Philosophy
Edward Bellamy
March 26th, 1850 to May 22nd, 1898
Today is the birthday of Edward Bellamy...a somewhat forgotten literary figure and his futuristic novel Looking Backward.
1850: Edward Bellamy is born. He's the American socialist and visionary author best known for penning the forward-looking utopian novel, Looking Backward.
Bellamy grew up in western Massachusetts, a desultory law student who knew he wanted to be a writer. He soon ditched law for journalism and worked for a couple of newspapers — the Springfield Union and New York Post — before turning to fiction.
He wrote short stories and several popular Victorian novels — The Duke of Stockbridge (1879), Dr. Heidenhoff's Process (1880) and Miss Ludington's Sister (1884) — but attained fame with the publication in 1888 of Looking Backward, the story of a young man who falls into a hypnotic sleep in 1887, only to wake up in 2000 when the world has evolved into a great socialist paradise.
Bellamy embraced a central pillar of socialism, that cooperation among humans is healthier than cutthroat competition. This conviction formed the basis of Looking Backward and emerged as its central theme. Boston in the year 2000, Bellamy's setting for the novel, is indeed a world where socialism has emerged triumphant and the world is harmonious because of it.
Bellamy predicted a revolution in retail, with something like today's warehouse clubs and big-box stores. Transactions would be handled by a card system much like a modern debit card. People could use enhanced telephone lines to listen to sermons and classical music.
The book was a hit, selling over a million copies and ranking behind only Uncle Tom's Cabin and Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ as the top best-seller of the era.
Bellamy's success led to a slew of other utopian-themed novels, although none reached Looking Backward's level of popularity. The book also spawned experiments in communal living and fed the Nationalist movement, which urged the nationalization of all industry and the elimination of class distinctions.
Socialism, of course, had different connotations in the 19th century when it rose, principally as a backlash to the brutalities of industrialization and the exploitation of the workers by the ruling class. (Were he alive today, Bellamy might note, with interest, that while the worst excesses of the industrial age are gone, the exploitation continues.)
Had Bellamy lived to the ripe old age of 150, he no doubt would have been disappointed to find capitalism running amok, and his fellow man no less greedy and self-serving than in his own time.
But he didn't live to be 150. In fact, Bellamy was still a relatively young man when he died of tuberculosis in 1898.
Edward Bellamy
Looking Backward [book]
Other science fiction literature...
- Why?, Because The Smell Of Money Is Very Strong
"Libel law: I said sorry, so why the lawyers?" People resort to the courts too quickly, making libel law a real danger to free speech by Victoria Coren June 27th, 2010 guardian.co.uk The death of Michael Jackson was the only piece of news I heard in...
- Lucian Of Samosata
Lucian of Samosata was an Assyrian rhetorician, and satirist who wrote in the Greek language. Le Vere Narrationi, A True History, parodied some fantastic tales told by Homer in the Odyssey. Lucian anticipated “modern” fictional themes like voyages...
- Impey Barbicane And Jules Verne
Impey Barbicane From the Earth to the Moon Jules Verne February 8th, 1828 to March 24th, 1905 Impey Barbicane? Yes, Impey Barbicane...the hero, who having determined that a projectile can be fired to the moon, moves to Florida and constructs the...
- Verne...astronomy And Astronomers
Here is a short paper discussing Jules Verne's relationship with astronomy and astronomers. Abstract: Almost all the Voyages Extraordinaires written by Jules Verne refer to astronomy. In some of them, astronomy is even the leading theme. However,...
- Earliest Science Fiction
Science fiction is a huge and popular genre and can well serve the populace with sound science but for the most part this genre lives up to part of it name--"fiction". But where did science fiction begin. Most people would say it started with writers...
Philosophy
Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backward"
Edward Bellamy
March 26th, 1850 to May 22nd, 1898
Today is the birthday of Edward Bellamy...a somewhat forgotten literary figure and his futuristic novel Looking Backward.
"March 26, 1850: Birth of a Socialist Sci-Fi Writer"
by
Tony Long
March 26th, 2009
Wired
by
Tony Long
March 26th, 2009
Wired
1850: Edward Bellamy is born. He's the American socialist and visionary author best known for penning the forward-looking utopian novel, Looking Backward.
