Historical And Science Fiction

"She was as startled and amused to hear of race riots as he had once been to learn of blood spilled by early Christians over the iota distinguishing homoousian from homoiousian."
- Poul Anderson, "Welcome" IN Anderson, Past Times (New York, 1984), pp. 58-70 AT p. 63.

Amused? About riots and bloodshed?

"...she..." is a citizen of the world in 2497 whereas "...he..." has just arrived from 1997.

"Homoousian" must be Greek to a lot of sf fans! My upbringing gave me some inkling and, of course, it is now an easy matter to google. Poul Anderson, while writing a work of futuristic hard sf, was able to insert a reference for example to the Roman general Marius or to the Greek theology of "same" or "similar" substance(s) within the Trinity.

Thus, we are instantly reminded that this same author also wrote historical novels set in the Western and Eastern Roman Empires. For some writers and readers, sf was a literary ghetto but not for Anderson. His canon encompasses and sometimes synthesizes several genres as I have remarked before.

"Homoousian" could not possibly be further away from the theme of "Welcome" but, while our hero encounters a culture five hundred years later than his, it is good to be reminded of another culture fifteen hundred years earlier. Humanity through the ages is one.

Looking Backward And Forward

Brain Wave, 9.

"...the old forms of government would be no more important than the difference between Homoousian and Homoiousian." (p. 90)

We search the blog to find out whether we have posted about these terms before. We have, but not in relation to Brain Wave. See Historical And Science Fiction. So Poul Anderson made this historical theological reference twice (at least) and it has taken this blog over eleven years to link the two references.

Glancing ahead to the end to check the page count - we are almost at the mid-point of the novel -, we spot something that we recognize as an Andersonian motif:

"'Have you come far?'

"'From New York City.' There was a small shiver in her, and he wondered what had happened there. Or maybe it was just the cold. The wind piped bitterly now." (21, p. 189)

Much had happened in New York. Sheila shivers and the wind pipes in sympathy. When Archie and Sheila approach the shelter of the house, they have:

"...the dog and the wind at their heels..." (ibid.)

Canine support counterposes the potentially hostile external world.