I am now signing off until maybe the second week in January.
Tuesday, 10 December 2024
On Vixen
Delay
I hope that everyone has a good Christmas and New Year.
"A new year offers new hope."
"Tiger by the Tail," p. 267 -
- even on another planet.
By 8 January, I will have passed a birthday and will in that sense be a year older.
My favourite catchphrase from the Technic History:
"High is heaven and holy."
Special Relationship II
The special relationship continues at the banquet for the hunting party although again we are given only a summary. Flandry:
"...found [relaxation] not in the orgiastic amusements offered, but in discourse with Aycharaych. The talk had had nothing to do with the conflict between them; mostly it had been about ancient history, both Terran and Merseian, and utterly fascinating. He could almost forget that the great mind before him had no need of his speech." (pp. 289-290)
Aycharaych reads Flandry's surface thoughts but does not gather much military intelligence if Flandry keeps his attention focused on ancient history. Even more fascinating would be the ancient history of Chereion but that remains shrouded in mystery. Aycharaych divulges some information to Erranath on Aeneas and Axor is trying to learn more at the end of the last Flandry period volume.
Aline says that Terra will need to develop a thought-screening helmet. Flandry wears such a helmet in two subsequent instalments.
Flandry and Aycharaych meet for the first time in "Honorable Enemies" and their special relationship is firmly established by the end of this story when Aycharaych says:
"'There will be more tomorrows. Tonight let us enjoy our truce." (p. 302)
Border Clashes
at Jihannath while Flandry is busy in Sector Alpha Crucis;
at Syrax while Flandry is busy on Vixen;
near the Patrician System while Flandry is back on Terra,
Apparently, this kind of border conflict is frequent:
"Terra and Merseia were at peace, were they not? - however many beings died and cities burned on the marches."
-"Honorable Enemies," p. 284.
Flandry leads a raid into the Merseian Roidhunate to bombard Aycharaych's home planet, Chereion.
Why Betelgeuse Matters
"Squarely between the two domains, its navy commanding the most direct route and in a position to strike at the heart of either, Betelgeuse would be an invaluable ally." (p. 282)
Betelgeuse as an ally of Merseia would probably presage an all-out attack on Terra. But, if that is the case, then it is surprising that we do not hear more about Betelgeuse. That single sentence quoted above suggests that all-out war is all too probable soon. If not Betelgeuse, then might somewhere else in the Wilderness, unknown to the Terrans, provide a suitable launching pad? According to Aycharaych in "Hunters of the Sky Cave," the Merseian High Command does project what sounds to me like a very early Fall of Terra.
Special Relationship
The friendship or special relationship between Flandry and Aycharaych begins when they converse while awaiting the start of the dragon hunt on Alfzar. In the case of two later conversations, in the Crystal Moon and on Talwin, we read some substantial dialogue between these two characters whereas, on this initial occasion, after some opening remarks about hunting and about the local dragons, which are the game to be hunted, we read only a summary:
"The conversation became animated, ranging over the peculiarities and mysteries of many intelligent races. When the final horn blew its summons, Terran and Chereionite exchanged a wryly regretful glance. Too bad. We were enjoying this. Too bad also that we're on opposite sides...isn't it?" (p. 285)
A film would probably show just a brief shot from a distance of two figures conversing animatedly but the opportunity would exist for a script writer to invent something interesting. We already know of several planers and intelligent species that Flandry would be able to mention.
Monday, 9 December 2024
In Flandry's Day
"In Flandry's day, [the Betelgeuseans'] political position was also one he often wished his own people could occupy." (p.282)
That phase, "In Flandry's day...," generates the impression, if only momentarily, that this story is being narrated in a later period. But who is the narrator and what might we be told of that later period? We read on hoping to learn more although nothing further is said to this effect. We know that we are reading a future history series but it will be a long time before we pass beyond Dominic Flandry's lifetime.
This is the opposite of the narrative mode in Robert Heinlein's Future History, Volume II, The Green Hills Of Earth. In some of these stories, the narrator addresses his readers as fellow members of society living at the time when the stories are set. He reminds them of recent innovations in the orbital arrangements for Earth-Moon travel and also of their knowledge of the words of Rhysling's songs. There is no longer historical perspective.
Heinlein's Future History is sound and substantial but Poul Anderson's Technic History goes way beyond it.
