The Forever Wind

Orbit Unlimited, part four, 7.

Joshua Coffin and Jan Svoboda continue their search for Coffin's lost son, Danny, and the wind continues to punctuate Poul Anderson's account of their activities. 

(i) When Svoboda strikes a cigarette and Coffin wishes that this good fellow would not poison himself:

"The wind ruffled Svoboda's hair, as it did the leaves at their backs and the grasses beneath." (p. 140)

An unthreatening wind on this occasion. Indeed, it ruffles that good fellow's hair! 

(ii) While their conversation continues:

"The wind blew the sweat out of [Coffin's] clothes so fast that he was soon chilled. The forest roared with wind. Its velocity was not great, but the pressure made it a near gale.

"Windpower would be valuable when men were finally able to move down off the plateaus." (ibid.)

Back to threatening but also a hope for the future. (The future has a future.)

(iii) When they argue, Svoboda, striking the ground to master himself, says:

"'Have it your way.' The wind harried his words." (p. 142)

Sure. The wind joins in the argument! 

(iv) When Coffin stands up to attack Svoboda:

"The wind pushed at his back, he must lean into it, the wind hooted and tried to push him southward along the canyon, which resounded with its noise." (ibid.)

Man and wind rise together.

(v) As they fight, Coffin wonders:

"Was it the wind that shouted in his ears, or was he about to faint?" (p. 143)

We suspect both.

(vi) After fighting and pulling apart, they check how each other is:

"'Are you all right?' Coffin whispered.

"His words could not have crossed through the wind, but Svoboda must have understood. 'Yes. I think so. But you.'" (ibid.)

(vii) The wind even helps:

"Svoboda started south... This direction was a slightly better bet than northward. Danny would have preferred the wind at his back..." (p. 144)

(viii) - but remains unsympathetic:

"[Coffin's] consciousness withdrew from pain and thirst and hunger and the mockery of the wind." (ibid.)

I did not know how many wind references I would find in this section but Poul Anderson's texts never let us down.

Bible Round-Up

Poul Anderson, New America. 

Danny Coffin quotes his foster-father, Joshua Coffin, quoting:

"'The laborer is worthy of his hire...'" (p. 38) See here.

Now that we have started, we might as well make a note of every Biblical quotation in Poul Anderson's works. See Sean's article here and I have also searched this blog for "Biblical quotation" (see here; scroll down) but the search has not found every example. Searching for "Joshua Coffin" (scroll down) should bring up his quotations as well as other information. There are other key words and phrases, e.g., we had a few posts on What Is Truth?

Any further Biblical quotations from Coffin or anyone else can and probably will be addendumed to this round-up. In fact, see:

New America: Conclusion

Dialogue With God

Orbit Unlimited, part four.

See:

Thy Will (13 July 2021)

Thy Will (5 March 2025)

Joshua Coffin prays:

"Thy will be done." (7, p. 137)

However, he effectively engages in dialogue with God like a Hebrew prophet. First, he thanks God when lowland fruit proves to be edible because this seems to mean:

"...that He who fed the children of Israel in the wilderness would not let Danny die..." (ibid.)

(Recap: Coffin and Svoboda are searching the Rustumite lowlands for Coffin's lost son.)

Secondly, however, God's help seems to be withdrawn. Not finding his lost son yet, Coffin is compelled to struggle on through vines and thorns. Consequently, he reinterprets the edible fruit not as help but as a command. God has made it possible to continue searching through this hellish environment. Therefore:

"...His servant Joshua must continue to do so." (ibid.)

The name, "Joshua," makes this all the more Biblical.

Thirdly, he wonders whether he is mad to think that God had designed the Rustumite environment with him in mind. But, in any case, he must continue to do his duty.

This is prophetic dialogue. God's will can be reinterpreted but must not be doubted.

Coffin And Svoboda

Orbit Unlimited, part four.

At the end of section 4, Joshua Coffin:

longs to be back in space;

experiences burning eyes;

tries to stand but lacks will and strength;

feels that nothing matters;

overhears a conversation behind a closed door;

stands on the second attempt;

goes to a window and stares out;

hates Rustum;

despises Jan Svoboda;

feels guilt;

is baffled by Svoboda's merriment with his accuser, Wolfe.

Thus, Coffin is the viewpoint character of this passage. 

