Cairncross

I would not have believed it possible but Poul Anderson's character, Edwin Cairncross, led to a lengthy digression through several posts to Anderson's fictional planet, Nyanza. But what of Cairncross himself?

I will shortly reread some passages featuring Cairncross solo, then Cairncross in dialogue first with Dominic Flandry, then with Emperor Gerhart. I expect, therefore, to have more to post about Edwin Cairncross. Meanwhile, however, a certain amount has already been posted. See here. (Scroll down.)

Cairncross' ambitions are cosmic in scope and could have been pursued without contemplating illegality. He had ordered the building of an ornamental battlement:

"...because he wanted to feel his kinship to Shi Huang Ti, Charlemagne, Suleiman the Magnificent, Pyotr the Great, every man who had ever been dominant on Terra."
-Poul Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (New York, 2012), p. 26.

Bad news. Less thought of self-glorification would have made Cairncross a far greater ruler. The model of a selfless ruler in Poul and Karen Anderson's works is Gratillonius, the last King of Ys.

(Coincidence: while posting about the oceanic planet, Nyanza, I have meanwhile read about a submerged city inhabited by amphibians in China Mieville's The Scar.)

Edwin Cairncross's Ambitions

Imagine wielding so much power that you and you alone were able to initiate great and good works and projects on an interstellar scale! Edwin Cairncross has achieved much as Grand Duke of Hermes and aims to do more as Emperor of Terra. (He just needs to overthrow the incumbent first.)

One of his most cherished achievements is his estate at Lythe in the center of the single Hermetian continent of Greatland: an eyrie with ornamental battlements on an extinct volcano above a formerly arid steppe now transformed by canals, imported plants, birds and game animals and a town made prosperous by commerce. From Lythe, Cairncross governs the globe and beyond, receiving electronic reports from a dozen elite secret agents, bypassing their nominal superiors.

He enlarged the industrial operation in the Ramnuan system and held successive political posts before forcing his half-brother's abdication and his own election. Then, as Duke, he implemented popular public works. Now, half the Hermetian adolescents are Cairncross Pioneers for sports, outdoormanship and patriotism focused on him.

As Emperor, he will:

organize research to extend instantaneous communication beyond its current limit of one light year, thus "...rous[ing] enterprise again in the human race" -Poul Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (New York, 2012), p. 132;
reverse the glaciation on Ramnu, thus gaining the reverence of an entire race "...for as long as their sun endures" (p. 134);
do much more than this, thus possibly being "...remembered through the lifetime of the universe." (p. 134)

Hey, steady on there, old chap! Can any one person possibly be remembered through the lifetime of the universe? He only stops short of imagining that he will be "renowned throughout the cosmos." I read this last phrase decades ago in a comic book loc (letter of comment). The loccer commented that Kal-El is renowned throughout the cosmos whereas the Green Lantern is known only in his own space sector.

I think that only the combination of antithanatics and instantaneous space jumps in Anderson's World Without Stars would give anyone the slightest possibility of being renowned throughout the cosmos. And, even then, he would be famous in some places but not in others as a man working for Babur tells the celebrity David Falkayn in Mirkheim.

What Cairncross Thought

When Emperor Gerhart converses with Edwin Cairncross, information about the state of the Empire is principally conveyed not by what Gerhart says but by what Cairncross thinks:

their period is an age of plots, murders, revolutions, betrayals and upheavals;

Gerhart is widely believed to have killed his brother and predecessor, Dietrich;

however, Gerhart is tolerated because the Empire needs a strong hand against civil war, Merseians and barbarians;

the Molitors' only claim to the Throne is their strength;

they are not descended from the Founder.

The reader either already understands or will soon realize that Cairncross thinks that that strong hand should be his, not Gerhart's.

At least four men plot or attempt to seize the Throne by force during Flandry's lifetime:

McCormac

Molitor

Cairncross

Magnusson

Flandry defeats McCormac and Cairncross. Molitor succeeds. Another Intelligence agent, Targovi, leading a neat little combo including Flandry's daughter, defeats Magnusson. During Gerhart's reign, Flandry is able to influence Crown Prince Karl. And we want to read more.

Cairncross And The Milky Way

(The image shows part of another story by Poul Anderson.)

Edwin Cairncross, Grand Duke of Hermes:

"...turned his glance from the Milky Way. Its iciness declared that the Empire was an incident upon certain attendants of a hundred thousand stars, lost in the outskirts of a galaxy which held more than a hundred billion. A man must ignore mockery."
-Poul Anderson, A Stone In Heaven IN Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (Riverdale, NY, 2012), pp. 1-188 AT II, p. 26.

Cairncross' response to immensity is to ignore it.

Emperor Gerhart receives Cairncross in the same tower as Hans had received Flandry:

clear dome with view of roofs and ocean;
Germanian dolchzahn rug;
a model of Hans' first corvette.

We wondered whether the La Reine Louise disaster resulted from sabotage. See here. Cairncross inwardly asks the same question about the spaceship crash that killed Gerhart's elder brother. Gerhart's father was a usurper. Is Gerhart a fratricide? How low can the Empire sink?

Political Changes In The Maian System

A Stone In Heaven, II.

We knew what the situation was at the end of Mirkheim but a lot of time has passed. What has changed? 

Hermes is no longer as rich as powerful as it was and no longer has constitutional government.

Its current dynasty of Grand Dukes is a line of military dictators.

The present Grand Duke, Edwin Cairncross, deposed his own brother.

He is not of Tamarin descent but does bear some Argolid genes unlike the present Emperor, a son of the usurper, Hans Molitor.

Hans took the Protectorate of Mirkheim from Hermes in order to secure financial support on Terra.

Cairncross has directed the settlement of the interior of the single continent, Greatland, on Hermes but is strangely unsympathetic to the xenological foundation on nearby Ramnu where the Hermetian company, General Enterprises, conducts some expanding although unspecified industrial operations.

The attentive reader deduces that Cairncross is up to no good on Ramnu and that Miriam Abrams' old family friend, Dominic Flandry, will fly to her rescue.

Across three chapters, the narrative point of view segues from Yewwl to Abrams to Cairncross to Flandry.

In Archopolis

Dominic Flandry has come a long way since we knew him as a nineteen year old Ensign on Starkad. At sixty one, he is a Vice Admiral and Knight of the Order of Manuel with a personal staff and three dwellings in different parts of Earth. These include a home base and office in Archopolis, where there is a gym with a swimming pool and a roof garden with a fountain and a bright-plumed Cynthian yaoti singing from an orange tree. It is fourteen years since Dennitza.

Flandry's guest, the Grand Duke of Hermes, stares curiously after the servant Chives, probably never having seen a green, tailed Shalmuan before. Again, I wonder what it would be like to live in a society where a person performing an ordinary job might be human or might not.

The Duke knows of Flandry's achievement on Chereion. As a rule, each installment of Flandry's biography refers to the previous one. Aline refers to "'Dominic Flandry, the single-handed conqueror of Schothania...'" (Captain Flandry, p. 280). "The Game of Glory" tells us that Flandry "...discovered how to lie to a telepath." (p. 303) Aycarayach congratulates Flandry on his "'...handling of l'affaire Nyanza.'" (Sir Dominic Flandry, p. 160)

Reconstructing periods of time as given in Anderson's texts and dates as given in Sandra Miesel's Chronology, we deduce that the Duke, Edwin Cairncross, was born in 3006. (We know that there are longer term questions about the Chronology but I am quoting Miesel's dates for convenience and to relate events during Flandry's lifetime to each other chronologically.) Cairncross' five-year hitch in the Imperial Navy included the Syrax confrontation of 3040 and, before that, the suppression of a "...Nyanzan revolt..." (Flandry's Legacy, p. 34), despite Flandry's successful prevention of subversion on Nyanza in 3035. Or does Cairncross' five-year hitch stretch from 3035 to 3040? I did not think that Naval forces had been deployed during the Nyanzan affair handled by Flandry but might have to reread "The Game of Glory."

Cairncross returned home, gained support, became Duke in 3051 and met Flandry in 3061.

Past Periods Of The Technic History

Preparing for an interview with Edwin Cairncross, Grand Duke of Hermes, Flandry reviews the planet Hermes both historically and socially. Thus, two pages of  A Stone In Heaven summarize events from both the Polesotechnic League period and the Terran Empire period of the Technic History. The star Maia in Sector Antares has a terrestroid planet with a single continent, arid in its interior, colonized along its coasts by corporations which built a stratified state that caused much social unrest particularly during the Baburite occupation of the planet. Hermes gained protectorship of Babur and stewardship of Mirkheim, the source of supermetals. Militarized during the Troubles, Hermes joined the newly founded Terran Empire. Before becoming Grand Duke, Cairncross had enlisted in the Imperial Navy and:

"...had served well, earning promotions during the suppression of the Nyanzan revolt and in the Syrax confrontation."

-Poul Anderson, A Stone In Heaven IN Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (Riverdale, NY, June 2012), pp. 1-188 AT III, p. 34.

Anderson makes maximal use of his already existing fictional history:

in Mirkheim, the Babur War is fought for possession of Mirkheim (discovered by David Falkayn) and Falkayn returns home to Hermes during its Baburite occupation;

in "The Star Plunderer," Manuel Argos ends the Troubles by founding the Empire;

in "The Game of Glory," Dominic Flandry counteracts Merseian subversion on Nyanza;

in "Hunters of the Sky Cave," Flandry helps to end the Syrax deadlock.

Four names:

Falkayn

Argos

Flandry

Cairncross

The Chronology And Nyanza

See here.

OK. I think that I have got this straight.

Edwin Cairncross' five-year hitch in the Terran Space Navy was from some time in 3035 to some time in 3040. In 3035, A'u, a large amphibious agent of Merseia, while stranded on Nyanza, incited one Nyanzan ruler, the Sheikh of Rossala, to arm and prepare for insurrection. Somehow, either A'u or Rossalans acting for him got a message to Merseia.

The plan was:

other nations, knowing that Rossala is arming, arm themselves in case Rossala aims to attack them;

a Rossalan harpoonist assassinates the Imperial resident, thus ensuring that there will be no effective space traffic control until he is replaced;

Merseian ships will arrive with heavy weapons;

Rossala will call on other nations to support the insurrection;

any rulers who refuse will be assassinated and replaced.

Although A'u himself is a brilliant organizer, the Rossalans are inept conspirators so that, when Flandry, alerted by Tom Umbolu's dying words on Brae, arrives on Nyanza, he easily follows the trail of the conspiracy. Flandry unites the rest of Nyanza against Rossala, hunts down A'u and speaks of laying traps for the expected Merseian gunrunners. It is at that stage that the Naval forces in which Cairncross is serving will come to be involved.

Thus when, in A Stone In Heaven, Poul Anderson, summarizing Cairncross' career to date, mentions a five-year hitch involving both suppression of a Nyanzan revolt and the Syrax confrontation, this summary fits perfectly into the Chronology of Technic Civilization.

Loyalty Rewarded

A Stone In Heaven, X.

Edwin Cairncross, the would-be Terran Emperor, reflects:

"And why shouldn't [Flandry] join me? What does he owe Gerhart? He's been slighted, ignored, shunted aside. I'd have the brains to reward such a follower as he deserved, and listen to him." (p. 134)

Cairncross has no understanding that a man like Flandry will stand by his oath whether or not he as an individual is slighted and ignored!

Years ago, I heard an extremely cynical discussion of such issues on British TV. One expert said that:

the state's interests and an individual's interests should be identical simply because the state should reward the individual sufficiently for his services;

a conflict of interests arises only when, despite his ample rewards, the individual starts to entertain ideas like "freedom," "justice" etc!

I respectfully suggest that any individual should consider such ideas before he enters the state's service.

A woman said that, even earlier, several attempts had been made to recruit her to the Communist Party and that, each time, the inducement offered had been that she would hold a high position in a new regime! Appealing to individual self-interest to further a supposedly communistic objective is an ultimate absurdity.

Cairncross' aim, of course, is not communistic but:

"...to give the Empire the strong, wise government it so desperately needs, to found a dynasty armored in legitimacy against usurpers..." (ibid.)

A noble aim for a usurper!

His identification of Imperial interests with self-interest is completed in this immediately following phrase:

"...yes, then I'll clone myself..." (ibid)

Legitimacy Lost

During Dominic Flandry's lifetime, four men plan or attempt to seize the Imperial Throne by force:

Hugh McCormac;
Hans Molitor;
Edwin Cairncross;
Olaf Magnusson.

They are not all defeated by Flandry and this is not just a good guys-bad guys routine. In fact, McCormac is a good guy, especially when contrasted with the Emperor Josip -  and his sidekick, Snelund, who is the real villain of the piece. However, Flandry defends the principle of legitimacy in government. Of course, he not only defeats the McCormac Rebellion but also knows how to dispose of Snelund.

There are some bad guys in the list. Cairncross is self-serving and Magnusson is a Merseian sleeper. Flandry defeats McCormac and Cairncross. Flandry's daughter, Diana Crowfeather, defeats Magnusson. Molitor succeeds. Flandry winds up working for a usurper. This statement might shock blog readers not familiar with the Flandry series but Poul Anderson explores every possibility.

We should add that legitimate succession had been lost and the civil wars had begun before Molitor contended for power. Nevertheless, he founds a new dynasty by force alone - or is that how they all begin?

Addendum: See Comments. Sean refers to his articles which can be found here.

Hermes

The planet Hermes:

is in the system of the star Maia in Sector Antares;
has two moons, Caduceus and Sandalion;
has one large continent, Greatland, with an arid interior;
was colonized early mainly by northern Europeans;
was developed by private corporations which became the basis of the Hermetian state;
began as a Grand Duchy with a stratified society;
gained stewardship of the industrially valuable planet Mirkheim after the Babur War;
at that time also became an ordinary crowned republic while remaining nominally a Grand Duchy;
during the Troubles, developed a military-oriented society with authority concentrated in the executive and rule by whoever commanded the greatest armed force;
lost Mirkheim when Hans Molitor became Emperor;
rioted against forced demilitarization under Molitor and was pacified by the Marines;
prospered under Grand Duke Edwin Cairncross who reclaimed the interior with canals, landscaping, imported species, urbanization, commerce and a castle on an extinct volcano.

Greatland divides the Auroral Ocean to the east from the Corybantic Ocean to the west. The city of Starfall is on the east coast where the Palomino River flows into Daybreak Bay. Tilirras sing from millionleafs and there are colorfully winged, trilling nidifexes.

When Hermes declared independence from Terra, its new constitution recognized the Kindred as the Thousand Families controlling the "domains": either landed estates or corporations. The presidents of the domains elect the Duke or Duchess of Hermes from the Tamarin family which must not own a domain. Ancestors of Kindred and Tamarins were the first to arrive from Earth but, instead of founding a corporation, the Tamarins free lanced as scientists etc. "Followers," holding entailed shares, are junior partners in domains, each holding a single vote in domain affairs whereas Kindred have ten. "Travers," hirelings or unaffiliated business people, descended from latecomers, are not taxed and have no vote. The Liberation Front demands full rights for Travers who, as a result of "Libby" campaigns, gain a vote in choosing municipal officers. Travers bow to the Duchess, Followers salute, Kindred shake hands.

The Asmundsens, Followers of the Runebergs and tenants on the Brightwater estate, manage the Runeberg's copper industry. A younger Asmundsen, who explores and develops other planets in the Maian system, is obliged by custom to give preferential promotions to fellow Followers but acknowledges that his strike-threatening Traver employees have legitimate grievances which he tries to address by negotiating in person with their leaders and offering compensations like extra vacations. Hornbeck, the estate of the Falkayn domain, is on a plateau jutting from Mount Nevis in the Thunderhead Mountains. Sam Romney, independent ship-owner, fisherman and loyal Traver, does most of his business with the Falkayns. 

Baburite invaders appoint Benoni Strang, an embittered Traver, as High Commissioner for Hermes. Strang, as Bayard Story of the Galactic Developments company and the Seven in Space cartel, had secretly armed Babur. As Commissioner, he intends to impose a social revolution, democratizing the domains and obliging them to conduct all operations through a central trade authority. Through Duchess Sandra Tamarin-Asmundsen, he announces that a Grand Assembly to draft a new constitution, as provided for in the existing constitution, will be held when procedures for the election of delegates are in place. Christa Broderick, the Liberation Front leader welcomes Strang's proposed social reforms but Strang bypasses the Front, many of whom oppose the invasion, and his Traver supporters form a new party.