An Offensive Act
At last, Dominic Flandry, still a "Captain," meets a being whom, if we have been reading consecutively, we recognize as Aycharaych of Chereion before he is named. By now, Flandry knows of Aycharaych's reputation. Their dialogue includes -
Flandry: "'No offence meant.'" (p. 277)
Aycharaych: "'And none taken.'" (p. 278)
It was pointed to me and other students in a Philosophy tutorial that we are not exactly free to say, "No offence meant," whenever we like. The tutor gave an example in which he introduces someone by saying, "This is Smith. His mother swims after troop ships. Oh, no offense, old chap!" Speech is a social act and we are responsible for its implications and consequences, unlike Humpty Dumpty who claimed that a word meant whatever he said it meant.
Flandry's "No offence meant" is flippant in the circumstances since Aycharaych the telepath has just caught him burgling the Merseian delegation's guest quarters on Alfzar. The burgling is a professional act but nevertheless surely is offensive enough by anyone's standards.
Then And Now
"Mobs howled and roiled in the streets of Iuthagar. Here and there, houses burned. No government remained to control horror and anger." (p. 272)
That sounds like some events on Earth right now. We are in the Chaos before the emergence of Technic civilization - or before whatever is going to emerge in our timeline. The people of a region can take a hand in public affairs and surprise everyone - although, in the current case, it is a sectarian army that has come, apparently, out of nowhere. This post will seem dated if it is reread ten years hence.
We have not yet definitely diverged from the course of events that would lead to Technic civilization although we soon will do. Whenever the moment of divergence comes, the alternative history that would have led to van Rijn and Flandry will contain some of the same events and/or kinds of events that we are experiencing now: conflict and chaos.
Wind Booms On Scotha
"Wind boomed around the highest tower, chill and thrusting;..." (p. 275)
Events have been turbulent on Scotha. However, this opening sentence of the concluding narrative passage continues:
"...but save for tatters of cloud, the sky was blue with afternoon." (ibid.)
In other words, with a few exceptions, events are now moving towards peace and calm.
In Poul Anderson's works, the weather in general and the wind in particular always reflect and express what is happening to and between his characters. Wind can boom or shrill - or soothe or caress.
There is more to be said about this story than we have said this time but searching this blog will reveal earlier relevant posts.
A later instalment demonstrates that the Scothani, unknown before this story, will be integrated into the Terran Empire. Flandry not only delays Imperial decline but also temporarily strengthens the Empire.
Sunday, 8 December 2024
Winter Solsice
"Winter solstice was the occasion of religious ceremonies followed by feasting and merriment." (p 266)
"'This is the night when the sun turns, remember. A new year offers new hope.'" (p. 267)
This is appropriate to read at this time of year. Can we count this part of "Tiger by the Tail" as another Christmas story by Poul Anderson? On the monotheist hypothesis, the single god knows of, and should surely heed, religious ceremonies on Terra, Scotha and elsewhere. At least, I imagine that he would. Monotheists, of course, disagree among themselves.
Addendum: House move this Thursday. Fewer posts between now and then. After that, a break, hopefully only for a few days.
Cyrus
Cyrus was referred to as the Messiah because he freed the Jews from Babylon. (The Silk Roads, p. 2) I admit to being interested in Cyrus both because of his role in the history of Judaism and because of his role as a member of the Time Patrol, albeit in a deleted timeline. There is or was - we lack Temporal tenses - a timeline in which it was Keith Denison that was killed by the Scythians who then carried his head in a skin of blood. (p. 3) Thanks to an intervention by Everard and Denison, the man who was born as Cyrus grew up to be Cyrus the Great and to be killed by the Scythians.
Historical fiction and time travel fiction add an extra dimension as we imagine fictional characters interacting with historical figures. Nicholas Pym saves the lives of Oliver Cromwell and Charles II.
Fortune Favours - The Weak?
Flandry, winning at dice on Scotha, where he is told that he has the luck of the damned, cynically parodies a saying from Home:
"'Say that fortune favors the weak,' he purred." (p. 263)
The weak? Flandry continues:
"'The strong don't need it, highness.'" (ibid.)
He simultaneously flatters and manipulates Prince Torric.
For "Fortune favours the brave," see here.
For other one-liners, including another parody, see here.
Another guy I knew said, "When you're young, you hear people say things. When you get older, you learn what they mean." The example that he had in mind was an old Lancashire saying:
"There's nowt so queer as folk."
