Friday 11 January 2019

Generational Sagas

I suggest that a generational saga covers a minimum of three generations of a single family. Thus, SM Stirling's Change series ends with the grandchildren (and some great-grandchildren?) of the Changelings.

There are four successive generations of Falkayns in Poul Anderson's Technic History although only David and his grandson, Nat, are central characters and Nat only in a single short story. There are five generations of a Gothic family in Anderson's "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth." See 300-372. The Flandry series does not continue long enough for Flandry to start having grandchildren.

Anything else in Anderson? How many generations on Rustum? (Three, I think.)

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Except for "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth" we don't really see Poul Anderson using the multi-generational sagas very often. Another example would be HROLF KRAKI'S SAGA. MOTHER OF KINGS only covers two generations, Erik Blood-ax, his wife Queen Gunnhild, and their sons.

I think it has been S.M. Stirling who pioneered in recent times the idea of showing several generations of related characters in long series. I have in mind his Draka, Emberverse, and Shadowspawn stories.

But I would have liked to have seen more about some of the children and grand children of Dominic Flandry! There would have been "time" for that because I recall Flandry saying at the end of THE GAME OF EMPIRE he hoped the Empire would survive another two centuries.

Sean