Wednesday, 8 November 2017

Further Repercussions Of "Lodestar"

At different times, rereading Poul Anderson's "Lodestar" has initiated discussions of the author's treatment of differences between generations. See here and here.

In the opening section of "Lodestar," van Rijn's trade pioneer crew experiences the problems of the Polesotechnic League on Tametha, an exploited planet alluded to in:

Wealth Of Imagination And Economy Of Writing
Fine Tuning The Chronology
What Happened On Tametha?
Transitions In "Lodestar"
Polesotechnic Problems
Valya
The Van Rijn Show
Something Is Rotten In Technic Culture?

"Lodestar," like "The Star Plunderer" - about the Founder of the Terran Empire -, is a pivotal episode in the History of Technic Civilization. 

4 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I can see why "The Star Plunderer" was a pivotal story, why was also the case with "Lodestar"? What I saw was Falkayn becoming more sharply aware of problems within the League and Technic civilization, not of any dramatic, PIVOTAL event. Events in that story was spread out over ten years, after all.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
The recognition that things are changing in the League and the turning point conflict between van Rijn and Falkayn.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I agree! But, while, for a time, there was conflict between van Rijn and Falkayn, there was no permanent estrangement between the two. Nicholas van Rijn forgave Falkayn and the latter worked hard to make amends for his breach of fealty.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

The pivot is the degeneration of the League and the shadow of God across it as seen by the Ythrian captain.

Paul.