The Peregrine II

(Planet Of No Return and The Byworlder are right in front of me on a shelf. See here. The damned things disappear as soon as I start to look for them.)

Poul Anderson's The Peregrine (New York, 1979) contains two place names that we remember from other works by Anderson: "Arctic Resort" (p. 24) and a planet called "Vixen." (p. 33)

We have had some discussion of Biblical passages quoted by Poul Anderson. There are three in The Peregrine (Later: See here):

"'The heavens declare the glory of God...and the firmament showeth his handiwork...An old Terrestrial book...Very old.'" (p.52) (See Psalm 19);

"What shall it profit a man if he gaineth the whole world and loseth his soul?  (p. 77) (See Mark 8: 34-38);

 ("Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place?..." (p. 116) (See Job 38:12)

The first and third are spontaneous responses to stars seen from spacecraft. The second is appropriately applied to human beings barbarized by their enslavement of barbarians.

"Human speech and dress and dreams were being lost, as one by one the victors took over the patterns of their slaves." (p. 77)

If The Peregrine is read merely as an sf adventure, then it might be thought that its characters and conflicts are cliched but they are deeper than cliches and are worth reading carefully quite apart from their contribution to the plot. Anderson shows us no less than four interacting cultures:

Solarians - a cosmopolitan, cerebral, intellectual, analytic guilt culture;

Nomads - a mobile, practical, pragmatic, trading shame culture;

Erulani - an insular, barbaric, warlike, slave-owning, tribute-exacting fear culture;

Alori - an intuitive, holistic, symbiotic, Apollonian "...modified fear culture." (p. 153)

An Alorian recognizes that the Erulani are at least alive in the now whereas the Nomads "'...would have it forever day, not remembering night and storm.'" (p. 89) She speaks against cremation, arguing that:

"'The land should be strong with your bones and blossom where you lived.'" (p. 89)

I favor cremation but this passage made me reconsider burial.

A Nomad says that a Solarian thinks too much whereas her people experience the universe by traveling through it but the Alorian comments that both Nomads and Solarians try to understand life from the outside, not as part of it. The Alori "'...gently...'" exterminated uncooperative natives of some planets that they wanted to colonize. (p. 145) The Solarian reflects that man's violent history has taught him that he must respect intelligent life whereas the Alori had evolved as a unified culture. These are profound issues for an adventure novel.

"The Bitter Bread" And The Heavens

I find that I have summarized the technical problem in "The Bitter Bread" in The Bitter Bread II.

`"The Bitter Bread," The Peregrine and The Enemy Stars all quote:

"The heavens declare the glory of God..." (pp. 98-99) (see here.) (Scroll down.)

I am finding "The Bitter Bread" rather difficult reading both because of the complexity of the technical problem and because of the Puritanism of the Protectorate regime. I will soon move on to "The Ways of Love."

We do not know how the universes are distributed in the multiverse. Maybe similar universes are closer together? Thus, someone departing from the Old Phoenix to visit a Protectorate timeline might wind up in the wrong one? Or something?

"More Lasting Than Bronze"

If the two missing stories were to be included in a future edition of Poul Anderson's Starship, then the Psychotechnic History would be complete in five regular volumes: three collections and two novels. There are two ways to publish a future history series: either in single novels and standard-sized collections or in omnibus volumes.

In the thirty second century of this future history, the depopulated, forested Earth is the human center of scientific research, education, the arts and the Stellar Union Coordination Service. It follows that there are libraries of all surviving literature. A Nomad ship has a library and its captain's cabin has a shelf of well used micro-books in various languages. So what will still be read? I suggest at least:

Homer - epics, myths;
Shakespeare - drama (histories, comedies, tragedies), sonnets;
the Bible - many kinds of writing edited to present a continuous narrative from creation to new creation, albeit based in a prescientific cosmology.

Shakespeare was referenced and quoted earlier in this future history. When a Coordinator traveling with a Nomad sees the stars from space, he quotes:

"The heavens declare the glory of God...and the firmament showeth His handiwork."
-Poul Anderson, The Peregrine (New York, 1979), Chapter VII, p. 52.

The Nomad, puzzled, asks, "'What's that?'" and is told, "'An old Terrestrial book...Very old.'" (ibid.)

In fact, the Old Testament. The Nomad captain is familiar with the Bible. When reflecting that those who have enslaved a planet of barbarians are gradually becoming barbarized, he quotes:

"What shall it profit a man if he gaineth the whole world and loseth his own soul." (Chapter IX, p. 77)

Despite the change of cosmology, what could be more appropriate? They have gained a planet but are losing their identity.

Literature lasts. Horace (see image) wrote, "Exegi monumentum aere perennius," "I have erected a monument more lasting than bronze."

The Bible And Neo-Heathenism

(An odd compilation.)

See A Note On Anderson's Use Of The Bible.

David Ryerson reflects:

"'"The heavens declare the glory of God...and the firmament showeth his handiwork."....It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.'"
-Poul Anderson, The Enemy Stars, 6, p. 47.

"So this is how it feels, when the God of Hosts lays His hand upon a man..." (9, p. 66)

"Thou, God, watchest me, with the cold ashen eyes of wrath." (p. 67)

David's doctrinaire father, Magnus, prefers heathens to atheists. (2, p. 15) We infer that there are heathens on the future Earth. Does the opening of an interstellar frontier re-awaken ancient awe? James Blish's Okie swear by the gods of all stars. See here.