Re: King Laurin?

On Tue, 07 May 2024 09:59:58 -0700, Robert Woodward
<robertaw@drizzle.com> wrote:

In article <hqik3jt7g5jd338rbqj284sdp5kvlpr79r@4ax.com>,
Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
>

On Mon, 6 May 2024 18:50:17 -0000 (UTC), Don <g@crcomp.net> wrote:
 

Paul S Person wrote:

Don wrote:

>
<snip>
>

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.

>
The Right Reverend Gregor Mendel OSA is one example of a Catholic
scientist. Mendel founded the modern science of genetics.

 
The Right Reverend Gregor Mendel OSA was, it appears, born in 1822.
 
Not the Middle Ages, when /Eifelheim/ occurs (the local "lord" returns
from, IIRC, a Crusade -- a real one).
 
Apples and oranges. Nice try, though.

>
On the other hand, Roger Bacon lived in the 13th century
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bacon).

Yes he did. But he wasn't refurbished as a scientist, according to the
article you cite, until the 19th century. Before that, he was a
philosopher with a pragmatic bent. Also a wizard.

He is credited with discovering the importance of empirical testing
when his results differed from Aristotle. I should note that differing
from Aristotle got Galileo in a spot of trouble a few centuries later.
And that Copernicus published his heliocentric system only after he
was safely dead (even the Holy Office can't torture you if you are
dead) because Aristotle believed the Earth to be the center of what we
now call the solar system (which, plus a crystal sphere of the fixed
stars, was "the world" as late as Newton).

But the priest under consideration /thought like/ (and we hear his
thoughts) a modern scientist, not Bacon. Not even like Eco's William
of Baskerville as portrayed by Sean Connery.

And most of the rest of the added material is simply boring.
Apparently, the author thought that medieval == deadly dull while
modern == somewhat interesting.

And, as I say, a part of the novelette is inserted early into the
novel and gives away the ending. Presumably. So I stopped wondering
"what happens next" because it clearly dids not matter and lost all
interest in continuing.

This is very rare for me. The only other book sharing this "honor" is
/Something Happened/, which I gave up on after reading what seemed
like a lot of in which nothing happened at all.

The only other possibility is /The Killer Angels/, which I left behind
at one point and then couldn't locate when I looked for it. I didn't
actually stop reading it; but I didn't buy another copy and continue
on either. So it sort-of counts.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"