Sandra Miesel's utopian litany summarized in the previous post ends with:
"But there were shadows..."
-Sandra Miesel, FORWARD IN Poul Anderson, The Complete Psychotechnic League (Riverdale, NY, 2018), pp. 3-5 AT p. 5.
Stylistically, does that remind you of anything?
In his Technic History, Poul Anderson summarizes the achievements of the Polesotechnic League, then adds:
"Nevertheless, it had its troubles."
-Poul Anderson, "Margin of Profit" IN Anderson, The Van Rijn Method (Riverdale, NY, 2009), pp. 135-173 AT p. 146.
Later, he summarizes the deliberations of the Council of Hiawatha, then adds:
"But when a century had passed -"
-Poul Anderson, Mirkheim IN Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2011), pp. 1-291 AT IX, p. 143.
History has its buts.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And history will ALWAYS have its shadows and buts. I am fed up with dreamy Utopian fantasies of an impossible perfect society. Or should that be FINAL SOCIETY, to take a term from Stirling's Draka timeline? Or such fantasies might have us ending up like the "high ones" from one of Anderson's stories!
Ad astra! Sean
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