The Wisdom of Calanctus

Jack Vance surpasses Roissy once again.  In all cases, emphasis added.

Readers of this blog are no doubt aware of my great appreciation for the work of Jack Vance.  One of Vance’s strengths is his reading of the female character, as previously described here.

Perhaps "character" is too strong a word; behold the female: But remember – do not “objectify” milady.

Seriously though, let us consider the story The Murthe in the Vance book Rhialto the Marvellous described thus:

"The Murthe"

The Sorceress Llorio, also known as the Murthe, has journeyed through time to the 21st Aeon, and is transforming the wizards of that era into women. Rhialto and his colleague Ildefonse the Preceptor attempt to foil her plans with the aid of the mysterious time-traveller Lehuster.

Also see this description:

In the end, the warring Wizards are reduced to spectators to a much greater struggle between two archetypal forces of Elemental Male and Female.

One of these wizards, by the way, named Tchamast, is a Sallis-like character described thus:

…morose of mood, an avowed ascetic, whose distrust of the female race runs so deep that he will allow only male insects into the precincts of his manse.

MGTOW indeed!

Well, a feminist sorceress (Llorio the Murthe) from a previous Golden Age of magic has appeared onto the time of the last days of Earth, a “Kali Yuga” (Der Movement starts breathing heavily…Tradition!  Tradition!) of sorts, inhabited by magicians who are at best a pale shadow of those of the past.  In her own time, Llorio’s attempts to conquer in the name of the “female race” and subjugate men failed due to her defeat by the macho man sorcerer Calanctus, with whom she has a love-hate relationship (she hates him for thwarting her, but she is attracted to his “jerkboy” machismo), a man who combines “game” and “MGTOW” and saves humanity from the “last man” victory of the “female force.”  Calanctus reappears in the current time in the cryptic form of “Lehuster” to attempt to rally the remaining male magicians to oppose the Murthe; but, that failing, he reveals himself, subdues her, and thus prevents the advent of female domination (cue Silker pouting and disappointment, albeit Llorio is not an Asiatrix).

The story contains a bit of wisdom from Calanctus, from writings he left behind after his first victory over the female race:

Ildefonse, looking through The Doctrines of Calanctus, said: “I find here an interesting passage.  Calanctus likens a woman to the Ciaeic Ocean which absorbs the long and full thrust of the Antipodal Current as it sweeps around Cape Spang, but only while the weather holds fair. If the wind shifts but a trifle, this apparently placid ocean hurls an abrupt flood ten or even twenty feet high back around the cape, engulfing all before it.  When stasis is restored and the pressure relieved, the Ciaeic is as before, placidly accepting the current.  Do you concur with this interpretation of the female geist?”

As Roissy would say: heh.

Let us consider this quote from Llorio, after being defeated by Calanctus a second time (Calanctus, by the way, essentially sexually propositions her after her defeat…she adamantly refuses, but in the end leaves with him, leaving the reader to suspect that he has defeated her in more ways than one):

"Hope?" cried Llorio. "When the world is done and I have been thwarted? What remains? Nothing. Neither hope nor honour nor anguish nor pain! All is gone! Ashes blow across the desert. All has been lost, or forgotten; the best and dearest are gone. Who are these creatures who stand here so foolishly? Ildefonse? Rhialto? Vapid ghosts, moving with round mouths! Hope! Nothing remains. All is gone, all is done; even death is in the past."

One can imagine that speech also describing the state of Whites today; just replace the names “Ildefonse” and “Rhialto” with those of others, including members of the “movement’s” failed affirmative action leadership.

As Vance would write: “It’s all one.”

Addendum: Yet even more Vancian "game" follows - demonstrating that old Jack Vance novels can tell you all you need to know about sexual behavior, without delving into the juvenile sewer of the "gamesters."  Thus:

The lady Shaunica laughed. “I ride like a feather on wafts of caprice. Perhaps I am piqued by your restraint, or distance, or indifference, or whatever it may be. Every other gallant has dropped upon me like a vulture on a corpse.”  She turned him a sidelong glance. “Your conduct therefore becomes provocative, and now you have the truth.”

Rhialto was silent a moment, then said: “There are many exchanges to be made between us – if our acquaintance is to persist.”

The lady Shaunica made a flippant gesture. “I have no strong objections.”