LITR 4632: Literature of the Future

Web-Highlight 2007

Monday, 11 June: Web-highlighter (midterms on evolution and/or Time Machine): Paula Upham

Paula Upham Web highlights

EVOLUTION & THE TIME MACHINE

 “The Time Machine is a chilling portrayal of evolution in the future.  It is easy to accept evolution in terms of humans adapting to new situations, but Wells depicts a future in which few humans would find anything admirable in our development.  The two species that have evolved from humans, the Eloi and Morlocks, are equally unattractive.  One group is mindlessly being provided for, while the other fattens them up for the slaughter.  … This disturbing image brings to light one of the hardest points in evolutionary narrative.  If one accepts the idea that time is not linear, not fixed on a certain path, with a certain destination, one has to accept the lack of importance that the human race has in the larger narrative of time.  This issue is what makes evolutionary narratives so difficult, because the thinking becomes so broad and overwhelming.  In apocalyptic narratives, the frame of reference is, at most, several thousands of years.  In evolutionary narratives, our modern scale of time becomes obsolete and our frame of reference no longer works.   (Kate Payne, 2003, midterm)

EVOLUTIONARY LITERATURE

The evolutionary narrative tends to be cyclical, as opposed to linear, in nature.  This type of narrative is not so affirming to human nature as is the apocalyptic narrative.  The evolutionary narrative resists the grand scheme of God’s control.  It seems more random—dependent upon genetic changes, adaptation, and extinction.  No longer are humans created in God’s image.  Instead they are descended from apes, bacteria, or primordial goo. Furthermore, the long time line for the evolutionary process renders mankind insignificant in comparison.  There are positive aspects to the evolutionary narrative, however.  Evolutionary narratives permit the hope of progress.  They open the door to the idea that humankind can improve, can rectify injustices, and can create a better, if not perfect, world.

The down-home humor of Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson made it a delightful read.  It was a different spin on most of the evolutionary literature that deals with humans evolving.  In Bisson’s story, it was the bears who evolved in response to the warmer climate and the development of “newberries.”  Similarly, the high-tech quirkiness of Ralph Lombreglia’s Somebody Up There Likes Me seemed to indicate that although computers were evolving and improving to astonishing levels humans were still bound by their emotions, bad relationships, and lack of judgment.  (Example Y 2003 midterm)