[PREV - FUSED_CORE] [TOP]
August 27, 1992
There's this Algis Budrys novel, The published title was
a crazy piece of work on the face "The Amsirs & the Iron Thorn".
of it. There are these people trapped
on Mars, for generations living a grim The author's intended
desperate existence where everthing they title was simply
do has to be oriented toward survival, "The Iron Thorn".
and practically nothing but survial.
UNDESERVED_TITLES
Because of this the life they live
seems pointless, without meaning.
Then midway through the book, there's
this crazy shift: the main character
stumbles into a working space ship that
takes him to earth... a utopian earth,
where all physical needs are met, "...and you shall not
and nothing is left for anyone to want more..."
do except play with fashions,
create artwork, go to parties...
And because no one has to do
anything, their lives seem
pointless, without meaning.
Idiotic Interpretation #1:
Budrys is saying that
life is meaningless.
Closer to the point:
The things that give life
meaning are not at all
understood.
LIFE
Sometimes, people take
the attitude that fiction "It is only where men are
shouldn't have a "message"; to be found neither too
if you've got a didactic rich and powerful to be
point to make, why not tempted into extravagant
write an essay? indulgences nor too poor
and limited to care for
The _Iron Thorn_ is an anything beyond the daily
example of why not... need that those
the texture of life is disinterested curiosities
what the book is about; and serene impulses can
the reader's reactions to have play that give sane
the two extreme scenarios philosophy and science
that are presented are and great art to the
crucial to the philosophic world ... "
point.
-- H.G. Wells,
"The Outline of History",
Chapter 29, Section 3,
page 506
The Iron Thorn is
a necessary pain.
--------
[NEXT - SUNY]