Back in 1976 Science-fiction authors Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle published their fantasy novel Inferno, about an SF writer who dies and goes to hell as described by Dante in if classic work, Inferno. I have read this novel two ro three times and it is very enjoyable and quite an interesting take Dante’s vision through a modern perspective.
Two years they published a sequel novel, Escape From Hell, which I purchased a few months back and now that I have time, I have finally read. I do not think this book is as good as the original and in part I think politics marred this novel, which just as easily be titled Liberals In Hell. Jerry Pournelle maintains a blog — he hates that words but that is what the world calls such things — and so as a frequent reader I have a taste for what the author thinks versus what his characters are saying. (Larry Niven does not maintain such on line presence and so his thoughts are more mysterious.)
This book in many ways feels like the authors having fun putting their political rivals in Hell and torturing them. There is a decided lack of conservative figures in hell, while prominent liberal such as President Lyndon Johnson, are named and figure as characters. Now I am not insisting that author must maintain an quota system for such works, that’s silly, but the complete absence of namable conservatives betrays the heavy bias and that undercuts any arguments and persuasive powers the text might have.
This major flaw made the book far less enjoyable than the original, even with that novel’s flaws. (Such as maintaining homosexuality as a sin, something that was seriously modified by the sequel. Apparently hell is subject to retconning.)
Wortha read, but with a large amount of salt nearby.
IN my Wester Civ class the professor thought that the old Testament prohibitions came from the time the Israelites were in Babylon and were along with a number of their other religion commanded actions a method to keep their national identity while in exile.
Interesting shocker from the Bible, related to homosexuality – did you know there is no mention in the Bible AT ALL about homosexual acts between women? Does this imply that if you are a homosexual woman, God is okay with it? Also, did you know that the only specific “homosexual” act prohibited in the Bible is sodomy – and that it doesn’t really specify the sex of the receiving partner?
One might ask, “Why is this?” However, to me the answer is clear and parallel to the dietary rules of the time of the Bible – the concept of clean and unclean food which really had more to do with food safety than with superiority of inferiority of he animals in question. Having said that, repeatedly practicing sodomy can, and usually does damage the body of the receiving party. Could the real issue be one of not harming others? Thought about in this light, does it not seem likely that any prohibition of homosexual act in the Bible might be related to physical harm instead of an issue with whom one loves?