The spirit moves me to comment on the antithesis between the previous two posts, dealing as they do with
ancient mythologies and with
speculative technologies, respectively. Poul Anderson's works encompass the far past and the far future as well as the interconnecting historical process. History is made real not only in historical novels like
Rogue Sword but also in two history-spanning sf works, the Time Patrol series and
The Boat Of A Million Years,
and in a future history, the History of Technic Civilization, that began as futuristic adventure fiction but became a reflection on past and future historical cycles. Thus, history synthesizes mythology and technology and Anderson's complete works present a sense of - completion. We might reread
Rogue Sword next.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
While I agree with what you wrote here, I want to put in a good word for simple adventure stories. That is, we should also be able to simply ENJOY Anderson's historical novels and the different stories of the Technic Civilization and Time Patrol series as tales of adventure and derring do. We don't have to always be pondering the philosophical significance of what Anderson had written. And he himself said over and over that he wanted readers to have fun with his stories.
And * I * certainly have done my share of that kind of ponderous pondering of the philosophic and historical significance of Anderson's stories!
I'll be interested in what you might say about ROGUE SWORD. And I even found, and wrote about, an unexpected connection linking a fierce grim book such as ROGUE SWORD with the far lighter-hearted THE HIGH CRUSADE.
Sean
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