68-511: Consider Phlebas , first published in 1987, is a space opera novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks . It is the first in a series of novels about an interstellar post-scarcity society called the Culture . The novel revolves around the Idiran–Culture War, and Banks plays on that theme by presenting various microcosms of that conflict. Its protagonist Bora Horza Gobuchul is an enemy of
136-410: A backdrop of galactic empires and interstellar wars with fictional aliens , often in fictional galaxies. The term does not refer to opera music , but instead originally referred to the melodrama, scope, and formulaic stories of operas, much as used in " horse opera ", a 1930s phrase for a clichéd and formulaic Western film , and " soap opera ", a melodramatic domestic drama. Space operas emerged in
204-836: A balance between both or simultaneously hard and soft science fiction such as the Dune prequel series by Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert or the Star Wars series created by George Lucas . Early works which preceded the subgenre contained many elements of what would become space opera. They are today referred to as proto-space opera. Early proto-space opera was written by several 19th century French authors, for example, Les Posthumes (1802) by Nicolas-Edme Rétif , Star ou Psi de Cassiopée: Histoire Merveilleuse de l'un des Mondes de l'Espace (1854) by C. I. Defontenay and Lumen (1872) by Camille Flammarion . Not widely popular, proto-space operas were nevertheless occasionally written during
272-401: A fierce humanoid race headquartered on Sirius . However, the idea for the novel arises out of a nationalistic genre of fiction popular from 1880 to 1914 called future-war fiction. Despite this seemingly early beginning, it was not until the late 1920s that the space opera proper began to appear regularly in pulp magazines such as Amazing Stories . In film, the genre probably began with
340-600: A frontier settlement in a classic Western. Six-shooters and horses may be replaced by ray guns and rockets. Harry Harrison 's novels Bill, the Galactic Hero and Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers , as well as the film adaptation of the former, the films Galaxy Quest and Mel Brooks ' Spaceballs , and Family Guy ' s Laugh It Up, Fuzzball trilogy parody the conventions of classic space opera. Great Man Theory The great man theory
408-699: A great deal of attention to the sub-genre. After the convention-breaking "new wave", followed by the enormous success of the franchises, space opera became once again a critically acceptable sub-genre. From 1982 to 2002, the Hugo Award for Best Novel was often given to a space opera nominee. Space opera has been defined as "a television or radio drama or motion picture that is a science-fiction adventure story". Some critics distinguish between space opera and planetary romance . Both feature adventures in exotic settings, but space opera emphasizes space travel, while planetary romances focus on alien worlds. In this view,
476-437: A moral exploration of contemporary social issues. McAuley and Michael Levy identify Iain M. Banks , Stephen Baxter , M. John Harrison , Alastair Reynolds , McAuley himself, Ken MacLeod , Peter F. Hamilton , Ann Leckie , and Justina Robson as the most-notable practitioners of the new space opera. One of the most notable publishers Baen Books specialises in space opera and military science fiction, publishing many of
544-575: A morally ambiguous hero and much grand scenery and devices. Kirkus Reviews described it as "Overextended and jarring", but "imaginative and gripping in places." Dave Langford reviewed Consider Phlebas for White Dwarf #90, and stated that "Banks pumps in enough high spirits to keep this rattling along to his slam-bang finale in the bowels of an ancient deep-shelter system whose nuclear-powered high-speed trains are used for... well, not commuting." Amazon announced in February 2018 that it acquired
612-539: A more subtle influence in space opera. Gene Roddenberry described Star Trek: The Original Series as a space Western (or more poetically, as “ Wagon Train to the stars”). Firefly and its cinematic follow-up Serenity literalized the Western aspects of the genre popularized by Star Trek : it used frontier towns, horses, and the styling of classic John Ford Westerns. Worlds that have been terraformed may be depicted as presenting similar challenges as that of
680-552: A role or show exceptional qualities, he saw Great Men as inevitable products of productive cultures. He noted for example that if Isaac Newton had not lived, calculus would have still been discovered by Gottfried Leibniz , and suspected that if neither man had lived, it would have been discovered by someone else. Among modern critics of the theory, Sidney Hook is supportive of the idea; he gives credit to those who shape events through their actions, and his book The Hero in History
748-409: A space-drive with planetary romance in the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs . Smith's later Lensman series and the works of Edmond Hamilton , John W. Campbell , and Jack Williamson in the 1930s and 1940s were popular with readers and much imitated by other writers. By the early 1940s, the repetitiousness and extravagance of some of these stories led to objections from some fans and the return of
