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A review by unfetteredfiction
Trouble with Lichen by John Wyndham
4.0
“Even back in her schooldays Diana had accepted as an article of faith the proposition that knowledge was no less a gift of God than life itself; from which it followed that the suppression of knowledge was a sin against the light. She would no longer have used such terms to express herself, but the sense of them held firm. The seeker after knowledge did not seek for himself; he was under a special Commandment: to deliver to all men whatever he might be privileged to learn.”
- John Wyndham, Trouble with Lichen
This book was entirely more thought-provoking than I was expecting it to be. It also seems like such a treat to read pre-1990’s sci-fi with a well-developed female protagonist.
Having only read The Midwich Cuckoos as an intro to Wyndham, I was expecting something lighter and more playful. However, I so thoroughly enjoyed the deep questions asked by this text surrounding life, science, knowledge and the nature of “progress”.
Diana is a scientist who makes a discovery, a life-altering one for the whole of humanity. Her boss also makes the discovery, yet he feels a need to shield it from public knowledge for the time being while Diana is compelled to begin its integration with and tailoring for a specific audience, namely women.
The nature of the discovery concerns length of life, which we might too easily assume is something we would all welcome.
Relationships, food, work are among the things that would be first affected, however, once you begin thinking about it, there isn’t much that wouldn’t be affected by the lengthening of life by two or three hundred years. Could ethics, philosophy, politics or feminism help Diana answer her questions? Will the journalists be on her side? What must she sacrifice to deliver her findings?
- John Wyndham, Trouble with Lichen
This book was entirely more thought-provoking than I was expecting it to be. It also seems like such a treat to read pre-1990’s sci-fi with a well-developed female protagonist.
Having only read The Midwich Cuckoos as an intro to Wyndham, I was expecting something lighter and more playful. However, I so thoroughly enjoyed the deep questions asked by this text surrounding life, science, knowledge and the nature of “progress”.
Diana is a scientist who makes a discovery, a life-altering one for the whole of humanity. Her boss also makes the discovery, yet he feels a need to shield it from public knowledge for the time being while Diana is compelled to begin its integration with and tailoring for a specific audience, namely women.
The nature of the discovery concerns length of life, which we might too easily assume is something we would all welcome.
Relationships, food, work are among the things that would be first affected, however, once you begin thinking about it, there isn’t much that wouldn’t be affected by the lengthening of life by two or three hundred years. Could ethics, philosophy, politics or feminism help Diana answer her questions? Will the journalists be on her side? What must she sacrifice to deliver her findings?