Customer Reviews

Old Man in New World

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This review is based on an eText version of the story. The history of this work is that in 1943, Arthur Koestler asked Olaf Stapledon to contribute a story to an anthology of utopian fiction, an idea which was later dropped. In 1944, this story managed to survive and was published as a chapbook by P.E.N. "Old Man in New World" is a short story of fewer than 20 pages, but it is an interesting story and one worth seeking out if you can. Stapledon had long touched on utopianism in both his non-fiction and fiction works, but this story is quite a bit different from his other works. Stapledon's views on utopianism can be found in the conversation between the pilot and the old man, but the scene where the Fool speaks in place of the President is the one which sets it apart.

Olaf Stapledon is never considered ordinary, and "Old Man in New World" is no exception to that rule. The Old Man is a product of pre-utopian times, being born during the first world war and living through the second. He feels honored to have been invited to the "Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the First Generation of the New World". His conversation with the pilot sent to bring him to the celebration opens his eyes a bit on his perspective of the state of the world, and puts allows him to watch the spectacle of the celebration with a more open mind.