Talk:Poul Anderson

Untitled

The Time Travel and Poul Anderson, by Dr Paul Shackley link is dead. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.51.26.212 (talk) 20:52, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

It works fine. The article is repeated here though. http://poulandersonappreciation.blogspot.co.uk/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.69.12.18 (talk) 06:44, 9 February 2014 (UTC)

OR in themes

The section on "Political, moral and literary theme" has quite a bit of description, but I'm worried it may be original research. I see two general entries in the "References" section; are they intended to support that section? The section lacks any inline citations so I have no way of knowing. —DragonHawk (talk|hist) 12:43, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

That section makes up pretty much the whole Anderson article, and I would have to agree that it seems to be entirely someone's original research. For example, half of the piece on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict refers to Fire Time, where I personally see nothing to remind me of it. (Human settlers come into conflict with an alien species that had, some time before, settled areas of the same planet; neither side is returning to some ancestral homeland.) The "related story" (which one? no title is mentioned) randomly identifies a spaceship captain Ben Yehuda as some apparently highly significant reference to a "noted Zionist linguist" of the same family name. What then about Captain Elias ben Judah in the novella "What’ll You Give?" -- should he to be identified with the same linguist? The names are even more similar! What about Anderson's favourite curse, "Judas!" (or "Judas priest!" or "Jumping Judas!"); is everything a reference to something else that happens to share a similar name? Idontcareanymore (talk) 19:08, 21 October 2011 (UTC)

In any context relating to Zionism, the surname "ben Yehudah" will almost certainly evoke an allusion to Eliezer ben Yehudah in any reader familiar with the history of Israel. Anderson (imho) generally alludes intentionally.

OTOH, "Judas (Priest)!" is a common enough (in Anderson's generation) euphemism for "Jesus Christ!", typically with no religious allusion at all. From OED Online (under "Judas, n.):

Judas priest int. a euphemism for Jesus Christ in an oath.

• 1914 ‘High Jinks, Jr.’ Choice Slang 13 Judas Priest, an exclamation of surprise.
• 1922 S. Lewis Babbitt ix. 126 Judas Priest, I could write poetry myself if I had a whole year for it.
• 1972 J. D. Buchanan Professional xi. 123 Judas Priest! What the hell are you saying?

--Thnidu (talk) 18:15, 31 October 2011 (UTC)

I stand corrected and chastised :p I know nothing of zionism, really, and the bit about "Judas!" was mainly snark about how everyone in the Anderson universe uses the same oath; apologies and thanks for clarifying the ben Yehudah thing for me. Idontcareanymore (talk) 23:23, 7 April 2012 (UTC)

I think the original criticism still stands: A name alone, which is used in several entirely different stories by Anderson, doesn't make the story about zionism, especially if the actual two fractions in the story and their conflict with each other have next to nothing to do with the Arab-Israeli conflict, as has been pointed out by Idontcareanymore. --2003:EF:1700:B433:CC95:713F:B3FB:B289 (talk) 19:19, 27 January 2021 (UTC)

Can this article become any more geeky?

I'm afraid this article is more a celebration of geekdom (the fantasy world of Poul Anderson) than actual facts. Needs work. --173.69.135.105 (talk) 02:14, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

Influence on Doctor Who

The BBC archives include a document from 1962 discussing what would make a good TV series project and Guardians of Time is noted as being particularly attractive as a series. It's clear the BBC see this as part of the Genesis of Doctor Who. Should a reference to this be made in the entry about Anderson?

BBC web page as follows: [www.bbc.co.uk/archive/doctorwho/6401.shtml|[1]]

Delverie (talk) 11:00, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

deafness

Anderson had a fair bit of hearing loss, I think primarily towards the end of his life. I'm not sure when it started or how much he ended up losing, but it definitely was affecting his public demeanor in the 1990s; he was quiet and shy in crowds, but would come alive and talk very enthusiastically to a single person or small group. This is personal recollection, should probably be substantiated and placed in the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.174.41.25 (talk) 10:13, 3 January 2013 (UTC)

Selected works

Headings

• The full heading 4 is "Selected works (book-length works only)". Does the parenth. note explain the selection, thus intended to be complete for books?
• Headings 4.2 "Other novels" and 4.3 "Other collections"--do those mean science fiction not part of any series?
• Headings 4.1.4.1, 4.1.4.2, 4.1.4.3 are very long, which they don't need to be and shouldn't be.