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#1732787966600816-482: A starship, and reveals its name to be Bora Horza Gobuchul . Consider Phlebas , like most of Banks's early SF output, was a rewritten version of an earlier book, as he explained in a 1994 interview: Phlebas was an old one too; it was written just after The Wasp Factory , in 1984. I've found that rewriting an old book took much more effort than writing one from scratch, but I had to go back to do right by these things. Now I can go on and start completely new stuff. On
884-425: Is an approach to the study of history popularised in the 19th century according to which history can be largely explained by the impact of great men , or heroes : highly influential and unique individuals who, due to their natural attributes, such as superior intellect, heroic courage, extraordinary leadership abilities, or divine inspiration, have a decisive historical effect. The theory is primarily attributed to
952-477: Is devoted to the role of the hero and in history and influence of the outstanding persons . In the introduction to a new edition of Heroes and Hero-Worship , David R. Sorensen notes the modern decline in support for Carlyle's theory in particular but also for "heroic distinction" in general. He cites Robert K. Faulkner as an exception, a proponent of Aristotelian magnanimity who in his book The Case for Greatness: Honorable Ambition and Its Critics , criticizes
1020-468: Is epic in scale and personal with characters. It is about people taking on something bigger than themselves and their struggles to prevail. Though a setting beyond Earth is central, being on a spaceship or visiting another planet isn't the only qualifier. There must also be drama and sufficiently large scope to elevate a tale from being simply space-based to being real space opera. Space opera can be contrasted in outline with " hard science fiction ", in which
1088-442: Is forced to fight and kill one of the crew to earn a place. The captain, Kraiklyn, leads them on two disastrous pirate raids in which several of the crew perish. After the second raid Horza is taken prisoner by a cult living on an island on the orbital Vavatch, which is scheduled to be destroyed by the Culture. He escapes after poisoning the cult leader and makes his way to Evanauth, the main city of Vavatch, where he finds Kraiklyn, who
1156-513: Is playing "Damage"—a high-stakes card game played by the most notorious characters in the galaxy, usually at a location about to be destroyed. Having now changed his appearance to mimic that of the CAT captain, Horza follows him back to the CAT , kills him and returns to the CAT meeting the few remaining original crew. He is introduced to a newly recruited member, whom he recognises as a disguised Perosteck Balveda. Culture agents outside try to capture
1224-562: Is usually contrasted with " history from below ", which emphasizes the life of the masses creating overwhelming waves of smaller events which carry leaders along with them. Another contrasting school is historical materialism . Carlyle stated that "The History of the world is but the Biography of great men", reflecting his belief that heroes shape history through both their personal attributes and divine inspiration. In his book Heroes and Hero-Worship , Carlyle saw history as having turned on
1292-855: The Battlestar Galactica franchise and Robert A. Heinlein 's 1959 novel Starship Troopers . The key distinction of military science fiction from space opera as part of the space warfare in science fiction is that the principal characters in a space opera are not military personnel, but civilians or paramilitary . That which brings them together under a common denominator is that military science fiction like space opera often concerns an interstellar war . Military science fiction however does not necessarily always include an outer space or multi-planetary setting like space opera and space Western. Space Western also may emphasize space exploration as “the final frontier”. These Western themes may be explicit, such as cowboys in outer space, or they can be
1360-494: The "conditions of the crater of Vesuvius has to do with the flickering of this gas by which I write". James argues that genetic anomalies in the brains of these great men are the decisive factor by introducing an original influence into their environment. They might therefore offer original ideas, discoveries, inventions and perspectives which "would not, in the mind of another individual, have engendered just that conclusion ... It flashes out of one brain, and no other, because
1428-469: The "triumph of mankind" template of older space opera, involves newer technologies, and has stronger characterization than the space opera of old. While it does retain the interstellar scale and scope of traditional space opera, it can also be scientifically rigorous. The new space opera was a reaction against the old. 'New space opera' proponents claim that the genre centers on character development, fine writing, high literary standards, verisimilitude, and
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#17327879666001496-640: The 12th century until the French Revolution in the late 18th century and their influence on the course of historical events. The Great Man approach to history was most fashionable with professional historians in the 19th century; a popular work of this school is the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1911) which contains lengthy and detailed biographies about the great men of history, but very few general or social histories. For example, all information on
