In a future history series, later installments stand on the basis of earlier installments. In this Dominic Flandry novel, the following sentence, about two Diomedean cultures, Lannach and Drak'ho:
"When they first made contact, they regarded each other with mutual horror." (p. 426)
- summarizes the cultural conflict exacerbating the "war of the wing-men" which had provided most of the action in the Nicholas van Rijn novel, The Man Who Counts, and the very next sentence:
"A measure of tolerance and cooperation evolved, encouraged by offplanet traders who naturally preferred peaceful conditions." (ibid.)
- encapsulates the philosophy of the van Rijn series as a whole. All this future historiography could have been presented without naming any individual merchants of the Polesotechnic League although in fact van Rijn's shipwreck on Diomedes was mentioned back in Chapter I.
The series solidified as it was extended.
4 comments:
It’s a mark of Poul’s skill tat the Diomendians are convincingly non-human in their biology and evolutionary psychology, but also as varied as humans in their cultural differences too.
And the Fleet are outliers among Diomedians — ironically, In a way that makes them at least superficially more similar to humans (since their culture alters their reproductive pattern to one much more like our constant sexuality and pair-bonding.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Good points, and ones I agre with. I suggest as well that Fleet politics also bears a strong similarity to human politics.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: the one follows from the other. Van Rijn and party note that the Fleet has a more human-like future generally; hereditary aristocracy, a pattern of intensive hard labor (which other Diomedians find repulsive), capital accumulation, and so forth. That all proceeds from the human-like reproductive structure, with intense concern for lines of blood in a patrilineal sense.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Exactly! I note as well that by Flandry's time, the culture or cultures descended from the Fleet were more or less satisfied and modern and technological minded, and quite willing to be part of the Empire. It was far different for the culture springing from the Flock, for reasons the reverse of those of the Fleet.
Ad astra! Sean
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