An Alternative History Of Dominic Flandry

Right at the end of the original version of Poul Anderson's earliest written Dominic Flandry story, "Tiger by the Tail," Flandry tells the queen of a conquered species:

"'I suppose the [Terran] Empire is decadent. But there's no reason why it can't some day have a renaissance. When the vigorous new peoples such as yours are guided by the ancient wisdom of Terra, the Galaxy may see its greatest glory.'"
-Agent Of The Terran Empire (London, 1977), p. 36.

Of course, anyone who says something like this might simply be mistaken. Thus, the author, if incorporating this story into a "future history," would be under no obligation to write a "renaissance" into later episodes of the history. Nevertheless, anyone reading "Tiger by the Tail" as a one-off story is inclined to accept that, other things being equal, some kind of renaissance leading to greater galactic glory does lie in the future of these characters.

When Anderson not only wrote an entire Flandry series but also did incorporate this series into a future history, he rationalized the history with a theory that did not allow for any later renaissance and Flandry's naively optimistic speech about vigor guided by wisdom was omitted from the text of the revised version of "Tiger by the Tail." Thus, potentially, we have here two alternative future histories of Dominic Flandry.

Anderson underlines the difference between the two futures with an addition to the revised text. When the queen remarks that the Empire is not so bad if it has men like Flandry in it, Flandry, in the revised version, thinks:

"No...it's worse off..."
-Captain Flandry (Riverdale, NY, 2010), p. 276.

This thought, which he diplomatically keeps to himself, does in fact reflect what the Technic Civilization History tells us about subsequent events in Flandry's life time and later.

Uneven But Combined Development

(Signing off till 22 July.)

Leon Trotsky wrote about uneven but combined development. When a technological advance has been made, e. g., in Europe, then it spreads to other continents whose inhabitants are thereby freed from repeating all the stages of development that were necessary for the Europeans. Thus, Europeans put rifles directly into the hands of Native Americans and industrialized a few cities in the otherwise still feudal Russian Empire.

In "Tiger by the Tail," Poul Anderson shows uneven but combined development between many entire rational species on an interstellar scale:

"The gap between, say, a preindustrial Iron Age and an assembly of modern machines was enormous."
- Captain Flandry (Riverdale, NY, 2010), p. 245.

There is the unevenness. However:

"It was not uncrossable." (ibid.)

There is the combination.

A preindustrial species can buy basic equipment with the wealth of its planet's natural resources. Enough natives can be educated to become a class of engineers and scientists whose industrial base can spread across their entire planet and planetary system with automatic machines doing most of the work while peasants are kept uneducated so that they can be socially controlled. Some such societies need permanent war for plunder and glory but, with the hyperdrive, it is easy to export it...

Queen Gunli

(Signing off till 22 July.)

In Poul Anderson's "Tiger by the Tail," Dominic Flandry subverts the Schotani Empire. Incredibly, the Schotani are humanoid, very white skinned and horned and fight with swords - although, as a spacefaring race, they also have acquired blasters. In other words, they resemble demons or elves. The story is action-adventure fiction and "space opera," originally published in the pulp magazine, Planet Stories. Thus although it is science fiction with spaceships and other planets, it has much in common with the sword and sorcery fantasy that Anderson also wrote.

When Anderson revised and improved the text of the story, he was confident enough to acknowledge this parallel. In both versions, Flandry admires the beauty of Queen Gunli but, in the revision, we are additionally told that she reminds him of the elves that he knows from Terrestrial mythology.

The Schotani are also barbarians. It was they from whom the Alarri, who had invaded the Terran Empire when Flandry was a boy, had fled. This mirrors the movement of barbarian hordes into the Roman Empire.

Flandry skillfully learns Schotanian body language, a circling nod of the head for assent and, for him, a touching of the forehead to register surprise because he lacks horns. As an effective secret agent, he invests a lot of effort in befriending his captors in order to turn them against each other. The young Schotani are trying to play games that the ancient Terrans have long since perfected.

Revisions

(Signing off till 22 July.)

Although I can tell by rereading it that the revised version of Poul Anderson's "Tiger by the Tail" is a richer narrative with, for example, a fuller account of the Schotani Empire, I do not propose to make a line by line comparison between the two versions. I soon abandoned this idea with "Margin of Profit." Nevertheless, I urge every sf fan to read the story, in both versions if they can get them.

Flandry becomes a slave but also a highly respected adviser in the Scothani Empire and uses his position to subvert that empire. Thus, he suggests that a tax collector should increase his income by farming out tax collecting. This, of course, leads to murder of tax gatherers, concealment of property and guerrilla resistance. Asked for further advice, he then suggests, among other measures, "...propaganda shifting the blame onto scapegoats..." (Captain Flandry, Riverdale, NY, 2010, p. 265).

Someone might read this with a knowing smile about how cleverly Flandry, who is in fact the title character of this short story, subverts the regime. In fact:

"He did not add that these methods work only when skillfully administered." (ibid.)

But how do "these methods...work"? Blame the Jews, the Blacks, the Irish, Catholics, immigrants... No thank you, Flandry, I would not like to be a Terran subject learning that such tactics had been instigated on my behalf.

Tiger By The Tail

(Signing off till 22 July.)

I am rereading the revised version of the first published Dominic Flandry short story, "Tiger by the Tail," as if for the first time. The opening sentences establishes that the viewpoint character is Captain (not yet Sir) Dominic Flandry and that, on regaining consciousness, he sees metal. The words "Captain" and "metal" might locate the story in a sea going ship on Earth.

The second sentence gives Flandry a clue to his whereabouts and the reference to a sound "...not to be mistaken for anything else in the universe..." suggests a science fictional setting. (Poul Anderson, Captain Flandry, Riverdale, NY, 2010, p. 241) The third sentence confirms that this is an sf story: he is in a spaceship on hyperdrive. This sf cliche informs us that Flandry lives in a future period of regular faster than light interstellar travel.

Next, he realizes that he is in a ship not built for human beings although the crew must be fairly humanoid. This informs us that he is accustomed not only to interstellar travel but also to alien contacts. His realization that he must have been drugged and his reflection on what he had been doing before that informs us that he has been doing some sort of detective or Intelligence work.

Reading the series now, of course, we already know most of these things but it is instructive to reflect on how quickly and effectively Anderson made his original readers aware of them.