Changes On Rustum

Poul Anderson, "To Promote the General Welfare" IN Anderson, New America (New York, December 1982), pp. 117-157.

Changes on Rustum:

a Constitutional Convention has been in session although now recessed for the midwinter holiday which still involves trimming a tree;

Eva Coffin has died and Daniel, as he is known at the Convention, is white-haired;

his big house at Lake Moondance had been empty until his eldest granddaughter, her husband and their children moved in;

improved transportation in the lowlands has made it possible to centralize control over vast family holdings so that a unified household with domestic staff makes sense. 

We have come a long way with the Rustumites but we in this Lancastrian household will go no further with them this evening. Instead, for me: our daughter's homemade soup and Stieg Larsson.

Ad astra.

A Fair Exchange? II

"A Fair Exchange."

Most of this story consists of complicated economic arguments segueing into some subtle manipulation of de Smet by Coffin which I will not attempt to summarize here. After all, the main theme of this blog is: read or reread Poul Anderson; not: read my summaries of Poul Anderson's narratives.

However, the conclusion is classic Anderson which has to be quoted here. Dan Coffin has just pulled off a long term deal for the development of his beloved lowlands so, of course, nature rejoices with him. First, we are told how he feels:

"...he walked again like a young buccaneer." (p. 115)

The text could have ended there on a purely people note. However, there is one final sentence:

"The wind outside had strengthened, a trumpet voice beneath heaven, and every autumn leaf was a banner flying in challenge." (ibid.)

Wind and banners...

A Fair Exchange?

 

"A Fair Exchange."

When Dan Coffin and Thomas de Smet first talked business, de Smet quoted:

"'A fair exchange is no robbery.'" (p. 98)

Later, they are able to apply this same phrase to a more intimate transaction. Most, although not all, human beings on Rustum have to live on the High America plateau because the lowland atmosphere is too concentrated for their lungs and metabolisms. Dan and his wife, Eva, are lowlanders whereas Thomas and his wife, Jane, are High Americans. The Coffins' newly born, Charlie, would be unable to survive in the lowlands. Every family is legally obliged to adopt at least one exogene although the rules exempt a family if another family adopts a second exogene on the first family's behalf.

The "fair exchange" would be:

the de Smets, who have not yet adopted an exogene, adopt Charlie instead;

the Coffins, who have already adopted an exogene, adopt a second exogene on the de Smets' behalf.

The de Smets get a child of known good stock. The Coffins get a good home for their son. The de Smets are not precluded from choosing an exogene later if they want to. Two influential families are allied from highlands and lowlands, respectively. What's not to like? A fair exchange.

However, I must read on to remind myself whether this is what they wind up doing.

Poul Anderson creates both an alien background for a series of stories and a different problem to be addressed in each of the stories.

Generations

Glancing ahead, we learn that, in instalment 8 of New America, "To Promote the General Welfare," Daniel Coffin, is an old man whose eldest granddaughter, Teresa, has married Leo Svoboda and is in her third pregnancy.

Generations:

Joshua

Dan (exogene; adopted)

Teresa's father or mother

Teresa

Teresa's children

Instalment 1, "Robin Hood's Bridge," introduces Commissioner Svoboda and Joshua Coffin among others. We have come a long way since then.

A generation is twenty years. Some say twenty-five. A lifespan is much longer. I remember three of my grandparents who were born in the late nineteenth century and my granddaughter's generation have children who should live into the twenty-second century. My generation can tell younger people what our parents did during World War II. A lot of oral history.

Scene-Setting

Poul Anderson, "A Fair Exchange" IN Anderson, New America (New York, December 1982), pp. 85-115.

I am not about to reread much of this story this late (just back from Zen group where there was a visiting monk) but the opening paragraphs set a scene:

the town of Anchor on the High America plateau now has ten thousand residents, over 50% children;

there are brick and concrete buildings as well as ground cars and trucks;

the oldest colonists who had come from Earth are by now very few - all or most of the pioneers that we read about in earlier instalments must be dead;

Dan Coffin has been settled at Lake Moondance in the lowlands for thirty-five Rustumite years, twenty Terrestrial;

his wife, Eva, has just given birth to their fourth child who will be unable to live with them in the lowlands.

Well, that defines a human problem in an sf setting so it suffices for this evening. What does the title suggest about a solution?

Wind And Dan

"Passing the Love of Women." 

Dan Coffin learns to love the Rustumite lowlands in "My Own, My Native Land" and that he cannot marry Mary Lochaber but must settle for the more compatible Eva Spain in "Passing the Love of Women."