The opening paragraph of section 5 describes:

"The east side of the tableland called High America..." (p. 12)

At the end of the second paragraph, Svoboda looks with awe. Thus, we are now in the viewpoint of the man whom Coffin had despised even though the two men are now walking together down into the Cleft that splits the cliffs. Coffin's voice is loud and ugly to Svoboda. This happens all the time. We perceive others who perceive us. However, in real life, each of us is directly acquainted with only one viewpoint, his own, whereas, in fiction, the omniscient narrator can show us Coffin's viewpoint in section 4 and Svoboda's in section 5. Novelists have been developing these techniques since the seventeenth century.

The Value Of Fiction

Poul Anderson, Orbit Unlimited, part four, 5.

Joshua Coffin discouraged his young son from fantasizing about what was behind the clouds on Rustum! And Coffin expects Jan Svoboda, philosophically a "Constitutionalist," to agree with him on the ground that fantasy is untruthful. Theron Wolfe, also a Constitutionalist, had, in part one, 2, described his world-view as:

"'...an ideal of seeing the world as it is and behaving accordingly.'" (p. 19)

- adding:

"'I prefer to inhabit the objective universe.'" (ibid.)

However, Svoboda quite correctly replies to Coffin that:

"'Anker never said fun and fantasy were untruthful...'" (p. 122)

Not only did the philosopher, Torvald Anker, have more sense than to say that fantasy should be discouraged but also, more importantly, if he had said it, then he would have been wrong. Does Coffin prevent his son from hearing stories or reading fiction?

Intelligent beings whose libraries contained only history and science with no myths, fairy stories or fiction might even be impossible and certainly would not be human. Every positive proposition, e.g., "The sky is blue," entails many negative propositions, e.g., "The sky is not red, green etc," which imply questions like: "Why not?" and "What if it were?" People had to tell stories, e.g., about gods throwing thunderbolts, as the earliest attempt to account for aspects of their environment and experiences. Coffin reads the Bible and must surely realize that the creation stories are myths while the books of Ruth, Job and Jonah are historical fictions addressing moral questions.

A childish story that monsters lurk behind the Rustumite clouds would express the truthful warning that it is dangerous to wander out of sight of the colonized area. A child with a high IQ, like Dan Coffin, would begin by making stories but would soon learn to differentiate fact from fiction.

Coffin's Coffin

Poul Anderson, Orbit Unlimited, part two.

In order to influence a vote in favor of continuing the journey to Rustum, Joshua Coffin fakes a radio message from Earth and endangers a man's life. Realizing that he is no longer fit to captain a ship, he opts to join the Rustum colony instead of returning to Earth.

When Coffin returns to his ship, he sees the receiver web growing until it seems to snare "...a distorted Milky Way." (4, p. 62) Checking the radio recording, he finds "...only cosmic noise." (4, p. 65) See earlier descriptions of this noise here.

"Now if he had just -
"Coffin grew rigid." (4, p. 63)

This is the moment of realization when it occurs to Coffin that he can fake a message. He skillfully reproduces the offensive style of the hostile Terrestrial government. While doing this, he also thinks of the "cosmic noise" as:

"...the squeals and buzzes and the crackling talk of the stars." (4, p. 66)

Stars do not literally talk but that could be a premise for a different sf story.

From Earth To Rustum

Orbit Unlimited.

"In his weariness, the old habit of a celibate spaceman took over, treating women like retarded children..." (p. 116)

This guy, Coffin, does have problems.

In part one, 2, Joshua Coffin visits Theron Wolfe in his fiftieth floor apartment on Earth after returning from the exploration of the planet, Rustum, in the E Eridani system. In part four, 3, Coffin visits Mayor Theron Wolfe in his office above the library on Rustum because his adopted exogene son is missing.

In part one, 5, Wolfe springs Jan Svoboda from jail on Earth. In part four, 4, Wolfe and Coffin visit Svoboda on Rustum in order to persuade him to help Coffin in the search for his lost son.

It is difficult to imagine lives being resumed like this on an extra-solar planet after decades in suspended animation. Is it likely to happen?

Coffin Disapproves

Poul Anderson, Orbit Unlimited, part four, 4, p. 114.

Joshua Coffin, visiting the Svobodas, sees that they:

"...had well-filled shelves, though this was offset by authors like Omar Khayyam, Rabelais, and Cabell, right out where children could read them."

We have quoted Khayyam (scroll down) (and see here) on the blog. James Blish edited the journal of the James Branch Cabell Society.

Why should children not read these works? What sort of education and culture would Coffin preside over if he had the power to impose his beliefs and values?

Engulfed

Orbit Unlimited.

