Monday, 11 November 2024

The Cosmos Future History

If Poul Anderson's Psychotechnic History were to be collected in two volumes, Volume I beginning with "Marius" and ending with "Brake," Volume II beginning with "Gypsy" and ending with "The Chapter Ends," would a reader think that they were a single future history or two independent ones?

In "Teucan":

Weber's full name is Weber Franz, i.e., surname first, personal name second;

he swears by Cosmos;

the text refers to the Coordination Service, to a Galaxy too big to be controlled and to an earlier Second Dark Age -

- but there is no reference to any events between the readers' present and that Second Dark Age.

The Cosmos future history could be autonomous.

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3 comments:

  1. Sean M. Brooks11 November 2024 at 17:02

    Kaor, Paul!

    One complication is that we have two versions of VIRGIN PLANET, a shorter and longer text. Should there be a third volume, collecting only these two texts? That would be convenient for readers interested in comparing how these versions differ from each other.

    Ad astra! Sean

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  2. paulshackley2017@gmail.com11 November 2024 at 17:06

    I agree that both versions should be preserved.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sean M. Brooks11 November 2024 at 17:15

    Kaor, Paul!

    They could comprise a single volume in a hypothetical COMPLETE COLLECTED WORKS, with some appropriate commentary.

    Ad astra! Sean

    ReplyDelete