Arriving On Scotha
The problem with descending from space onto a planetary surface is that we are then enclosed in that particular environment to the exclusion of the rest of the universe which we know is out there although it remains visible on a clear night. But we do not want to remain enclosed in a spaceship indefinitely either. Sometimes this contradiction becomes explicit. In American sf, the ultimate expression of freedom is interstellar travel although too long inside a spaceship becomes the opposite. There are ways around this paradox, of course. An interstellar vessel can be made into something more or other than bare steel cabins and corridors. It can be a moving planetoid instead of a coffin.
An author moves from the abstract, e.g., the general idea of an extra-solar planet, to the concrete, i.e., one specific imagined planet as against any other possibility:
"As expected, Scotha was fully terrestroid..." (p. 255)
- because that is what this particular story requires.
An author has a creative urge to write something, then decides or chooses what to write. Hegelian philosophy begins with what Hegel thought was the most general concept, abstract being, which is nothing in particular, but then the interaction between these opposites, being and nothing, generated their synthesis, becoming, whose outcome is determinate being, something that has become. Every time an sf character lands on another planet, the author has to tell us what that planet is like, thus producing a new independent story or an instalments of a series like Star Trek, the Technic History etc.
In the Technic History, we have seen Iapetus, Ythri, Gray...etc and now Scotha.
Some Imperial Galactography
the star, Betelgeuse, with its large planetary system, including the inhabited Alfzar;
the star, Siekh, with its disrupted planetary system, including the inhabited Talwin.
On the Terran border facing Merseia:
Irumclaw;
Jihannath;
Sector Taurus, including the colonized planets, Vor, Varrak and Dennitza;
the Patrician System, including the colonized planets, Imhotep and Daedalus.
On the opposite side of the Empire:
Sector Alpha Crucis, including the governor's palace in Catawrayannis on Llynathawyr, Naval HQ at Ifri, the inhabited planet, Shalmu, and the Virgilian System, including the inhabited planet, Dido, and the colonized planet, Aeneas.
Close to Sector Alpha Crucis:
the Domain of Ythri;
the Realm of Gorrazan;
barbarian systems.
Somewhere between Terra and Llynathawr:
Starport;
New Indra.
Dominic Hazeltine says which Sector the planet Diomedes belongs to but I do not have access to that volume at present.
Saturday, 7 December 2024
Barbarians
Catawrayannis And A Spaceship
Before his capture, Flandry had been drinking in Catawrayannis. This city was important in Ensign Flandry, in The Day Of Their Return and in Hloch's Earth Book Introduction to "How To Be Ethnic In One Easy Lesson."
Flandry realizes by subtle clues that he is in a spaceship under hyperdrive and that its crew is non-human but humanoid. When he opens the door of his cabin, he is confronted by a blaster-wielding guard:
"The being was remarkably humanoid." (p. 242)
In Flandry's universe, it is possible to open a door and to be confronted by a completely non-humanoid being, so non-humanoid that it is not immediately recognizable as an organism. Flandry, like Falkayn before him, is trained to deal with such situations and there are so many intelligent species that common features can be found between them but nevertheless it is difficult to comprehend that someone would be able to cope with meeting beings that might have just any unpredictable shape.
Loose Ends
Aycharaych escapes.
Erannath is dead but an Imperial cruiser takes his body to Avalon with an honour guard.
Jaan will not be molested but is offered psychiatric treatment which he decides to accept.
Tatiana Thane persuades freedom movement terrorists who have already assassinated several pro-Terran Aeneans not to go after Ivar after his capitulation but how successful can she be in this?
We will see both Aycharaych and Desai again. The history of Aeneas continues but beyond our ken.
Into Splendor
"He burst above, into splendor." (p. 231)
We have quoted this passage twice before. See here. (Scroll down.) However, I have not previously commented on how it reflects an experience that I had years ago. I sat for meditation while depressed about something. The depression persisted while I sat on a cushion for half an hour. However, when I stood up, I was elated. It was like flying in an airplane beneath dark storm clouds, then shooting vertically upwards into blue sky and sunlight above the clouds. I knew then that the place above the clouds exists, that I would soon be back down under the clouds and that that did not matter. That has happened once since starting just-sitting meditation in 1985. Do not practice expecting anything. But we can experience elation and splendour without having to wait for "Their Return."
Erannath tells Ivar:
"'Truth you must find in yourself, Ivar Frederiksen.'" (p. 230)
That is not exactly true. Ivar has just asked a factual question: whether Erannath serves the Empire. The answers to such questions are in the external world, not in ourselves. However, we do have to find a kind of truth - or authenticity - within ourselves. We must live by our own understanding, not by anyone else's. Ivar does. He accepts Aeneas' place in the Empire but expects the planet to outlive the Empire.
