Encroaching Brush And Whittering Wind

1989beta A. D. IN Anderson, The Shield Of Time (New York, 1991), pp. 369-373.

Civilization has reached further west in North America in the beta timeline than in the alpha timeline but also seems to be in retreat. Over the Golden Gate, there is still white fog. Nature has not changed. There are also:

shining bay;

summer-tawny earth;

ruined walls, towers and strongholds;

brush reclaiming crumbled adobe buildings;

a village where Sausalito should be;

a few fishing smacks at sea;

where timecycles hover at eagle height, "...whittering wind." (p. 369)

That Andersonian wind has its say. "Whittering" seems appropriate for crumbling buildings. Something has happened here but what? The Patrol agents do not risk descent but go to look elsewhere.

Poul Anderson's strengths include detailed descriptions even of briefly glimpsed scenes that will never be seen again. Now on its guard, the Patrol will avoid any entanglements on the ground in the beta twentieth century.

All The Wind III

"An autumn gale came down off the pole. It gathered snow on its way across the steppe..."

-Poul Anderson, "A Message in Secret" IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, February 2010), pp. 341-397 AT X, p. 379.

"Winter came early to the northlands. Flandry...saw snow endless across the plains..."

-ibid. XII, p. 383.

I classified the gale as a wind, then noticed the transition from autumn to winter. These are just descriptions of the Altaian environment but they also recall chapters in Poul Anderson's works of historical fiction that begin by tracing the cycle of the seasons - in The King Of Ys (with Karen Anderson), "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth" and "Star of the Sea."

Returning to the Polesotechnic League period:

"'No one stirred for a time that went on eternally, in that Fimbul wind."

-Poul Anderson, "The Master Key" IN Anderson, Trader To The Stars (New York, 1966) AT p. 131.

Yet again wind accompanies a pregnant pause in the dialogue. This time it is entirely appropriate. Natives of Cain have just threatened the merchants and, in Norse mythology, the Fimbul winter precedes the Ragnarok.

During a later confrontation, the wind shredded Per Stenvik's words and a ripple through the Cainites was:

"'...like wind dying out on an ocean.'"

-ibid, p. 139.

This second wind is analogical. 

Earlier, Cainite wind had:

"...cut like a laser..." (p. 129)

That is merely a physical description and this time it is the laser that is analogical. But, as the conversation with the Cainites becomes problematic, Per wonders whether:

"'...the wind was whittering louder.'" (p. 130)

The wind is like part of Anderson's grammar.

Regulus And Saturn

"Salander looked up and identified Regulus in Leo near the horizon."

-Stieg Larsson, The Girl Who Played With Fire (London, 2010), CHAPTER 1, p. 29.

 

"Above them the sky duskened and a planet shone white - Saturn, [Guthrie] believed."

-Harvest Of Stars, 10, p. 123.

 

In both of these passages, a character identifies a heavenly body. However, in mainstream fiction, the stars remain lights seen at night and will not otherwise impact the narrative whereas, in futuristic sf, travel to Saturn and further has become commonplace. In fact, I think that it is rare for a star and a constellation to be named in a contemporary novel. 

In Harvest Of Stars:

 

"The sun vanished and darkness flowed fast. Wind whittered low and chill." (ibid.)

Guthrie and his companion are besieged by revolutionary "Senderistas" so, as ever in Anderson's works, hastening darkness and cold, whittering wind punctuate the text and seem to offer an appropriate commentary on human conflict.

Whittering Wind On Wayland

A Circus Of Hells.

Shipwrecked on Wayland, Djana wants to send a message courier torpedo back to Irumclaw although this will get Flandry into no end of trouble with his superiors. They watch for the torpedo to depart. The view is desolate, black sky, boiling fog and steaming mist as carbon dioxide and ammonia snow vaporizes, exposing water ice and, of course:

"A whitter of wind came in through the hull." (p. 231)

A flying Waylander robot destroys the torpedo.

Good night.

Gold And Cold

Poul Anderson again appeals to three senses in order to describe a natural scene:

gold sunset;
cold, whittering wind;
the sounds of horses being ridden -

- in Poul Anderson, Young Flandry (New York, 2010), p. 421.

The Imperial pretender, Hugh McCormac, rides out with his three sons by his first wife. The oldest, Colin, is to inherit the Firstmanship of Ilion and therefore, following family custom, has not joined the Navy. (Hugh is an Admiral but succeeded only because his older brother died childless.) Continuing to read, we learn that Hugh will be obliged to lead his family into exile. He will be succeeded as Firstman not by his first wife's oldest son but by his second wife's brother, whose heir and successor will be his son, Ivar Frederiksen.

