So here it is, I have reached the end of Asimov's Foundation series. For a minute I was going to sit down and write an outline for this post but I think I am just going to plow through the thing as is and maybe edit it later for clarity.
This novel is second chronologically in the series but it was the last one published. In the Author's notes in a couple of these novels Asimov mentions that he wrote a number of the constitutive short stories at the beginning of this career that were then wrapped up together and marketed as novels and it wasn't until the third or fourth one in the series that he actually wrote as a cohesive novel. Thinking back over the novels, that much does seem clear. In previous posts I have mentioned some of the problems of writing this way. There is another problem that this series suffers from and that is from having been written ad hoc rather than as a planned series. I will come back to this point later on, but I think that this novel shows some of the worse signs of wear due to this process. But first, the novel itself.
This novel takes up more or less where Prelude to Foundation left off. Hari Seldon is on Trantor, working on his science of psychohistory. The narrative action of that novel is more or less chronologically continuous, meaning that there are some of the expected jumps in time, but the action all takes place more-or-less in a restrained span of a few years. In this novel, the narrative keeps leaping forward in ten year increments. Seldon at 40 becomes First Minister to Emperor Cleon I and is waylaid in his study of psychohistory. At 50 he returns to his studies and benchmark events keep occurring in these 10 year increments. This, in itself is fine. It seems as though Asimov is racing to the starting point of Foundation, his original novel, to perhaps avoid having to write another book in this series. What is less fine however, is how much Hari whines as he ages. He mourns his lost youth at 40 and again at 50 and lets everyone around him know how it pains him to age. This does not come off well.
As Seldon continues through the novel his fortunes wax and wane. He is well know as an academic and for his role as First Minister, but as people learn more about psychohistory and Seldon's predictions about the decline of empire, he loses popularity and comes to be seen as a crank. There are a couple of reveals that do not seem entirely presaged by the texts and seem to be mainly narrative conveniences meant to tie up loose ends. The final 50 or so pages of the novel just seem to unwind. They are pro forma wrapping up the series and not a lot is left answered. This is a problem for the prequel because the reader already knows where all of this ends up. All of the big reveals such as the true nature of the Foundation, the existence of the Second Foundation, the appearance of the Mule and his revealed connection to Gaia all have already taken place. All that is happening is getting from the beginning to there, and all of that heavy lifting has already been done.
One of the biggest obstacles that this novel faces is something that has plagued the entire series. We are told that the science of psychohistory depends on the civilization involved being largely ignorant of its existence. The explanation goes that knowing about psychohistory or hearing predictions based on the science would alter humans' actions and would, thus, disrupt the equations and predictions involved. This is basically the time-traveler's paradox built into this science, and it is a good one, at that. But, and this is a big one, everyone seems to know who Hari Seldon is and what he does. And not just in a couple of novels, everyone seems to know about psychohistory throughout the series. This tension is never resolved. Asimov does not do anything to explain away the fact that the most well-known figure in the galaxy has a created a science that every does and does not know about. This should trash Seldon's science but it seems not to.
This novel is interesting in the sense that it does make some connections and it gives us more of Hari Seldon, a figure who is mythical throughout the series until these two prequels. This novel also sees the beginning of the Foundation. But Seldon's discoveries also suffer a bit from explanation. The science of psychohistory is more effect the less it is known. The more that Asimov tries to explain it, the thinner it seems. This is a shame because the promise of psychohistory in Foundation is so strong and is such a compelling idea. I think that most readers of science fiction understand that creating and explaining impossible technologies and sciences is pretty much impossible to pull off convincingly and most of these readers are more than willing to extend a healthy suspension of disbelief and allow authors to explain away inconsistencies in their theories. This is a bedrock of most sci-fi. We don't always need things like time travel or the like to be explained and I know that I would prefer it not be unless there is some really good way of doing it. Usually these explanations fall flat. This did a bit and it sort of deflated the entire series for me. This, again, is a shame because I think that the younger Asimov who wrote those original short stories understood this aspect of narrative. I think that younger Asimov would also not have felt the need to connect the Foundation series with his Robot series. But this is what we end up with.
There is also a problem in narrative continuity. I have not gone back to look this up, but if I recall correctly, Seldon is tried for treason at the beginning of Foundation and is exiled to Terminus where he builds Foundation. In this novel, however, the Encyclopedia Galactica entry on Seldon has him dying at his desk at the university in Trantor. There is also no Public Safety Committee or whatever it is called in Foundation to try him. These inconsistencies aren't huge and don't really change the nature of the novels but it seems odd to me that Asimov would neglect to double-check his own novel to see where this one needs to end.
But now I am done with the series. This part of the project is complete. On the whole, I really enjoyed the novels. The idea of psychohitory is brilliant and I loved the connection with the encyclopedia. These are stellar ideas and made some great reading. In the end, though, I am not certain that the series lives up to all of the hype. I found problems throughout the novels and there were some turns in the narrative that I really did not care for. I don't think I would rank this as “the greatest science fiction epic of all time” as the cover claims but it was still pretty good.
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