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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