The intensification of Aenean millennialism is sufficiently explained by the defeat of the McCormac Rebellion and by the widespread Aenean belief systems, including those focused in different ways on the Ancients.
Back To Flandry
In "Outpost of Empire," John Ridenour remembers Starkad. That means something.
In The Day Of Their Return, Erannath is of Stormgate Choth. That means something.
"Tiger by the Tail" opens with the viewpoint of Captain Dominic Flandry. That means a lot. We are back with Flandry and he has had yet another promotion although he has not yet been knighted. In fact, this is the earliest published Flandry story albeit now revised. Flandry has gained an earlier life and his entire civilization has gained an earlier history and prehistory. A massive future history structure has been constructed around a few pulp magazine short stories.
The Dead
In haste. Think about it.
Friday, 6 December 2024
Terrans
"A Terran, in a position similar to Mattu's, would generally have grinned. The colonel stayed humorless..." (p. 208)
As with Ythrians and Merseians, we get a sense of Terrans as a group of people in Technic civilization. Mattu is human but Aenean and, more specifically Orcan, not Terran. Aeneans differ considerably. David Falkayn, in an earlier period, was human but of Hermetian, not Terran, citizenship. Dennitzans of Merseian descent are zmayi or ychani. Sometimes a being continues to be identified by the planet on which its species originated, sometimes not. Thus, some Avalonians are Ythrians whereas others are human but not described as Terran. Much later, Kirkasanters are of human, indeed Aenean, descent but no longer human. We become accustomed to the various distinctions as we read.
Miscommunications In Conversations
In The Day Of Their Return, when Chunderban Desai receives Colonel Mattu Luuksson from Orcus, Desai realizes that he is tapping his cigarette holder on the ashtray and stops.
When I interviewed a school pupil, there was a bothersome crumpling sound while she spoke but not while I spoke. I realized that, under the table, she was holding the paper slip that had informed her of the interview. She crumpled it only when speaking.
Desai does not know whether Mattu's frown means anger or concentration. In CS Lewis' That Hideous Strength, Dimble and Studdock converse. Trying to be charitable toward the younger man, Dimble adopts a fixed facial expression which Studdock misinterprets as disapproval.
I could tell many stories of conversational miscommunications but perhaps they would take us off the point if there is one.
(There is a Father Brown TV series with really good interactions between Brown and the continuing villain, Flambeau. Brown has not heard Flambeau's confession - yet.)
Warm And Cold Winds On Aeneas
When Ivar walks with Jaan:
"A warm and pungent wind stroked faces, fluttered garments, mumbled above the mill-noise of the falls." (p. 203)
And the conversation, so far, is unproblematic. However, when Jaan says:
"'For Caruith shall rise again.'
"The wind seemed to blow cold along Ivar's bones. 'Who is Caruith? What is he?'" (p. 205)
As ever, the wind is our indicator of what is going on although, this time, it seemed to blow cold... This time, the wind has not changed to match the conversation but nevertheless a reference to the wind serves to tell us how Ivar responds to the prophet's words.
At last, after all this preparation and after an apparent change in the wind, we come to Jaan's account of his technological demon.
What Does Aeneas Need?
Jaan to Ivar:
"'What Aeneas needs is twofold, a uniting faith and a uniting secular leader.'" (17, p. 203)
Aeneas does not need a uniting faith. Every Aenean has the right to seek or practice a faith. Every group of male Jews of twelve or over has the right to form a synagogue. Every group of Catholics has the right to hear a priest say Mass. Every group of Evangelicals has the right to meet to study the Bible. Every group of Buddhists has the right to meditate, either individually or as a group. We thank the King, i.e., society or the state as personified by the King, that we are not persecuted for doing this. (Once, I went to a Youth Hostel Quiet Room to practice zazen and was joined by a Japanese man who seemed to be reading his Bible.) Should anyone campaign for his faith to become the uniting faith? No. And such a message will no longer be heeded.
Nor do I think that Aeneas needs a uniting secular leader. An anti-Terran movement, if such a movement is needed, will throw up many popular leaders, not just a single figurehead. To make an analogy with ecclesiastical organizations, Britain has both an Archbishop of Canterbury and a Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The present King, while still Prince of Wales, once said that the General Assembly was the nearest approach to a Scottish Parliament. (Now, of course, there is a Scottish Parliament.) The difference between an Archbishop and a Moderator represents a lot of history and also different approaches to organization in general: hierarchical or democratic. What Aeneas needs, I suggest, is a planetary congress of delegates from regional and local councils, each of which would appoint a convener.
