by Lacey Kat
This work is copyrighted to the author (c) 2003
“Foundation and Empire,” is the second book published in the “Foundation” series. Originally issued in 1952, it is actually two short stories, originally published in the magazine “Astounding Science Fiction,” in April and November of 1945.
[Note: For a more complete history of the origin of the “Foundation” series, please read the review of “Foundation” on this site.]
The book opens with a simple prolog. Enough information is presented to bring any reader, who has not read “Foundation,” up to speed. “The Galactic Empire Was Falling.” It re-introduces the persona of Hari Seldon, and his plan to save the galaxy from 30,000 years of wreck and ruin. His idea, born of the science he calls “Psycho-history,” is to establish two foundations, at “opposite ends of the Galaxy,” and direct events so that only a mere 1,000 years will pass before order is again established and a Second Galactic Empire will arise. The first book dealt with the establishment of one of the Foundations and its rise against the tide of barbarism. At its closing the Foundation, as it was known, was the most powerful state in the Galaxy, except for the remains of the old Empire. On its last legs, it still controlled the central third of the Milky Way, along with three-quarters of the population and wealth of the universe. A conflict was inevitable.
The first story in “Foundation and Empire,” is entitled “The General,” and it deals with the inevitable conflict between the Foundation and the Empire. Originally called “Dead Hand,” it was published in the April 1945 edition of “Astounding” magazine.
Several factors influenced Asimov during the writing of the Foundation series. As stated in other reviews, Asimov was deeply influenced by Edward Gibbon’s “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.” In the spring of 1944, Asimov became a short lived admirer of historian Arnold Toynbee. His six-volume “Study of History” influenced Asimov in the writing of “Dead Hand” (retitle “The General” for the book). However, Asimov soon became disillusioned with Toynbee and the influence stopped with the one story. Another influence for the series was the 1907 twenty-four-volume collection of historical writings entitled “The Historian’s History of the World.” Asimov checked out the series, volume by volume, from the Philadelphia Free Library in the latter half of 1943.
“The General” is unique in that it tells the story from the perspective of the Empire. Bel Riose is the general of the title. The last of the fighting men, he has been sent by an old and stilled court to guard the frontiers of the Empire from the encroaching hoards of the periphery. He is the last competent military leader born too late to save a way of life quickly fading.
Bel Riose has heard rumors of “magicians” in the galactic periphery. Men who can do things he has only read about in the old books of the Empire. He hungers for more than just holding battles against border thieves and dreams of the old days when a general proved his worth by ground won, not just defended. He believes that if these magicians are real, and are a threat to the Empire, he can persuade the emperor to give him the men and ships needed to conquer the foe and raise the flag of the Empire again. If the magicians are real.
In his investigations, Riose learns of the story of Hari Seldon, of the Foundation he was sent to establish, and of Psycho-history and the Seldon plan. He is indignant to learn that the events of the next thousand years are already established and that there is nothing he can do to change their course. The General decides to pit his living will against Seldon’s dead hand.
The war with the Foundation begins, and the scene shifts to a captured Foundation trader by the name of Lathan Devers. His purpose in the story is two-fold. First, he is a spy for the Foundation sent to ascertain the real threat of Riose. Second, he allows Asimov to cover great events in the war with simple dialogue and dispatches. At this point in his writing career, Asimov had neither the talent nor the inclination to write great battle scenes. While it was during the war, Asimov was stateside during the whole conflict and new of the brutality and scope of conflict only through newspapers and newsreels. Rather than write great pages of spaceships ablaze, Asimov moved the action to the back of the story, preferring to deal with a few key players in local areas. This was his strength and he used it well.
The war rages on, the Foundation must try and stop it, however, the eternal questions is always, “is this the Seldon Crisis of the day, and is it already taken care of?” In the end, the best-laid plans of traders and teachers are no match for the foresight of Psycho-history. The Foundation is saved and with it the future of the Seldon plan.
In January of 1945, Asimov went to John W. Campbell to discuss the next Foundation story. Campbell said he wanted to upset the Seldon plan, which of course was the backbone to the series to date. Asimov was not thrilled with the idea because it meant derailing his story idea and sending it in a direction he was not yet sure of. Campbell was not one to be disagreed with so Asimov sulked away to follow orders. To get his pride back he decided to make the new Foundation story the longest, biggest, and wildest yet. He would entitle it, “The Mule.”
The idea for the story was simple, in hindsight. Hari Seldon, through Psycho-history, had carefully laid out the next thousand years of galactic history. As each event unfolded Seldon was there, in image only, of course, telling those assembled to view his recorded messages, that this was what he had foreseen, and that the current crisis would be solved as he had intended. What could possibly go wrong?
What if something happened that Seldon had not foreseen. Seldon could predict the movements of humanity, but what if a mutation gave a man the ability to affect those movements? What place would this unexpected, unpredictable, force have on the Seldon plan? That is the plot of the Mule.
The Mule rises out of obscurity with the ability to alter the minds of men so that they must love him and obey him. He also has the desire to rule the galaxy and punish those who made fun of his as a youth. Against this force what chance does the Foundation have? And if he conquers the first Foundation can the Second Foundation, only to this point alluded too but not seen, save the galaxy from the Mule’s tyranny? That is the plot of the second story.
It is the longest and most complex of the Foundation stories to date. In fact, it was so long that Campbell presented it in two different issues of the magazine. This was Asimov’s first serialized story. It is also unique in having a strong female character. Not only strong but the dominant character in the story. For one of the few times to date, a woman would be a key figure in an Asimov story.
You see, by this time in his life Asimov had been married to Gertrude Blugerman for about two and a half years. Gertrued inspired the character of Bayta, the strong girl in the story. In fact, Asimov later related that Bayta’s quieter husband in “The Mule,” was modeled after himself and what he saw as his role in their marriage. With his life situation now expanded, Asimov used this new knowledge to write stronger female characters into his stories. Ironically Asimov’s science fiction career would soon take an extended break and with it the role of strong female characters. It would be some time before women were more than mere props in science fiction stories.
With the closing of “the Mule,“ the fate of the “Foundation” is sealed. However, because of the strength and determination of one woman, the fate of mankind may yet be saved. That, however, is to be left to the “Second Foundation.”
Side Note; Ace published their version of this story with an altered title, complete and unabridged.
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