Each of these three men has to reassess his judgment about van Rijn:
when spaceship crews are endangered by pirates, van Rijn puts his own body on the line and turns the tables on the pirates;
Dalmady's factorship on Suleiman is terminated not because the Company is dissatisfied with his performance but because he has displayed initiative and will now be offered training as an entrepreneur;
Wace is offered not the sinecure that he expects but the promotion that he deserves.
These are three success stories. However, Anderson demonstrates that competition creates more failures and dissatisfactions than successes and satisfactions. The Polesotechnic League makes many enemies over the years. The problems come to a head in Mirkheim.
8 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I think it is logically impossible for everybody to succeed in everything they do. So, I am not surprised there were losers and failures as well as successful persons in the era of the Polesotechnic League. If my recollection is correct, many new businesses fail within five years of a firm being founded.
Poul Anderson was very much aware of the human costs to be seen in an exuberant era of exploration, expansion, discovery, etc., as the bit I quoted from the opening part of "Kyrie" below shows. The third paragraph says: "This is not the work of the sisters. They minister to the sick, the needy, the crippled, the insane, all whom space has broken and cast back. Luna is full of such, exiles because they can no longer endure Earth's pull or because it is feared they may be incubating a plague from some unknown planet or because men are so busy with their frontiers that they have no time to spare for the failures. The sisters wear space suits as often as habits, are as likely to hold a medikit as a rosary" (GOING FOR INFINITY, Tor 2002, pages 344-45).
I have wondered if the reason why Poul Anderson did not include "Kyrie" as one of the Technic stories was because there was no mention in any of the later stories, in terms of internal chronology, of anything like the flaming, fantastic plasma beings of Epsilon Aurigae. If Anderson had been able to place "Kyrie" in the Technic series I can easily see Nicholas van Rijn making large gifts to the Convent of St. Martha of Bethany on the Moon, to enable the nuns to better carry on their work.
No system is perfect. I would absolutely disagree with those who would prevent a new Age of Exploration from coming about. If men are going to seek and aspire, that has to come with acceptance of the fact some will fail. But of course I agree, as I'm sure Old Nick would as well, that some provision should be made for these failures.
Sean
Sean,
Part of the pleasure of reading a future history is assessing which other stories by the author might be compatible with the history.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I had been thinking mostly of wondering if "Kyrie" could have been placed in the Technic timeline, but I agree. Can you think of other stories that might have been compatible with the Technic Civilization series?
Sean
Sean,
Maybe not. Would have to think. PA probably cast the net as widely as possible for including stories in the TH.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
"Among Thieves" might have been one of them, if Poul Anderson had written the story somewhat differently. Perhaps it might have been set in the Allied Planets era?
Sean
What about "Memory"? That seemed as if it could almost fit in the "Long Night" period.
Also,"Inside Straight"? It felt rather "League Time"-like to me.
-kh
Keith,
See the post, "Is 'Memory' Part Of The Technic History?," Wednesday, 28 March, 2012.
Paul.
Kaor, Keith!
“Inside Straight” takes place partly on New Hermes, which, if I recall correctly, was settled from a planet settled from a planet settled from Old Hermes. Thus, it could be in the Technic history, many centuries after Falkayn’s time, or Anderson could have re-used the name Hermes. It doesn’t seem to have the feel of the Technic history (no non-human sophonts around, for example, although they are stated to exist), but different stories in the same fictional or real history can feel quite different.
Best Regards,
Nicholas
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