Mr Lerner makes some most interesting and persuasive points, but I think he
ably exemplifies the problem. Truly universal works have to leave
sufficient room for the imagination of readers over many generations to find
in them what is a permanent core of truth and relevance. Too great a
precision of description localises a work and restricts its scope of
appeal. Science fiction dates very rapidly in all but the most outstanding
cases--such as A Canticle for Liebowitz--, but the Iliad or Beowulf still
spark the imagination. I do not suggest that there are rules by which one
can distinguish the best qualities, but, like an elephant, they may defy
description but you will see them when you find them. Kipling's science
fiction is vitiated for me by detail like the cod advertisements, which
overlay destructively the interesting idea of the rejection of democracy, a
theme which has contemporaty relevance in a world governed by
unaccountable corporations.
JW
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