"...the middle twentieth century." (p. 25)
What years are mid-twentieth century? 1945-1955? The opening story of Robert Heinlein's Future History, published in 1939, was set in 1951. The earliest written installment of Poul Anderson's Technic History, published in January 1951, was set over a thousand years in the future. "The Saturn Game," published in 1981, is the earliest Technic History installment in terms of chronological order of fictitious events and Minamoto's comment about the middle twentieth century is the only reference in the entire Technic History to the period when that History began to be written. Thus, it is the only link between those of us who were alive mid-twentieth century and van Rijn, Flandry etc. Minamoto says that:
"In Western civilization [adult psychodrama] first appeared on a noticeable scale during the middle twentieth century." (ibid.)
- so maybe he means some time in the 1960s?
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
To be pedantic, the exact middle years of the 20th century should be calculated from January 1, 1946 to December 31, 1955 to make precisely ten years.
I think what Minamoto meant by "psychodrama" was what we now call role playing games. I don't know when true role playing games bagan, however. But the 1960's could not be called the middle years of the 20th century.
Ad astra! Sean
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