"The screen showed such a multitude of stars, hard and winter-brilliant, that only an astronaut could recognize individuals."
-Poul Anderson, "Hiding Place" IN Anderson, Trader To The Stars (New York, 1966), pp. 7-52 AT p. 7.
So we are lost in space? No. Fortunately, our current viewpoint character is an astronaut. The narrative continues:
"Torrance sought past the Milky Way until he found Polaris. Then Valhalla would lie so-and-so many degrees away, in that direction. Not that he could see a G-type sun at this distance..." (ibid.)
Of course, degrees are not light-years. We have no idea where Valhalla is in space, how far or in which direction from Polaris or from anywhere else.
All that we are told is that:
Valhalla is the location of the nearest League base to where Torrance is now;
that base is on the Valhallan planet, Freya;
all of this is in an "...almost uncharted section of our galactic arm." (ibid.)
With that single word, "...our...," the omniscient narrator identifies himself as a member of whichever community reads his narrative. But he is not Hloch, Noah Arkwright or any other named narrator of various parts of the Technic History. This is a very complicated collective narrative.
4 comments:
Complicated, but it doesn't get in the way of the narrative -- the substructure is just there.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Absolutely! And it took Anderson good deal of brain sweat to keep the whole thing from becoming a hopelessly tangled up mess. Here I had in mind that famous overflowing loose leaf binder of notes and lists about the Technic series. I hope that binder and its contents still exists!
Ad astra! Sean
Yes, there should be a spot in some library where Poul's stuff is kept.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I do know Anderson's widow donated or bequeathed many boxes of papers and other materials to a CA library. But I was appalled to find out from one his letters to me that PA was not in the habit of keeping many letters or mss. Which made me all the gladder I was careful to make copies of all 24 of my letters to him, so I could keep them with his replies.
I think Paul also made copies of his own letters to Anderson, to keep with the replies he got.
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment