Re-Appreciation

A day of extra-blogular activities, which today has been, can leave some mental space for re-appreciating the structure of Poul Anderson's Technic History. This post will probably not say anything that has not already been said several times before on this blog. It is important to remember that a good future history series is appreciated on two distinct levels. First, each installment, whether a short story or a novel, has to be fully comprehensible and enjoyable as a discrete fictional narrative. Secondly, however, if we do read the entire series, then we additionally appreciate its many internal cross-references and their emergent bigger picture.

In the Technic History, the pre-League, Grand Survey short story, "Wings of Victory," introduces the planet Ythri and mentions the planets, Hermes, Woden and Cynthia.

The Polesotechnic League period of the History comprises:

five stories and one novel about Nicholas van Rijn;

one story about the Wodenite Adzel, referring to both Ythri and Cynthia;

two stories about the Hermetian David Falkayn;

two stories about van Rijn's first trader team comprising Falkayn, Adzel and the Cynthian Chee Lan;

two novels and one story about van Rijn and the trader team;

two other stories, one referring to van Rijn as a public figure.

The first sequel to the League series features David Falkayn's grandson, Nat Falkayn, who is also van Rijn's great-great-grandson, on the human-Ythrian colony planet of Avalon. The planet was explored by Ythrians and human beings in an earlier story and its colonization was led by David Falkayn. A later sequel shows a remoter descendant, Tabitha Falkayn, helping to defend Avalon against the Terran Empire which, later again, will be served by Dominic Flandry whose many achievements will include:

inflicting several defeats on the Merseians who had originally been helped by David Falkayn;

expelling Imperial rebels whose remote descendants will recontact human interstellar civilization in the concluding installment of the Technic History;

thwarting a planned Imperial usurpation by a Duke of Hermes.

I know that I have recounted all this before but I can't get enough of it and it is impossible to incorporate all of Anderson's future historical cross-reference into a brief summary like this one.