Joshua Coffin, a time dilated spaceman, remembers Earth almost a century ago. He visits a fifty-plus-floor tower that used to be surrounded by trees and gardens with a city on the horizon. Now the city has engulfed the tower:

"...with mean plastic shells of tenement. In another generation, this would be Lowlevel." (2, p. 16)

The encroachment of the city reminds us of the history of  Kith Town in another future history by Poul Anderson.

The Terrestrial population has doubled in Coffin's absence. Theron Wolfe prefers to stay in his fiftieth-floor apartment although most well-off Citizens are nomadic. The classes that usually stay in one place are Guardians with their estates or the masses too poor to move.

Earth sounds like a place to leave if you can which is what Coffin and Wolfe will discuss.

Solitude

Poul Anderson, Orbit Unlimited, part four, 5.

We demonstrate the richness of Poul Anderson's texts by posting about so many diverse points arising from a single chapter.

Joshua Coffin says:

"'I can tell you for certain that freedom requires elbow room. How can a man even be an individual, if there's no place he can go to be alone with his God?'" (pp.125-126)

This is one of the many times when it is idle to reply, "But I don't believe in God!" Coffin is right. How can a person be an individual if there is nowhere that s/he can go to be alone period? As it happens, I want to be able to be alone to meditate, read and blog although I also want to socialize and meditate in a group. I also want people like Coffin to be able to be alone with their God.

In my idea of an optimal society, everyone would at any time have access to:

"family," those we grew up with, however that is organized;
solitude;
places to go purely for the purpose of meeting new people;
places to meet people with common interests;
fulfilling work;
sabbaticals from work, giving the opportunity to travel and to see what everyone else is doing;
change of career direction;
personal guidance/mentoring;
public places - parks, restaurants etc;
participation in social decision-making - far more than just the illiterate exercise of writing "X" beside a name every few years.

Some sociable souls would never want to be alone but they should always have access to solitude. A few hermits would disappear and never be seen again but they should always be able to return to society.

Abominations

Poul Anderson, Orbit Unlimited, part one, 2.

Utilizing time dilation and suspended animation, Joshua Coffin has been away from the Solar System for eighty seven years. Since his return:

"He had seen abominations. There was a smiling idol where the white church in which his father had preached once overlooked the sea." (p. 19)

A smiling idol? A Buddha or Hindu deity? Unlike Coffin, I welcome the influx of Eastern philosophies and spiritual practices. The Lancaster Serene Reflection Meditation Group, renting a room in the historic Friends' Meeting House, meditates with a Buddha on the altar and images of Bodhidharma and Kuan Yin hanging to left and right.

Someone could write an endless series about a guy, like Coffin or one of the Kith, who returns to Earth every few decades or centuries. What extra-solar planets does he visit and how much has Earth changed every time he returns?

Some Details On Rustum

Orbit Unlimited.

The town is called "Anchor" on p. 104 but "Anker" on p. 109. The latter must be correct because it is the name of the philosopher who inspired Constitutionalism.

Joshua Coffin maintains his Biblical line of talk when he suggests that the dogs would have:

"'...raised a yell loud enough to wake Lazarus.'" (p. 109)

He just means "wake the dead" but he always takes a Biblical slant. Coffin must be the only Christian on Rustum. All the colonists were Constitutionalists fleeing persecution on Earth and Coffin joined them later for other reasons. He tells his children to:

"'...thank a just and merciful God...'" (p. 102)

Since the colonists, including the Coffins, have many children, it is predictable that some young Coffins will perpetuate their father's religious belief whereas others will reject it. But the rest of the population remains Constitutionalist or maybe just secularist.

The Flood And A Realization

Orbit Unlimited, part four.

See Orbit Unlimited: End Game

We noted Joshua Coffin's confused references to "the gods" and "the Lord" but did not sufficiently highlight that "...for it repented the Lord that He had made man..." is, of course, a significant Biblical quotation.

The opening sentence of section 7:

"The crisis came late in the afternoon." (p. 137)

- promises a crisis. However, there is such a long build-up that, in my time frame, that crisis will have to wait until tomorrow!

Coffin has some sort of moment of realization. Something strikes him so that he stops and gasps and Svoboda asks what the matter is. However, this time, the realization is not of the solution to a practical problem. Instead, it is a proper appreciation of Coffin's own wife, Teresa, who has shown him that not only survival and honour but also kindness is necessary. And he has had to descend into the lowland to realize this.

Maybe we would benefit from reading something more about inner personal changes?

Malevolence?

Orbit Unlimited, part four, 8.

We have read about Joshua Coffin praying that God's will be done. But there is another way to look at it.

