I think there's probably a link between the subversion motif and Vinge's libertarianism, yes. I'm less sure about the tie to the romanticism. In particular, A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky are space operas, and that subgenre is particularly hospitable to Great Men. The heroes of the other stories I mentioned aren't as larger-than-life as in those two.
For that matter, the flashbacks in Deepness do include a more sophisticated theory of history, resembling the ideas in Tainter's The Collapse of Complex Societies, but Pham's entire career in that story is an attempt to overcome that theory. In any event, the broadly pessimistic theory isn't incompatible with a narrower-scope version of the Great Man theory: civilizations are, long-term, doomed, but their trajectory can be made more or less glorious and their term longer or shorter through the efforts of Great Men.
None of this is meant to imply that Vinge isn't a very good writer. He's always been a capable craftsman, and Fire and Deepness are very fine indeed - intricately plotted, with interesting aliens and rich ideas. I'm just not convinced of the philosophical underpinnings.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-08-07 05:24 pm (UTC)For that matter, the flashbacks in Deepness do include a more sophisticated theory of history, resembling the ideas in Tainter's The Collapse of Complex Societies, but Pham's entire career in that story is an attempt to overcome that theory. In any event, the broadly pessimistic theory isn't incompatible with a narrower-scope version of the Great Man theory: civilizations are, long-term, doomed, but their trajectory can be made more or less glorious and their term longer or shorter through the efforts of Great Men.
None of this is meant to imply that Vinge isn't a very good writer. He's always been a capable craftsman, and Fire and Deepness are very fine indeed - intricately plotted, with interesting aliens and rich ideas. I'm just not convinced of the philosophical underpinnings.