Listings

• The scope of his nonfiction should be explained, if any of it is important
• The Day the Sun Stood Still (1972) with Gordon R. Dickson and Robert Silverberg — ISFDB doesn't list this title for any of the three purported editors and Google does not evidently support it
• The Last Viking (1980) with Karen Anderson — ISFDB does not credit Karen

--P64 (talk) 23:10, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

ISFDB says The Day the Sun Stood Still is not credited to any editor; that Lester del Rey initiated the project; that del Rey and Silverberg have been credited elsewhere; Anderson, Dickson, and Silverberg wrote the three novellas it comprises. See details in Notes and Contents fields: May 1972[2]; Nov 1972 (Book Club edition); Oct 1975 --and credits the anthology to Silverberg in its entry for Anderson's contribution, "A Chapter of Revelation" [3]

MITSFS catalogs it by editor del Rey.[4]

Anderson contributed introductory "essays" to some anthologies of shortfiction that include one of his works. [5][6] [7][8] [9][10]

--P64 (talk) 20:09, 31 December 2013 (UTC)

Biography

Currently, the first paragraph ends:

Following Anton Anderson's death, his widow took her children to Denmark. The family returned to the United States after the outbreak of World War II, settling eventually on a Minnesota farm.

This dating is wrong, according to Anderson himself in the introduction to Going for Infinity (2002), where he states:

In 1938 she took us back to Denmark. She had plenty of influential connections there to help us. But after some months she left again. Another war was too clearly coming.

So the family returned to the US before the outbreak of the war, not after it. Idontcareanymore (talk) 09:58, 31 December 2013 (UTC)

Pronouncing "Poul"

Should there be a guide to the pronunciation of 'Poul', or is it common knowledge? MonoTrouble (talk) 19:02, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

It's not common knowledge. I know how he pronounced it, but I don't know IPA. — Arthur Rubin (talk) 23:30, 28 June 2014 (UTC)

I was present when someone asked him how he pronounced his name. He acknowledged that some people had difficulty with it. Then he said, "It's AN-DER-SON." Snezzy (talk) 01:10, 6 September 2018 (UTC)

Further research leads to the understanding that the name Poul in Danish sounds like "poh-ul" but not exactly, instead more slurred, while Anderson when spelled in Danish is Andersen and is pronounced Annersn. If you can speak Swedish, then pronouncing Danish is simple--stuff a baked potato in your mouth before talking. The Danish national vowel is "Uhhh." Snezzy (talk) 00:15, 4 December 2021 (UTC)

Fifty years ago, most of us boy readers called him Pool, but some said Pole.

I come here to get the right answer, and what do I see?

Nonsense. Other than Pool and Pole, the 3rd option is Paul.

So which is it? 1, 2 or 3?

The man is American, not some exotic Scandinavian.

99.228.43.228 (talk) 18:11, 14 May 2023 (UTC)

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it's been eight years, and still no references for most of this article

I think it's way past time for great chunks of this article to be deleted as OR. Someone tried to get by with a couple of stated references, but inline citations are wholly missing. It was discussed some time back that this article is mostly an essay from some people's personal POV on him. No action has been taken on the various completely un-referenced sections. 03:32, 10 September 2019 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.111.22.49 (talk)

I was doing some research on Anderson and naturally came across this article. I don't have time to work on it now - and it's going to take a lot of work - but I'll get at least some of it done next time I fall into burst of Wikipedia editing.Kovar (talk) 20:36, 12 January 2021 (UTC)

I believe that I've deleted most of the original research. The page could, of course, now do with some expansion with reliable sources. Rray (talk) 22:31, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

Reference link for Rray's comment: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Poul_Anderson&diff=1030764823&oldid=1030064045 —DocWatson42 (talk) 05:41, 7 July 2022 (UTC)