SF And Detective Fiction

In Poul Anderson's "The Serpent in Eden," it has to be deduced that primitive bipeds on the planet Cleopatra are mere animals without intelligence. The planet is an Eden but a human explorer realizes that:

"'We are the serpent.'" (A World Named Cleopatra, New York, 1977, p. 57)

In Anderson's "The High Ones," it has to be deduced that bipeds with technology including spaceships and a computer are no longer intelligent.

In Anderson's "Wings of Victory," it has to be deduced that winged beings on the planet Ythri are intelligent, in other words that their bodies can generate enough energy to sustain both flight and intelligence.

In these and many other examples, sf resembles detective fiction. Explorers find puzzling, apparently inconsistent, clues and evidence on a newly discovered planet, then deduce the course that biological and social evolution have taken in this different environment.

Cleopatra II

In A World Named Cleopatra (New York, 1977), more background features turn out to be familiar from other Anderson works:

there is a Cleopatran equivalent of grass, a green, moss-like growth that spreads across the surface, "...making a springy carpet underfoot...;" (p. 41)

there is mass poverty and unemployment back on Earth (although one rare colonizable Earth-like planet 398 light-years away cannot make much difference as one of the characters seems to think).

There are three characters: the female viewpoint character and two men, a Brazilian aristocrat and a North American radical. I agree with the latter in his opposition to aristocracy though not in his belief in human superiority. There are no non-human characters and the belief in racial superiority does not become problematic because the tool-using bipedal "fabers" turn out to be solitary, non-linguistic and unintelligent. This explains their otherwise mysterious lack of curiosity, unresponsiveness to communication attempts and acceptance of food but utter disregard of offered human artifacts. Neat.

As ever in Anderson's stories of planetary exploration, the characters have conflicts between themselves but, as a group, encounter and solve a problem of some sort. In another first contact story, "Wings of Victory," the problem is the exact opposite, not why do these apparently intelligent beings act as if they were unintelligent but how can they possibly be intelligent when their bodies are light enough for them to fly?

Despite the political disagreement between the two men, the aristocrat acts honorably, even ironically saying when the other man is sick, "'...we can't leave our comrade.'" (p. 52)

The blurb describes Cleopatra as a "...unique 'anthological novel.'" (back cover) This is indeed a novel classification! Finishing the introductory Anderson story and turning the page, we find a one page historical note of unspecified authorship, which informs us, first, that imported Terrestrial flora and fauna drive back native life and, secondly, that two powerful ruling nations gradually emerge among the colonists, northern Dardania and eastern Pindaria.

Dardanians modify fabers as workers, servants, dancers and musicians and for military purposes. The second chapter in the "anthological novel" is "Faber-Master" by Michael Orgill. Since this story is not by Anderson, is not a direct sequel to the Anderson story and is by an author with whom I am as yet unfamiliar, I prefer for present purposes to proceed to rereading an Anderson novel in order to continue blogging about Poul Anderson.

Cleopatra

We recognise Anderson's skills already displayed in works like the Technic History:

imagining an entire planet in metrical detail;
accounting for parallel evolution;
rationalising Earth-like features by commenting that they must be rare.

Certain details sound familiar:

Earthmen can eat some local foods but not others and need dietary supplements;
weather is hard to predict in a different environment;
global politics have changed back on Earth so that English is not the main language of the expedition.

I am still reading Anderson's introductory story for the first time.

A World Named Cleopatra

There is a large second hand bookshop in Carnforth, near Lancaster. In its science fiction room, I found a paperback copy of a Poul Anderson work that I had not heard of before. A World Named Cleopatra contains a fourteen page Introduction and one short story by Anderson, three short stories by other authors and fictitious historical notes between the stories.

The Introduction describes the fictional planet, Cleopatra, created by Anderson, and the stories are set on Cleopatra which is both inhabited and colonised from Earth. Anderson fans know that he is capable of imagining and describing extrasolar planets in detail because he does this in several other works and many times in his long future history series, the History of Technic Civilization.

On this occasion, I will be reading anew, not rereading, before blogging. The headings in the Introduction are:

THE SUN
THE PLANET
SATELLITES
GENERAL BIOLOGY
PLANTS
ANIMALS

The Anderson story, "The Serpent In Eden," describes First Contact between colonists and natives, with the colonists cast in the role of the Serpent. The historical note between the third and fourth stories refers to Cleopatra in 3298 AD but is attributed to a Colonial Survey dated 3300 AD. Thus, the book is in miniature yet another future history series.