Broderick's city and farming followers snipe and sabotage while guerillas operate in the Arcadian Hills and the Thunderheads. Both groups attack Starfall while the returned Ducal Space Navy engages orbiting Baburite craft. After the liberation, the Duchess receives a petition. Revolutionary terror has weakened the domains and the Liberation Front has gained confidence. It is agreed that a constitutional convention must await a firm peace but then Hermes, while remaining nominally a duchy, will become in practice a republic. Later, Cairncross is not a Tamarin though he is remotely descended from the Founder of the Empire, Manuel Argos.

Hermes, like Avalon, Aeneas and Vixen, is an entire inhabited planet imagined in detail by Poul Anderson.

Sources: Mirkheim and A Stone In Heaven.

Doublecross Cairncross

A Stone In Heaven, II.

What is Duke Edwin playing at?

"Thank God for giving him the foresight to have Sten Runeberg's house bugged, after he'd gotten the man fired from Ramnu." (p. 27)

"There was no way, under these conditions, to arrange an abduction or assassination. Anything untoward would be too damnably suspicious, in a period when a degree of suspicion was already aimed at Cairncross." (p. 28)

The Duke's surname is Cairncross. We do not yet know what his game is but now the novel has its heroine, Miriam Abrams, and its villain, Duke Edwin, and, further down p. 28, at the beginning of Chapter III, we will meet the hero:

"Vice Admiral Dominic Flandry, Intelligence Corps, Imperial Terran Navy..."

Flandry has been carefully led up to through the viewpoints of Yewwl, then Abrams, then the Duke.

Abrams has confirmed that her father was Flandry's superior on Starkad and has since died. We are very much in a "Children of Empire" period but I have listed the various offspring of Flandry and his contemporaries a few times already.

We re-appreciated the beauty of Starfall on Hermes when Abrams visited Sten Runeberg and now we look forward to revisiting Flandry's place in Archopolis on Terra.

A Stone In Heaven

In Poul Anderson's Technic History, further candidates for mini-bio treatment are:

the usurper, Hans Molitor;

the pretender, Edwin Cairncross, Grand Duke of Hermes;

the pretender, Admiral Sir Olaf Magnusson;

Magnusson's father, Erik.

We will perhaps reread A Stone In Heaven which features Cairncross. A Stone... is dedicated to John K. Hord whose theory of history Anderson applies in A Knight Of Ghosts And Shadows and in A Stone...

In the opening chapter of A Stone..., the Ramnuan, Yewwl, has an oath-sister, "Banner," based in Wainwright Station. The name of the station suggests that it is staffed by human beings but we do not at first suspect, although we will soon be informed, that "Banner" is Miriam Abrams. Nor has the text yet confirmed that Ramnu exists in the Technic History universe.

Other reading: I think that there is a structural problem in Robert Harris' Conclave relating to the seal of Confession.

The Doings Of The Great

A Stone In Heaven, X.

For the second time, Edwin Cairncross, Grand Duke of Hermes, is viewpoint character and this time he confirms that he intends to become Emperor. We have been assuming that Flandry's suspicion is correct but now we read Cairncross' mind and need no longer assume or suspect.

What else do we know about the doings of the great? When will the relatively new King of England visit his Duchy of Lancaster? There are rumours of preparations at the Castle. Will Jeremy Corbyn launch an electoral challenge to Labour? There are some indications. Donald Trump might have started something. Now, in Britain, when trade unionists demonstrate against the stated policies of a newly elected party, their representative, addressing the media, begins by saying, "We are not, like Trump, denying the validity of the outcome of the election..." Beyond that, I cannot speculate about who will do what next. (Andrea above the Old Pier Bookshop is better at doing that.) From the perspective of Poul Anderson's Technic History, we are still deep within the Chaos when many events must be inherently unpredictable which they are most of the time anyway. We want to live long enough to see what will happen next and maybe also influence it. Fiction illuminates possibilities although a future history series that combines later speculative fiction with earlier space opera cannot be fully serious futurology. Something will have to be done about the environment and in space before we can begin to approach a version of Technic civilization.

Less Distinguished Naval Careers

See Imperial Officers.

In Sector Alpha Crucis, Admiral Hugh McCormac rebels and tries to become Emperor but is forced into exile by Flandry.

On Hermes, Edwin Cairncross, youngest son by a second marriage of the Duke, enlists for a five-year hitch, is promoted during the suppression of the Nyanzan revolt and again during the Terran-Merseian confrontation at Syrax, leaves with the rank of lieutenant commander, forces his older half-brother to abdicate, becomes Duke and plans to seize the Imperial Throne by force but is defeated by Flandry.

