Discussion:
[tor dot com] Celebrating Poul Anderson
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James Nicoll
2019-07-31 13:35:38 UTC
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Celebrating Poul Anderson with Five Favourite Works

https://www.tor.com/2019/07/31/celebrating-poul-anderson-with-five-favourite-works/
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Johnny1A
2019-08-01 04:00:22 UTC
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Post by James Nicoll
Celebrating Poul Anderson with Five Favourite Works
https://www.tor.com/2019/07/31/celebrating-poul-anderson-with-five-favourite-works/
I've probably read less Anderson than James, but I've read a fair bit, and I've noticed what I believe to be an underlying pattern in his writing that I suspect arises from his basic personality, or some component of it.

I think that Poul Anderson is an _intellectual_ optimist, but an _instinctive_ pessimist. That is, with the top of his mind he was hopeful and optimistic about the possibilities of the future and the universe, but somewhere deep deep down he thought it was all futile.

I think that conflict, on various levels and in various degrees, permeates his work.
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