Earliest example of Cold War literature?

[smellincoffee]

Recently I read The Illustrated Man by Bradbury for the first time and was surprised by how saturated it was with fear of the Bomb and of technology. The collection was published in 1951, only six year after the end of World War 2: The Soviets had only had the bomb for ~4 years, and wouldn't have a fusion bomb for another two. And yet there are multiple stories here where people dread technological annihilation! Is this the earliest example of such literature?

 

[Toby Frost]

The earliest speculation of this kind of setup might be in 1945, when George Orwell coined the term Cold War and described the concept of several rival massive nations in which the citizens were effectively slaves, each too well-armed with nuclear weapons to be conquered by the others. The original concept wasn't written in a fictional style but obviously influenced the setting of 1984 (itself published in 1948). I suspect the actual fear of the US v USSR setup existed quite a while before the end of WW2, and once the fascist powers were defeated, it became the next big rivalry.

 

[Venusian Broon]

Not really Cold War-ish, but HG Wells published a novel. The World Set Free in 1914 where "Wells viewed war as the inevitable result of the Modern State...(and) the introduction of atomic energy in a world divided resulted in the collapse of society." In it he imagines atomic weapons to be like "never-ending" hand grenades. i.e. once you've thrown it it just sits there emitting vast amounts of energy and (I assume) almost impossible to clean up.

At this stage no one knew about neutron chain reaction that was necessary for making an actual atomic bomb, but Wells was reading up all the latest science on radioactivity and the nucleus, hence this speculation.

 

[BAYLOR]

Not really Cold War-ish, but HG Wells published a novel. The World Set Free in 1914 where "Wells viewed war as the inevitable result of the Modern State...(and) the introduction of atomic energy in a world divided resulted in the collapse of society." In it he imagines atomic weapons to be like "never-ending" hand grenades. i.e. once you've thrown it it just sits there emitting vast amounts of energy and (I assume) almost impossible to clean up.

At this stage no one knew about neutron chain reaction that was necessary for making an actual atomic bomb, but Wells was reading up all the latest science on radioactivity and the nucleus, hence this speculation.

He lived long enough to see the bombs dropped of oN Hiroshima and Nagasaki and was the story goes that said of it hg " I told you so you damned Fools" He must have shocked when he saw this become reality.

I wish he'D gotten to live long enough to see Sputnik, Gagarin , Alan Shepherd , John Glen and the start of the Space Race.

 

[Harpo]

He lived long enough to see the bombs dropped of oN Hiroshima and Nagasaki and was the story goes that said of it hg " I told you so you damned Fools" He must have shocked when he saw this become reality.

I wish he'D gotten to live long enough to see Sputnik, Gagarin , Alan Shepherd , John Glen and the start of the Space Race.

He only missed the birth of Elton John by seven months.

 

[BAYLOR]

He only missed the birth of Elton John by seven months.

He did get to meet Orson Wells, they were on radio show together .Two legends side by side.

He never met Jules Verne. but Ive often wonder if he met writers like, John W Campbell , Isaac Asimov, Robert A Heinlein Arthur C Clarke , Jack Williamson . His life did overlap with theirs.

 

[Harpo]

He did get to meet Orson Wells, they were on radio show together .Two legends side by side.

He never met Jules Verne. but Ive often wonder if he met writers like, John W Campbell , Isaac Asimov, Robert A Heinlein Arthur C Clarke , Jack Williamson . His life did overlap with theirs.

That sounds like a great idea for a thread - who met who in history.

I started a photo-based version a few years ago, one long trail of people with each other.

 

[Toby Frost]

I believe H G Wells met both Orson Welles and George Orwell, but sadly not at the same time, which would have been really confusing.

 

[mosaix]

That sounds like a great idea for a thread - who met who in history

Patrick Moore the first presenter of the long running BBC series The Sky at Night, met the first person to fly, the first person in space and the first person to step on the moon.

That gives you an idea of how fast technology has moved in recent times.

 

[hitmouse]

Patrick Moore the first presenter of the long running BBC series The Sky at Night, met the first person to fly, the first person in space and the first person to step on the moon.

That gives you an idea of how fast technology has moved in recent times.

I met Patrick Moore. I came home from school one day to find him playing croquet on our lawn.
Never been quite clear what he was doing there.

 

[KGeo777]

If we take the idea of a Cold War as something where two nations are hostile to each other over philosophical trivia or a fad rather than resources or territorial feud then Jonathan Swift described the concept in Gulliver's Travels since the Lilliputians were at war over which end of an egg they cracked. He was referencing religious schisms but the Cold War was officially about some kind of ideological clash. He also described a Laputa weapon that would end wars by destroying both sides in a conflict so he also had the doomsday weapon concept even though he did not link it to the ideological war.

