Friday 16 October 2020

Some Emergent Themes Of The Poul Anderson Appreciation Blog

 (Or what I have learned by writing the blog.)

Competent, problem-solving heroes.

Their sudden moments of realization, with the solution not revealed until we see it implented.

Freedom and diversity as the optimal human condition.

Frequent appeals to at least three of the senses.

The wind as a near-omnipresent Greek chorus.

Descriptions of the Milky Way in the night sky or as seen from space, in the latter case sister galaxies also mentioned.

Themes like AI, interstellar travel, time travel etc considered from every angle.

Vast output combined with sustained quality.

Various relevant literary traditions.

Remember Wells!

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I can think of several more themes frequently to be found in the works of Poul Anderson. Oneof them being how important it is that the state, in no matter what form it takes, be legitimate.

Another is Anderson's respectful treatment of honest believers in God and of Christianity, Judaism, and Buddhism.

A third is the importance PA places on reason, logical thinking, science, etc. I remember that being esp. stressed in "A Chapter of Revelation."

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

I also missed the Biblical references.

Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I should have included that in my list! For a man who called himself an agnostic, Anderson used the Bible an astonishing number of times. More than any other SF writer I know of.

Ad astra! Sean