Thursday, 4 May 2023

Organicism And Symmetry

The Polesotechnic League is introduced by Le Matelot and in the contemporaneous stories, "Margin of Profit" and "How To Be Ethnic In One Easy Lesson," is powerful throughout the Nicholas van Rijn and David Falkayn series, begins its terminal decline in Mirkheim and is finally gone in "The Star Plunderer."

The Terran Empire is proclaimed in "The Star Plunderer," grows in "Sargasso of Lost Starships" and The People of the Wind, is in terminal decline throughout the Dominic Flandry series and is finally gone in "A Tragedy of Errors." 

In addition to all of that, three stories are set before the period of "Margin of Profit" and "How To Be Ethnic..." and another three are set later than "A Tragedy of Errors." Both the opening story, "The Saturn Game," and the concluding story, "Starfog," recount new beginnings.

This organically grown future history series is structurally symmetrical. 

Meanwhile, in Britain, where we do not yet have a Mayor Palatine but maybe one of his ancestors, we are voting in local council elections. In our ward, the choice, in alphabetical order, is between Conservative, Green, Labour and Liberal Democrat. Maybe we contribute in some small way to the future by voting?

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

In my revision of Sandra Miesel's Chronology of Technic Civilization I dated MIRKHEIM to AD 2501. I agree the final decline of the Polesotechnic League began at that time, and that it was gone by 2601 at the latest.

I think you overstate how far gone in decline the Terran Empire was in Dominic Flandry's lifetime. If it had been THAT terminally decadent the Empire would not have been able to keep the barbarians and Merseia at bay. We even see Flandry hoping, at the end of THE GAME OF EMPIRE, that Terra would survive another two centuries.

Amusing, that you took up my suggestion about one of the ancestors of the Mayor Palatine! If I had been British, I would vote for the Conservatives.

Ad astra! Sean