Eleven Themes
HG Wells pioneered time travel, space travel, alien invasion,
future history and invisibility.
Other writers address telepathy, teleportation
and immortality.
Isaac Asimov appropriated robots and the idea of an applicable science of
society.
(His future history incorporates time travel and "psychohistory," the science of
society, and presents an immortal space-traveling telepathic
robot.)
Robert Heinlein's future history introduced the "generation ship"
(multi-generation interstellar spaceship) idea.
Robots
Interviewed on British radio, Asimov described robots as "mobile
computers." However, brains are conscious of their environments and linguistic
brains are additionally conscious of meanings whereas computers merely manipulate
symbols according to rules and thus are conscious neither of an environment nor of
the meanings of the symbols. Asimov's
robots have artificial linguistic brains, therefore are not computers.
Asimov formulated Laws of Robotics, then
subverted them for story purposes. Pre-Asimov robots were Menace or Pathos.
Asimov's were Engineering. But he returned to Menace in "That Thou Art Mindful
Of Him", to Pathos in "The Bicentennial Man" and to both in "Robot Dreams" where
the robot who dreams suddenly becomes both threat and victim. He says, "I was
that man," and is destroyed. (1) I discuss human-robot interactions and
interpretations of the Laws in two articles here and here.
I have never seen Otto Binder's earlier I, Robot although
I have been told that it is a series that does not develop. Asimov's I, Robot
begins with a household servant, continues with several experimental robots
and culminates when a humanoid robot (possibly) holds elected office and also
when giant robot Brains control the global economy for the good of humanity in
accordance with First Law. "Robots as Menace" returns in a later collection when
the Brains, regarding self-determination as the greatest human good, have phased
themselves out but have been succeeded by the Georges who, programmed to
prioritize obedience to the ablest, most intelligent human beings, come to
disregard the difference between flesh and metal and therefore to regard
themselves as the human beings who should be obeyed in accordance with the
Second Law of Robotics, now Humanics.
If, like most, though not all, of Asimov's robot stories, "That
Thou Art Mindful Of Him" is incorporated into his future history, then we know
that the later history contains not a robotic dictatorship but secret guidance
of historical processes by the benign humanoid Robot Daneel Olivaw who,
concealing his robotic nature because human beings would reject help from an
artifact, plans to transform humanity into a telepathic collective whose "good"
will be single, concrete and easier to achieve. Because men programmed robots to
value human beings, Daneel now persuades humanity to value itself. Asimov
simplified history but was a master of dialectics, the interpenetration of
opposites. We have come a long way from Robby the faithful servant to Daneel the
benevolent manipulator and Asimov would probably have taken us further if he had
lived longer.
Immortality etc
Several future histories incorporate immortality. Robert
Heinlein's Future History introduced the generation ship
idea and revealed that an immortal man had lived right through the History -
and, before that, through the twentieth century in which we lived while reading
the series. Poul Anderson's first future history, modeled on Heinlein's,
addressed Heinleinian themes (a generation ship and an immortality that
becomes pointless because it requires total isolation) and Asimovian themes
(an unemployed robot and an applied social science that prevents mutiny in the
generation ship but fails to prevent
revolution on Earth).
In James Blish's Okies history, antiagathics make generation
ships unnecessary and preserve some interstellar nomads until the end of the
universe. In Anderson's The Boat Of A Million Years, a few immortal
mutants live through recorded history into an indefinite future but I prefer
Anderson's treatment of artificial immortality in World Without Stars. In
Larry Niven's A World Out Of Time, chemicals associated with aging are
teleported out of the body. Thus, immortality meets teleportation and the instant
elsewhere is the young forever.
My point here is that sf resembles an extended seminar with authors
presenting innovative deductions from shared premises. I briefly
discuss immortality in fantasy and sf in "Immortality" here.
Teleportation
In Superman versus Aliens, an alien is teleported from
inside Superman's body. One X Man is a teleport. In Kenneth Bulmer's Behold The Stars, aliens at
war with Earth sabotage interstellar matter transmitters so that Earthmen arrive
without the will to fight. In Anderson's The Enemy Stars, fuel is
teleported to interstellar spaceships and crews teleport between Earth and the
ships. One of Heinlein's Scribner Juveniles, Tunnel In The Sky, features
interstellar teleportation instead of the usual faster than light spacecraft. In
Star Trek, "transporters" make scenes with shuttle craft unnecessary.
