Fun in no sun
Further attitude adjustment today, as I got another climbing gym workout with a good friend. No upsidedown time, but plenty of effort; we managed to feel some kind of pleasant exhaustion. The day grew darker and windier, and rainy by the evening walk.
Most happy to retire with a collection of Margaret Atwood's nonfiction, called Writing with Intent. I appreciate her work, her voice, her intelligence and dry humour; there is a very good piece on what led up to her production of The Handmaid's Tale. The novel is a dystopia, and her's one thing Ms. Atwood has to say:
"Utopias are often satirical, the satire being directed at whatever society the writer is currently living in - that is, the superior arrangements of the Utopians reflect badly on us. Dystopias are more like dire warnings than satires, dark shadows cast by the present into the future. They are what will happen to us if we don't pull up our socks.
What aspects of this life interest such writers? To no one's surprise, their concerns turn out to be much the same as those of society. There are, of course, the superficial matters of clothing and cuisine, partial nudity and vegetarianism making regular appearances. But the main problems are the distribution of wealth; labor relations; power structures; the protection of the powerless, if any; relations between the sexes; population control; urban planning, often in the form of an interest in drains and sewers; the rearing of children; illness and its ethics; insanity ditto, the censorship of artists and suchlike riffraff and antisocial elements; individual privacy and its invasion; and the administration of justice - if, that is, any such administration is needed."
( emboldened text my emphasis)
The Handmaid's Tale was published in 1983, and this piece around the same time. If you consider each of the issues mentioned above, I think we can clearly diagnose our country, and this world, as already well on the way to a dystopic condition. And we are almost another quarter of a century down this slide since Atwood wrote this. Small wonder so many dystopic works are coming out, including Atwood's own Oryx and Crake. Large wonder that they're permitted to be published; guess it's because they're labeled as fiction.
Most happy to retire with a collection of Margaret Atwood's nonfiction, called Writing with Intent. I appreciate her work, her voice, her intelligence and dry humour; there is a very good piece on what led up to her production of The Handmaid's Tale. The novel is a dystopia, and her's one thing Ms. Atwood has to say:
"Utopias are often satirical, the satire being directed at whatever society the writer is currently living in - that is, the superior arrangements of the Utopians reflect badly on us. Dystopias are more like dire warnings than satires, dark shadows cast by the present into the future. They are what will happen to us if we don't pull up our socks.
What aspects of this life interest such writers? To no one's surprise, their concerns turn out to be much the same as those of society. There are, of course, the superficial matters of clothing and cuisine, partial nudity and vegetarianism making regular appearances. But the main problems are the distribution of wealth; labor relations; power structures; the protection of the powerless, if any; relations between the sexes; population control; urban planning, often in the form of an interest in drains and sewers; the rearing of children; illness and its ethics; insanity ditto, the censorship of artists and suchlike riffraff and antisocial elements; individual privacy and its invasion; and the administration of justice - if, that is, any such administration is needed."
( emboldened text my emphasis)
The Handmaid's Tale was published in 1983, and this piece around the same time. If you consider each of the issues mentioned above, I think we can clearly diagnose our country, and this world, as already well on the way to a dystopic condition. And we are almost another quarter of a century down this slide since Atwood wrote this. Small wonder so many dystopic works are coming out, including Atwood's own Oryx and Crake. Large wonder that they're permitted to be published; guess it's because they're labeled as fiction.
posted by isabelita at 4:53 PM
3 Comments:
And, as fiction, won't be read by too many.
-sigh-
And speaking of dystopia, you should go read today's Alterman if you haven't already:
http://mediamatters.org/altercation/
Thanks for that suggestion,kathyr. I had seen Hersch's piece somewhere, but I have to ask: Why would the bad guys WANT a dystopia?No, Bush&Cheney aren't any different than Ahmmadinthehead, they're all peas in a pod, power-drunk men who are out picking fights. Nobody wants a dystopia, I am very tired of people telling me that there are guys out there that hate us, yatta yatta yatta; they do for many reasons. And I don't like anybody of any stripe who acts like our "leaders" are doing. They're no better than any ragtag bunch of rednecks anywhere in the world spoiling for trouble.
Post a Comment
<< Home