tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360678483868538266.post9000094740712503502..comments2024-03-13T20:37:29.313-07:00Comments on Pamphlets of Destiny: Last Men in London Lawrence Burtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090260063135283767noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360678483868538266.post-85369416860445461362013-07-25T13:42:08.083-07:002013-07-25T13:42:08.083-07:00I've probably made Odd John sound much worse t...I've probably made Odd John sound much worse than it is. His stance on eugenics isn't too bad, and it's very typical of its times. It's just a bit uncomfortable reading stuff about how the stronger races will inevitably overcome the weaker ones, with the hindsight of knowing how such attitudes played a large part in making the second world war as nasty as it was. It's easy to mock the Nazis for such thinking, but as I suspect you probably know, eugenics was also equally popular in Britain and the US during the 30s although this seems to have vanished down the collective memory hole. Obviously it's not really fair to blame Stapledon for any of this although it probably IS fair to at least partly blame him for the fucking X Men.<br /><br />In a similar vein, another curious thing to mention about Sirius is that it's one of the few British novels I've read which was published during world war 2. I suspect this may account for the novel's very British, calm, bucolic atmosphere which must have seemed like heavenly escapism at the time, I really don't think I've read anything like it.<br /><br /><br /><br />Tamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09025289184864042978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360678483868538266.post-6035877286767397982013-07-25T12:26:18.575-07:002013-07-25T12:26:18.575-07:00Now I'm embarrassed at how much more perceptiv...Now I'm embarrassed at how much more perceptive your reading seems to have been, Tam. The autobiographical element seems obvious, but unfortunately only with hindsight in my case. I have as it happens been wondering about reading another Stapledon (quite aside from having another go at Last and First Men) so may try both Sirius and Odd John - the latter mainly out of curiosity - I've read some fairly unpalatable eugenics SF (Naomi Mitchison) from that era or thereabouts so would be interested to see how it compares (as in I'd be surprised if Stapledon was worse in this respect).Lawrence Burtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17090260063135283767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7360678483868538266.post-4936592702943564452013-07-25T12:10:49.249-07:002013-07-25T12:10:49.249-07:00Last men and First Men is one of my favorite books...Last men and First Men is one of my favorite books and I've read it a few times but I read Last Men in London last year and thought it was fascinating for completely different reasons. <br /><br />It's got all the human stuff that's completely absent from the other book and as deeply pessimistic as other writer from the 30s, (Celine, Orwell, etc...) but it seemed painfully autobiographical and I couldn't work out if Stapledon meant the book to be interpreted that way. What did you reckon? The 'victim' has so many life experiences that resemble the author's that it's hard not to take the book as a bit of an extended moan about why he was too good and noble for this world and how unfair it all is. Which is completely fair enough, given his courage and sacrifice during the Great war but not what I was expecting from someone who's greatest books were so unsentimental and unflinching about how tiny and meaningless our lives our within the very big picture!<br /><br />You might also want to check out his book Sirius, about a very intelligent dog. It's a more minor work, but there are some nice touches and there's one bit that's so odd that you'll find it hard to believe he actually wrote it. <br />He also did Odd John, which I'm not so keen on because it's full of all that 30s eugenics stuff that leaves a bit of a bad taste in the light of WW2, but it's fairly safe to assume that it directly or indirectly provided the entire template for the X MenTamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09025289184864042978noreply@blogger.com