History is made not by abstract humanity or by an even more abstract rationality but by very large numbers of concrete individuals. Thus,
CHAPTER NINE of Poul Anderson's
The Game Of Empire begins when the Cynthian Shan U visits the human Diana Crowfeather to enquire about her companion, the Wodenite Axor. By sailing down the Highroad River with Shan U, Axor and Diana might find clues to the whereabouts of the Ancient (Chereionite) ruins that Axor seeks. They will also be reunited with their friend, the Tigery Targovi, and will come closer to uncovering a plot involving the human Zacharians, the Krakenite human, Olaf Magnusson, and the belligerent Merseians - a plot originally masterminded by the Chereionite Aycharaych. Many beings of different species: their individual and collective actions make history which then becomes the subject-matter of abstract theories. To understand history, start with the individuals, not with a theory.
4 comments:
Not to mention the sheer accidents that often determine the fates of individuals.
Kaor, Paul!
I agree with your comments here. I would have added that sometimes a single person can be crucial to what later happens in history. E.g., to use an example cited by Anderson in "Brave To Be A King," our history would have been very different if there had been no Cyrus the Great of Persia.
Ad astra! Sean
I intend to post more about this.
Kaor, Paul!
But I'm not denying history can be affected by the acts of hitherto obscure persons, such as those of Diana Crowfeather and her friends in Anderson's THE GAME OF EMPIRE. Or the real world Gavrilo Princip's assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand in 1914.
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment