Second Foundation

infobox Book |
name = Second Foundation
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Dust-jacket from the first edition
author = Isaac Asimov
illustrator =
cover_artist = Ric Binkley
country = United States
language = English
series = Foundation Series
genre = Science fiction novel
publisher = Gnome Press
release_date = 1953
media_type = Print (Hardcover)
pages = 210 pp
isbn = NA
preceded_by = Foundation and Empire
followed_by = Foundation's Edge

"Second Foundation" is the third novel published of the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, and the fifth in the in-universe chronology. It was first published in 1953 by Gnome Press.

The term also describes the organization by that name which is the focus of the book. The organization's existence (and nothing more) had been revealed in "Foundation", searched for in "Foundation and Empire", and makes brief appearances in this novel. It would not be described in detail until "Foundation's Edge".

Plot summary

It is written in two distinct parts.

"Part I: Search By the Mule" is about The Mule's search for the elusive Second Foundation, with the intent of destroying it. In the end the First Speaker of the Second Foundation telepathically modifies the Mule to make him not care about finding the Second Foundation. "Search by the Mule" was originally published in the January 1948 issue of "Astounding Science Fiction" under the title "Now You See It—".

"Part II: Search By the Foundation" takes place sixty years after the first part, fifty-five years after the Mule's death (by natural causes). The members of the (First) Foundation are now fully aware that the Second Foundation is out there (they had known of its existence all along, but had not known its purpose or nature until the Mule). Also concurrent with this plot thread is the Foundation's ongoing conflict with the Mule's former imperial capital at Kalgan. The ensuing war is won by the Foundation, and is listed in the "Encyclopedia Galactica" as the last major conflict before the rise of the Second Empire.

After inventing a device that can jam telepathic abilities and can even be used to cause telepaths great pain, the Foundation finds and locates telepaths on Terminus, "at the other end of the galaxy" (from the First Foundation, also at Terminus). Since, as Arkady Darell puts it, "a circle has no end", then by tracing the disc of the galaxy around its edge, one would come back to Terminus. Thus, they declare the Second Foundation destroyed after finding the roughly 50 mentalist agents on Terminus, and are content to forget the matter. Finally, in response to the question "Where is the Second Foundation?", the First Foundation had found an answer that fit. However, although this was "the answer that satisfied", this was not "the answer that was true".

The Second Foundation was actually located on Trantor, at the centre of the galaxy. It was called "Star's End," due to the ancient saying that "All roads lead to Trantor, and that is where all stars end". The location was also said to fit the "other end of the galaxy" location since the galaxy is not in fact a disc, but a spiral — and from the edge, the other end of a spiral lies at the centre. The book also noted that Hari Seldon was a social scientist, not a physical one. When the two Foundations were founded, they could be described as being at opposite "social" ends of the Galaxy — with Trantor at the very center of galactic power and prestige, and Terminus at the other extreme.

The Second Foundation would again be revisited in "Foundation's Edge".

"Search by the Foundation" was originally published in the November and December 1949 and January 1950 issues of "Astounding Science Fiction" under the title "—And Now You Don't".

ee also

*Arkady Darell

The Organization

The Second Foundation was founded by Hari Seldon as a budding colony of mentalics, people with telepathic abilities, located at "Star's End", an intentionally obscure term used by Seldon, which is later revealed to refer to the planet Trantor. In "Forward the Foundation", the original Second Foundation is revealed to also include Hari's own granddaughter, Wanda Seldon, and his bodyguard Stettin Palver.

Whilst the First Foundation was strong in the physical sciences, the Second Foundation was strong in the mental sciences, including the continued development of psychohistory. Their function is to ensure that the Seldon plan comes to pass, both by refining the plan's contingencies to allow for even the most unlikely events, and to guard against unexpected developments, such as the Mule. Their eventual goal is to become the ruling class of the Second Empire in an effort to introduce mental sciences to humanity (whose benefits are, according to one Second Foundationer, less apparent, but longer lasting than physical sciences), while the First Foundation they manipulate forms the necessary political union. They are governed by a council of the strongest mentalics, called the Speakers. However, the name 'Speaker' is somewhat of a misnomer, because, being telepaths, the use of actual speech is quite unnecessary. The leader of the group is the First Speaker (a possible reference to the Roman title Princeps). The only formal power of the First Speaker was to speak first at meetings of the Speaker's Table, but in practice it conferred significantly more power.

References

*cite book | last=Chalker | first=Jack L. | authorlink=Jack L. Chalker | coauthors=Mark Owings | title=The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923-1998 | location=Westminster, MD and Baltimore | publisher=Mirage Press, Ltd.| pages=302-303 | date=1998