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Inspired by a Heinlein novella? No thank you. Why is it that sci-fi authors trick otherwise smart people into thinking they have the key to some kind of univer
by throw4847285 3y ago
Inspired by a Heinlein novella? No thank you.
Why is it that sci-fi authors trick otherwise smart people into thinking they have the key to some kind of universal truth as opposed to just being skilled prose stylists with a sense of drama?
- lucideer 3y agoBecause those otherwise smart people are looking for that universal truth and if they didn't find it in scifi they'd find it somewhere else.
- throw4847285 3y agoNah. Compare it with fantasy authors. Nobody thinks that Tolkien or Robert Jordan was putting forward some kind of aspirational project for better living through whatever. But people read Asimov and take psychohistory way too seriously, or read Heinlein and become a libertarian crank or invent a language. And let's not dwell too much on the extreme end of that scale, a certain writer with some funny ideas about mainstream psychology.
- schoen 3y agoI think Tolkien in particular felt he had a moral and spiritual message, although the way to act on it, if any, presumably wouldn't be to pretend to be living in his Third Age.
- digging 3y ago> Nobody thinks that Tolkien ... was putting forward some kind of aspirational project for better living through whatever. Actually I think that's a fair argument to make about LOTR. The simple, rustic wholesomeness of the Hobbits, the valor and respect of the Men, and even the friendship of a Dwarf and an Elf destroyed rapacious greed multiple times. I think even the Scouring episode at the end of the novels, while it may seem unimportant to the plot, can be considered important to the message of resisting industrialization. But I'm not a Tolkien scholar myself so take this all with a grain of salt.
- throw4847285 3y agoThere's a difference between a work of fiction having compelling themes and a political message and the way that some sci-fi fans seem to treat their favorite novels. There's almost a sense that the work is predictive rather than just prescriptive.
- digging 3y agoWell, that's true, but I guess it just makes sense. Sci-fi is generally set in the future. LOTR is set in the past.
- rerdavies 3y agoTolkien is very obviously putting forward some kind of aspirational project for better living through whatever. Namely that small ordinary people (hobbits) who come from the Shire (the green pastures of England) and live in Hobbit holes (quant English cottages and farmhouses) are more powerful than kings, wizards, and unspeakable evil (Hitler), despite the fact that they live in the shadow of a golden age (the British Empire) that will never happen again. Plus the evils of industrialization, in case you got to the end without spotting the obvious. But social class matters intensely, and it's a shame that people are forgetting that. (The great virtue of Samwise Gamgee being not just that he is loyal, but most importantly that he knows his place in the order of things).
- skupig 3y agoWhat is it about creative projects that tricks otherwise rational people into inventing unfounded characterizations of their creators? There's not one sentence in the entire article to suggest Quijada thinks that way.