The End Of Eternity, Sort Of

Greg Bear, Eternity (London, 2010).

Cosmic science fiction addresses ultimate questions, the Stapledonian themes of cosmos and consciousness.

Are the personal issues satisfactorily resolved at the end of Eternity? The Patricia who had left an Earth that, shortly afterwards, had a global nuclear war wanted to find an Earth on which there had been no nuclear war but on which she herself had died in some accident so that she, the Patricia returning from space, could take the place of the Patricia that had died in an accident. Instead, long after Patricia's death, another inter-universal traveler finds an Earth on which there had been no nuclear war but on which Patricia had neither gone into space nor died in an accident. He then merges part of the space-faring Patricia's mentality into the Patricia of that Earth but in such a way that most of the space-traveling Patricia's memories are not retained:

"No Stone in the heavens, she told herself. Whatever that means." (p. 320)

This seems to submerge, rather than to satisfy, the original Patricia? Of course, I would like to know more about the Final Mind and the answer to the last question on p. 322.

I think that it is appropriate to return to Poul Anderson for a while although that will have to wait until I have acquired NESFA Collections Vol 2, not even ordered yet, unless there are meanwhile some further reflections to be made on the Technic History.