This second realization is accompanied by appropriately dramatic weather:

"...a rising wind roared in treetops..." (p. 83)

There is thunder and lightning.

"Wind skirled, thunder cannonaded." (p. 84)

Rain smites Dan's face but he sees a new beginning in Eva's eyes. Each instalment carries the Rustumite History steadily forward and we are sorry that, after this one, there will be only two more.

Onward, Earthlings.

More On Rustum

 

"Passing the Love of Women."

Reading on, we confirm that Bill Svoboda is of the same generation as Dan Coffin.

We get the impression that the town on Rustum was named "Anker" after the fictional philosopher of that name but that the spelling was later changed to "Anchor" because that seemed to mean something. (See Anchor Or Anker.)

We post about subtle nuances in Poul Anderson's texts because they recur in many of his works. Thus, Eva Spain pauses in mid-sentence and asks:

"'What is it?'" (p. 59)

- because Dan Coffin has stiffened while she was addressing him. 

In the two ensuing sentences, two familiar phenomena occur. First, Dan expresses a sudden realization and, secondly, the wind emphasizes his comment. The two sentences are:

"'That could be the clue we need.' The night wind boomed under his words." (p. 60)

- and those two points exactly cohere with much that we have previously written about Andersonian story-telling techniques.

I certainly did not notice details like these on my earliest readings of Poul Anderson's works but those works bear endless rereading and analysis.

At Least Three Generations

We refer again to the list of Rustum History instalments here. We are rereading instalment 6, "Passing the Love of Women." Meanwhile, we realize that this series has already reached future history status.

Instalment 1, "Robin Hood's Barn," shows us three generations of Svobodas:

Commissioner Svoboda;

Svoboda's son, Jan, and Jan's wife, Judith;

Jan's and Judith's children, Jocelyn and David.

In instalment 2, "The Burning Bridge," old Svoboda has died.

In instalment 4, "The Mills of of the Gods," the Svobodas, now living on Rustum, have had a second son, Anton, and have also adopted an exogene, Gail.

Instalment 6, "Passing the Love of Women" refers to a Bill Svoboda as a young adult. Bill is probably another of Jan's and Judith's but, if not, then he represents a fourth generation.

The main underlying theme here is the perpetuation of humanity into the future and into the universe.

Rustum History, Instalment 6

Poul Anderson, "Passing the Love of Women" IN Anderson, New America (New York, December 1982), pp. 51-84.

In this Rustum History series, the titles of the individual instalments do not seem very relevant to their particular narratives and also are quickly forgotten because we just think of each instalment as the first, second, third or fourth in the first or second volume. These individual titles are:

"Robin Hood's Barn"

"The Burning Bridge"

"And Yet So Far"

"The Mills of the Gods"

"My Own, My Native Land"

"Passing the Love of Women"

"A Fair Exchange"

"To Promote the General Welfare"

Starting to (re)read the sixth instalment, we immediately recognize the viewpoint character who is named in the opening sentence:

"...Dan Coffin awoke..." (p. 53)

Joshua Coffin appeared in instalments 1, 2, 4 and 5 and his son Danny in instalments 4 and 5. Now we know that the son is still alive although not yet whether the father is. The Rustum series grows at a leisurely pace towards the status of a future history, which has to cover more than one future generation.

Two more "ficts," fictional facts, soon become apparent:

Dan and others are in a settlement in the lowlands, with buildings, pastures and grain fields, so the colony is expanding;

Dan is now in a relationship with Mary Lochaber who had stood up for him when he was bullied at school in instalment 4. 

The pace is leisurely but life continues, nevertheless.

"Danny Yelled."

"My Own, My Native Land."

With only Jack O'Malley and Danny Coffin on a salvage job in the lowlands and O'Malley injured, has their expedition failed?

"Danny yelled.

"O'Malley started, opened his eyes, fumbled after his pistol. 'What is it?'" (p. 44)

Danny does not explain, of course. However, he clears a path to the sea - shorter than their previously intended route back to the parked airbus -, then reconfigures a cart into a windjammer which can haul the salvaged equipment across a stretch of coastal water that had been judged too hazardous for either aircar or motorboat. O'Malley, able, despite his broken arm, to fly the airbus, radios directions from above, then settles nearby on pontoons to receive the cargo.

Problem solved. Two problems: Danny no longer dreads the lowlands. That is the first Rustum story in New America. The other three will have to wait.