1564-406: The 1918 Danish film, Himmelskibet . Unlike earlier stories of space adventure, which either related the invasion of Earth by extraterrestrials, or concentrated on the invention of a space vehicle by a genius inventor, pure space opera simply took space travel for granted (usually by setting the story in the far future), skipped the preliminaries, and launched straight into tales of derring-do among
1632-487: The 1930s and continue to be produced in literature, film, comics, television, video games and board games. An early film which was based on space-opera comic strips was Flash Gordon (1936) , created by Alex Raymond . Perry Rhodan (1961–) is the most successful space opera book series ever written. The Star Trek TV series (1966–) by Gene Roddenberry and the Star Wars films (1977–) by George Lucas brought
1700-481: The Culture. Consider Phlebas is Banks's first published science fiction novel, and takes its title from a line in T. S. Eliot 's poem The Waste Land . A subsequent Culture novel, Look to Windward (2000), whose title comes from the previous line of the same poem, can be considered a loose follow-up. The Culture and the Idiran Empire are at war in a galaxy-spanning conflict. A Culture Mind , fleeing
1768-605: The Idirans. Horza has kept Balveda alive, and she is taken into the complex. The CAT ' s crew encounter the Idirans in one of the Command System stations, and after a firefight apparently kill one and capture the other. After tracking the Mind to another station, the drone Unaha-Closp discovers it hiding in the reactor car of a Command System train. The second Idiran, who had been mortally wounded but not killed, sets one of
1836-528: The Martian, Venusian, and lunar-setting stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs would be planetary romances (and among the earliest), as would be Leigh Brackett 's Burroughs-influenced Eric John Stark stories. The term "space opera" was coined in 1941 by fan writer and author Wilson Tucker as a pejorative term in an article in Le Zombie (a science fiction fanzine ). At the time, serial radio dramas in
1904-475: The Mind in the Command System, a complex of subterranean train stations formerly part of a nuclear missile complex. These were built by the inhabitants of Schar before their extinction. They soon discover that the Mind is being hunted by a pair of Idiran soldiers who have killed all the Changers stationed on the planet, and who regard Horza and his crew as enemies, having no knowledge of the Changers' alliance with
1972-571: The Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher Thomas Carlyle , who gave a series of lectures on heroism in 1840, later published as On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History , in which he states: Universal History, the history of what man has accomplished in this world, is at bottom the History of the Great Men who have worked here. They were the leaders of men, these great ones;
2040-565: The United States had become popularly known as soap operas because many were sponsored by soap manufacturers. The term " horse opera " had also come into use to describe formulaic Western films . Tucker defined space opera as the science fiction equivalent: A "hacky, grinding, stinking, outworn, spaceship yarn". Fans and critics have noted that the plots of space operas have sometimes been taken from horse operas and simply translated into an outer space environment, as famously parodied on
2108-465: The aforementioned authors, who have won Hugo Awards. Several subsets of space opera overlap with military science fiction, concentrating on large-scale space battles with futuristic weapons in an interstellar war . Many series can be considered to belong and fall in two genres or even overlap all like Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card or the Honorverse by David Weber . At one extreme,
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2176-573: The back cover of the first issue of Galaxy Science Fiction . During the late 1920s and early 1930s, when the stories were printed in science-fiction magazines, they were often referred to as "super-science epics". Beginning in the 1960s, and widely accepted by the 1970s, the space opera was redefined, following Brian Aldiss ' definition in Space Opera (1974) as – paraphrased by Hartwell and Cramer – "the good old stuff". Yet soon after his redefinition, it began to be challenged, for example, by
2244-424: The cliché of SF's 'lone protagonist.' You know, this idea that a single individual can determine the direction of entire civilizations. It's very, very hard for a lone person to do that. And it sets you thinking what difference, if any, it would have made if Jesus Christ , or Karl Marx or Charles Darwin had never been. We just don't know. The book was generally very well received as a fast-paced space opera with
2312-412: The crimes of the 'great men.' These optimists forget that the common people too are greedy and envious and when resisted tend to turn to collective violence." Burckhardt predicted that the belittling of great men would lead to a lowering of standards and rise in mediocrity generally. Mark Twain suggests in his essay " The United States of Lyncherdom " that "moral cowardice" is "the commanding feature of
