Little Fuzzy, by H Beam Piper

[sophia_sol]

This is a charming little book that is deeply, clearly, obviously of its time. I found it on Librivox, remembering I'd heard good things about the book, and assumed that therefore since it was in the public domain it must be pre-1923. I started listening to it and within a few minutes was convinced it must be from the 60's, as little sense as that made.

Turns out it is indeed from the 60's and yet still is in the public domain. Let me categorically state that I DON'T UNDERSTAND USA COPYRIGHT AND BOOKS. (wiki is very little help, alas, only serving to make me more confused.)

The book in general continued to feel very much of its era as I continued listening. Not in a bad way (...mostly)! Just in a way where all sorts of authorial choices constantly reaffirmed that it originated in a specific cultural context. Which - well, all books do. Some are more obvious than others, but in general books can't easily escape their cultural context. It's an interesting experiment to compare Little Fuzzy with John Scalzi's recent reboot of it, Fuzzy Nation. Fuzzy Nation has the same approximate plot and characters as Little Fuzzy, and yet it is obviously from a different context, reflecting the culture it came from just as much as Little Fuzzy does.

There are some things I like about Fuzzy Nation better (the Fuzzies having an agenda of their own!) and there are some things I like about Little Fuzzy better (Jack Holloway not being a giant obnoxious dick!). But unfortunately it's been several years since I've read Fuzzy Nation so I don't currently feel qualified to properly compare the two books.

In general I really liked Little Fuzzy. But also the whole thing is also just like.... colonialists behaving paternalistically (or violently) towards native people who they see as just barely counting as people, less intelligent, very innocent, childlike, animal-like, etc. GEE WHERE HAVE I SEEN THIS DYNAMIC BEFORE. Pretty sure the connections I'm making here weren't intended by the author but I'm still a little uncomfortable.

Also I am endlessly disappointed that Ruth the scientist spy (!!!) happily retires to the role of sunstone miner's wife. (okay yes, and fuzzyologist, but she only agrees that's the case after prompting from her fiance.)

Comments

[melannen]

I don't know that I'd rec Golden Dream on its own but it's really interesting in the context of the Little Fuzzy phenomenon / fanficness and it's not bad!

(I have a copy of Fuzzy Nation! I will read it someday. It's just that normally new Little Fuzzy "canon" would have gotten me reading it immediately - I liked the original a lot and I am so fascinated by the fact that this book that even a lot of SF fans have never heard of somehow still has published tie-ins by four other authors and a picture-book adaptation and probably some other stuff.)

(I mean I shouldn't be surprised it's got a persistent underground fandom because it's basically about soulbonding with furries that srs sf fans of srs hard sf for srs mens can pretend is totally classic hard SF totally. BUT STILL.)

(And that's kind of why I don't, hmm, I don't think too hard about the questions of the Fuzzies' being patronized? Because they serve EXACTLY the same story role as Pernese dragons or Manticoran treecats or Valdemaran Companions or Iskryne trellwolves, of alien species that inexpicably want nothing more in life except to keep humans from ever being lonely. That appears to be something humans want in their stories. I think more interesting to me is why none of the other "companion animal" universes have even explicitly posed the questions of legality and equality like Piper does.)

(Except Temeraire of course.)

(The picture book is pretty good by the way.)

[sholio]

You know, I never really thought about it in the same sense as Temeraire, Valdemar, etc, but you have a point!

And I wonder if that's a big part of why I disliked Fuzzy Nation so thoroughly on an emotional level, because it'd be sort of like someone writing a take on Valdemar in which the horse-analogs loathe being Companions and are only putting up with it for self-serving reasons while plotting against the Heralds. It torpedoes the fantasy right in the aspect of it that makes it emotionally appealing ... which I guess works fine if you aren't into the fantasy, but if that's actually what drew you to the thing in the first place ...! (See also: me and Lev Grossman's books.)

[sophia_sol]

...huh, you're totally right, that IS the role the Fuzzies are playing. Interesting to think about.