XPost: talk.politics.libertarian, alt.society.liberalism, alt.anarchism
XPost: alt.society.anarchy
From: alexander.russell@telus.net
James A. Donald wrote:
> On Thu, 1 Jul 2010 19:13:24 -0700 (PDT), Phlip
> wrote:
>
>> On Jul 1, 3:24 pm, James A. Donald wrote:
>
>>> Ayn Rand's stories are generally set in the near or distant future of
>>> her time, or set in a parallel future, alternate history, story
>>> frequently depends on an imaginary technological innovation. Sure
>>> sounds like Science Fiction to me. Her heroes are commonly science
>>> fictional in exactly the same way as Tony Stark is science fictional.
>
>> BS. I actually read /The Fountainhead/. It was about the Roaring 20s,
>> and the Stock Market Crash (which she deftly blamed on undocumented
>> guest laborers, instead of stock brokers following her advice, IIRC),
>> culminating with the construction of a tower resembling the Empire
>> State Building.
>
> "Atlas shrugged" is set in the near future, alternate history, plot
> driven by technological innovation. "Anthem" is set in the far
> future, "We the living" depicts actually existent communism, and is
> set in the all-too real world, and the actual present of her youth in
> Russia.
>
>
I have to agree that Ayn Rand's works do fit into the speculative
fiction category. She is proposing a significant change in society then
exploring where it leads, much like Robert H. Heilnlein did, minus the
overt technological changes. Ursula K. LeGuin's "Left Hand of Darkness",
other than the technology to get the characters to another planet, is in
the same class, but explores societies mores and norms regarding sexual
orientation and no one doubts this work is science fiction.
These categories and broad and ill defined. It isn't that important if
one person excludes or includes certain works.
Alex
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