The Volumes Of The SAGA

 

A day spent in other activities can afford time for thinking about Poul Anderson's History of Technic Civilization.

The Technic Civilization Saga, Volume I, The Van Rijn Method, collects no less than eleven of the forty-three instalments of the Technic History, only one instalment less than the earlier collection, The Earth Book Of Stormgate. Furthermore, these two collections overlap by seven instalments and the seven include the Nicholas van Rijn novel, The Man Who Counts. The two collections represent successive stages in the book publication of the Technic History with the Saga comprising the complete edition.

Volume II, David Falkayn: Star Trader, collects seven instalments which can be classified as:

2 van Rijn;

2 trader team;

2 both;

1 other -

- all set within the Polesotechnic League period which begins in Volume I and ends in Volume III, Rise Of The Terran Empire, the latter setting the stage for subsequent volumes with the Empire not ending until Volume VII, Flandry's Legacy.

The volumes collect disproportionate numbers of instalments -

I: 11

II: 7

III: 6

IV: 3

V: 6

VI: 4

VII: 6

- because the instalments vary considerably in length.

I find these heuristic devices helpful for thinking about the series while lacking access to copies of the books.