Carmen
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
That's fascinating--thanks for answering! So does Barrayaran imperial succession follows similar logic to the inheritance of Countships--in terms of being able to take into consideration things like suitability for the job or other factors, over totally inflexible male primogeniture over all other considerations (along the lines of what we saw with Rene Vorbretten)?
Lois McMaster Bujold
The Barrayaran imperial succession, like successions in real history, are pretty much a matter of the moment. Precedents may break or be broken, or hold, depending on what the people with power around the events want to have happen at the time.
"Power" by the way, is a trickily undefined term that usually sneaks by unexamined. I'd define it most broadly as "the flow of will in human activities", which, if you back-translate it into most of the places the word is bandied about, has some odd effects.
E.g, such slogans as "Speaking Truth to...The Flow Of Will in Human Activities". Hmmm.
(Leaving aside the definition of "Truth.")
Ta, L.
The Barrayaran imperial succession, like successions in real history, are pretty much a matter of the moment. Precedents may break or be broken, or hold, depending on what the people with power around the events want to have happen at the time.
"Power" by the way, is a trickily undefined term that usually sneaks by unexamined. I'd define it most broadly as "the flow of will in human activities", which, if you back-translate it into most of the places the word is bandied about, has some odd effects.
E.g, such slogans as "Speaking Truth to...The Flow Of Will in Human Activities". Hmmm.
(Leaving aside the definition of "Truth.")
Ta, L.
More Answered Questions
Promiscuous Bookworm
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
I just pre-ordered the Ukrainian translation of Shards of Honor and just wanted to say I'm so happy that Ukrainian readers who don't read in English can finally get acquainted with the Vorkosigan Saga in their mother tongue (and I have an excuse to re-read it for the fourth time). (Adding a ? because Goodreads wants it to actually look like a question.)
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