(urth) The Floating Islands of Lake Diuturna
John Smith
jsmith2627 at att.net
Sat Sep 6 17:32:35 PDT 2008
In The Sword of the Lictor, Wolfe populates Lake Diuturna with floating islands which move about with the wind. This, I had thought, was another strange and exotic invention that the author used to separate our world from the future Urth.
Well, I've been reading Charles Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle, a book I had always meant to read. When Darwin gets to Lake Titicaca high in the Andes, he describes the floating islands in the lake.
Looking at Wikipedia, I find that even to this day there are Indians who live on the floating islands.
So what I took to be fantastic was simply fact. I wonder if there are more such fantastic realities in TBOTNS.
Best wishes,
Jack
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