Bellamy grew up in western Massachusetts, a desultory law student who knew he wanted to be a writer. He soon ditched law for journalism and worked for a couple of newspapers — the Springfield Union and New York Post — before turning to fiction.
He wrote short stories and several popular Victorian novels — The Duke of Stockbridge (1879), Dr. Heidenhoff's Process (1880) and Miss Ludington's Sister (1884) — but attained fame with the publication in 1888 of Looking Backward, the story of a young man who falls into a hypnotic sleep in 1887, only to wake up in 2000 when the world has evolved into a great socialist paradise.
Bellamy embraced a central pillar of socialism, that cooperation among humans is healthier than cutthroat competition. This conviction formed the basis of Looking Backward and emerged as its central theme. Boston in the year 2000, Bellamy's setting for the novel, is indeed a world where socialism has emerged triumphant and the world is harmonious because of it.
Bellamy predicted a revolution in retail, with something like today's warehouse clubs and big-box stores. Transactions would be handled by a card system much like a modern debit card. People could use enhanced telephone lines to listen to sermons and classical music.
The book was a hit, selling over a million copies and ranking behind only Uncle Tom's Cabin and Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ as the top best-seller of the era.
Bellamy's success led to a slew of other utopian-themed novels, although none reached Looking Backward's level of popularity. The book also spawned experiments in communal living and fed the Nationalist movement, which urged the nationalization of all industry and the elimination of class distinctions.
Socialism, of course, had different connotations in the 19th century when it rose, principally as a backlash to the brutalities of industrialization and the exploitation of the workers by the ruling class. (Were he alive today, Bellamy might note, with interest, that while the worst excesses of the industrial age are gone, the exploitation continues.)
Had Bellamy lived to the ripe old age of 150, he no doubt would have been disappointed to find capitalism running amok, and his fellow man no less greedy and self-serving than in his own time.
But he didn't live to be 150. In fact, Bellamy was still a relatively young man when he died of tuberculosis in 1898.
Edward Bellamy
Looking Backward [book]
Other science fiction literature...
Abbott, Edwin A.
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
Lucian
A True Story
Trips to the Moon
Verne, Jules
Around the World in Eighty Days
Earth to the Moon
Five Weeks in a Balloon
From the Earth to the Moon
Journey to the Center of the Earth
The Moon-Voyage
Off on a Comet
Round the Moon
Voltaire
Micromegas
Wells, H. G.
In the Days of the Comet
The First Men in the Moon
The Time Machine
The War of the Worlds
When the Sleeper Wakes
Also available:
"The War of the Worlds" by H. G. Wells as performed by Orson Welles & the Mercury Theatre on the Air and broadcast on the Columbia Broadcasting System on Sunday, October 30, 1938
Script
Recorded Broadcast
- Why?, Because The Smell Of Money Is Very Strong
"Libel law: I said sorry, so why the lawyers?" People resort to the courts too quickly, making libel law a real danger to free speech by Victoria Coren June 27th, 2010 guardian.co.uk The death of Michael Jackson was the only piece of news I heard in...
- Lucian Of Samosata
Lucian of Samosata was an Assyrian rhetorician, and satirist who wrote in the Greek language. Le Vere Narrationi, A True History, parodied some fantastic tales told by Homer in the Odyssey. Lucian anticipated “modern” fictional themes like voyages...
- Impey Barbicane And Jules Verne
Impey Barbicane From the Earth to the Moon Jules Verne February 8th, 1828 to March 24th, 1905 Impey Barbicane? Yes, Impey Barbicane...the hero, who having determined that a projectile can be fired to the moon, moves to Florida and constructs the...
- Verne...astronomy And Astronomers
Here is a short paper discussing Jules Verne's relationship with astronomy and astronomers. Abstract: Almost all the Voyages Extraordinaires written by Jules Verne refer to astronomy. In some of them, astronomy is even the leading theme. However,...
- Earliest Science Fiction
Science fiction is a huge and popular genre and can well serve the populace with sound science but for the most part this genre lives up to part of it name--"fiction". But where did science fiction begin. Most people would say it started with writers...