michiel reviewed Looking backward by Edward Bellamy
Historically significant, but not a good novel
2 stars
The most astonishing thing about this novel is that it apparently inspired hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Even in the Netherlands, until WWII, the Bellamist association counted some 30.000 people in its ranks.
And I suppose this is because it's socialism for the conservative; it doesn't question religion, social hierarchy, or anything about human relations. Instead, it formalizes the existing hierarchical structures of society into a giant military apparatus that provides for everyone.
Supposedly it was very popular in Russia as well, before the 1918 revolution. It figures, you'll find preciously little about how to construct a socialist state in Marx. Bellamy, however, sketches a very clear design of a centralized, planned economy much like the Bolshewiks tried to construct.
This is a novel about Bellamy's dream society, and the plot is minimal. "Show, don't tell" was not one of the writer's guidelines, and most of the …
The most astonishing thing about this novel is that it apparently inspired hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Even in the Netherlands, until WWII, the Bellamist association counted some 30.000 people in its ranks.
And I suppose this is because it's socialism for the conservative; it doesn't question religion, social hierarchy, or anything about human relations. Instead, it formalizes the existing hierarchical structures of society into a giant military apparatus that provides for everyone.
Supposedly it was very popular in Russia as well, before the 1918 revolution. It figures, you'll find preciously little about how to construct a socialist state in Marx. Bellamy, however, sketches a very clear design of a centralized, planned economy much like the Bolshewiks tried to construct.
This is a novel about Bellamy's dream society, and the plot is minimal. "Show, don't tell" was not one of the writer's guidelines, and most of the exposition is through dialogue.
Much like L Neil Smith's The Probability Broach, the main character is mostly expresses uncritical awe of the new society he finds himself in.
Julian West wakes up to find that everyone he knows, his supposedly extended circle of friends, not to mention his fiancé, have been dead for almost a century. Most people would find such a realization depressing, but not a word is wasted on any sense of loss or mourning.
And there's a ready-made romance angle that is so similar to the one in the Probability Broach that it makes me wonder if Smith's version wasn't an explicit nod to Bellamy.
In summary, it's mostly surprising that a novel this bad could inspire so many.
