Multi-authored narratives become complicated in ways that no single author, not even Poul Anderson, can match. Characters from different series meet? Sure. Poul Anderson does this in the Old Phoenix but not on the scale of a comic book universe. An Unexpected Crossover, occasioned by Anderson's incorporation of Beowulf into Hrolf Kraki's Saga, quotes Alan Moore's explanation of comic book crossovers. Anderson's The Last Viking Trilogy refers to Shakespeare characters who turn out to have historical originals. See Macbeth. So Anderson does it. However, whenever you reread van Rijn in the Old Phoenix, remember Alan Moore suggesting a Holmes-Poirot team-up investigating Frankenstein kidnapping one of the Little Women. The republic of letters is one and some authors know how to show it.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I also thought of the related examples of Anderson's contributions to Pournelle's Co-Dominium series and Niven's Known Space stories.
Ad astra! Sean
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