Builders
This is definitely an inconsistency. In Chapter 12, Gabriel Stewart's voice lifts and belief stands incandescent in his eyes when he says that the Builders will make Ivar's and Tatiana's son more than human whereas, in Chapter 15, he asks Tatiana whether she believes mere rumours about Builders, cynically adding that at least they will make good propaganda. This is because:
"He had not been back on Aeneas sufficiently long to absorb the atmosphere of expectation." (p. 194)
He had been expecting a lot back in 12.
Millennarianism does have social explanations but why has it become so intense and universal on Aeneas at this time? Has Aycharaych been able to do something to enhance it?
Ytrhrians And Merseians
Ivar Frederiksen wonders whether splitting Sector Alpha Crucis off from the Terran Empire, and possibly even bringing it into the Domain of Ythri, would make it worth Ythri's while to wage war:
"...especially if we got Merseian help too..." (8, p. 141)
Tatiana Thane wonders whether Ivar's Ythrian companion:
"'...suggests Ythri might be sticking claws into our pot, right?'" (15, p. 190)
Early in The Game Of Empire, Diana Crowfeather overhears a Terran marine refer to "Merseian bastards."
My only point here is that, by this stage in the Technic History, Poul Anderson has earned the right to make such references. Regular readers have become familiar with a complex set of interstellar politics. Ythrians and Merseians are like French and Germans in past European history.
Fakery In Two Future Histories
Thursday, 5 December 2024
Night Vision
"Humans have better night vision than Ythrians." (p. 181)
I did not know that. I would have expected the opposite. I think that Ythrians hunt by night as well as by day. That fact, of superior human night vision, did not exist until Poul Anderson first wrote it either here or in an earlier instalment. But it is one of the many details that make the Technic History seem like real history and its locations, like Ythri, Avalon, Aeneas etc, seem like real places. Ythrians have nictitating membranes. They are awkward on the ground but graceful in the air. They walk on their wings as if on crutches. Claws on wings, used by young to cling to parents, have been adapted as feet. Plus much more: Ythrian biology, sociology, psychology and theology.
Desai And Ivar
Chunderban Desai and Ivar Frederiksen are the viewpoint characters of their respective passages until they meet when it has to be one or the other so it is Desai, signaling the triumph of his point of view. When Desai is trying to have the fugitive Ivar apprehended, which of them do we identify or sympathize with? Perhaps each as we read about him. Poul Anderson shows the Terran Empire as good guys or as bad guys in different instalments of the Technic History. Issues become ambiguous when Dominic Flandry participates as chief of Intelligence in the conquest of Brae.
The good guys-bad guys issue needs to be explored through historical fiction, e.g.:
a German Nazi versus a Russian Communist during World War II
a Native American versus a settler
a Cavalier versus a Roundhead
Trilogy: Cavalier as hero of Volume I; Roundhead as hero of Volume II; Volume III?
Poul Anderson has a Cavalier hero in an alternative history.
The issue here is not where our sympathies lie but what is our understanding of both sides. Garth Ennis wrote a war comic in which a Spanish Republican, an English socialist, a Luftwaffe pilot and an Irish Fascist, none of them armed, swap stories while sheltering in a bomb crater during a battle of the Spanish Civil War and I did not expect to wind up writing about that.
Risk And Ritual
Just as the Waybreak tinerans risk their lives by trekking across a barren plateau, the Riverfolk risk a summer mountain torrent even though there are a few wrecks per century although most lives are saved. Jao tells Ivar:
"'The danger is part of the ritual...'" (p. 178)
OK. It is becoming consistent that Aeneans value life by risking its loss, as in James Bond's imperfect haiku:
"You only live twice,
"Once when you are born and once
"When you look death in the face."
(Something could be done to shorten that third line.)
Dominic Flandry's philosophy is similar. He does not just defend civilization in order to enjoy its benefits. He also enjoys the struggle.
More Than Human
Events on Aeneas seem to be moving away from historical and into mythic time. Ivar Frederiksen's fiancee, Tatiana Thane, is visited by a colleague whose first name is Gabriel. This Gabriel speaks of:
"'Signs, tokens, precognitions...'" (p. 172)
He is sure that the fugitive, Ivar, is still alive although there is no evidence for this. Then he says:
"'And you are [Ivar's] bride who will bear his son that Builders will make more than human.'
