In direct opposition to ...

[Johnyxxx]

Hello,

Can anybody help me with the bold text?

"Ha! ha! ha! By heaven, you choose to be facetious. Are there then wills of such equivalence?"

"There have been three, the founders of religions. There was a fourth: a cobbler of Herculaneum, whose mere volition induced the cataclysm of Vesuvius in '79 in direct opposition to the gravity of Sirius. There are more fames than you have ever sung, you know."

Xeluca, M. P. Shiel

Thanks

 

[Tarheel]

in direct opposition to = in contradiction to; opposed to

 

[Tdol]

It doesn't sound too factual to me- there have certainly been more than three founders of religions. Context may make it less bizarre, though.

 

[Tarheel]

I think it's supposed to be fiction.

 

[emsr2d2]

The source should have read "Xelucha" (not "Xeluca") and it does appear to be fiction. Another book by the same author was described as "exemplary weird fiction" ... by H P Lovecraft! High praise indeed.

 

[Johnyxxx]

The source should have read "Xelucha" (not "Xeluca") and it does appear to be fiction. Another book by the same author was described as "exemplary weird fiction" ... by H P Lovecraft! High praise indeed.

The "exemplary weird fiction" is "The Purple Cloud" (1901), a story about an explosion of a supervolcano that wiped out the whole population on the earth, leaving seemingly only one survivor.