2380-422: The crucible for the selection process of future geniuses. In the words of William James, "If we were to remove these geniuses or alter their idiosyncrasies, what increasing uniformities would the environment exhibit?" James challenges Mr. Spencer or anyone else to provide a reply. According to James, there are two distinct factors driving social evolution: personal agents and the impact of their unique qualities on
2448-458: The decisions, works, ideas, and characters of "heroes", giving detailed analysis of six types: The hero as divinity (such as Odin ), prophet (such as Muhammad ), poet (such as Shakespeare ), priest (such as Martin Luther ), man of letters (such as Rousseau ), and king (such as Napoleon ). Carlyle also argued that the study of great men was "profitable" to one's own heroic side; that by examining
2516-519: The destruction of its ship in an Idiran ambush, takes refuge on Schar's World. The Dra'Azon, godlike incorporeal beings, maintain Schar's World as a monument to the world's extinct civilisation and the dangers of nuclear proliferation, forbidding access to both the Culture and the Idirans. Horza, a shape-changing mercenary, is rescued from execution by the Idirans who believe the Dra'Azon guardian may let him onto
2584-625: The early 1990s did the term space opera begin to be recognized as a legitimate genre of science fiction. Hartwell and Cramer define space opera as: ... colorful, dramatic, large-scale science fiction adventure, competently and sometimes beautifully written, usually focused on a sympathetic, heroic central character and plot action, and usually set in the relatively distant future, and in space or on other worlds, characteristically optimistic in tone. It often deals with war, piracy, military virtues, and very large-scale action, large stakes. Author A.K. DuBoff defines space opera as: True space opera
2652-437: The editorial practice and marketing of Judy-Lynn del Rey and in the reviews of her husband and colleague Lester del Rey . In particular, they disputed the claims that space operas were obsolete, and Del Rey Books labeled reissues of earlier work of Leigh Brackett as space opera. By the early 1980s, space operas were again redefined, and the label was attached to major popular culture works such as Star Wars . Only in
2720-520: The emphasis is on the effects of technological progress and inventions, and where the settings are carefully worked out to obey the laws of physics, cosmology, mathematics, and biology. Examples are seen in the works of Alastair Reynolds or the movie The Last Starfighter . At other times, space opera can concur with hard science fiction and differ from soft science fiction by instead focusing on scientific accuracy such as The Risen Empire by Scott Westerfeld . Other space opera works may be defined as
2788-660: The genesis of a great man depends on the long series of complex influences which has produced the race in which he appears, and the social state into which that race has slowly grown. ... Before he can remake his society, his society must make him. William James , in his 1880 lecture "Great Men, Great Thoughts, and the Environment", published in the Atlantic Monthly , forcefully defended Carlyle and refuted Spencer, condemning what James viewed as an "impudent", "vague", and "dogmatic" argument. James ' defence of
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2856-542: The genre is used to speculate about future wars involving space travel, or the effects of such a war on humans; at the other, it consists of the use of military fiction plots with some superficial science-fiction trappings in fictional planets with fictional civilizations and fictional extraterrestrials . The term "military space opera" is occasionally used to denote this subgenre, as used for example by critic Sylvia Kelso when describing Lois McMaster Bujold 's Vorkosigan Saga . Other examples of military space opera include
2924-645: The global television rights to Consider Phlebas , to be adapted by Dennis Kelly into a television series and produced by Plan B Entertainment . The project was cancelled in August 2020. Space opera Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes space warfare , with use of melodramatic , risk-taking space adventures, relationships, and chivalric romance . Set mainly or entirely in outer space , it features technological and social advancements (or lack thereof) in faster-than-light travel , futuristic weapons , and sophisticated technology, on
2992-441: The great man is preserved then the environment is changed by his influence in "an entirely original and peculiar way. He acts as a ferment, and changes its constitution, just as the advent of a new zoological species changes the faunal and floral equilibrium of the region in which it appears." Each ferment, each great man, exerts a new influence on their environment which is either embraced or rejected and if embraced will in turn shape
3060-608: The great man theory can be summarized as follows: The unique physiological nature of the individual is the deciding factor in making the great man, who, in turn, is the deciding factor in changing his environment in a unique way, without which the new environment would not have come to be, wherein the extent and nature of this change is also dependent on the reception of the environment to this new stimulus. To begin his argument, he first sardonically claims that these inherent physiological qualities have as much to do with "social, political, geographical [and] anthropological conditions" as