"Belief stood incandescent in his eyes." (ibid.)
A lot of people are getting carried away. Aycharaych uses psychic technology to control Jaan. Does he also use some such technology to heighten Aenean belief levels? There does not seem to be any other specific explanation for this accelerating millenarianism.
Beyond this point, the novel could have taken two directions. The direction that it did not take would have been further into mythic time with Gabriel's premonitions being gradually fulfilled. The irony is that the manipulator, Aycharaych, is the last surviving member of the Ancient race.
Mortality And Transcendence
Jaan preaches:
"'You await rescue, first from the grip of the tyrant, next and foremost from the grip of mortality - of being merely, emptily human. You wait for transcendence.'" (p. 150)
I buy the universality, although not the particularity, of Jaan's message. We need to transform society - "the tyrant" - and ourselves - transcendence. Although:
we have to accept mortality;
humanity can feel, but is not, empty;
the Elders will not return to rescue us.
Bearing in mind these disagreements, I could have an interesting conversation with Jaan. However, the problem is not Jaan but Aycharaych diabolically manipulating him.
Time And The River
One long sentence lists Ivar's experiences on the Flone:
onboard gaiety and ceremony;
little towns with green stretches between;
wisdom of fellow travelers;
friendliness;
the river itself -
"...always the river, mighty as time, days and nights, days and nights, feeling like a longer stretch than they had been, like a foretaste of eternity: these had healed him." 12, (p. 169)
In Anderson's Time Patrol series, time is compared to a river. Here, the river is compared to time.
Foretaste of eternity? Well, many people do believe in consciousness of endless duration after death. The concept gets into the language. When I was at school, a fellow pupil wrote an account of a beauty spot and ended that it was "...a foretaste of heaven!" Even then, I thought, "How trite!" Does he think that heaven is a permanent beauty spot?
My understanding of eternity is expressed by William Blake. See the attached image.
History Recounted
In The People Of The Wind, the Terran Empire wages war against the Domain of Ythri and tries to annex its planet, Avalon.
In The Day Of Their Return, the discovery and the war are historical events which Ivar recounts to Fraina because Mikkal and they have just encountered Erannath of Stormgate Choth on Avalon.
Thus, the influence of this choth continues beyond the compilation of its Earth Book, in which we read "Wings of Victory," although unfortunately Stormgate is not mentioned after The Day Of Their Return.
(Quick breakfast post before a busy day ahead.)
Wednesday, 4 December 2024
Flandry And Frederiksen
Poul Anderson's heroes are distinct individuals. When we first see Dominic Flandry, he is experienced with women - to Persis d'Io's surprise - whereas, when we first see Ivar Frederiksen, he has had very little experience. He thinks:
"...I hope I've honor not to seduce [Fraina] and leave her cryin' behind, when at last I go." (8, p. 133)
No fear of that. Fraina is a tineran. She will take charge of all of Ivar's cash, then cast him out - a learning experience. And Ivar learns how he might help the tinerans when he becomes Firstman of Ilion. A head of state who has spent time among the subcultures is an obvious asset to a planet.
Growing Knowledge
Later, back on Talwin, Flandry spots an exotic being, inquires of his Merseian informant and begins to learn about the planet, Chereion.
Notes:
We know of three occasions when Flandry is on Talwin, the third time in conversation with Aycharaych;
retroactively, we realize that that Chereionite spotted on Talwin must have been Aycharaych.
Finally, Flandry meets Aycharaych of Chereion at Betelgeuse. This was the earliest published of these instalments. However, building a future history series involved constructing an elaborate set of prequels, as we see here.
Tinerans On The Dreary
The Waybreak tinerans' chosen life-style obliges them to trek, most of them on foot, across a lifeless plateau where water must be rationed until food cannot be cooked and utensils must be cleaned with sand. Also, nights are so cold that the animals must be enclosed in tents to keep them alive. Surely some of the technology of Technic civilization could be used to make this crossing less arduous? We will learn that tineran psychology is peculiar, of course.
For a discussion of whether antigravity technology should make the Aenean Riverfolk's lifestyle redundant see the combox for On The River.
Aenean society is so rich and complex that we welcome any proposed rationalizations of this society as Poul Anderson describes it. Similarly interesting societies in the Technic History are to be found on the planets, Hermes, Avalon and Dennitza.
