GALACTIC EMPIRES

   In The Universe Makers (1971) Donald A. WOLLHEIM attempts to distil from the range of futuristic visions presented by magazine sf a basic pattern - a "cosmogony of the future" - in which stages 3-5 (there are 8 in all) describe "the rise and fall of the Galactic Empire", which is thus enshrined as the central myth of GENRE SF. ("Empire" is here used with a general, almost metaphorical meaning, rather than in its politically definitive sense.) The galactic empire was a necessary invention: an imaginative framework which could accommodate any number of "Earth-clone" worlds on which writers might deploy ordinary human characters in confrontation with any imaginable social and biological system. Very many modern sf stories are designed to fit into such a framework, taking advantage of the fact that it has become established as a convention which needs no explanation.Much of the credit for the establishment of the convention must go to Isaac ASIMOV, whose Foundation series (1942-50; fixups 1951-3) set the most influential example, although it is possible to trace the idea back to earlier roots. As long ago as 1900 Robert W. COLE had imagined Victoria's glorious British Empire extending itsdominion to the stars, so that ours should not be the only sun never to set upon it. Confederations of worlds within the Solar System were common in pulp sf from its inception, and these were extended into the Galaxy in such novels as Galactic Patrol (1937-8; 1950) by E.E. "Doc" SMITH. Asimov, however, was the writer who provided the essential historical framework for such a concept. He did so by relatively straightforward analogy with past empires, reversing the analytical historical perspective of such works as The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-88) by Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) to produce the predictive science of PSYCHOHISTORY. With a single flourish, a whole prospectus for the futureof the human race-allowing virtually limitless possibilities so far as events on a finer scale were concerned - was established. Asimov used the convenient historical pattern himself as a background for other works, including The Stars Like Dust (1951) and The Currents of Space (1952). Robert A. HEINLEIN's painstaking attempt to develop a future HISTORY stepby step became an empty endeavour after the Foundation series, and later efforts seem distinctly half-hearted. James BLISH's Cities in Flight (1955-62) succeeds more through its key image of the star-travellingCITIES than through its framework, derived from the philosophy of cyclic history developed by Oswald Spengler (1880-1936). Poul ANDERSON, who developed his own scheme for use in his Technic History series and many other stories and novels, was able to take a great deal for granted because Asimov had prepared the way.Writers of the 1940s who employed the galactic-empire framework include C.L. MOORE, in Judgment Night (1943; 1952), Edmond HAMILTON, in The Star Kings (1947; 1949 vt Beyond the Moon)and - most extravagantly - A.E. VAN VOGT in such stories as "Recruiting Station" (1942; in Masters of Time coll 1950). Van Vogt was not at allhesitant about borrowing the entire apparatus of historical empires, and replayed the most melodramatic phase of Roman history - presumably borrowed via Robert GRAVES's I, Claudius (1934) - in his Linn series, Empire of the Atom (1946-7; fixup 1957) and The Wizard of Linn (1950;1962). The background proved particularly useful in the colourful brand of adventure sf featured by PLANET STORIES, and it was very extensively used therein, notably by Leigh BRACKETT, Alfred COPPEL and Poul Anderson (in his early SPACE OPERAS). During the 1950s SCIENCE FICTION ADVENTURES, the magazine closest in editorial philosophy to Planet Stories, likewise made extensive use of it, particularly in stories written for the US version by Robert SILVERBERG and for the UK version by Kenneth BULMER.In addition toAnderson, several other post-WWII writers have made consistent and elaborate use of a galactic civilization as a reservoir for unusual worlds. These include Jack VANCE, notably in The Languages of Pao (1958), THE DRAGON MASTERS (1963) and in virtually all of his work during the1960s and 1970s, John BRUNNER, notably in Endless Shadow (1964) and The World Swappers (1959), Cordwainer SMITH, in his Instrumentality series, and E.C. TUBB, in his Dumarest series. Few writers have, however, concerned themselves in any but the most superficial way with the sociopolitical structure of the galactic community. Anderson has done significant work in this vein, and so has Gordon R. DICKSON, notably in the Dorsai series, but most are prepared to leave the community in a state of disorganization or nebulous harmony. Only rarely do works appear in which there actually is a powerful, autocratic, imperial system of government - the most conspicuous modern example is the film STAR WARS (1977) and its sequels - and the word "empire" is often substituted by"league", "federation" or some other such variant. Most works of this kind are either US or (like the German PERRY RHODAN series) products of cultural coca-colonization, and the political model employed for galactic civilization is very often the US system writ large - an ideal summed up by the final line of Asimov's The Stars Like Dust and conscientiously supported by innumerable episodes of STAR TREK. It is interesting to note the relative unwillingness of genre-sf writers, even when they take the entire Galaxy for their setting, to create new political or economic modes, although Iain M. BANKS's galactic culture in Consider Phlebas (1987), The Player of Games (1988) and USE OF WEAPONS (1990) isrefreshingly alien to the US model. Galactic empires are almost always ruled by humans, and human empires are often at war with ALIEN empires. An amusing antidote to this conventional human chauvinism is The Zen Gun (1983) by Barrington J. BAYLEY, in which men become so effetely decadentthat their erstwhile underlings, the pigs, take over.It is more or less taken for granted in post-WWII works that any galactic federation will have a relatively untamed frontier, almost always called "the rim" (GALACTIC LENS). First popularized by A. Bertram CHANDLER's long-runningRim Worlds series, the galactic empire's equivalent of the Wild West features fairly prominently in modern SPACE OPERA, notably in C.J. CHERRYH's relatively sophisticated stories of that type, which includeMerchanter's Luck (1982) and Rimrunners (1989). In such stories freelance starship pilots take the place of cowboy gunfighters; in recent years such roles have very frequently been filled by female characters, partly as a result of the influence of Star Trek in recruiting female readers and writers into the sf community.Any list of post-WWII sf novels using the galactic-empire framework is bound to be highly selective, but some of the more notable stories which actually deal with issues relating to the community rather than to specific worlds within it are: Star Bridge (1955) by Jack WILLIAMSON and James E. GUNN, CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY (1957) by Heinlein, Starmaster's Gambit (1957 France; trans 1973) by Gerard KLEIN,WAY STATION (1963) by Clifford D. SIMAK, Empire Star (1966) by Samuel R. DELANY, THE RING OF RITORNEL (1968) by Charles L. HARNESS, RITE OF PASSAGE (1968) by Alexei PANSHIN, Voyage to Dari (1974) by Ian WALLACE, Beyond Heaven's River (1980) by Greg BEAR, Light on the Sound (1982) by S.P. SOMTOW, Star of Gypsies (1986) by Silverberg, and the Hyperion books (1989-90) by Dan SIMMONS.The definitive theme anthology is Galactic Empires (anth 2 vols 1976) ed Brian W. ALDISS.

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   See also: COLONIZATION OF OTHER WORLDS; COMMUNICATIONS; SOCIOLOGY.