Textuality

When I commended Poul Anderson and Ian Fleming for their treatment of age in their characters, Dominic Flandry and James Bond, respectively, I also wrote that one of those authors, Fleming, played some clever tricks with his character's age. Fleming was able to do this because of a feature of fictional texts that we can discuss in connection with:

Arthur Conan Doyle

Rider Haggard

Dornford Yates (and here)

Ian Fleming

Poul Anderson

Sometimes a fictional text exists both in our real world and in its own fictional world, the most obvious example being Dr. Watson's memoirs. If we read the Holmes series in order, then, while we are reading The Sign Of Four, we not only remember having read A Study In Scarlet but also understand that Watson's public has also read that earlier volume. It is word for word the same text whether, to us, written by Conan Doyle or, to them, by Watson. Since the publication of the text has become an event in the alternate world, that event can itself influence events that are yet to be recounted in subsequent texts. In "The Adventure of the Empty House," Holmes states that something written by Watson in "The Final Problem" was not literally true and this helps to explain how Holmes survived at Reichenbach.

Allan Quatermain reads Rider Haggard's She, then posts to Haggard his own account of his earlier encounter with She, She And Allan. Clever, certainly.

Dornford Yates' first person narrator, Richard Chandos, meets Jenny, whom he later marries, in She Fell Among Thieves. In Ne'er-Do-Well, Chandos refers not only to earlier events but also to She Fell Among Thieves as a published text.

In Casino Royale, Bond is said to have been active in the Secret Service before the War whereas, in You Only Live Twice, he is said to have joined the Royal Navy and thus also the Secret Service during the War and then only by lying about his age. However, this information as given in You Only Live Twice is imparted in an obituary written by M. Thus, this "Obit." is a text within the text. Further, it refers to other such texts. A former friend and colleague of Commander Bond had written some popular but inaccurate accounts of his exploits. Thus, all ten previous volumes are reduced to the level of fictions within the fiction. When, in the last volume, The Man With With The Golden Gun, Bond, returned like Holmes from apparent death, telephones Secret Service headquarters, he is initially dismissed as another nut who thinks that he is James Bond - a statement that could have been made either in our world or in his.

In Poul Anderson's Technic History, all twelve instalments collected in The Earth Book Of Stormgate have been written and in some cases previously published in Technic civilization. Most have been gathered together by the editor, Hloch, although three have been specially written for the Earth Book. Subsequently, John Henry Reeves' account of the Imperial Founder, Manuel Argos, may be historical fiction but is nevertheless published as presenting an authentic picture of an important age.

The Lost Planet

A Circus Of Hells.

Rax asks Djana:

"'Where is the lost planet? What is its nature?'"

-CHAPTER THREE, p. 216.

An evocative phrase like "the lost planet" might have different connotations for different readers. In fact, googling brings up multiple references. In the 1950s, I saw some episodes of a TV series and read perhaps the first two juvenile novels connected with this series. See here. I am finding the Wikipedia accounts slightly inconsistent. I like the idea of Space Agent From The Lost Planet as the last of six Lost Planet books and the first of three Space Agent books. Similar crossover titles are Tarzan At The Earth's Core and She And Allan.

This has taken us a long way from Poul Anderson's characters, Rax and Djana, but that is the nature of literary connotations. Possibly Anderson intended the phrase, "lost planet," to have just a literal meaning with no other implications but that is not necessarily how it works in the minds of his readers.

Needless to say, Anderson's "lost planet," Wayland, is entirely his own creation and in no way derivative from anyone else's ideas.

Moriarty And Merau Varagan

Rider Haggard's She Trilogy and Allan Quatermain series intersect in She And Allan. ERB's Tarzan series and Earth's Core series intersect in Tarzan At The Earth's Core. Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series and Poul Anderson's Time Patrol series intersect both in the Addleton tragedy and in the Altamont case.

Holmes and the Time Patrol share a structural parallel. Moriarty is introduced and killed in a single short story but Holmes prepares to battle Moriarty in a prequel and must apprehend Moriarty's chief of staff, Colonel Moran, in a sequel. Thus, there is a Moriarty organization trilogy. Later, Holmes regrets the passing of Moriarty.

Merau Varagan is introduced and captured in a single story but appears, without meeting Everard, in a prequel and Everard must track down the last Exaltationists in a sequel. Far from regretting the defeat of the Exaltationists, Everard next faces something larger that they were related to.

For a decade and and a half, the Time Patrol series was only four short stories. "Gibraltar Falls" was added in 1975, then Time Patrolman, beginning with "Ivory, and Apes, and Peacocks," which introduces Merau Varagan, was published in 1981. The series matured and developed.

