In Glory Like Their Star

Roy C. Lackey · 18 Apr 2007, 06:14 · from 2007-April.txt.gz

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From: rclackey at stic.net (Roy C. Lackey)
Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 01:14:59 -0500
Subject: (urth) In Glory Like Their Star
Message-ID: <000c01c78180$e83a99a0$40c85a42 at rclackey.stic.net>

Back on Jan. 30, Nathan Spears wrote:
>Anyway, I feel as if I have missed some crucial piece to this story to
provide it with some significance.  Wolfe talked in the introduction about
reading another story about aliens appearing to humans that he found
lacking, so maybe I should be familiar with whatever he is responding to.
>
>Any help?

It is less important to know which story Wolfe was trying to "fix" than it
is to know why he thought it needed fixing. Given that he is a religious
man, it might be assumed that he resented the implication that people in Old
Testament times were more gullible than modern people, unable to distinguish
between superior technology and divinity. But he also says in the
introduction that once a story has been 'fixed' by rewriting it, that the
result is a "different story".

Consider that the story is told from the point of view of the alien. The
alien never tried to pass himself off as a god; indeed he took pains to tell
the Earthlings that he was not. Still, the natives were clearly treating the
aliens as gods (burnt offerings on an altar). And he stated flatly, "They
revere our ship and us." (69) And the camel rider obviously thought the
alien some sort of desert spirit.

The alien became disoriented in the desert and would have died but for the
human's help. To bind the human to him he made rash promises, promises that
were based on logic but invalid; the biologies of humans and aliens were
incompatible. When he reached safety, the alien was intellectually honest
enough to try to make good on his promises and honest with himself to admit
that he couldn't do it. But he lacked the moral or ethical wherewithal to
admit his failure to the camel rider. He fired up his engines and blasted
off, killing the deluded believer who died "in glory like their star".

The sun would rise again the next day; not so the camel rider. Still less
would he "live forever". (73)

I don't know what the moral is, exactly, but the twist on the aliens-as-gods
story seems to be that the better judgement of technologically superior
beings can be seduced by too much reverence. Remember, the title phrase is
taken from a pronouncement made by the alien. Maybe he intended it as irony.

If Wolfe were not a religious man, I might be tempted to say that *he*
intended the title to mean that belief itself was sufficient, whether the
belief be true or not. Glory is a slippery word.

-Roy

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