Posted by shaun Link: DARKNESS DIVIDED on Amazon.com
on 2/11/2012, 11:57 am
Message modified by user shaun 2/11/2012, 12:01 pm
A Darkness Divided, February 11, 2012
By Luciferal "plebiscite"
This review is from: Darkness Divided: An Anthology of the Works of John Shirley (Hardcover)
Take the title of John Shirley's short story collection, DARKNESS DIVIDED (Stealth Press, 2001). It could imply there are two kinds of darkness, one not as bad as the other...
There could be many different forms of darkness. I myself think of the story of God's fifth or so act, "dividing between the light and between the darkness," upon assuming his legendary seat of power here.
In essence, one of the first things Jehovah was alleged to have done here was to claim the darkness and divide it, just as he claimed and divided the light.
Darkness itself is not necessarily divided from light; they may be each divided within themselves...
Or it could mean dissension with a certain dark force's ranks.
It could mean everybody gets a piece of darkness.
And yet it may refer to a rift within darkness itself...a direct reference to the light...
Digging deeper, one finds some interesting connections. 'Dark' is an Old English word that usually denoted absence of light in relation to the night.
It was derived from some old Germanic variations that reference "hiding" and "where dirt collects".
"Divide" has its roots in the 14th century, acquired from Latin dividere to "split up, divide".
It roughly translates to the prefix dis-, meaning "Apart".
And -videre, meaning "separate".
[It's interesting to note that the words device, devise, and even widow come from Vulgar Latin derivatives (a "widow" being a woman parted from, or bereft of her husband).
And even more alarming, the word "individual" also comes from the same source.]
A planet is where dirt collects. Perhaps DARKNESS DIVIDED refers to what lies hidden between the spaces that are separated apart.
It is a place where dirt collects and remains separated from its host, left with us stranded upon it, wondering at a darkness divided.
Take the covers of this book and separate them apart.
Just make sure the lights are on.
"Paranoia is a skill"
~...
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