A golden age is characterised by confidence. It may be confidence in society itself, in technology, in philosophy or art, or even in expansion. The key is that when people look back on it they see a clarity and power that they feel is missing from the present.
We desire that impression of past confidence even if the people who lived through the so-called golden age experienced it as chaos, coflict, and a fight for survival.
Will our era be seen as a time when humans looked beyond themselves to find (in the animal kingdom or in outerspace) sapience or to build it (as with generative AI)? Will this be the golden age of alien contact, whatever form that alien sapience inhabits?
I designed Caldryn Parliament to be a suitable setting for golden age fiction. The Realm’s first millennium is approaching. Its people have centuries of survival and success bolstering them. Its institutions have defeated or assimilated all challenges. It is a time of confidence, and yet, it is also a time of questions and of an invitation to change.
There is so much to explore that I’m frustrated I can’t write all the books, all at once.
A golden age promises answers, but its answers are compelling due to the chaos that spawns them.
Over on Facebook I was discussing how the word disorder is increasingly common in popular culture. We’re looking for certainty and finding possibilities instead.
Golden age fiction asserts its certainties and offers them as an ordering of the disorder.
I wish I could tie a nice, orderly bow and wrap up this post so that it’s a complete and coherent whole. Sadly, what you’re getting instead are my messy thoughts as I attempt to tease out how I’m using my writing to make sense of the world, and why I think golden age fiction has such an appeal.
Comments
2 responses to “A Golden Age”
I really love Golden Age fantasy – everything from the visuals to the narrative. And I like when we see the darker underbelly.
I don’t generally read Golden Age fiction / historical, because it’s so easy to romanticize history, and that can become a trap (less of an issue in fantasy). It’s something I sometimes struggle with when reading HR too – enjoying some Eloisa James or Jane Austen, it’s easy to sigh and wish that was my life. But in reality, being a woman in that era SUCKED. That’s why I lean towards the less historically accurate HR. 😉 People forget all too easily that when one group has such power that they can cement it in a gilded golden age, there are many other groups that are marginalized. Have you ever read “The Way We Never Were” by Stephanie Coontz? I wish everyone would read it. The clear-eyed perspective about the realities of the 1950s-70s is something our world needs, because we’ve been propagandized into believing that was the best time and we need to get back to it.
Nostalgia is sneaky stuff, especially when weaponised. I definitely understand your struggle with historical fiction. I enjoy Regency romance because of early exposure to Georgette Heyer, but I think my brain sees it as a fantasy world. I can’t read Australian historical fiction because that’s too real for me.
After a lot of people recommended a Western romance I tried it, and Ellen O’Connell’s Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold made me realise that sometimes, even with all its imperfections, historical fiction does work for me. I think in this case it was the emotional truth of the characters that carried me through it. Otherwise I prefer history either real (non-fiction – I’m really looking forward to Alice Roberts’ Domination – about who spread Christianity and why) or as very unreal, like in old movies like Support Your Local Sheriff.
And I just realised I’ve been rambling! Sorry. But thanks for sparking so many thoughts 🙂