Re: King Laurin?

On Mon, 6 May 2024 01:38:44 -0000 (UTC), Don <g@crcomp.net> wrote:

Don wrote:

David Johnston wrote:

Don wrote:

King Laurin's a new literary tradition for me...
>
         "But you're completely defenseless, sir!" retorted Claudrin
     worriedly. "How will you defend yourself against these agents?"
         "Agents...?" Rhodan chuckled. "You mean the invisibles? Let's
     just call them the Laurins. Do you remember the legendary king of
     the dwarfs who could make himself invisible? So - they're Laurins.
>
     PR 128 "Atom Fire on Mechanica"
>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Laurin>
>
<https://archive.org/details/kniglaurinoderde00zing>

>
Yes, the American space program is doubtless filled with astronauts who
know that German folk tale.

>
Some Operation Paperclip people probably knew about King Laurins, as a
matter of fact (versus fiction). LOL.

>
My literary life lights upon another treacherous dwarf:
>
   During the banquet, Peter of Rheinhausen, Manfred’s minnesinger,
   sang from the Heroes' Book, choosing the passage wherein King
   Dietrich’s band of knights attack the Rose Garden of the
   treacherous dwarf, Laurin, so to rescue the sister of Dietlieb,
   their comrade.
>
The excerpt's from _Eifelheim_ (Flynn), an audio book currently gracing
my ears. The time and place of its primary setting is 1348 - 1349 in the
Black Forest.

I recall my reaction to /Eifelheim/. I stopped reading the "novel"
parts because whoever wrote clearly had no idea how to write about the
middle ages. Also because one of the "novellette" parts gave away the
ending, or so I thought. I did read the "novellette" parts in
sequence, which were pretty good.

They should have gotten Eco to write the novel parts, in Italian, and
then had them translated by whoever translated, say, /Baudolino/.

Or at least somebody who wouldn't portray a medieval priest, however
well-educated for his day, as an early modern scientist. And didn't
confusing "boring" with "medieval".

This is, of course, IMHO.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"