Difference between revisions of "A Modest Genius"
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| − | '''Shefner, Vadim. | + | '''Shefner, Vadim. "A Modest Genius: A Fairy Tale for Grownups.''' ''Russian Science Fiction 1969''. Robert Magidoff, editor. New York Univ. Press, 1969" pp. 83–100. ''View from Another Shore: European Science Fiction''. Franz Rottensteine, editor. New York: Seabury Press, 1973. Liverpool: Liverpool UP, 1999: pp. 233-47.[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vadim_Shefner][https://www.amazon.com/View-Another-Shore-European-Liverpool/dp/0853239320] Online publication July 2017. |
Soviet SF/Satire that John J. Pierce says includes "a Local Effect Anti-Gravitation machine" of some worth — rejected as coming from an independent inventor unappreciated by bureaucratic officialdom — vs. the creation of "an establishment inventor" of "a can opener that weighs five tons and costs four hundred thousand rubles," which can be accessed at the United City Can-Opening Center (UCCOC): | Soviet SF/Satire that John J. Pierce says includes "a Local Effect Anti-Gravitation machine" of some worth — rejected as coming from an independent inventor unappreciated by bureaucratic officialdom — vs. the creation of "an establishment inventor" of "a can opener that weighs five tons and costs four hundred thousand rubles," which can be accessed at the United City Can-Opening Center (UCCOC): | ||
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| − | See for what Y. Zamyatin might label a ''reductio ad finem''[https://www.scribd.com/document/36393142/Yevgeny-Zamyatin-We] of what we'll call Stalinist monumentalism in machines, and a reduction to the absurd or grotesque of the collectivist ideal of communal ownership of the means of, in this case, | + | See for what Y. Zamyatin might label a ''reductio ad finem''[https://www.scribd.com/document/36393142/Yevgeny-Zamyatin-We] of what we'll call Stalinist monumentalism in machines, and a reduction to the absurd or grotesque of the collectivist ideal of communal ownership of the means of, in this case, consumption through can-opening. |
Latest revision as of 22:44, 6 July 2020
Shefner, Vadim. "A Modest Genius: A Fairy Tale for Grownups. Russian Science Fiction 1969. Robert Magidoff, editor. New York Univ. Press, 1969" pp. 83–100. View from Another Shore: European Science Fiction. Franz Rottensteine, editor. New York: Seabury Press, 1973. Liverpool: Liverpool UP, 1999: pp. 233-47.[1][2] Online publication July 2017.
Soviet SF/Satire that John J. Pierce says includes "a Local Effect Anti-Gravitation machine" of some worth — rejected as coming from an independent inventor unappreciated by bureaucratic officialdom — vs. the creation of "an establishment inventor" of "a can opener that weighs five tons and costs four hundred thousand rubles," which can be accessed at the United City Can-Opening Center (UCCOC):
Suppose you have visitors and want to open some sardines for them; you don’t need a tool for opening the can and you don’t have to do a lot of work. You just take your can to UCCOC, hand it in at the reception desk, pay five kopeks and get a receipt....You go to the waiting room, settle down in an easy chair and watch a short film on preserves. Soon you’re called to the counter. You present your receipt and get your opened can. (p. 222)
See for what Y. Zamyatin might label a reductio ad finem[3] of what we'll call Stalinist monumentalism in machines, and a reduction to the absurd or grotesque of the collectivist ideal of communal ownership of the means of, in this case, consumption through can-opening.
RDE, with thanks to JJP, 6Jul20
