sci-fi Archives - Victorian Secrets

I must confess to a degree of scepticism on receipt of a proposal to publish The Angel of the Revolution, George Chetwynd Griffith’s 1893 tale of air warfare. Sci-fi generally resides in my Room 101 and has no place on the papal bookshelves. Imagine my surprise at finding myself completely gripped by a fantastical story in which an intrepid group of Socialists, Anarchists, and Nihilists defeat Capitalism with their superior knowledge of dirigibles (my new favourite word). Led by a crippled, brilliant Russian Jew and his daughter, Natasha, The Brotherhood of Freedom establishes a ‘pax aeronautica’ over the world, thanks to the expertise of scientist Richard Arnold. Arnold falls in love with Natasha (the eponymous Angel), and Griffith builds a utopian vision of Socialism and romance.

The story moves at a rollicking pace and there’s never a dull moment. Griffith is also remarkably prescient in predicting future technology, including air travel, tidal power, and solar energy (showing far more imagination than Trollope in The Fixed Period). But it is his treatment of social responsibility that makes the novel particularly interesting in the current economic climate. Griffith imagines a world in which the wealth of the obscenely rich is sequestered, their property seized for the public good, and their businesses nationalised. Those with unearned incomes are forced to either pay punitive tax, or to undertake equivalent labour in the community. I’m not sure it would work as a blueprint, but it does show such debates are timeless.

Unsurprisingly, I know precisely nothing about aeronautics, but Steven McLean shows in the introduction and appendices how Griffith contributed to discourses on air travel. He clearly knew what he was talking about, as his son went on to invent the Rolls-Royce Avon jet engine. Griffith himself stuck with fiction, including A Honeymoon in Space, the story of a newly-married couple who use a spacecraft powered by anti-gravity to tour the solar system (as you do). That will be my next foray into science fiction. I’m not a convert, you understand, merely sci-fi curious.

The Angel of the Revolution by George Chetwynd Griffith is available in print and ebook editions.

Cover of The Fixed Period by Anthony Trollope The futuristic utopia depicted in The Fixed Period (1882) is a radical and unexpected departure for Anthony Trollope. Imagine Thomas Pynchon writing a chick lit novel, or Maeve Binchy turning her hand to slash fiction. It’s a radical departure for me, too, as essentially I’ve been tricked into reading science fiction. The story is set in 1980 in the fictional republic of Britannula, created when a group of ex-pats occupy the South Island of New Zealand and claim independence from Great Britain. The 25,000-strong community is led by President John Neverbend, who almost bursts with his own self-importance and civic pride.

The tiny nation is initially peaceful and well-ordered, serving as a model democracy. However, disharmony prevails when President Neverbend introduces his pet theory of the Fixed Period. Concerned that people should not be allowed to outlive their usefulness, he introduces a programme of mandatory euthanasia for anyone reaching the age of 67 and a half. His fellow legislators initially agree with the plan, although with an attendant degree of unease. The trouble comes when the first man to be “deposited”, Gabriel Caswaller, mounts a spirited defence, and his popularity in the community means that he is also able to rouse popular support. Neverbend is appalled that his carefully-planned scheme could fall at the first hurdle, and is completely intransigent. His difficulties are compounded by the fact that is own son has fallen in love with Caswaller’s daughter. Nevertheless, he perseveres with his extraordinary policy and is stopped only by a dramatic deus ex machina.

The Fixed Period is darkly comedic and one of Trollope’s most entertaining novels. He clearly enjoyed himself enormously coming up with inventions for the 1980s and imagining what life would be like. Although he doesn’t quite predict the ZX81 or Bananarama, he does suggest mobile telephony and a form of podcasting. The Britain from which Britannula has seceded is essentially the same, however, with a strong hereditary principle in politics and Gladstone’s great-grandson as Prime Minister. The character of President Neverbend is a fine creation, as is his wife, Sarah, who pricks his pomposity with Mrs Caudle-style lectures.

Contemporary reviewers weren’t quite sure what to make of The Fixed Period, and the Times described it as “essentially ghastly”. It’s difficult to know whether Trollope seriously supported the idea of euthanasia, voluntary or otherwise. In a curious twist of fate, however, he died not long after the novel was published, at the age of 67 and a half.