"...Poul's...full range and brilliance became even more obvious when I read The Broken Sword and Tau Zero back to back." (p. 7)
Heroic fantasy and hard sf. Like reading Tolkien and Stapledon back to back. Brilliant but I would also find it disorienting. When I reread The Broken Sword, I wanted to follow it with Anderson's four other fantasies that form a loose sequence with it:
The Demon Of Scattery;
Mother Of Kings;
War Of The Gods;
Hrolf Kraki's Saga -
- and then I wanted to stay in the past with:
(what I call) the three BC;
Ys;
the Last Viking;
the three novels set in the fourteenth century;
the time travel and other works set in various past periods;
the alternative histories -
- before returning to any of Anderson's technological futures.
Similarly, after rereading Tau Zero, I would want to reread its short prequel, "Pride," before staying with works of hard sf set in other timelines. While immersed in one kind of fictional narrative, I find it hard to jump into a different, almost diametrically opposed, imaginary universe.
"Poul was a modern skald, heir to the traditions of those who entertained weary Vikings centuries past." (p. 8)
Yes, both when he wrote about Vikings and when he wrote about spacemen - whom we learned to call "astronauts."
"This is not to say that Poul's work is not serious, or that it came easily to him..." (ibid.)
Anderson's works address the most serious issues of life, society and the universe. But surely his immense output alone shows that writing came more easily to him than, e.g., to James Blish who did struggle with the text of his historical novel, Doctor Mirabilis, and whose total output is unfortunately much smaller?
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I don't think it's correct to list Poul Anderson's novel MOTHER OF KINGS among his fantasies. I read it as a historical novel focusing on Gunnhild, the wife of King Erik Blook Axe and mother of their nine sons. A retelling of the ambitions, intrigues, and ultimately failed efforts of Gunnhild to obtain the kingship of Norway for her sons. It belongs more with Anderson's other historical novels: THE GOLDEN SLAVE, ROGUE SWORD, THE LAST VIKING, and THE KING OF YS.
And I wish Greg Bear had gone into more detail epxlaining why writing did not come easily to his father in law. The sheer quantity and variety of Anderson's works argues otherwise.
You mentioned the difficulty James Blish had writing DOCTOR MIRABILIS. I would add JRR Tolkien as well. The problem for Tolkien was not writing, per se, but his inability to refrain from revising many of his works over and over and over again. It made for endless delays and a chaotic mass of often conflicting manuscripts. I recall with regret one work Tolkien started and then abandoned: THE NEW SHADOW, set late in the reign of Eldrarion, the son of King Elessar. Tolkien didn't like how the story was turning into a "thriller" analogous to spy and mystery novels, something he thought was not worth doing. Oh,well!
Sean
Sean,
I agree with your classification of MOTHER OF KINGS. It is connected to the titles I listed because THE DEMON OF SCATTERY ends with a reference to Gunnhild.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I understand the reasoning, while not sure it is always appropriate. The mere fact one book might mention a character seen in another novel seems a rather thin "connection."
Sean
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