Sparks And Masks
Tatiana Thane asks Chunderban Desai:
"'What are we? Sparks, cast up from a burnin' universe whose creation was meanin'less accident? Or children of God? Or parts, masks of God? Or seed from which God will at last grow?'" (p. 129)
My responses:
How could pre-conscious events have meaning or be anything but accidental?
"God" can mean (i) a transcendent person, (ii) the object of numinous or mystical experience or (iii) both (i) and (ii). Let's stay with (ii). I think that it is fair to say that we are sparks, masks and children of the void.
Tatiana Thane is right to speculate but gives way to credulity about the Elders.
The Upward Path
"On the third day he arose, and ascended again to the light." (1, p. 75)
"He had never before known how steep the upward path was." (21, p. 238)
These are the opening and closing sentences of this novel. The subject of both is Jaan the Shoemaker. In both, he ascends. In the first, Jaan is uplifted by an illusion. In the second, he seeks help to dispel the illusion. He begins an inner journey.
The opening passage of Chapter 15, narrated from Jaan's point of view, shows us how he is being controlled. Aycharaych's scheme is almost literally diabolical: a form of possession. Might this be technologically possible in future?
(In English grammar, there are few definite rules about the use of commas. I would have rendered that opening sentence, "On the third day, he arose and ascended again to the light." I noticed this point only because I had occasion to quote the sentence.)
One Novel In The Technic History
the entire Captain Flandry series including Flandry's long conflict with Aycharaych and his illuminating conversation with Chunderban Desai about the decline of Technic civilization;
the two Admiral Flandry novels, the second focused on Flandry's daughter;
the Long Night;
the subsequent civilizations.
In The Day Of Their Return, we find detailed descriptions of:
the Waybreak tineran Train;
Far more than we expect.
Tuesday, 3 December 2024
Known And Unknown Space
Looking at the Aenean night sky, Ivar Frederiksen sees:
Betelguese - everything between him and it belongs to the Terran Empire;
beyond that, Rigel and the Pleaides which belong to the Merseian Roidhunate;
beyond them, Polaris and the Orion Nebula where new stars are forming.
Near Sector Alpha Crucis is the Domain of Ythri. Beyond the Sector are barbarians.
It is as if all of known space and some of unknown space is visible at a glance.
Consciousness And Time II
I am just about to travel to a Christmas Fair so I will be back here maybe some time tomorrow.
Consciousness And Time
How does being become conscious? How do empirically observable objective processes in brains generate subjective processes that are not empirically observable but are known only by each individual? Objectivity is an inter-subjective consensus, of course. All of us can see what a particular psychophysical organism looks like but only that organism knows by direct experience what it is like to be that organism and how the rest of the world appears to it.
At every waking moment, each of us is aware both of the external world and of our own thought processes. In modern fiction, we know the centrality of the narrative point of view. An interaction between two characters can be narrated from either point of view or, less frequently, objectively so that we know what each character says and does but not what either of them thinks or how either of them feels.
In The Time Machine, Wells assumes that mind is not a property of a body in each moment of its existence but instead that a mind is an immaterial entity moving along the temporal dimension where the body merely extends. This is a philosophical confusion, in my opinion.
(My books are packed for moving so I can quote only from memory.)
In "Brave To Be A King" by Poul Anderson, Manse Everard, addressing Keith Denison, states that if he, Everard, makes a particular alteration to the course of events, then it will follow that this version of Denison (who definitely does exist here and now at this particular set of spatiotemporal coordinates because Everard is perceiving and conversing with him) does not exist here and now at this particular set of spatiotemporal coordinates. (Bracketed is my comment to make explicit the logical contradiction.) By altering events, Everard can generate a subsequent/divergent/alternative timeline in which this version of Denison does not exist here and now but that will be another timeline. Denison, who is both existent and fully conscious, is horrified at Everard's suggestion. However, it cannot be the case that the "I" that does exist here and now does not exist here and now. Not (p and not-p).
Monday, 2 December 2024
A Treasonable Salute
Sergeant Astaff at Windhome, ancestral home of the Firstman of Ilion:
"'I know Empire. Traveled through it more than once with Admiral McCormac.' As he spoke the name, he saluted. The average Imperial agent who saw would have arrested him on the spot." (p. 82)
(Aenean Nord Anglic: no definite article, "Empire," not "the Empire.")