Alfred Bester's Tiger! Tiger! presents a society in which most people can
teleport.
Invisibility
Wells' Invisible Man was, like Mr Hyde, a
pre-comics super-villain. Invisibility has become a comic book super power (see
"Comics and Science Fiction" here) and occurs in CS Lewis' juvenile fantasy,
The Chronicles of Narnia.
Telepathy
Anderson's character Dominic Flandry learns how to lie to a telepath. Blish
presents four different scientific rationales for telepathy. In Heinlein's Scribner
Juvenile, Time For The Stars, the confirmed instantaneity of telepathy between twins on Earth and in an
interstellar spaceship facilitates the development of instantaneous spacecraft. Bester's The Demolished Man
describes a telepathic society. Telepathy is big in Olaf Stapledon's works,
discussed below. In CS Lewis' "The Shoddy Lands," Lewis as character enters
another character's consciousness. I have heard of but not read other major
works on telepathy. Readers of this article will fill the gaps.
Future Histories
A British future history is a fictitious historical text book
whereas an American future history is a series of stories and novels set in
successive periods. Olaf Stapledon recounts Martian invasions and Neptunian
colonization but as a historian, not as a novelist, whereas Robert Heinlein's
Future History includes a story about financing the first Moon landing and a
novel about the Second American Revolution. American future histories can be
constructed either "inclusively" or "exclusively." See "American Future
Histories" here and "CS
Lewis and James Blish" here.
Future histories develop. Wells covers a single period and
historical turning point whereas Stapledon covers the entire future. In A Short History of the Future, the
little known RC Churchill combines narratives from Orwell, Huxley, Bradbury,
Vonnegut etc. Anderson's Psychotechnic History imitated Heinlein's Future
History but Anderson later constructed his Technic History by linking two
existing series. Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle are later successors of
Heinlein. In Anderson's Tales of the Flying Mountains, extra-solar
colonists discuss how to teach their earlier history among the asteroids to
their children. Anderson's Harvest of Stars future history covers
human-AI interaction. His Genesis covers post-human, aiming to become
post-cosmic, AI. In Galaxies like Grains of Sand, Brian Aldiss
synthesizes the British and American approaches by linking short stories with
historical passages. In Genesis, Anderson synthesizes the two approaches
by alternating chapters of action and dialogue with chapters narrated on Stapledonian
timescales.
Four Wellsian Themes
In "CS Lewis and James Blish," (see here) I argue that:
(i) Wells' The Time Machine, The First Men in the Moon, The War of
the Worlds and The Shape of Things to Come pioneered time travel,
space travel, alien invasion and future history, respectively;
(ii) following Wells, Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men incorporates
these themes and opens a tetralogy also covering past history (Last Men in
London), cosmic history (Star Maker) and a contemporary evolutionary
advance (Odd John);
(iii) replying to Wells and Stapledon, Lewis' Ransom Trilogy covers an
interplanetary journey, a demonic invasion of a sinless planet and demonic
manipulation of a Wellsian plan for the future of humanity;
(iv) like The Time Machine, Lewis' unfinished Ransom novel, "The Dark
Tower," begins with a group discussion of
the possibility or otherwise of time travel;
(v) thus, four works by Lewis parallel four by Wells;
(vi) following Wells and referencing Lewis, James Blish's
theological trilogy, After Such Knowledge (ASK), addresses past
and future science and present demons;
(vii) like Ransom, Blish's character Adolph Haertel travels to Mars in
the juvenile novel, Welcome to Mars;
(viii) also like Ransom, Haertel's successors travel to a sinless planet in ASK Volume III, A Case of
Conscience;
(ix) like Ransom's adversaries, other Blish characters invoke and converse with demons in ASK Volume IIa, Black Easter;
(x) thus, three Blish works, including one and a half volumes of ASK,
parallel Ransom;
(xi) however, Blish's Mars is scientifically accurate, his sinless planet is Godless and his demons are victorious;
(xii) thus, his informal post-Lewis trilogy is also an antithesis;
(xiii) Blish disagreed with Lewis' beliefs but respected his insights and
admired his novels whereas the later writer, Philip Pullman, is not post- but
anti-Lewis;
(xiv) however, Pullman's juvenile trilogy, His Dark Materials, is
fantasy, not sf, and replies
to Narnia, not to Ransom.