Coffin's companion, Jan Svoboda:

"Defeat rose in Svoboda's throat like vomit. He told the knowledge over and over, a kind of litany to the malevolent God who had arranged matters in precisely this way." (p. 150)

SM Stirling has argued in earlier comboxes on this blog that we have been naturally selected to discern motives in each other - one man approaches with a smile, another with a frown - and, as an extension of this, we also attribute motives to non-human phenomena. Our ancestors tried to placate gods of the weather. 

Many of us now think, on scientific and philosophical grounds, that the causes of natural events do not include any "will," whether benevolent, malevolent or inscrutable.

Coffin and Svoboda can, if they want, argue the matter after the event. 

Dialogue With God

Orbit Unlimited.

As I understand it, Hebrew prophetic experience is a perpetual conversation between a people and their God: Are You still with us? Why have You done this to us? etc.

Joshua Coffin goes through this process as an individual:

it is a blessing that the lowland fruit is found to be edible;

it means that He who fed Israel in the wilderness has also fed Coffin's lost son who therefore is still alive;

no, it is not a blessing;

it means only that it is possible to search the lowland in detail;

thus, God commands His servant Joshua to continue this search indefinitely through vines, thornbush and creepers;

no, it is crazy to think that God designed a planet just to punish me!

And so on. These reflections will continue until they are interrupted by a need for action.

Science is like a conversation of question and answer with the natural environment - but one that does yield definite answers.

Generations

Glancing ahead, we learn that, in instalment 8 of New America, "To Promote the General Welfare," Daniel Coffin, is an old man whose eldest granddaughter, Teresa, has married Leo Svoboda and is in her third pregnancy.

Generations:

Joshua

Dan (exogene; adopted)

Teresa's father or mother

Teresa

Teresa's children

Instalment 1, "Robin Hood's Bridge," introduces Commissioner Svoboda and Joshua Coffin among others. We have come a long way since then.

A generation is twenty years. Some say twenty-five. A lifespan is much longer. I remember three of my grandparents who were born in the late nineteenth century and my granddaughter's generation have children who should live into the twenty-second century. My generation can tell younger people what our parents did during World War II. A lot of oral history.

Orbit Unlimited: Endgame III

Poul Anderson, Orbit Unlimited, part four.

Before moving on, I want to make sure that I have not missed anything worth posting about in the concluding section of Orbit Unlimited.

If Dan Coffin imagined monsters beyond the clouds (see here), then he was right because he was attacked by two giant spearfowl when he descended the plateau.

Joshua Coffin's language is Biblical - he says that the spearfowl are "'...like a monster out of Revelation....'" (5, p. 131) - but how much of it is quotations?

"Thy will be done." (7, p. 137)

"...it repented the Lord that He had made man..." (7, p. 141)

"'Strengthen me, God...'" (5, p. 123)

Any more?

Rustum History, Instalment 6

Poul Anderson, "Passing the Love of Women" IN Anderson, New America (New York, December 1982), pp. 51-84.

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.

Traveling Between Spaceships

Poul Anderson, Orbit Unlimited, part two, 3.

A fleet moves through interstellar space. Spacesuited Joshua Coffin, standing in the airlock of his ship, uses a crossbow to fire a magnetic bolt with an unreeling line at the next ship. He tests the security of the line, then pulls himself along it. Reaching the other ship, he loosens the bolt, fires it again and thus pulls himself from ship to ship until he reaches his destination. Is this possible or the best way to do it? They have ferry craft to take them to the surface of the colony planet but maybe it would be too wasteful of fuel to use the ferries for inter-ship travel in interstellar space?

I have not discussed what the spacefarers' and colonists' current problem is - although see here - because I hope that blog readers will read or reread the book. I pause to post on points of interest like Coffin's peculiar form of locomotion.

Infodump And Echo Of Heinlein

Poul Anderson, Orbit Unlimited, part four, 4.

Distraught because his adopted exogene son, Daniel, is missing, Joshua Coffin unnecessarily lectures Judith Svoboda on the importance of exogenes. Three thousand colonists provide too small a gene pool, especially since rapid adaptation to a new environment is essential. The exogenes will total a million new colonists.

Judith knew that but did the readers? Several times, Dominic Flandry, conversing with colleagues, summarizes known information ostensibly to ensure that they do not overlook any implications but really to update the readers.

Because of the small chance of success and also the considerable danger, Jan Svoboda refuses to help Coffin search for Daniel. However, the manipulative mayor, Wolfe, is able to blackmail Svoboda because he knows about the latter and Helga Dahlquist. That surname is an echo of Heinlein's Future History. The attached image is a clue.

See also Echoes Of Heinlein II.