Sunday 20 August 2017

Planting Information II

"[Desai] put a cigarette into a long, elsaborately carved holder of land-whale ivory. (He thought it was in atrocious taste, but it had been given him for a birthday present by a ten-year-old daughter who died soon afterward.)"
-Poul Anderson, The Day Of Their Return IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 74-240) AT Chapter 3, p. 86.

If I were Desai, then I would cherish that cigarette holder.

"[Desai] puffed on a cigaret in a long ivory holder."
-Poul Anderson, A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows IN Anderson, Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight Of Terra (Riverdale, NY, 2012), pp. 339-606 AT Chapter III, pp. 384-385.

When Desai is the viewpoint character, we can be told the history of the holder. When Flandry is the viewpoint character, we cannot. But attentive readers recognize the holder.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And I did remember that ivory cigaret holder while reading A KNIGHT OF GHOSTS AND SHADOWS. Even if he thought it in atrocious taste, a devoted father like Desai would keep it to cherish the memory of a long dead daughter.

Sean