Admiral Olaf Magnusson, a Merseian sleeper, rebels and tries to become Emperor but is defeated by a small group, including Flandry's illegitimate daughter, Diana Crowfeather.

Fleet Admiral Sandberg and Admiral da Costa must deal with Dennitza during the difficult period when that planet and the whole Taurian Sector nearly split from the Empire. Sandberg threatens to have Gospodar Bodin Miyatovich removed as sector viceroy but later da Costa accepts the good faith of the provisional government run by Flandry.

Thus, we add five more prominent Naval names:

McCormac

Cairncross

Magnusson

Sandberg

da Costa

A Man And His Rep

A reputation is a curious phenomenon. When a man gets one, he and it can part company or he can find himself in a time and place where his reputation is unknown so that he is back to being just a regular guy. If a series character routinely saves the world, or whatever they do, then later instalments should reflect his growing reputation among his equally fictitious contemporaries. We can illustrate this process by comparing:

Poul Anderson's Big Four (we know who they are by now - OK, they are van Rijn, Falkayn, Flandry and Everard);
James Blish's Kennedy/Ktendi;
Ian Fleming's James Bond;
Alan Moore's Evey Hammond;
Stieg Larsson's Mikael Blomkvist;
SM Stirling's Aylward the Archer.

I compare Anderson with a regular rota of other writers of rich texts.

To begin on a more modest scale, once when addressing a public meeting in Lancaster, I introduced myself, then added, "I am generally known around here as Aileen's dad, which gives me some street cred in Lancaster!" (Laughter.)

The narrator of "The Master Key" knows that Nicholas van Rijn is:

"...the single-handed conqueror of Borthu, Diomedes, and t'Kela!"
-Poul Anderson, "The Master Key" IN Anderson, David Falkayn: Star Trader (New York, 2010), pp. 275-327 AT p. 281 -

- and so do we if we have read the relevant three instalments.

David Falkayn becomes famous when he and his crew together with their employer, van Rijn, avert a threat to Technic civilisation but, later, when he is held prisoner in another planetary system, he is told that he is not famous in that volume of space.

The second time we meet Flandry in his original series he is rightly addressed as:

"'Dominic Flandry, the single-handed conqueror of Scothania...'"
-Poul Anderson, "Honorable Enemies" IN Anderson, Captain Flandry Defender Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2010), pp. 277-302 AT p. 280.

When Duke Edwin Cairncross meets Flandry, he says:

"'So this is the legendary Admiral Flandry.'"
-Poul Anderson, A Stone In Heaven IN Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (New York, 2012), pp. 3-188 AT p. 37.

Flandry replies by distinguishing between the legend and the reality:

"'No, the objectively real, Admiral Flandry, I hope.'" (ibid.)

He hopes that he is the real Flandry, not a fictional one! Cairncross knows what Flandry achieved on Chereion even though this exploit has not been publicised.

A Time Patrol colleague tells Manse Everard:

"'Heard something about you at the school. Seems you led quite an adventurous life even before you joined. And afterward -'"
-Poul Anderson, "The Sorrow Of Odin The Goth" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (New York, 2006), pp. 333-465 AT p. 353.

We know about the "afterward." We also gather, as the series progresses, that Everard gains an informal senior status even among his fellow Unattached agents.

James Blish's character, Kennedy:

The Night Shapes combines two Edgar Rice Burroughs themes: African adventure and living dinosaurs (Tarzan and The Land That Time Forgot). Its central character, Kit Kennedy, has a strange affinity not with apes but with snakes and is a living legend: Ktendi, Son of Wisdom, King of the Wassabi, Master of Serpents. One officious European, unaware that he is addressing the source of the legend, says:

“There’s no such thing as Ktendi…And, as for you, Mr Kennedy, why don’t you mind your own business?" ²
-copied from here.

James Bond is a secret agent but some of his exploits are publicised. A former friend and colleague then writes some inaccurate popular accounts.

Alan Moore's Evey assists the terrorist, V. She overhears one of her interrogators commenting, "So this scrawny specimen is the famous Evey Hammond!" He is simultaneously contrasting the reality with the legend and flattering her as "famous." (Quoting from memory rather than digging DC Comics V For Vendetta out of a box in the cellar.)

