"Lodestar" begins as natives of the planet, Tametha, attack Polesotechnic League merchants, including the familiar trader team;
in "A Tragedy of Errors," Roan Tom's spaceship is almost immediately attacked when it arrives on the planet, Nike;
"The Sharing of Flesh" begins with the murder of an extra-planetary visitor by a dweller on the planet, Lokon.
Does Poul Anderson write about violence for the sake of violence? No, although we might get that impression if we read no further. In each case, the violence is an expression of a problem and the ensuing story is about finding the solution to that problem.
Fiction is easier to cope with than life. We are not attacked or killed while reading these stories...
Note that until historically quite recently -- the 19th century -- merchants venturing abroad routinely went armed. Most merchant ships carried cannon until then, to guard against pirates and privateers, for example.
ReplyDeleteThat was why European countries founded companies like the Dutch and British East India companies -- you couldn't trade in far-distant areas without substantial armed protection.