Prequels

Should prequels written later be read later? Those who read works as they are published have no choice in the matter. Some prequels begin by addressing readers on the assumption that they have already read the previously published work. Sometimes we appreciate reading about characters in their prime before learning about their earlier days on a "So that's how it all started!" basis. Bart Simpson reading Radioactive Man, no. 1, p. 1, exclaims, "So that's how it happened!" If we read a series that has been collected to be read in chronological order of fictional events, then the publisher has made the choice for us unless we carefully check publication dates and reorganize our reading order accordingly but who does that?

Poul Anderson's Captain Flandry series and its prequel, the Young Flandry Trilogy;

Anderson's trader team stories and their prequel, "How To Be Ethnic In One Easy Lesson";

Anderson's The Peregrine and its prequel, "The Pirate";

Heinlein's "Requiem" and its prequel, "The Man Who Sold The Moon";

Asimov did it with Foundation;

Blish's Earthman, Come Home and its prequel, They Shall Have Stars;

CS Lewis's Narnia books and their prequel, The Magician's Nephew;

Rider Haggard's She and its crossover prequel, She And Allan;

in the Holmes canon, the order in which Watson presents the narratives exactly corresponds to the order of publication but that order includes some later-presented prequels;

in Susan Howatch's Starbridge series, Volume VI chronologically precedes Volume V to powerful dramatic effect.

Kinds Of Crossovers

(i) The Tarzan and Earth's Core series intersect in Tarzan At The Earth's Core and the She and Allan Quartermain series intersect in She And Allan.

(ii) Characters from Poul Anderson's Carolingian, goetic and Shakespearean timelines meet in the Old Phoenix.

(iii) Death from The Seventh Seal emerges from a cinema screen in Last Action Hero.

(iv) British and Irish mythologies intersect because Arthur invades Ireland and Fionn fights Arthur.

(v) Irish Pagan and Christian legends intersect because Oisin, married to a daughter of Manannan (scroll down) mac Lir, returns to Ireland after three centuries in the Land of the Young and meets St Patrick.

(Manannan, Lir and Patrick feature in works by Poul Anderson.) 

Texts In Contexts

A single text can bear different meanings not only to different readers but also to a single reader when read in a different context. Despite dissimilar contents, texts in differing contexts include the following:

in the Hebrew Bible, the Prophets immediately follow the Law and apply it to history, whereas, in the Christian Bible, they immediately precede the New Testament and prophesy the Messiah;

The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion can be read either as a factual account of a secret meeting or as an insight into the mental processes of a conspiracy theorist;

I first read Poul Anderson's "The Game of Glory" without as yet any knowledge either that this story was part of a Dominic Flandry series or that that series was part of a future history series.

As I have said before, a prequel might not only be written later but also be meant to be read later. Readers like to be told what happened before. Thus:

having read about visits to Narnia, now we read about how such visits began;

having read an account of She, ending in her death, now we read Allan Quatermain's account of his earlier meeting with her;

having read Watson's accounts of Holmes' cases while they were together, now we read about Holmes' initiatory case before he met Watson;

having read about Nicholas van Rijn's trade pioneer crew, now we read about one team member's student days.

One text in three contexts:

"Adzel talks a lot about blessing in disguise, but this disguise was impenetrable."
-Poul Anderson, "How To Be Ethnic" IN Roger Elwood (Ed.), Future Quest (Avon Books, 1974).

"Adzel talks a lot about blessings in disguise, but this disguise was impenetrable."
-Poul Anderson, "How To Be Ethnic In One Easy Lesson" IN Anderson, The Earth Book Of Stormgate (New York, 1979), pp. 49-67 AT p. 51.

"Adzel talks a lot about blessings in disguise, but this disguise was impenetrable."
-Poul Anderson, "How To Be Ethnic In One Easy Lesson" IN Anderson, The Van Rijn Method (Riverdale, NY, 2009), pp. 175-197 AT p. 177.

If we just read Future Quest, then "How To Be Ethnic" is just a one-off story.

If we are reading Anderson's Technic History in its original order of publication, then we have read about the trade pioneer crew, including Adzel, in "The Trouble Twisters," Satan's World and Mirkheim before reading "Adzel talks...," the opening words of "How To Be Ethnic...," whereas, if instead we are reading the Technic History in chronological order of fictitious events as presented in Baen Books' seven-volume The Technic Civilization Saga, of which The Van Rijn Method is Volume I, then Adzel means nothing to us as yet when we read his name at the beginning of "How To Be Ethnic..." We will read about the trade pioneer crew later, in Volumes II and III, although only in the first of the six works collected in Vol III. History is bigger than organizations or civilizations.

So which is the better way to read it? Search me.

Alternative Reading Orders

Sometimes a prequel is not only written later but also meant to be read later. Rider Haggard's She Trilogy comprises:

the novel, She, ending with She's death;

Allan Quatermain's account of his earlier encounter with She, mailed to Haggard after Quatermain had read She;

the sequel, about She's resurrection.