Colin saw ordinary people lynch and beat to death political policemen. I understand that this does happen. When people overthrow a dictatorship, they kill the agents of the regime. I would want to be involved in ending a dictatorship but not in beating anyone to death. In practice, that means that I would give a lead in some situations but would not be in the forefront while a secret policeman was being chased down the street. But others would do this.

(This is probably the last post for this month, the 115th. Over the next few days, I have a few other activities planned. Also, the lap top now works only when I am sitting on the floor beside the router!)

The End Of Book One

The Merman's Children.

"Tauno caught the post with both hands, curved his chine, and got toes in between post and hull, resting on a bracket." (p. 62)

Which meaning of "chine" is this?

Ranild, the captain of the cog, says of the merfolk whom he has robbed and tried to kill:

"'They plot evil, be sure of that...'" (p. 64)!

More description of the mid-Atlantic follows:

early summer dawn;
fresh breeze;
choppy waves;
rocking hull;
wild swans;
white eastern sky;
silver-blue western sky;
molten waves with purple and black troughs;
green shimmering sea;
whittering wind in the sails.

The chapter ends with a description of a fight, another Anderson speciality. Ranild, wounded, asks for time to confess but Tauno throws him overboard. I would have let Ranild confess but would not have made the same mistake as James Bond. His task was to assassinate Scaramanga and he had the man at gunpoint but gave him time to pray. After a monotonous Latin monologue, Scaramanga drew forth a small golden gun and almost killed Bond - and, since this was the last novel, might have succeeded.

The Merman's Children, Book Two, is called "Selkie."

Honor And The Wind

Ensign Flandry, CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

Ensign Dominic Flandry introduces Vice Admiral Juan Enriques of the Imperial Terrestrial Navy to Dragoika, captain-director of the Janjevar va-Radovik. (Scroll down.) When Enrique bows as if to the Empress:

"Dragoika studied him a moment, then touched brow and breasts, the salute of honor." (p. 163)

The Toborko, like the Merseians, have a salute of honor and this one, when described, recalls a Terrestrial gesture:

"She touched brow, lips, bosom, the sign of obedience."
-copied from here.

When Flandry expects that his friend, Jan van Zuyl, will serve the Empire for another four or five decades:

"Enriques spoke so softly that one heard the wind whittering off the sea, through the ancient streets outside. 'Ensign van Zuyl was killed in action four days ago.'
"'Oh, no.' Flandry closed his eyes." (p. 166)

The wind seems to comment yet again. Because the Vice Admiral is subdued, the hostile elements become audible. The ancient streets also contrast with the young life cut short.

Once, I would have said unsympathetically that people are prepared to kill and to die if they join the armed forces. Now, I say essentially the same although with some sympathy. This reminds me of Hauksberg's reflections back in the opening chapter to which I will shortly turn.

In fact, see The Marines and Ensign Flandry.

Wind On Imhotep; Breeze On Daedalus

The Game Of Empire.

When Targovi tells Diana that he suspects that Admiral Magnusson plans to rebel, silence falls except for the sounds of wind, sea and ship but we have quoted this passage before. See Wind Boomed.

When Magnusson's wife, Vida, interrupts his meditation:

"He could barely hear her voice through the cold, whittering breeze, as soft as it was." (CHAPTER FOUR, p. 250)

I do not think that we have quoted this sentence before. The coldness of the breeze matches the coldness of Magnusson's response and it is also appropriate that this particular breeze does not soothe but whitters. Magnusson, planning rebellion, has already been distracted from meditation by many logistical details. When there is peace, different winds and breezes will blow. There are glittering snowflakes and scrittling leaves in the Imhotepan autumn in the concluding chapter.

Songs And The Wind

(The Scottish Parliament building.) (It is relevant.)

The Day Of Their Return.

Here is the kind of passage that I used to just read past but can now google. Desai tells Thane:

"'...I remember the old old saying, 'Let me write a nation's songs, and I care not who might write its laws.'
"'Won't you help me understand your songs?'" (7, p. 125)

The quotation is attributed to a Scottish Parliamentarian, Andrew Fletcher, and even, although apparently mistakenly, to Plato.

What happens after Desai has asked this question is kind of to be expected:

"Silence fell and lasted, save for a wind whittering outside, until the tadmouse offered a timid arpeggio. That seemed to draw Tatiana from her brown study." (ibid.)

Silence: the question is a hard one.
The wind: it whitters, as ever. This time, does it comment that life goes on, regardless?
At last, a native Aenean organism responds - albeit timidly. But this at last draws a response from the Aenean scholar.

Is Desai almost superhumanly good at his almost impossible task?