Poul Anderson's works are very comprehensive. His fantasies incorporate gods and many other supernatural beings. Do they also touch on the concept of reincarnation as ERB does in his Moon Trilogy? We might think not. However, in Poul and Karen Anderson's The King Of Ys, Queen Dahilis of Ys becomes a seal. This is so understated that a reader might miss it. We do not read Dahilis' point of view as a seal. Nor are we told the postmortem destinations of any other characters although there is a summary of the Mithraist belief: a Dantean ascent through the Solar System. See Literary Wealth. (Read to the end.)
Many people now believe in reincarnation of souls or in rebirth of karmic consequences which is the Buddhist refinement of reincarnation. Arthur C. Clarke once argued against reincarnation on the ground that an animal brain is not complex enough to bear a human personality but he misunderstood reincarnation. A soul passing from a man to a dog is not supposed to carry the man's memories etc with it! But I argue against rebirth for another reason. Scientists can account for every gene, atom, molecule, cell, nerve and neuron in a growing fetus. Genes and environment explain personality. There is no moment during pregnancy when there is an extra input from inherited karma. Our visiting monk identified the "quickening" as such a moment. My synthesis is to learn meditation practice from monks but child development from modern biology and psychology.
OK. We will return to Anderson's Rustum History shortly.
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