Foundation, part 8: Forward the Foundation

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.

 

Foundation, Part 7: Prelude to Foundation

 Nearly a year and a half ago, I undertook to read through Asimov's classic sci-fi series, Foundation, and write about the books. This is one of several sci-fi series that I decided to read, including Frank Herbert's Dune series (which I bailed on after 4 books), Arthur C. Clarke's Rama series (which I also bailed on after 2 books), and James SA Corey's The Expanse series (of which I am currently reading the sixth book and will likely continue). One of the major differences that I see in these series are those that were planned to be series of novels (or even novels to begin with) and those that were not. Corey's series was planned to be a long-running series from the start, and the novels show it. Each novel is more or less complete on its own, but they also build to a broader arc across the novels. The novels serve more as episodes than as simple stand-alones, meaning that you could read just one of the novels without the others, but it would make more sense to read them together.

These other series, though (I am necessarily leaving out a lot of other series and authors I could include, but this is the choice I am making), seem to be caught by surprise by their own sequels. That is, the sequels must pick up after a conclusion has been reached in the predecing book, and not always convincingly. Both Herbert and Asimov get around this problem by jumping hundreds or thousands of years into the future. This way, there is no messy character continuity to keep up and any narrative gaps can be explained by the chronological gap. The exception to this is that Herbert keeps bringing Duncan Idaho back from the dead for some reason.

When I catch myself wondering if I am being overly harsh in judging these authors for returning to worlds that may be personal or fan favorites, and may well have proven lucrative as well, I just keep remembering all of the series I have quit reading for one reason or another. I also think about the nose-dives that some of these series take. Redezvous with Rama, for example, may be one of my favorite golden era sf books, but Rama II was enough to stop me in my tracks. Likewise, The Forever War by Joe Haldeman is a personal favorite while Forever Peace is merely okay and I haven't yet tried to get into Forever Free. I also think about the series I have loved. Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy and the book of short fiction that followed remains among my favorite novels. The same is true for Cixin Liu's Remembrance of Earth's Past series. So it isn't the form of the sequel itself that is bad. There are a lot of writers who can beautifully pull off continuing novels in a fictional world.

To bring this back to my original topic, Asimov must have felt a bit like Arthur Conan Doyle resurrecting Sherlock Holmes after killing him off in returning the galaxy of Foundation. After all, he had written the series to an end in Foundation and Earth that was, if not completely satisfying, at least conclusive. Prelude to Foundation takes up Hari Seldon's rise to prominence on Trantor and his early adventures. Some of it is good and, as a stand-alone novel, it has its charms. However when taken in the context of the rest of the series, it leaves a little wanting.

Prelude to Foundation takes place first chronologically in the Foundation series, but it was written second-to-last. At the beginning of the novel, Seldon has traveled to Trantor and delivered a paper on psychohistory. This immediately catches the attention of Cleon I, emperor of the Galactic Empire. Seldon presentation proved the science of psychohistory as theoretically possible but Cleon thought that this meant that Seldon could predict the future and brings Seldon to him in order to gain his services. Hari resists, explaining that there is no practical application for the science and that it might take his entire lifetime to actually apply it.

Disappointed Cleon lets him go but instructs his right-hand to keep tabs on Seldon so that they can take him back when they can use him. Seldon is rescued from his surveillance by a friendly stranger who then helps to keep him in hiding for most of the rest of the novel.

Seldon ends up traveling to varied parts of Trantor to stay ahead of imperial reach and there is a lot of local flavor type interactions that haven't aged well. Seldon creeps on women and he meets a kid whose speech wouldn't be out of place in a Horatio Alger novel. In the end (no worries, I won't spoil it), Seldon already knows where things will end up in Foundation and Earth, even though this takes place several thousand years after his death.

This is the problem of prequels. There is no real tension in the danger that Seldon faces because I have already read five novels in which he plays a major role and know that he doesn't die yet. Granted, he dies in the opening pages of Foundation, but by then his mark is made and his influence extends millennia. Next, Asimov retcons “foreshadowing” of events that take place far in the narrative future, but which the reader has already experienced if they are reading in publication order. This generally doesn't read well and it seems more like an aging rock group begrudgingly playing the hit they wrote 30 years prior than an authentic narrative embellishment. There are then also the connections that Asimov wants to make between Foundation and his Robot series. This connection seemed unnecessary in Foundation and Earth and it leads to more phony foreshadowing in this novel, too. I haven't read enough of the Robot series to know how this affects that series, but perhaps I will head to those books after this series is done to find out for myself.