Thus, sixteen works by Wells, Stapledon, Lewis and Blish, though
not by Pullman, form a conceptual sequence addressing
philosophical and moral issues through sf themes. (Two related works are the
earlier, unfinished version of The Time Machine, "The Chronic Argonauts,"
which introduces the circular causality paradox, and the earlier, unfinished
version of Star Maker, Nebula Maker, which covers
pre-stellar
nebular history.) Wells and Stapledon present an
anthropocentric alternative to Biblical-Dantean-Miltonic metaphysics.
Lewis
re-affirms the latter. Blish defends science, though without advocating a
Wellsian scientific restructuring of society. He writes ambiguously
about the supernatural in ASK Volume I, Doctor
Mirabilis, and Volume III, A Case of Conscience, but imagines it as
real in Volume II, Black Easter/The Day After Judgement.
These four writers reflect on man's cosmic role by showing men
interacting with extraterrestrial races. Lewis alone presents such races as "unFallen"
although Blish addresses this issue ambiguously in ASK III. Wellsian and
Stapledonian Martians invade Earth. Stapledonian Terrestrials invade Venus and
Neptune. A Lewisian demon infests Venus by possessing a space traveling
scientist. Thus, Lewis subverts the alien invasion idea for theological
purposes. His Ransom Volume II, Perelandra, also, though less obviously,
replies to Star Maker because Ransom's
Christian vision of creation contrasts with Stapledon's revelation of an
aesthetically motivated but morally indifferent creator.
Although Blish's alien invasion novel, VOR, is not part of this
conceptual sequence, his A Case of Conscience definitely parallels
Perelandra by describing Earthmen arguing on a sinless planet. Despite this
summary, the differences between Lewis' and Blish's novels are greater than their
similarities. Lewis' humanly habitable sinless planet is Venus whereas Blish's
is extra-solar. Lewis' Venerians are green but humanoid and immortal because unFallen whereas
Blish's Lithians are reptilian and, of course, mortal. Lewis' Christian character, like Lewis an Anglican layman,
fantastically confronts unequivocal evil whereas Blish's
Christian character, unlike Blish a Jesuit priest, more plausibly contends with colleagues who have different points of
view.
The Time Machine, The Shape of Things to Come,
Last and First Men and Ransom Volume III, That Hideous Strength, all address the
human future. Will humanity devolve, degenerate or remake itself? Does it need a
supernatural salvation? To this second question, the Biblical tradition answers
yes, Wells and Stapledon answered no, Lewis answered yes and Blish was agnostic.
The other sf futures mentioned above, anthropocentric, robotic or AI-dominated,
would also be unacceptable to Lewis who would find demons concealed in the technology
of any society that was not theocentric.
That Hideous Strength, although not a future history,
is about the future and is specifically a reply to The Shape of Things to
Come and to Last and First Men. Lewis mentions Stapledon in
the Preface
and parodies Wells (as "Jules") in the text. Written during the war,
published
at the end of the war and set after the war, the novel dramatizes two
alternative futures for Britain and the world. Wells and Stapledon had
thought
that mankind would be able to remake itself with science. Lewis replied
that any supposed remaking would in fact be a technological dictatorship
destroying humanity and even allowing demonic control (!)
His invocation of an Arthurian past is not irrelevant but is part of his
response to a Wellsian future. Black Easter,
although not a reflection on the future, does end with apparent demonic control and
is in memoriam CS Lewis.
In Julian May's Pliocene Exile/Intervention/Galactic Milieu
sequence (one tetralogy and one trilogy with one intermediate volume):
many people become telepathic;
a few also become immortal;
one character reads Odd John;
a benign extraterrestrial intervention changes society;
a few terrestrials flee to the Pliocene only to meet malign alien invaders then;
the trilogy covers a short period of future history;
a Pliocene exile surviving until the Galactic Milieu influences the events that
led to his exile;
Catholic and extraterrestrial characters present a post-Lewisian cosmic theology.
