>The Baroque Cycle seems to be about the end of Alchemy and the
>beginning of the scientific method and we meet some of the most famous
>scientists of the time. Then, along comes Enoch Root, who has a magic
>potion or something that extends his lifespan tremendously.
>
>I never was able to understand if this was an example of technology so
>advanced it resembled magic or what.
>
>I guess Stephenson doesn't need to have a Crighton-esce message or
>meaning behind his story but I just found Root's character and magic
>(aside from being very knowledgeble, he doesn't do a lot of magic or
>anything) jarring. Was he there simply for exposition? To explain
>things to the readers? Why have magic in a book about modern science
>breaking away from superstition?
I thought the story was entertaining, & I didn't try to read anything
into the thing that wasn't on the printed page. So I really don't know
any more about Enoch Root than you do. But one thing that did
disappoint me was that Stevenson didn't get more into Renaissance
religion, magic & alchemy.
Most history books seem to treat the Renaissance as a stepping stone
from the medieval to the modern world, and I think maybe that's a bit
simplistic. What actually happened was the development of cosmological
ideas based upon Plato, Hermes Trismegistus & a form of Christianised
Cabala. Some of the cleverest people of the age believed that Angels
really did exist in some Empyrean realm beyond the fixed stars. The
thing probably kind of peaked with the Rosicrucians and was fading a
bit as Stevenson's story opens, but, in short, it was the intellectual
background that science grew out of. All that Stevenson gives us is
Enoch Root.
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