Readalong

[DbS] TPG cover-ch2

Mon Jun 24 17:32:52 PDT 2002

Gaertk at aol.com writes:
> In a message dated Sun, 23 Jun 2002 5:14:41 PM Eastern Standard Time, Thomas Yan <tyan at twcny.rr.com> writes:
> 
> > ** ppxiii-xvi. [Paarfi's] Preface
> >
> > pxiv: "for far away" {typo: "far far away"?} 
> 
> I think that's not a typo.  I can't find the right words to
> explain.

With lines broken after "/", here is what the text says:

    [...] we find the lines, 
    "Yet you survived, for far away/
    Walking out upon the silent road/
    Where quiet Tiassa for you waits/
    With Yendi and Gallant Lavode."

The ending '."' is ambiguous: Is that period '.' in the poem, or is it
only the end of the citing sentence, in which case why didn't Paarfi
stick ellipses inside the quote?

If it is "[far = very] far away", then the quote is a complete
sentence/thought.

However, if it is "[for = because] far away", then the quote is a
sentence fragment / incomplete thought, and we are left wondering if
it shows up as a fragment in the poem (hey, it's a poem, grammar is
subject to poetic license), or is part of a complete sentence in the
poem.

> > p5: kerosene lamps {fossil fuel reserve?}
> 
> Missed that.  So they did have petroleum refining before the
> Interregnum (or its an anachronism curtesy of Paarfi).

Or it's an artifact of translation.  (This also brings to mind a
discussion about Dragaeran tech on RASFW; I think someone mentioned
that ball bearings showed up somewhere.)

- tky