Tag: Books

Hunger Games and Teenage Angst in the New Yorker

I read this one when it came out back in 2010, but The New Yorker is highlighting it today to capitalize on the Hunger Games movie release:

“Fresh Hell”, Laura Miller:

…dystopian stories for adults and children have essentially the same purpose—to warn us about the dangers of some current trend. That’s certainly true of books like “1984” and “Brave New World”; they detail the consequences of political authoritarianism and feckless hedonism. This is what will happen if we don’t turn back now, they scold, and scolding makes sense when your readers have a shot at getting their hands on the wheel. Continue reading “Hunger Games and Teenage Angst in the New Yorker”

Graphic History of the Dystopian Novel

Goodreads blog has a nice graphic timeline of the dystopian novel. The genre appears to have peaked in the mid-40’s, the mid-50’s, and well, now. The difference between now and the 50’s, according to the graphic, is that today’s swath of dystopian books aimed at teenagers features more romance, is inspired by the “vapidity of pop culture”, and is rated more highly by women than by men. That’s probably because zombie apocalypses are notably missing from the timeline.

Apocalypse 1954: Hero’s Walk

Cold War Geopolitics in Space

Hero’s Walk, Robert Crane, 1954

Humanity has united under a world government called InterCos, and has set out to boldly colonize the rest of the solar system. But strange, disturbing radio transmissions from space may be an alien warning against humanity’s imperialist ambitions. The politicians wrangle over the meaning of the transmissions, and use the issue to do what politicians always do – further their own power. Disregarding the frantic warnings of a desperate scientist who sees the alien threat, InterCos moves ahead with colonization, until the alien bombs start to fall. Hero’s Walk is basically a Cold War parable, published in the same year as the famous Oppenheimer security hearing, a critique of the reckless brinkmanship of the political leaders that threatened the world with the nuclear annihilation that scientists like Oppenheimer were warning about. Continue reading “Apocalypse 1954: Hero’s Walk”

1950’s Post-Apocalyptic Covers

My collection of 50’s sci-fi books that have at least a tangential connection to the post-apocalyptic subgenre. Unfortunately, I don’t have have a vintage edition for many of these.

Apocalypse 1952: Bernard Wolfe’s Limbo

Rage against the machine

It’s the post-apocalyptic 1990’s, thanks to a late 70’s nuclear third world war brought on by the giant computers that had been delegated by humans to handle geopolitics. (They sound a little like the micro-trading computers that now handle the much of high finance.) It turns out that the computers weren’t any better at keeping the peace than humans were.

Neurosurgeon and former Mormon Dr. Martine has spent the last 18 post-war years hiding out on an uncharted island somewhere in the Indian Ocean, integrated with the natives, but events draw him back home to what’s left of the United States. What he finds, built upon the slag heaps of both the former United States and Soviet Union, is a cyborg civilization filled with men who’ve renounced war, cut off their limbs, and replaced them with nuclear-powered prostheses. To his shock, Martine find out that he unwittingly had something to do with this bizarre state of affairs.

Bernard Wolfe’s 1952 Limbo is a disturbing but weirdly compelling proto-cyberpunk behemoth that combines an edgy, in-your-face language that compares with the best of Alfred Bester, with long, Heinlein-style philosophical digressions that are about as subtle as a kick to the head, to create one long, entertaining rant against… well, something, but I couldn’t quite figure out what. Continue reading “Apocalypse 1952: Bernard Wolfe’s Limbo“