(urth) Short Story 82: The God and His Man

[Marc Aramini]

I always wonder at how much is direct reference and how much is zeitgeist.
Wolfe almost never mentions Dick as an influence, and once, because of the
religious forces at work in Dune, said Dune had little to no impact on his
writing. I have read a fair amount of Dick (my favorite is Flow My Tears
the Policeman Said because of the lonely woman's take on pets, if I
remember right, and Ubik was pretty good) but not galactic pot healer.

And to be honest part of the reason I never read it is probably a reaction
to the title - I am trying to imagine 60 year old Wolfe reading a book with
"galactic pot healer" on the cover.

On Thursday, August 7, 2014, Mo Holkar <mo at holkar.net> wrote:

> At 01:03 07/08/2014, Gwern wrote:
>
>> On Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 2:26 PM, Marc Aramini <marcaramini at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > It is likely Tarnung was capable of affecting light waves. It is German
>> for
>> > camouflage or disguise.
>>
>> Tarnung is likely a Ring reference to the Tarnhelm, which grants
>> invisibility. Given that the other magic item is a maser which creates
>> waves of coherent straight radiation, the Tarnung probably bends light
>> to achieve invisibility.
>>
>> The Ring cycle would be an interesting theme to bring in, as it too
>> involves the fall of gods.
>>
>
>
> A thought that's just occurred -- is it possible that the name "Tarnung"
> indicates a response of sorts to the Glimmung (which means roughly
> "brightness") in Philip K. Dick's novel Galactic Pot-Healer? This is also
> about a human man sent on a mission to an alien planet by a godlike being,
> and its themes (conformity vs creativity, the need to obey gods or not) are
> such as might have resonated with Wolfe.
>
> best,
>
> Mo
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