This reference to Admiral McCormac is significant to those of us who have reread The Rebel Worlds immediately before The Day Of Their Return. When a rebellion has been defeated, there is an aftermath. This time, we get to read about the aftermath. Flandry has returned to Terra but the Frederiksens and their staff still live on Aeneas. In fact, Ivar's father has inherited the Firstmanship from his brother-in-law, McCormac. It is strange to learn for the first time about these close relatives of the McCormacs but most people have close relatives.
A whole novel's worth of narrative stretches ahead of us, making this section of the Technic History far more substantial than if it had just stayed with one central character, Dominic Flandry.
Gold And Indigo
Creusa, one of the Aenean moons:
"...glimmered ever more bright, waxing while it climbed eastward. A pair of wings likewise caught rays from the hidden sun and shone gold against indigo heaven." (p. 77)
Gold against indigo: it sounds as if Aeneas is a good place to go for a walk at night. But Ivar Frederiksen is not out for a walk. He is waiting to ambush and kill Imperials. The contrast between the beauty of nature and the works of men could not be greater. Poul Anderson describes both and leaves his readers to draw their conclusions, if any.
Nature is indifferent. Moons would wax, wane and shine if no one was there or whatever the intentions of those who are out at night. Ancients and human beings have walked on Aeneas in different eras.
Keening Winds And Aenean Social Complexity
Wind keens in Ys and on Aeneas.
Aeneas has to be the most complicated colonial society in Poul Anderson's Technic History:
University (scientists, scholars, support staff);
Landfolk (squires, yeomen, tenants);
Townfolk (ancient corporate bodies, including guilds, but also manufacturers, merchants and managers in the industrial Web);
communities descended from ethnically distinct immigrants (tinerans, Riverfolk, Orcans, Highlanders etc).
Significant individuals:
Chunderban Desai from Ramanujan, appointed by the Terran Empire as High Commissioner of the Virgilian System;
Ivar Frederiksen, heir to the Firstmanship of Ilion, nephew of Kathryn McCormac;
Erannath, an Avalonian Ythrian, spying on Aeneas for both Domain and Empire;
Aycharaych, a Chereionite, fomenting on behalf of Merseia.
Far Away
Flandry tells McCormac:
"'Go a long way, McCormac, as far as you possibly can. Find a new planet. Found a new society. Never come back.'" (p. 512)
We imagine a new society on a new planet far way. But we need not just imagine it. This is a future history series. "Starfog," set millennia later, shows us a human-descended spaceship crew from a planet far away in another spiral arm of the galaxy. We infer their descent from the exiled Aenean rebels. And there is more to it than that. Later in his career, Flandry will rescue a colony planet called Vixen. And a man not from Vixen but from its colony, New Vixen, will meet that crew from the planet far away, which is called Kirkasant. The Technic History has shown us three planetary sources of wealth, Satan, Mirkheim and Wayland. Kirkasant is located inside a nebula that turns out to be full of planetary sources of wealth. The history continues although, unfortunately, beyond our ken.
Electronic Shadow Show
"If [Hugh McCormac] spoke to his wife at all, and not an electronic shadow show..." (p. 504)
Some of us have now seen those shadow shows: computer generated simulations of the appearances and voices of politicians or actors, deepfakes. Will all technology described in sf become real? Not if is theoretically impossible. Will faster than light and time travel remain theoretically impossible? I am fairly certain that, if any of these impossibilities do eventually happen, they will not happen as anyone has imagined them.
The Technic History: The Main Novels
Satan's World: a new source of vast wealth and an external threat to Technic civilization.
Mirkheim: a newer source of vaster wealth and the beginning of the end of the Polesotechnic League.
The People Of The Wind: War between the Domain of Ythri and the Terran Empire.
Ensign Flandry: Dominic Flandry on Starkad and Merseia.
A Circus Of Hells: Flandry on Irumclaw, Wayland and Talwin.
The Rebel Worlds: Flandry on Terra, Shalmu, Llynathawr and Dido.
The Day Of Their Return: Chunderban Desai, Aycharaych and Ivar Frederiksen on Aeneas; references to the Flandry novels.
A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows: Flandry on Terra, Diomedes, Dennitza and Chereion; his showdown with Aycharaych.
A Stone In Heaven: Flandry on Terra and Ramnu; his liaison with the daughter of his original mentor on Starkad and Merseia.
The Game Of Empire: Flandry's daughter on Imhotep and Daedalus; Starkadians settled on Imhotep.
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