Rip Van Hugo
Nov. 30th, 2015 09:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dave_wallaceIf there were any significant merit to the central premise of the various "puppy" incarnations - that SF awards have recently been taken over by a cabal of so-called "social justice warriors," to the detriment of the works honored and the overall field - you might expect that the best-positioned person to notice it would be someone who had just suddenly returned to reading current works in the field after a 20+ year absence. Someone, that is, much like me.
As I noted in my previous post, I basically stopped reading most new SF and paying attention to the Hugos after the birth of my son Kern in 1992. I didn't stop reading SF altogether - rather I was mostly seeking out and re-reading the stories and authors of my youth to share with my son as he got older. As soon as he was old enough, I introduced him to Tolkein, and to Asimov's Foundation trilogy. Later, he returned the favor by sharing some of his enthusiasms with me. I did catch a few contemporary novels - we read the Harry Potter series together as a family as they were published, and I did read A Song of Ice and Fire some time after A Dance With Dragons came out. But for the most part, my reading in this period was originally published pre-1993.
So what does the state of SF look like to someone emerging from a long hibernation? It's surprisingly familiar, actually. I enjoyed all three of the non-puppy nominated novels this year. Overall, it seems like there is more urban fantasy themed stuff out there, and a bit more diversity among the authors. But I see a definite connection between the works I was reading and enjoying back in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, and the non-puppy stuff that got nominated this year.
Conversely, I wonder what the Puppies were reading that leads them to think that a concern with social justice themes is a recent innovation in SF. Did they ever read The Forever War? The Left Hand of Darkness? Heck, did they ever read Stranger in a Strange Land? Hugo-winners all, that bunch. Have they read anything by Alice Sheldon/James Tiptree Jr.? Ursula Le Guin? Joanna Russ?
If there's an earlier age that the Puppies are hearkening back to, where white male concerns went largely unchallenged and a rocket ship on the cover meant you could count on a simple space adventure, it would be the 50s and earlier, a time when several of their leading figures weren't even born. And even so, I suspect that is something of an oversimplification.
As I noted in my previous post, I basically stopped reading most new SF and paying attention to the Hugos after the birth of my son Kern in 1992. I didn't stop reading SF altogether - rather I was mostly seeking out and re-reading the stories and authors of my youth to share with my son as he got older. As soon as he was old enough, I introduced him to Tolkein, and to Asimov's Foundation trilogy. Later, he returned the favor by sharing some of his enthusiasms with me. I did catch a few contemporary novels - we read the Harry Potter series together as a family as they were published, and I did read A Song of Ice and Fire some time after A Dance With Dragons came out. But for the most part, my reading in this period was originally published pre-1993.
So what does the state of SF look like to someone emerging from a long hibernation? It's surprisingly familiar, actually. I enjoyed all three of the non-puppy nominated novels this year. Overall, it seems like there is more urban fantasy themed stuff out there, and a bit more diversity among the authors. But I see a definite connection between the works I was reading and enjoying back in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, and the non-puppy stuff that got nominated this year.
Conversely, I wonder what the Puppies were reading that leads them to think that a concern with social justice themes is a recent innovation in SF. Did they ever read The Forever War? The Left Hand of Darkness? Heck, did they ever read Stranger in a Strange Land? Hugo-winners all, that bunch. Have they read anything by Alice Sheldon/James Tiptree Jr.? Ursula Le Guin? Joanna Russ?
If there's an earlier age that the Puppies are hearkening back to, where white male concerns went largely unchallenged and a rocket ship on the cover meant you could count on a simple space adventure, it would be the 50s and earlier, a time when several of their leading figures weren't even born. And even so, I suspect that is something of an oversimplification.
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Date: 2016-05-01 04:27 pm (UTC)- Dave