I have heard that in the 1960s, children were indoctrinated by the "duck and cover" drills to believe the world would be destroyed by 2000.

I see the Bomb as a kind of "city god" threat. The way it is used--"our city god is mightier than yours." "We got a new city god that can really beat the stuffing out of yours!"

Orwell said in 1945 that the nuke would never be used in war but to "maintain a peace that is no peace."

What I wonder is why nuke tests went underground when consumer video came along.

Those city gods are camera shy!

 

[BAYLOR]

If we take the idea of a Cold War as something where two nations are hostile to each other over philosophical trivia or a fad rather than resources or territorial feud then Jonathan Swift described the concept in Gulliver's Travels since the Lilliputians were at war over which end of an egg they cracked. He was referencing religious schisms but the Cold War was officially about some kind of ideological clash. He also described a Laputa weapon that would end wars by destroying both sides in a conflict so he also had the doomsday weapon concept even though he did not link it to the ideological war.

I have heard that in the 1960s, children were indoctrinated by the "duck and cover" drills to believe the world would be destroyed by 2000.

I see the Bomb as a kind of "city god" threat. The way it is used--"our city god is mightier than yours." "We got a new city god that can really beat the stuffing out of yours!"

Orwell said in 1945 that the nuke would never be used in war but to "maintain a peace that is no peace."

What I wonder is why nuke tests went underground when consumer video came along.

Those city gods are camera shy!

The Atomic Cafe 1982 film commemorated all of that.

 

[Extollager]

He lived long enough to see the bombs dropped of oN Hiroshima and Nagasaki and was the story goes that said of it hg " I told you so you damned Fools" He must have shocked when he saw this become reality.

This is close to a remark attributed to Robert Conquest, author of a great book on Stalin's Terror.

Kingsley Amis and 'The Great Terror' | Robert Conquest

To the Editors: In a footnote to John Banville's review of Martin Amis's House of Meetings I am quoted as having suggested, for a title for a new edition

www.nybooks.com

It seems Conquest didn't say it but that Kingsley Amis said he said it. Amis, by the way, wrote a little sf and the two men co-edited some sf anthologies.

 

[BAYLOR]

This is close to a remark attributed to Robert Conquest, author of a great book on Stalin's Terror.

Kingsley Amis and 'The Great Terror' | Robert Conquest

To the Editors: In a footnote to John Banville's review of Martin Amis's House of Meetings I am quoted as having suggested, for a title for a new edition

www.nybooks.com

It seems Conquest didn't say it but that Kingsley Amis said he said it. Amis, by the way, wrote a little sf and the two men co-edited some sf anthologies.

View attachment 126837View attachment 126838View attachment 126839

I didn't know that.

 

[Robert Zwilling]

children were indoctrinated by the "duck and cover" drills

Maybe for older students indoctrinated was how it seemed. I guess it depended on how old you were. Entering school at the tail end of duck cover it seemed silly, like a game. You sat on the floor under the table and talked to your friends. It was something you did at that age from time to time any way. In kindergarten chairs weren't the only place where you could hang out in a classroom while doing nothing.

 

[BAYLOR]

Maybe for older students indoctrinated was how it seemed. I guess it depended on how old you were. Entering school at the tail end of duck cover it seemed silly, like a game. You sat on the floor under the table and talked to your friends. It was something you did at that age from time to time any way. In kindergarten chairs weren't the only place where you could hang out in a classroom while doing nothing.

And what authorities didn't bother telling the public was that none these silly activities would save them in the event of a real nuclear war. They did all this phony choreography to keep the public calm.

 

[Randy M.]

Amis, by the way, wrote a little sf

Not to mention an early book of s.f. criticism, New Maps of Hell.

 

[BAYLOR]

That sounds like a great idea for a thread - who met who in history.

I started a photo-based version a few years ago, one long trail of people with each other.

It does sounds like a great idea. Would you do the honors because I'd only mess it up if I tried .

 

[Harpo]

It does sounds like a great idea. Would you do the honors because I'd only mess it up if I tried .

There’s nothing to mess up, you can literally quote my words in the first post:
“Who met who in history” and give the example of Wells & Welles.
Incidentally, when AA Milne was a kid, HG Wells was briefly his teacher.

See? It’s that easy. Other people will continue your Thread.

I’m not doing it, because I’d rather revive my photo version.
In fact, I’m off to do exactly that right away.

 

[BAYLOR]

There’s nothing to mess up, you can literally quote my words in the first post:
“Who met who in history” and give the example of Wells & Welles.
Incidentally, when AA Milne was a kid, HG Wells was briefly his teacher.

See? It’s that easy. Other people will continue your Thread.

I’m not doing it, because I’d rather revive my photo version.
In fact, I’m off to do exactly that right away.

Okay , fair enough.