"'Wanda, I'll be in your debt to the bounds of infinity and the end of eternity.'" (The Shield Of Time, p. 416)
Did Poul Anderson intend to pay tribute to Isaac Asimov's time travel novel, The End Of Eternity? Indeed, did he do so twice? See here. (I will have to track down that Anderson short story with two Asimov titles in a single paragraph. I am fairly sure that it is "Holmgang" in the Psychotechnic History but right now entropy and lethargy are triumphing over energy and scholarship. And, of course, blog readers often know better...)
In any case, if a tribute was intended, then it is undeserved. See here. My advice to readers of science fiction is:
read Anderson's Time Patrol series instead of Asimov's The End Of Eternity;
read Anderson's History of Technic Civilization instead of Asimov's Robots, Empire and Foundation History.
I won't say read Anderson's Trygve Yamamura series instead of Asimov's Black Widowers series and detective novel(s?) because these are very different kinds of works, not directly comparable. But the Time Patrol and ...Eternity are text book examples of how to write and how not to write about changing the past, respectively.
8 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
In my earlier years as a science fiction reader I was a big fan of Isaac Asimov. I loved his original FOUNDATION TRILOGY, rereading it over and over. And I enjoyed books of his like I, ROBOT. And other collections of his short stories like EARTH IS ROOM ENOUGH. But, alas, I became more and more dissatisfied with Asimov's work, esp. after THE GODS THEMSELVES. I came more and more to find his style of writing too flat, plain, colorless, monochromatic, etc. Too often, esp. in his novels, I found his characters thin and unconvincing, too much like cardboard outlines or cutouts.
I agree in finding Poul Anderson's Technic Civilization series a far more convincing depiction of the rise and fall of an interstellar civilization than Asimov's Galactic Empire/Foundation stories. Albeit, I did like, despite certain characteristic flaws, his "Blind Alley."
It's been so LONG since I read Asimov's THE END OF ETERNITY that I can't fairly comment on that work. But, the fact that Poul Anderson's Time Patrol stories made such a deep impression on and that I like to reread them from time to time (overused word!) makes it plain which I prefer!
Sean
Looking at my bookshelves, I find that I only liked 3 of Isaac Asimov's science fiction books enough to purchase and keep copies (and one was his novelization of *Fantastic Voyage*, which is someone else's story) ... compared to 28 of Poul Anderson's books.
However, I can't agree with a "read this, not that" prescription (although, full disclosure, I've never even tried to read *The End of Eternity* OR *The Gods Themselves*). Like Sean, I read *I, Robot* and *The Foundation Trilogy* and liked them -- mostly (although I saw the Second Foundation as setting up a tyranny that, theoretically, could never be overthrown because of its capability to tamper with minds; I believe I've seen a remark that Asimov himself developed misgivings about that).
And I have ALL the *Black Widowers* books, and a lot of Asimov's non-fiction.
Hi, David!
Perhaps I was too harsh in my previous note about Asimov. I was not trying to prevent anyone from reading any of his works, simply giving some of my own views.
I do continue to believe Asimov was better as a short story writer than as a novelist. The "tighter" format of a short story seems to make Asimov's irritating talkiness and thin characterization less obvious or important than in his novels.
Please keep in mind I no longer find Asimov's original three FOUNDATION books as interesting to read as when I was a boy. I reread them a few years ago and, to my dismay, found large parts of them VERY unsatisfactory, even boring to read. And I thought "villains" like Emperor Cleon II, Bel Riose, and even the Mule more interesting than most of the "good" guys.
Alas, I missed the potential in the Second Foundation possibly becoming a near eternal tyranny due to its mentalist powers. I had to have that pointed out by other critics--which doesn't say much about MY powers of observation! And I think I read somewhere of Asimov's misgivings about the Second Foundation.
I have both versions of FANTASTIC VOYAGE, the one that was simply a novelization of another man's work and the later rewrite. Mostly, I read Asimov's Black Widower stories in their magazine appearances. But was never interested enough to get the reprinted collections. My loss, I'm sure!
I'm such a boringly zealous fan of the works of Poul Anderson that I have 35 of his books in softcover and 100 of them in hard back/trade editions. Granted, with a good deal of overlap in contents. In addition to all three of his (far too few) non fiction works. And various other miscellaneous Anderson related items such as Sandra Miesel's monograph AGAINST TIME'S ARROW.
And I do have a fair number of Asimov's non fictional works. I believe many of them will continue to be useful for a long time as popular explanations of science.
Sean
David,
Of course no one should heed a "read this, not that" litany. I certainly do not expect anyone to heed mine! But that is the advice that I would give to someone who, e.g., wanted something good to read while in hospital or who wanted to know what I thought was good in sf. And I could rephrase my advice as: "If you were disappointed with Asimov, try Anderson" or "If you think Asimov is good, here is someone that I think is better."
Paul.
Incidentally, Asimov himself believed there's a minor salute to him in PA's "The Critique of Impure Reason": the robot is nicknamed "Izaak."
Hi, David!
Ha! I remember that too! And, yes, a name like "Izaak" attached to a ROBOT could very easily be thought an allusion to Asimov and his robot stories. Amusing!
Do you know or recall in which of Asimov's works you found this?
Sean
Oh, yes, Sean; I've got that book on my shelves. It's *Laughing Space*, his anthology of humorous science fiction (almost) all written by other authors; he gives a little introduction to each story. Because there're only two short stories by Asimov himself in *Laughing Space*, I didn't count it when I said above that I had just three of his SF books.
It's a collection I highly recommend. I don't know of any other in which you're likely to find "Coffee Break" by D.F. Jones, about the serendipitous creation of a drug that makes people REASONABLE despite their prejudices; and "The Merchant of Stratford" by Frank Ramirez, about the first time traveler visiting William Shakespeare, only to discover that later time travelers visited earlier; AND "The Splendid Source" by Richard Matheson, which explores the question of who makes up risque jokes....
For an interesting take on the whole idea of psychohistry, see "Psychohistorical Crisis" by Donald Kingsbury.
It is set in essentially Asimov's 2nd galactic empire with the copywrite marks filed off. It shows a problem the 2nd foundationers would encounter due to the very nature of any sort of workable psychohistory.
BTW Kingsbury does more to flesh out the variety of societies that would exist within a Galactic Empire than Asimov ever did.
After I recommended it in a post on another blog, the blogger wrote a review worth reading
http://www.rocketpunk-manifesto.com/2009/06/diverting-river-of-time.html
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