Religion And Politics In Fiction

A novel can be written by a Catholic or about Catholics or both. In his hard sf, Poul Anderson respects his Catholic characters. In his fantasy novel, Three Hearts And Three Lions, the protagonist converts to Catholicism because of his experiences in another universe.

We could list other Catholics in sf and have already mentioned some. See here and here. However, the greatest possible respect for Catholicism is shown in Larry Niven's and Jerry Pournelle's fantasy novel, Escape From Hell, where Hell is reorganized in accordance with Vatican II! Can you Adam and Eve it? (The entertaining British rhyming slang.) Well, as a matter of fact, no, I do not believe it! But Niven and Pournelle have logic on their side. Dante wrote in accordance with the Catholic beliefs of his period. Therefore, if the beliefs change or develop, then so should the Inferno.

I can usually enjoy fiction despite disagreeing with the author's politics - always in the case of Poul Anderson. There are some sticking points with a few other writers, e.g.:

the later Heinlein lectures and hectors instead of entertaining;

Frederick Forsyth parodies a left wing College lecturer and makes unnecessary auctorial asides, on one occasion implying that, since some atheists are against the Bomb, all theists should be for it;

I have already mentioned a scene that I found problematic in Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium future history -

Falkenberg orders a massacre.
copied from here.

But these occasions are few and far between.

Tomorrow Is Yesterday

Poul Anderson's Psychotechnic History begins in the aftermath of that historical turning point, World War III. This war is not in our history - yet - but is certainly in our minds, in the collective imagination and in many works of fiction. However, it did not happen in our 1958. With the mere passage of time, the earliest installments of a future history series cease to be a possible future and become instead an alternative past. Future history becomes alternative history - unless the author takes the precaution of beginning his narrative much further in the future, as Anderson did with his second such series, the History of Technic Civilization.

If there is a hereafter and if people in that hereafter can meet those who die after them, then they will eventually hear what will sound like the plot of a fantastic future history novel. Larry Niven's and Jerry Pournelle's character, Allen Carpenter, is told that:

during the Cold War, the US supported Muslim insurgents against the USSR;
the US gave the insurgents weapons and money;
the insurgents built organizations;
the US invaded Iraq;
the USSR collapsed;
the Cold War ended;
Muslim terrorists hijacked planes and flew them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon;
there were more wars...

We do not know what will happen in our future but we do know that, whatever it is, it will be at least as fantastic as that.

More Hard Fantasy

See here.

Robert Heinlein initiated hard fantasy.
John W Campbell edited it.
Anderson followed Heinlein's lead.
James Blish also wrote it.
Escape From Hell by Niven & Pournelle is in this category.

Has the Inferno been constructed by higher technology or effortlessly created ex nihilo by the will of a supernatural being?

If the former, sf.
If the latter, fantasy.
If the latter with logical consequences, then hard fantasy.

I think that Escape... is hard fantasy but it is always possible that a surprise ending will cause us to recategorize the novel.

Anderson's two Operation... novels are major contributions to this sub-genre.

Getting To Grips With Hell

Poul Anderson wrote an imaginative account of Hell, thus contributing to a long literary tradition. Contemplating "Hell" means both reflecting on moral choices and envisaging a postmortem realm. In my opinion, the summit of this combination is CS Lewis' The Great Divorce. Lewis imaginatively restated Christianity twice, in Narnia and Ransom, and also re-imagined the hereafter.

I have bought but not yet read Escape From Hell by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. It is the sequel to their, not Dante's, Inferno, described by Poul Anderson as "A dazzling tour de force" whereas Thomas M Disch told me that it was rubbish compared with the original.

Turning from future histories to the supposed future life, by reading Niven & Pournelle's sequel, I expect to learn something about theological speculations and also maybe to make comparisons with works by Anderson, Blish, Heinlein, Gaiman, Lewis etc.

A Return To Hell

My copy of Escape From Hell by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle has arrived.

This blog appreciates Poul Anderson both textually and contextually, i.e., both in his own works and in relation to his predecessors and contemporaries. How many sf writers engage with (Roman or Anglo-) Catholic doctrines?

CS Lewis
James Blish
Anderson, particularly with some characters in the Technic History
Niven & Pournelle

Blish and Niven & Pournelle put their characters into Dante's Inferno whereas Lewis and Anderson present their own distinctive imaginative accounts of Hell. Blish's Black Easter and Niven & Pournelle's Escape From Hell are dedicated to Lewis.

Niven & Pournelle list four translations of the Comedy. One of my brothers in law has also made a translation. See image and here.