Another look at an anarchist utopia

[bibliogramma]

Voyage from Yesteryear, James P. Hogan

First, let’s just agree that this is not a particularly well written book. There are infodumps everywhere – including a multi-page physics lecture on the state of research into the nature of the quark at the time the book was written which, while interesting, could have been boiled down into two paragraphs that would have served the story just as well, if not better. The characterisation is rather limited, and the style is a kind of ultra Campbellian “gee-whiz, look at the cool gadgets, now lets have some manly action” breathlessness that one associates with writers who had never even heard of the New Wave.

I read this a good many years ago, and what made me remember it and decide to read it again is its ambitious attempt to describe an anarchistic society (one that’s more in the libertarian than the socialist or syndicalist traditions) from the ground up, and to imagine the kind of dysfunctional society that could result from an extreme extension of a number of trends in late 20th century American culture. A classic comparison of a utopic and a dystopic vision.

The premise of the story is that a group of scientists and other forward thinkers, worried that the political situation on earth is such that human civilisation may not survive the possibilities of war, decide to try to save some part of humanity. Unfortunately, they don’t have the time or the resources to build a generational ship. What they do have is a ship crewed by robots that’s being readied to be sent on an unmanned exploration of Chiron, an Earth-like planet that was discovered in a neighbouring star system. Their solution? Stock the ship with thousands of fertilised embryos and reprogram the robots to first produce a planetary population using the embryos, and then to protect and nurture the children and help them create a new civilisation. Many years later, after the crisis on Earth is passed, the society that evolved out of the crisis sends a ship to check up on the Chironians and, naturally, exploit the colony for the good of the folks back home.

What I love about this book, for all its flaws, is the total lack of comprehension among the Earth contingent when basic concepts of an anarchist are explained to them. The culture clash between a rigid, hierarchical, status-obsessed, imperialistic and capitalist culture and a flexible, heterarchical, classless, non-exploitative, non-monetary culture is priceless.

Comments

[dmiley.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I read this book over 20 years ago and completely forgot both the author and title. Like you, I enjoyed some of its premises, my favorite probably being that screwing up the pleasure of work was grounds for justifiable homicide. That time period really was great for sci-fi fantasy - my personal favorite being Holdstock's Mythago Wood.

David

[bibliogramma.livejournal.com]

Despite its technical flaws, it's a wonderful description of a society based on giving rather than taking, pleasure (in all things) rather than pain, love rather than fear.

By the way, I'm curious as to what brought you to my book journal.

[dmiley.livejournal.com]

I was wandering through someone else's profile and saw "good porn". Curiosity got the better of me and there you were right near the top.

I am just dazzled at your production and plan to spend some time with your reviews. Do you mind a plug on my journal? My two readers would surely be interested, especially the one with a phd in feminist science fiction.

My own blog is primarily pagan spiritual with a lot recently on ogam and Brighid.

David

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

Bibliogramma here, but commenting from my other LJ persona.

Thanks for your interest in my book journal, and feel free to plug it. I'm always interested to see what other people have to say about my thoughts about these books.

I did take a look at your blog, and found it of some interest - my own spiritual leanings are animist but with a very strong infusion of Celtic tradition and imagery, as my heritage is Welsh and Scots. I found your meditations on ogam very interesting. Would you mind if I "friended" your blog from my primary journal (morgan_dhu)?