Solar Flare: Science Fiction News

But It Hasn’t Aged Well

Okay you’re going to have to stick with me as I set this one up. I was reading a post by John at SFSignal essentially defending Golden Age science fiction. His defense was in response to some comments by Jacob McMurray in which he is critical of much Golden Age science fiction. While I don’t disagree with anything John said in his defense of Golden Age SF, I also find that I don’t actually disagree with anything Jacob McMurray said either. How is that possible?

John’s defense weighs heavily on the issue of the scientific inaccuracies or predictions that never happened. He argues that this shouldn’t weigh against a book. I completely agree with this. However I think the more important element of McMurray’s criticism is that the culture which Golden Age SF references has changed. This I think is key to the problems with much (though not all) Golden Age SF.

The each decade has a distinct texture to it, shaped by the events that effect us during that time period. The texture of the 1950s is so radically different to today that we might as well be talking about a different century. Aging is a problem that all fiction struggles with, but science fiction has it doubly hard. You see fiction set in the past or the present day, simply becomes period fiction, but SF is supposed to be set in the future.

In addition SF often addresses current political or cultural events by placing them into the future where they can be examined “safely”. If those events no longer have the resonance they used to or simply have a different resonance then the whole thrust of the story is weakened. Its not a flaw in the writing, so much as a flaw in the genre.

And the problem isn’t limited to Golden Age SF. Consider a book like The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman. A book that addresses the Vietnam War by presenting us with a war in the future that goes on forever and shows us the effects that war has on the society of earth. I first read that book some 10 years ago now and it felt very dated at the time. I’m curious how I’d react to it reading it now. With the current world situation, would it have become more dated or actually become relevant all over again?

So no, Golden Age science fiction doesn’t suck. Or at least, if the story didn’t suck when it was written, it still doesn’t suck. But yes it has aged and that aging has hurt it. For the record I suspect much modern science fiction, with its heavy focus on science above all else, will actually age worse.

Link: SFSignal - Does Golden Age Science Fiction Suck?
Link: Jacob McMurray, A SciFi Kind of Guy