Postmodern Blasphemy: Deconstruction and Darkness

A previous post here consisted of a link to an essay by Leo Grin, a yodel of approval, and comment that there is an objective right and wrong, not merely in ethics, but in that part of aesthetics which touch ethics, to the degree that the imagination shapes the moral character.

An afterthought posted here draws a distinction between deconstruction (which I was criticizing) and dark, pagan, grim or melancholic fantasy (which I was not).

This is just a short follow up to those earlier posts. A reader (whose family no doubt has some blood of Liosalfar in their veins) asks:

Speaking of deconstructions, are you familiar with Poul Anderson’s “The Queen of Air and Darkness”?

I have read it, and enjoyed it. It is one of Anderson’s more famous works.

Are you offering that up as an example of deconstruction? If so, would beg to differ.

Spoiler after the cut. I give away the suprise ending. Don’t look until you’ve read the story.

And if you have not read it, hang your head in shame! Turn yourself in to the Reading Police of the World Science Fiction Guild, so your fanboy card can be ripped up, and you will be classed as a a “mundane” until you rectify the oversight.

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