May's sequence addresses Wellsian and other sf themes and Christian theology,
refers to Odd John and echoes Blish with the term "Okies"
although used in a different sense. Thus, May's eight volumes can be added to the sixteen earlier
volumes of this conceptual sequence which now has three British authors and two
American of whom the first, Blish, moved to Britain (which may not prove much
but is an interesting observation).
The four Wellsian
themes also provide a template for comparing
other authors' works. Most sf is post-Wellsian but not also
post-Lewisian, including Blish's time travel story, "The City That Was
The World," his interplanetary
novel, Welcome to Mars, his alien invasion novel, VOR, and his
future history, Cities in Flight. Welcome to Mars fits into the above
mentioned sequence first because, as a journey to Mars story, it parallels
Ransom Volume I, Out of the Silent Planet, secondly because, as hard sf, it is
antithetical to Lewis' theological/mythological approach and thirdly because,
although not part of ASK, it
is a prequel to ASK III.
Heinlein wrote three first man on the Moon stories: his Future
History version, his Scribner Juvenile version and a film version. He also wrote
an alien invasion novel, The Puppet Masters, three classic statements of
the time travel circular causality paradox, the original American Future History
and, arguably also, a Juvenile Future History because five early Scribner
Juveniles share background references with each other and with the "Green Hills
of Earth" period of the (adult) Future History.
Larry Niven combined first man on the Moon with time travel in
"Wrong Way Street." Logically, a future lunar explorer who finds an alien time machine
and travels into the past while remaining on the Moon thus becomes the first man on the
Moon. Niven
addressed alien invasion with Jerry Pournelle in Footfall and is
still
writing a major future history. Poul Anderson wrote eight future
histories, six
volumes on time travel covering both circular causality and causality
violation, including the sacred texts of the Time Patrol, a novel
in which a time dilated spaceship outlasts the universe and a short
story in
which militarily superior humanoid aliens sell their services to the
highest
bidding terrestrial government, thus conquering Earth economically.
Again,
the premises are familiar but not always the conclusions.
Time Travel
Because time time travel distorts the order of
events, it is difficult to write about. An astronaut who will travel to Mars has
not yet arrived on Mars whereas a chrononaut who will travel to the eleventh
century arrived in the eleventh century a thousand years ago. A ten year round
trip to Mars equals a ten year absence from Earth whereas, if a chrononaut who
has spent ten years in the eleventh century returns to his departure point, then he
loses no time in his home era. If history books do not record a chrononaut's
activities in 1918, then they will not start to record such activities after he
has departed to 1918. These points may seem simple but conversation about them is not.
A fellow sf fan once argued that, since we do not know how time
travel would work, it is pointless to argue about how sf writers present it.
However, we do know whether a conclusion follows from a premise. If the
Enterprise crew have traveled from the twenty second to the twentieth century
without loss of memory, then it cannot be assumed later in the same script that,
if a man is returned to an earlier time, then he automatically forgets
everything that he has experienced since that time. Writers reasoning
consistently from stated premises would improve the quality of time
travel fiction. See "The Logic of Time Travel" here.
Conclusion
Listing themes helps us to classify and compare sf works. Such
classifications and comparisons can be extremely comprehensive but never complete.
(Added Feb 2012: In There Will Be
Time, Poul Anderson linked time travel to the generation ship idea in a way
that I had thought of but was not able to write a book about: if time travelers
enter a generation ship before it leaves Earth, travel future-wards within the
ship, visit its destination, then return past-wards within the ship, then they
can report the outcome of the mission before its departure.
(In his Martian Trilogy, Michael Moorcock
linked time travel to interplanetary adventure. Edgar Rice Burrough's character
John Carter had astrally traveled to a humanly inhabited Mars. Moorcock,
pastiching Burroughs but also knowing that Mars is not humanly inhabited, made
his character Michael Kane time travel to Mars at a time when it was inhabited,
before humanity had migrated from Mars to Earth.)
1. Asimov, Isaac. Robot Dreams, Ace Books, 1986.
