Happy Birthday Nicholas Van Rijn                   

Well, no-one knows the real birthday of Poul Anderson’s glorious swashbuckler, but today is St Dismas day and as Nick Van Rijn’s patron saint was St Dismas, it is appropriate to honour him on this day. 

Nick Van Rijn is the larger-than-life hero of Poul Anderson’s stories and novels of the merchant trading league of space, the Polesotechnic league.  He is big, brash, bold and clever.  As Anderson describes him, Van Rijn is of mixed Indonesian and Dutch descent, has black ringletted hair and a stylish goatee.  He is big, with a full round belly that covers a lot of solid muscle.  He dresses expensively but carelessly, more concerned with life than appearance.  

Van Rijn’s love of life is legendary, he always has a drink and is never drunk.  He admires beautiful women and more importantly, he can see the beauty in all women.  He is Rabelaisian and has a pedigree that goes back to Shakespeare’s Falstaff.  He knows that good food and good company help us suffer the difficult times that we all must pass through.       

Poul Anderson has given us a paean of praise to the big man.  Men, remember that the big man can have style.  A big man with style and personality can fill a room with his presence.  Women are drawn to him for his warmth and the security of his company.  Never underestimate the style of big men.  Think Orson Welles, Peter Ustinov, Phillip Seymour Hoffman.   

Van Rijn is smart, wealthy and brave.  He is the magician in every man, able to turn the world to his benefit.  He is also the warrior, because regardless of how smart he is, he knows that what changes the world is action.  Thinking and talking set the scene, but only action will make a difference in the world.  Van Rijn is the smart man as action hero.  A man can learn from Nick Van Rijn.

Poul Anderson wrote several books of Nick Van Rijn’s adventures. Here is a link to the Poul Anderson entry on Wikipedia, which lists them.