Mikael Blomkvist, journalist, exposes some bank robbers and is nicknamed "Kalle" after a fictitious character. Then he gets a rep as an investigative journalist and is much seen on TV.

When a messenger announces:

"'I'm looking for the First Armsman of Clan Mackenzie, Aylward the Archer...'"
-SM Stirling, A Meeting At Corvallis (New York, 2007), Chapter Nine, p. 221 -

and Sam replies:

"'That's me...'" (ibid.) -

he gets:

"...the expecting someone taller look he often did from those who knew him by reputation only." (ibid.) -

and responds:

"'Sorry if I don't live up to the stories.'" (ibid.)

I couldn't have put it better myself.

A Stone In Heaven: Some Earlier Relevant Posts

A Stone In Heaven, see here.

Hermes
Hermes In The Empire
A Few More Details About Hermes
Ramnu
The Ramnuan System
Ramnuan Miscellania
Ramnuan Society
The Golden Tide
Cairncross
Edwin Cairncross' Ambitions
"Every Man Who Had Ever Been Dominant On Terra"
Archopolis 
In Archopolis
Archopolis And Earth In Flandry's Time
Archopolis And Earth In Flandry's Time II
Dayan And Terra
Autumn In The High Sierra
A Stone In Heaven
Rereading A Stone In Heaven
A Stone In Heaven And Flandry's Legacy
Flandry's Theoretical Understanding
A Planet In Space
A Planet In Space II
A Planet In Space III
Starfall
What Is Truth? 

Another Note On Other Reading

I read one China Mieville fantasy novel a while back and have just been given two more. In Iron Council (see here), according to the blurb, "...a mysterious masked figure spurs strange rebellion..." This sounds familiar to fans of Alan Moore, whose "Codename V" now inspires British demonstrators. If I continue to post about Mieville's novels, it will be on one of the other blogs.

A pause in rereading Poul Anderson's works seems advisable although I will meanwhile continue to reread at least one short story, "The Game of Glory," in order to relate it chronologically to Edwin Cairncross' Naval career. See recent posts here and here.

I did not realize until it happened that rereading a passage about Flandry in Archopolis would lead to a reexamination of the Chronology of Technic Civilization with reference to events on Nyanza or that this in turn would recall how imaginatively rich a fictitious world Nyanza is. It remains possible to wander back and forth through the Technic History noticing new details and interconnections.

Greatland

Mirkheim, X.

Grand Duchess Sandra and her son, Eric, discuss their response to the Baburite invasion.

"'We can organize guerillas.'

"'They'd spend near their whole time surviving.' At the present epoch, Hermes had a single continent, Greatland, so enormous that most of its interior was a desert of blazing summers and bitter winters. 'Worse, they'd invite reprisals on everybody else. And never could they defeat well-equipped troops on the ground, missile-throwing ships in orbit.'" (p. 153)

 

A conversation can be narrated without identifying a point of view. See the description of the dialogue between van Rijn and Hirharouk in Coya Conyon. I had to check but this conversation between Sandra and Eric is definitely narrated from her pov. Her cigar smoke tastes harsh.

However, of particular interest is the explanatory interpolation, beginning "At the present epoch..." A future historian, recounting the conversation, pauses to explain to his audience the geology of Hermes in that long past epoch.

 

For the development of Greatland by a later Grand Duke, see the link from "Hermes," also Edwin Cairncross's Ambitions.

A Stone In Heaven

Chapter I is about Yewwl and Miriam "Banner" Abrams on Ramnu.
II is about Banner and Edwin Cairncross on Hermes.
III begins with "Vice Admiral Sir Dominic Flandry, Intelligence Corps, Imperial Terran Navy..." on Terra.

So this is a Flandry novel and he has last accepted promotion from captain.

II ends:

"'...have you ever perchance heard of Admiral Flandry?'"
-Poul Anderson, A Stone In Heaven IN Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (Riverdale, NY, 2012), pp. 1-188 AT II, p 16 -

- so that told us that Flandry was around. In fact, it might have been our first definite indication that this novel is part of the Technic History? The Terran Empire was mentioned on p. 14 and the name Miriam Abrams might also mean something to us but the planet Ramnu is new.