The shock-and-awe power of prescient novels
Writers’ prophecies are rarely positive but they give food for thought and provide an edifying warning
A writer’s unshackled vision of an unknowable future is sometimes acutely prescient. HG Wells foresaw numerous scientific, social and technological advances. He fantasised about automatic doors, airplanes, even space travel, long before they were invented, enriching his legacy as the father of science fiction. But novelists’ prophecies are rarely positive; stories, somehow, are more gripping in their descent towards doom. Wells simultaneously feared technology’s dark side: in The World Set Free (1914) he coined the phrase “atomic bomb” in describing a future weapon of destruction. A century earlier Mary Shelley had authored Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, the prototype for the horror genre and — nearly 200 years ahead of her time — the predictor of artificial intelligence and medical technologies such as genetic engineering. Often, literature which peers ahead suspends the march of human progress, proclaiming that humanity’s evil nature will never be fully tamed. Franz Kafk...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.