Friday 7 December 2012

The Tale Of Hauk

After two Old Stone Age Stories, "The Forest" and "The Long Remembering," and one Roman Empire story, "The Peat Bog," we return, in "The Tale of Hauk," to the Viking period already familiar from several of Poul Anderson's novels. Like his Hrolf Kraki's Saga, this story begins in the Saga style. We do not enter the title character's or even any other character's point of view. Instead, we are given an objective account of our hero's father:

"A man called Geirolf  dwelt on the Great Fjord..." (Anderson, Fantasy, New York, 1981, p. 21).

And the first thing that we are told about Geirolf, father of Hauk Geirolfsson, is who his father was. In this milieu, we cannot know Hauk unless and until we know his antecedents.

Anderson's three, or more, main genres are displayed in these four stories:

"The Forest" is (pre)historical fiction;
"The Long Remembering" is science fiction;
"The Peat Bog" is historical fiction;
"The Tale of Hauk" will turn out, as I remember from an earlier reading, to be historical fantasy because it will assume that its characters are right to believe that there is a supernatural realm from which the dead can return to trouble the living.

I have reread to page 25 and am about to go out for the evening. Thank you to those who are responsible for 55 pageviews so far today.

14 comments:

Paul Shackley said...

59 pageviews by the end of the day.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Hi, Paul!

59 pageviews? Good! I'm glad your son in law and myself are not the only ones reading your notes about Poul Anderson. I hope some of them will start depositing their own comments in this blog.

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

And 30 by 9.55 AM today, 8 Dec. Recently, one guy corrected a factual error and another said thank you, both in response to much earlier posts. I would of course welcome more comments on current posts.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Hi, Paul!

And I hope you do get more comments deposited here. I even once amused myself and you by wondering if your Queen likes to read Poul Anderson. But, of course I'm aware of how careful she has to be of anything she says and writes. So, alas, the Queen won't be leaving notes here.

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

I doubt whether Her Majesty has even heard of PA! If there were ever an occasion when a bunch of bloggers including me were introduced to her, then she might just possibly have been briefed beforehand on what some of us blog about so there might then be some very general discussion but with her asking questions and me answering. Very unlikely, though.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Hi, Paul!

True, her Majesty would prepare herself for both official and social functions by studying up on what types of people she was meeting and some idea of what they like and do.

My very vague recollection is that the Queen likes to read mysteries when it comes to reading for pleasure. But I might be wrong.

And I did send your latest email to me to John Wright. I hope he is not too busy to respond to you.

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

She is definitely a fan of a TV detective called Morse whose series is an adaptation of a series of novels. For me, the only fictitious detectives are Holmes and Montalbano.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Hi, Paul!

I used to be a big mystery reader as well. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, GK Chesterton, Dorothy Sayers, John Dickson Carr, Margery Allinghamd, and Rex Stout being my favorites.

And, of course, I've read Poul Anderson's three mystery novels. With MURDER IN BLACK LETTER possibly being my favorite. And PA incorporated mystery elements in some of both his SF and fantasies. Examples being THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS and one of the "Harvest of Stars" books.

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

There are at least 6 PA novels that I have not read, including those 3 mysteries.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Hi, Paul!

Despite my efforts, I've not managed to read everything Poul Anderson wrote. The chief gaps now being about sixty uncollected short stories and various non fiction essays or articles PA wrote.

How about PA's all too few non fiction works? Have you read his THERMONUCLEAR WARFARE, IS THERE LIFE ON OTHER WORLDS?, and THE INFINITE VOYAGE? The last being meant for school children aged about 12 or so.

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

I have read none of PA's non-fiction. 60 more stories are the equivalent of maybe another 6 collections.

The count of page-views so far today as at 22.40 is 62.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Hi, Paul!

I think you definitely should read at least IS THERE LIFE ON OTHER WORLDS? And THERMONUCLEAR WARFARE is, I hope, dated. But still worth reading as a serious and sober examination of nuclear warfare.

The uncollected short works of PA would make about four reasonable size volumes, I would guess. And I'm getting impatient for my preordered copy of Dozois/Bear's MULTIVERSE to come!

Sean

Paul Shackley said...

Please let me know as soon as you have MULTIVERSE. I will chase up a copy.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Hi, Paul!

Yes, I will, as regards MULTIVERSE. Part of what seems a delay to me might be because of the late addition of a George R.R. Martin story to the book.

Sean