Interesting Times Meme
I was talking to someone the other day about a book I was reading and we got into a discussion about the setting, and from there, about preferences for setting. It’s interesting, the way that people gravitate towards or romanticize/mythologize certain times/places, sometimes to the point that the setting becomes the genre; Westerns, for example. So I want to ask people;
Do you have a favorite time period?
-Is there another time or place you wish you’d been born?
-It there a time period you’d love to visit for a day or two, but wouldn’t want to be stuck in?
-One you find interesting, like to read about, or just love the general aesthetic of, but could never be tempted to actually set foot in?
Personally, there really isn’t any other time period I could see myself trading this one for permanently, which I think is actually one of the reasons I like historical fiction so much; it makes me feel very grateful. Occasionally I’ll come across some aspect of another time or place that I regret the loss of, but it’s never enough to outweigh modern innovations; the internet, certain peoples having the right to vote/own property, hygiene…the list goes on.
There are other time periods I think are especially neat though. I’ve always liked movies and books set around the turn of the last century (ever since I was old enough to want a Samantha doll, anyway). But, in the cold light of day, I have to admit that that’s at least partly in a behind-handed “look at the silly bicycles and mustaches and the way everyone’s soooo impressed by the telegraph” kind of way. Which, I guess, would be entirely lost on me if I’d actually been born back then….no, I’d probably still think it was a little funny.
So yeah, I’d traipse about in the late Victorian for a long weekend, if given the chance. Actually, I guess my ideas of time travel are about the same as travel in general; if I had access to a reasonably dependable and fuel-efficient time machine, I’d jump at the chance to visit just about any when I’d never been to before. Well, if I could find some way to safeguard against getting the plague.
Ah, there’s the rub; it always comes back to the hygiene issue, doesn’t it? Come to think of it, I’d probably just ruin the entire time steam anyway; I wouldn’t be able to resist the urge to grab the first doctor I saw and yell “for the love of Christ, you’ve really go to start disinfecting things before you stick them in people!” And then once one has gone that far; fuck it, you might as well just go ahead and invent the cotton gin, or claim credit for writing “Free Bird”, or something.
Do you have a favorite time period?
-Is there another time or place you wish you’d been born?
-It there a time period you’d love to visit for a day or two, but wouldn’t want to be stuck in?
-One you find interesting, like to read about, or just love the general aesthetic of, but could never be tempted to actually set foot in?
Personally, there really isn’t any other time period I could see myself trading this one for permanently, which I think is actually one of the reasons I like historical fiction so much; it makes me feel very grateful. Occasionally I’ll come across some aspect of another time or place that I regret the loss of, but it’s never enough to outweigh modern innovations; the internet, certain peoples having the right to vote/own property, hygiene…the list goes on.
There are other time periods I think are especially neat though. I’ve always liked movies and books set around the turn of the last century (ever since I was old enough to want a Samantha doll, anyway). But, in the cold light of day, I have to admit that that’s at least partly in a behind-handed “look at the silly bicycles and mustaches and the way everyone’s soooo impressed by the telegraph” kind of way. Which, I guess, would be entirely lost on me if I’d actually been born back then….no, I’d probably still think it was a little funny.
So yeah, I’d traipse about in the late Victorian for a long weekend, if given the chance. Actually, I guess my ideas of time travel are about the same as travel in general; if I had access to a reasonably dependable and fuel-efficient time machine, I’d jump at the chance to visit just about any when I’d never been to before. Well, if I could find some way to safeguard against getting the plague.
Ah, there’s the rub; it always comes back to the hygiene issue, doesn’t it? Come to think of it, I’d probably just ruin the entire time steam anyway; I wouldn’t be able to resist the urge to grab the first doctor I saw and yell “for the love of Christ, you’ve really go to start disinfecting things before you stick them in people!” And then once one has gone that far; fuck it, you might as well just go ahead and invent the cotton gin, or claim credit for writing “Free Bird”, or something.