2 posts tagged with "Books"

Introduced in Trullion: Alastor 2262 (1973), Jack Vance's Alastor trilogy contains a splendid idea in the form of the ruler of the Gaean Reach's five trillion souls: The Connatic. Vance only briefly touches on this character throughout the Alastor trilogy, and yet in reading it one can easily imagine and feel the unique balancing power this enigmatic character holds. Despite having over-Whelming (pun intended) power to enact and enforce any policy desired, I find that The Connatic is characterized as being so very aware of the random nature of his blessed existence, and with that understanding comes a wonderfully light and mellow ruling hand on the galactic scale.

Describing this aspect of The Connatic is one of my favorite Jack Vance passages. Below is said quote from The Connatic himself, from Chapter XIX of Trullion: Alastor 2262:

Hi, I'm Corey Rosemurgy. It's Valentine's Day.

I read Harlan Ellison's Greatest Hits last year. I want, and should commit myself to making a tier list of the stories it contains. Tier lists are neat. Anyway, something I encountered in the short story "All the Lies That Are My Life" (1981), was a quote that has reemerged in my head on something like a weekly basis since I read its words. It is a quote from Sartor Resartus (1833-4) by Thomas Carlyle. It reads:

Produce! Produce! Were it but the pitifullest infinitesimal fraction of a Product, produce it, in God's name! 'Tis the utmost thou hast in thee: out with it, then. Up, up! Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy whole might. Work while it is called Today; for the night cometh, wherein no man can work.

This quote shouts at me and I want to find a way to have it invoke action in my off-hours vs. doom-scrolling ~ y o u t u b e ~ or otherwise. There is always plenty to do that one would be proud of once it's done...be it even "the pitifullest infinitesimal fraction of a Product."