Also, and most damningly, Asimov tries to be funny in this book. For all that I admire in Asimov's writing, it is never for his wit. See, on Trantor there is a rival faction to the Emperor and that is Wye sector. More than once, a character will mention the name “Wye” and the interlocutor will proceed to give an unneeded and unasked-for explanation, thinking the first character was asking, “Why?” They are homonyms, get it!

I've shit on this book enough. There are things that I liked about it. Hari Seldon has been a force in this whole series but he has been distant. As I mentioned, he dies very early in the series and he just keeps showing up as a pre-recorded hologram. But here, he is an actual character, and he is one of Asimov's more dynamic and round ones. Beyond this, he is a moral character who wants to both do the right thing and stand by his science. The narrative itself is cohesive and shows Asimov's inventiveness in creating these different sectors with different traditions and styles. There are a couple of genuine surprises that kept the novel interesting and it ended up being an enjoyable read.

I won't say that this is my favorite in the series, but it was serviceable. I have one more book to go before I can put this series to bed and I'm not sure what to expect from it. I suspect that it will be a grab bag, a little like this novel is. I know that it follows Hari's story between the end of this novel and the beginning of Foundation, but I don't know what time period it covers. I am hoping that there will be a bit more explanation of psychohistory and I am really hoping that it doesn't go in a direction that undoes what made Foundation great.

Foundation, Part 4: Second Foundation

This is part four of an ongoing series about Isaac Asimov's classic Foundation series.  I cover the first two books with varying degrees of detail here and here, provide a bit of an intro to this blog series here, and have an essay that I am quite proud of posted on tor.com here.
I don't want to retread too much ground here that I have already covered.  But I will warn that the tor.com piece is about Enlightenment philosophy and encyclopedias, and it is likely that I am going to return to these topics.

The first couple of novels plot out the downfall of the vast Galactic Empire as predicted by Hari Seldon and the science of psychohistory.  Seldon sets up an institution called the Foundation that is meant to serve as a chronicler of the collected knowledge of mankind, but covertly works as a bulwark against the Empire's fall.  This is all meant to shorten a dark age in the power vacuum that would have lasted for 30,000 years, but can be gotten over with in 1,000, thanks to Seldon's psychohistory.  This is a lot to get through, but the broad strokes don't matter too much right now.
Second Foundation opens with the Mule, the villain from Foundation and Empire, seeking out a legendary Second Foundation that is believed to exist as a plan B to the Foundation.  There is some notion that Seldon built the Second Foundation on the opposite side of the galaxy as Foundation in order to safeguard it.  This novel covers the fall of the Mule.  This character initially comes to power because he is a mutant who can control the emotions of others.  This helps him to force and keep loyalty in anyone he meets and, it is intimated, he is able to use emotion to counter and win out against science.  The Second Foundation beats the Mule and the original Foundation comes back to power.  There is a bit of a confusing power struggle wherein the Second Foundation remains hidden and the Foundation begins to suspect that the Second Foundation, also built around emotion, is trying to overtake it.  Again, these are just broad strokes intended to get to some more interesting parts.

I was first interested in the idea of the tension between emotion and science, or reason.  It seems an odd tension for Asimov to build into this series because these are not really counters at all, but complements.  What is it about emotional control that should be a threat to science in the first place?  There is also nothing necessary in the Second Foundation being any different from the first Foundation.  They could, and it seems logical that they would, be built upon the same principles.

I also found it interesting that Asimov plays more with the mythical rendering of Seldon's Plan.  In the earlier books, the characters had readier access to Seldon's ideas and plans but, by this point hundreds of years later, they have begun to regard the Plan itself as an agent.  This abstraction from the Plan actually works with the science of psychohistory as defined by Asimov because the knowledge of psychohistory disrupts its working.

One of the best parts of the series so far is the way that the whole science of psychohistory plays with the "great man" theory of history, both confirming and challenging it.
On one hand, Seldon continues to influence.  People still puzzle over his plan and the second foundation.  They also worry that the Mule was not predicted and unpredictable, so ruined the plan.
On the other hand, psychohistory is concerned with masses, billions of people.  Individual efforts don't matter.  Only mass, civilization-scale, activities have influence.  Except for Seldon, of course.