Apprentice Juan Hernandez:
"...was quick-witted, Overbeck realized; he had to be, to graduate from the Academy that soon. And he was hard-working, afire with eagerness. The merchants of the League operated over so vast and diverse a territory that promising recruits were always in short supply." (p. 133)
(This story was first published in Boys' Life but confidently refers just to "the League," without spelling out that it is the Polesotechnic League.)
Poul Anderson's heroes are competent problem-solvers. His juvenile heroes:
David Falkayn
James Ching
Dominic Flandry
Juan Hernandez
- are alert and quick-witted and promoted quickly but do not represent all of humanity. Reference is also made to embittered failures. I would be in neither of these categories, neither aspiring to go ad astra nor permanently embittered if I did not succeed. The Solar Commonwealth would offer many opportunities of employment in education or public services. I would enjoy reading about the extra-Solar exploits of guys like Ching and Hernandez.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And I would expect the Commonwealth and later the Empire to have plenty of ordinary jobs in the private sector for people who were neither aspiring, ambitious problem solvers or failures.
Ad astra! Sean
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