CS Lewis' The Magician's Nephew begins by stating that it will explain how the previously described visits to Narnia began.

As a collection, Poul Anderson's The Earth Book Of Stormgate was meant to fill in some of the gaps in previously published accounts of the history of the Polesotechnic League on a "now it can be told" basis. When the entire Technic History was for the first time published in chronological order of fictitious events, stories set earlier were now to be read earlier together with their later-written introductions assuming knowledge of later events, producing a different effect.

Novels written in successive decades of the twentieth century refer to "the war," whether WWI or WWII, on the safe assumption that readers understand this reference. Future historians can generate a sense of historical authenticity by referring in a similar way to an event with which the reader is not yet familiar and might or might not become familiar:

Heinlein's strike of '66;
Julian May's Metapsychic Rebellion;
the Terran War mentioned in Hloch's Introduction to The Earth Book.

Hloch's Introduction is reproduced near the beginning of Volume I of The Technic Civilization Saga whereas the Terran War is described at the end of Volume III.

Literary Crossovers

Rider Haggard's She And Allan is equally a volume both of its author's She Trilogy and of his Allan Quatermain series just as Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan At The Earth's Core is equally a volume both of its author's Tarzan series and of his Earth's Core series. Are there any other examples of precisely this kind of literary crossover?

Poul Anderson did not interconnect any two of his series in this way. There is no Van Rijn And The Time Patrol. Van Rijn does cameo in the Old Phoenix story, "House Rule," but his role in that story is too small to make it count as equally an installment of the Technic History or to cause the story to be included in a van Rijn collection. Anderson's time travel novel, There Will Be Time, incorporates the period covered by his Maurai future history and they even have a character in common but this is not two independent series intersecting.

Of course, Anderson's works are not merely self-referential. They also include an untold tale of Dr. John Watson and other Literary References.

Prequels And Sequels

Greg Bear, Eon (London, 2002).

Now I see how there is scope for a prequel to Eon: not earlier events in the cosmic corridor but the history of Earth from 1985 until the launch of the Thistledown. Is this when Legacy is set? I will find out but not immediately. I deduce that we cannot know any of the subsequent history of that Earth because, after their departure, the occupants of the Thistledown interact with other rational species, then with the earlier Earth of a different timeline.

How many of the advances in mental technology are made after the departure? Maybe the answer to this question is there in the text. Synopsizing and commenting while blogging makes me realize how many details of plot and background are quickly forgotten after a single cursory reading of a novel. I would like to see one novel about the mental tech and another about exploring superspace.

Original novel, prequel and sequel is a good structure for a trilogy. Rider Haggard did this well with She. That novel ended with its title character's death but Allan Quartermain read it and sent Haggard his account of his earlier meeting with She: She And Allan. Then there was the Return (from death). Thus, there was a reason why the prequel was published second.

Alternative Literatures

Literary references become strange when a text is set in an alternative reality. Here is one that remains unchanged. In Poul Anderson's Operation Luna (New York, 2000), Ginny Matuchek's new familiar is a raven called Edgar. At one point, he says, "Nevermore," and she addresses him as "...you Edgar Allan Crow!" (p. 105)

Edgar Allan Poe's dates are 1809-1849, safely before the Operation... timeline overtly diverged from ours in 1901. Therefore, their life and works of Poe are indistinguishable from ours.

However, Ginny wears, as a talisman, a cloak in which Fritz Leiber had played Prospero. (Ginny's daughter will encounter a timeline where Prospero was real.) Leiber's dates are 1910-1992. What he wrote in the Goetic Age has to differ from what he wrote in our twentieth century.

It seems that, in that timeline, Robert Heinlein (1907-1988) continued to write under his early pen name of Lyle Monroe - unless there was another writer of that name?

What would Poul Anderson (1926-2001) have written in the Goetic Age? First, he might not exist in that timeline. Changing history changes the lives of individuals, therefore changes whether or when they have children. In Anderson's "Delenda Est," there is a timeline in which Carthage won the Second Punic War. Therefore, all of history is different from that point onwards. Therefore, soon after that and certainly by the twentieth century, the world population is entirely composed of different individuals.

There would be timelines in which:

exactly the same Poul Anderson exists because those timelines diverge after his death;

the same Anderson exists but his life and experience differ from a certain point onward;

a different version of Anderson exists, e. g., genetically identical but with life and experience differing from birth;

no Poul Anderson exists because his parents did not exist or did not meet or came together in other circumstances and had different children etc.

The Goetic Age Anderson could have written:

the same historical fiction as in our timeline;

futuristic fiction about goetically powered interstellar travel, time travel and artificial intelligence;

speculative fiction about the timeline in which Einstein and Plank independently originated relativity and quantum mechanics instead of cooperating on rheatics.