3128-407: The instability of that brain is such as to tip and upset itself in just that particular direction." James then argues that these spontaneous variations of genius, i.e. the great men , which are causally independent of their social environment, subsequently influence that environment which in turn will either preserve or destroy the newly encountered variations in a form of evolutionary selection. If
3196-516: The late Victorian and Edwardian science-fiction era. Examples may be found in the works of Percy Greg , Garrett P. Serviss , George Griffith , and Robert Cromie . Science fiction scholar E. F. Bleiler cites Robert William Cole 's The Struggle for Empire: A Story of the Year 2236 as the first space opera in his 1990 reference work Science-Fiction: The Early Years . The novel depicts an interstellar conflict between solar men of Earth and
3264-407: The lives led by such heroes, one could not help but uncover something about one's own true nature. As Sidney Hook notes, a common misinterpretation of the theory is that "all factors in history, save great men, were inconsequential", whereas Carlyle is instead claiming that great men are the decisive factor, owing to their unique genius. Hook then goes on to emphasize this uniqueness to illustrate
3332-535: The make-up of 9,999 men in the 10,000" and that "from the beginning of the world no revolt against a public infamy or oppression has ever been begun but by the one daring man in the 10,000, the rest timidly waiting, and slowly and reluctantly joining, under the influence of that man and his fellows from the other ten thousands." In 1926, William Fielding Ogburn noted that Great Men history was being challenged by newer interpretations that focused on wider social forces. While not seeking to deny that individuals could have
3400-432: The modellers, patterns, and in a wide sense creators, of whatsoever the general mass of men contrived to do or to attain; all things that we see standing accomplished in the world are properly the outer material result, the practical realisation and embodiment, of Thoughts that dwelt in the Great Men sent into the world: the soul of the whole world's history, it may justly be considered, were the history of these. This theory
3468-431: The odds to defeat rivals while inspiring followers along the way. Theorists say that these leaders were then born with a specific set of traits and attributes that make them ideal candidates for leadership and roles of authority and power. This theory relies then heavily on born rather than made, nature rather than nurture and cultivates the idea that those in power deserve to lead and shouldn't be questioned because they have
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#17327879666003536-592: The overall course of events. He thus concludes: "Both factors are essential to change. The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community." Before the 19th century, Blaise Pascal begins his Three Discourses on the Condition of the Great (written it seems for a young duke) by telling the story of a castaway on an island whose inhabitants take him for their missing king. He defends in his parable of
3604-545: The planet as in the past he was part of a small group of Changers who acted as stewards. They instruct him to retrieve the Mind. During Horza's extraction, the Idirans also capture a Special Circumstances agent, Perosteck Balveda. However, the Idiran starship on which he is travelling is soon attacked by a Culture vessel, and Horza is ejected. He is picked up by a pirate ship, the Clear Air Turbulence ( CAT ). He
3672-504: The point: " Genius is not the result of compounding talent. How many battalions are the equivalent of a Napoleon? How many minor poets will give us a Shakespeare? How many run of the mine scientists will do the work of an Einstein ?" American scholar Frederick Adams Woods supported the great man theory in his work The Influence of Monarchs: Steps in a New Science of History . Woods investigated 386 rulers in Western Europe from
3740-424: The political bias in discussions on greatness and heroism, stating: "the new liberalism’s antipathy to superior statesmen and to human excellence is peculiarly zealous, parochial, and antiphilosophic." Ian Kershaw wrote in 1998 that "The figure of Hitler , whose personal attributes – distinguished from his political aura and impact – were scarcely noble, elevating or enriching, posed self-evident problems for such
3808-600: The post-Roman " Migrations Period " of European History is compiled under the biography of Attila the Hun . This heroic view of history was also strongly endorsed by some philosophers, such as Léon Bloy , Søren Kierkegaard , Oswald Spengler and Max Weber . Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel , proceeding from providentialist theory, argued that "what is real is reasonable" and World-Historical individuals are World-Spirit's agents. Hegel wrote: "Such are great historical men—whose own particular aims involve those large issues which are
