Dominic Flandry would have been able to share the women's "immorality" while furthering his mission. Flandry is not only a believable character but also a different believable character from Nicholas van Rijn, David Falkayn and Manse Everard. A competent writer addresses moral issues without presenting stereotypes of morality and immortality. In particular, note David Falkayn's disgust at the ruthlessness of some League companies and what he does about it. Also, there is van Rijn's ability to resolve conflicts and to make peace for trade by addressing diverse interests. Falkayn practises "the van Rijn method" on Ikrananka when he points out that a displaced warrior caste can be employed as guards for caravans on the new trade routes. If you have to disrupt a society, then make sure that everyone involved has a stake in the new set-up. And don't just judge everyone as either good or bad.
6 comments:
Paul:
I, likewise, have never read the entirety of the *Lensman* series. One thing I've read ABOUT the series, though, is that in the last book, *Children of the Lens*, Smith hinted toward the notion that Kinnison's children were "perfected" to the point that THEY would be the only suitable mates for each other, and for THEM and THEIR descendants only, incest would NO LONGER BE IMMORAL. They were true "post-humans," not *Homo sapiens*. Supposedly, only that it wouldn't be culturally acceptable to his editors and readers kept Smith from making this conclusion explicit.
I should've added that if that WAS what Smith had in mind, he was ignoring ALL arguments against incest other than the problem of inbreeding causing genetic defects. A bit of a moral blind spot, there.
Kaor, Paul!
I agree Dominic Flandry would have been able to enjoy the favors of the women you mentioned if that was what it took to complete his mission. But, he DID understand what corruption is, and the deleterious effects it has on persons and societies. And there were SOME things he simply would not do. And what he saw on some planets aroused so much disgust in him that he worked to undermine the ruling regime. Here I had the intolerably oppressive and corrupt regime misruling Unan Besar in mind, Biocontrol.
Sean
Sean and Paul:
With regard to enjoying women's favors, too, I particularly recall, from "The Game of Glory," how Flandry was uneasy at the notion of sleeping with Lady Varvara Ayres Bannerji.
"Exquisite" though she was, her husband had been murdered the night before, and yet she made it clear Flandry could have her that very moment if he wanted. She was THAT sick of the colonials' cold "courtoisie" and even more the unsophisticated obsequiousness of the technical class ... and found Flandry's unthinking *savoir faire* SO refreshing after some four Terran years on Nyanza.
So Flandry glanced at a portrait of the late Hurri Chundra Bannerji and apologized mentally in case he couldn't AVOID going to bed with the widow, "*but my job demands I be tactful. For the Empire and the Race!*"
Kaor, DAVID!
You offered a very good example of how decent Flandry truly was, one I agree with. Yes, Hurri Chundra Bannerji was an example of a fussy, rule bound, but well meaning Imperial civil servant, a class of people for whom Flandry had respect.
And, yes, I recall the delicate, tactful way Flandry Lady Varvara. And he certainly noticed the cold "courtoisie" of the Nyanzans. I remembered this bit from Section III of "The Game of Glory," as Flandry was speaking QUITE bluntly to Light Mistress Tessa Hoorn, one of the Nyanzan nobles: "...Therefore," he finished soberly, "I'm afraid I'm a little more sympathetic to Hurri Chundra Bannerji, who fussed about and established extrasystemic employment contacts for your more ambitious young men and built breakwaters and ordered vaccines and was never to your clubs, than I am sorry for you." Here, among other things, we are reminded how for most of its planets, Imperial rule was generally mild and benign.
Sean
Drat! Typos STRIKES again! I carelessly forgot to include "treated" after "tactful way" in my first sentence. And, I'm frustrated at omitting "invited" after "and was never..." in my quote from "The Game of Glory."
Sean
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