamor. Lambs, calves, foals tottered across paddocks. Folk came forth, blinking in sudden brightness; they aired out their houses, garments, and souls. The Spring Queen drove Frija's image from farm to farm to bless the plowing and sowing, while garlanded youths and maidens danced around the oxcart. Longings quickened.

"Carl went away still, but now he would be back on the same evening. More and more were he and Jorith together." (p. 365)

Indeed. Longings quicken, including in Carl. He is becoming involved in one place and time in a way that a Time Patrol agent should not.

300-302

The fifth section of "The Sorrow Of Odin The Goth" is headed 300-302. Thus, it covers an extended period, not just a single incident. It begins with a characteristic Andersonian description of a seasonal change:

"Winter descended and then slowly, in surges of wind, snow, icy rain, drew back." (Time Patrol, p. 362)

In fact, that single sentence summarizes two seasonal changes, winter's arrival and its slow departure.

The viewpoint of this section is collective:

"For those who dwelt in the thorp by the river...the dreariness of the season was lighted that year. Carl abode among them." (ibid.)

Carl narrates alternating sections but in this section we are told in the third person how he appears to others and indeed to an entire community, not just to one individual. It is a fourth century Gothic community that knows nothing of time travel and instead comes to identify this mysterious wanderer with Wodan.

The onset of spring seemed familiar so I compared two passages. In this section:

"Spring stole northward, snow melted, buds burst into leaf and flower, the river brawled in spate. Homebound birds filled heaven with wings and clamor. Lambs, calves, foals tottered across paddocks. Folk came forth, blinking in sudden brightness; they aired out their houses, garments, and souls." (p. 365)

And, in "Star Of The Sea":

"Suddenly springtime billowed over the land. Warmth and lengthening days lured forth leaves. Grass glowed. The sky filled with wings and clamor. Lambs, calves, foals rollicked through meadows. Folk came from the gloom of houses, the smoke and stink of winter; they blinked in the brightness, breathed the sweetness, and set to work readying for summer." (p. 530)

Anderson often describes such scenes. We do not often notice verbal parallels between his descriptions.

I said that I might end this month with the round number of eighty posts. I will definitely end it with one hundred. I want to reread some Stieg Larsson. There is plenty to return to in Poul Anderson next month.

Seasons And Wind

"The Sorrow of Odin the Goth."

300-302 (pp. 362-374) is the narrative passage in which Carl Farness establishes himself among those Goths called Teurings. It begins:

"Winter descended..." (p. 362)

- and also encompasses:

"Spring stole northward..." (p. 365)

When the Teurings plan to resist the encroaching Vandals:

"Outside, wind hooted and rain dashed against walls." (p. 368)

- and when Carl offers to help:

"A sound like the wind passed down the shadowy length of the hall." (ibid.)

We have reflected on this sentence in four previous posts.

I now see that this is the moment when Carl crosses a line. He has become so personally involved not only with the Teurings but also specifically with Jorith that he responds to an appeal from her. His job is to record songs and stories, not to take sides in a fight - although he ingeniously defends his intervention to Everard afterwards! 

The Time Patrol timeline can accommodate a lot of extratemporal intervention but Carl is going to overdo it.