Monday 22 August 2016

Tobias Frogmorton And The Pathetic Fallacy

Poul Anderson, Operation Luna (New York, 2004), Chapter 21.

Tobias Frogmorton:

has taken a Hermetic Oath (p. 195);

quotes a little more Latin which, however, I do not feel like deciphering right now;

refers to World Wars I and II as the Kaiser's War and the Caliph's War, respectively (we remember that these conflicts had other names in the Draka timeline);

describes a magic sword that might make a suitable weapon for the Matucheks.

When Frogmorton says:

"'...here may be a weapon proper to your hands.'" (p. 195)

- Chapter 21 could have ended, dramatically enough. However, there are two more sentences:

"Lightning flared. Thunder crashed." (p. 195)

I have said before that the pathetic fallacy is so inherent in Anderson's texts that it resembles the grammar, unnoticed yet essential to the meaning. Thunder and lightning underline the potency of the weapon especially since the sword in question:

"'...came to England with the Vikings...'" (ibid.) -

- those violent men who worshiped a god of thunder.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And those vikings would make mincemeat of most us today if they were suddenly to come a-raiding! Assuming, of course, that the US, UK, France, etc., had collapsed into chaos as did the Carolingian Empire after the death of Louis the Pious.

Sean