3876-529: The publication of M. John Harrison 's The Centauri Device in 1975 and a "call to arms" editorial by David Pringle and Colin Greenland in the Summer 1984 issue of Interzone ; and the financial success of Star Wars , which follows some traditional space opera conventions. This "new space opera", which evolved around the same time cyberpunk emerged and was influenced by it, is darker, moves away from
3944-419: The ship. Horza manages to lift off and as the fugitives warp away from Vavatch, they see the evacuated Orbital destroyed by the Culture warships to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. Balveda reveals Horza's identity and he convinces the crew to carry out his mission. A sentient Vavatch drone, Unaha-Closp, has been trapped on the ship and reluctantly joins the team. They land on Schar's World and search for
4012-445: The shipwrecked king, that the legitimacy of the greatness of great men is fundamentally custom and chance. A coincidence that gives birth to him in the right place with noble parents and arbitrary custom deciding, for example, on an unequal distribution of wealth in favor of the nobles. Leo Tolstoy 's War and Peace features criticism of great-man theories as a recurring theme in the philosophical digressions. According to Tolstoy,
4080-454: The significance of great individuals is imaginary; as a matter of fact they are only "history's slaves," realizing the decree of Providence. Jacob Burckhardt affirmed the historical existence of great men in politics, even excusing the rarity among them to possess "greatness of soul", or magnanimity : "Contemporaries believe that if people will only mind their own business political morality will improve of itself and history will be purged of
4148-420: The space opera was well established as a major subgenre of science fiction. However, the author cited most often as the true father of the genre is E. E. "Doc" Smith . His first published work, The Skylark of Space ( Amazing Stories , August–October 1928), written in collaboration with Lee Hawkins Garby , is often called the first great space opera. It merges the traditional tale of a scientist inventing
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#17327879666004216-520: The stars. Early stories of this type include J. Schlossel 's "Invaders from Outside" ( Weird Tales , January 1925), The Second Swarm ( Amazing Stories Quarterly , spring 1928) and The Star Stealers ( Weird Tales , February 1929), Ray Cummings ' Tarrano the Conqueror (1925), and Edmond Hamilton's Across Space (1926) and Crashing Suns ( Weird Tales , August–September 1928). Similar stories by other writers followed through 1929 and 1930. By 1931,
4284-432: The term in its original and pejorative sense. Eventually, though, a fondness for the best examples of the genre led to a re-evaluation of the term and a resurrection of the subgenre's traditions. Writers such as Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson had kept the large-scale space adventure form alive through the 1950s, followed by writers like M. John Harrison and C. J. Cherryh in the 1970s. By this time, "space opera"
4352-433: The theme of the novel, he said: There's a big war going on in that novel, and various individuals and groups manage to influence its outcome. But even being able to do that doesn't ultimately change things very much. At the book's end, I have a section pointing this out by telling what happened after the war, which was an attempt to pose the question, 'What was it all for?' I guess this approach has to do with my reacting to
4420-410: The trains for a collision course to the station. The captured Idiran, Xoxarle, frees himself and in the ensuing impact and firefight the remaining members of the Clear Air Turbulence are killed. Horza pursues Xoxarle and is fatally injured, but the Idiran is killed by Balveda. Horza dies soon after Balveda gets him to the surface and the Mind is returned to the Culture. In an epilogue, the Mind becomes
4488-402: The unique traits that make them suited for the position. One of the most forceful critics of Carlyle's formulation of the great man theory was Herbert Spencer , who believed that attributing historical events to the decisions of individuals was an unscientific position. He believed that the men Carlyle supposed "great men" are merely products of their social environment: You must admit that
4556-728: The will of the World-Spirit." Thus, according to Hegel, a great man does not create historical reality himself but only uncovers the inevitable future. In Untimely Meditations , Friedrich Nietzsche writes that "the goal of humanity lies in its highest specimens". Although Nietzsche's body of work shows some overlap with Carlyle's line of thought, Nietzsche expressly rejected Carlyle's hero cult in Ecce Homo . This theory rests on two main assumptions, as pointed out by Villanova University : This theory, and history, claims these great leaders as heroes that were able to rise against
4624-464: Was for many readers no longer a term of insult but a simple description of a particular kind of science fiction adventure story. According to author Paul J. McAuley , a number of mostly British writers began to reinvent space opera in the 1970s (although most non-British critics tend to dispute the British claim to dominance in the new space opera arena). Significant events in this process include
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