When today is past
What will need to be explained to future readers about today’s literature?
Some of our consultants have recently been reading, or rereading, stories written in the late nineteenth century. One of these stories, considered a classic, comes with extensive footnotes and explanatory material. We looked at some of this, and were initially surprised that any of it should have been necessary. But on reflection we realized that today’s students may not have been exposed to the historical detail we’ve encountered. The idea and workings of gaslight, for example, may be quite foreign to them. (We’re not nearly old enough to have lived in a gaslit house, of course, but we have dealt with similar things while out camping.) We had already noticed that stories in which horses figure prominently are sometimes hard to understand, now that few people work with them closely. And we think that the idea of giving the guest a seat by the fire has lost much of its force to modern readers, who have not experienced the range of temperatures in a big room heated only by a fireplace.
What, then, will need to be explained to future readers in stories written recently? Any references to mechanically-controlled car engines are rapidly becoming obsolete, as everything is now done through software. A whole literature of car-repair stories will require, perhaps, a special guide with diagrams and explanations. The common motif of running out of gas will need at least a footnote when all vehicles are electric, noting that fuel could once be transported in liquid form. The memory of telephones that were fixed in place still remains, but is fading. Paper and coin currency is on its way out. In our own line of work, once we had to choose between a quick calculation on a slide rule, and a much more tedious procedure with log tables (the latter was necessary if we needed more than three-figure accuracy). That’s sometimes hard to explain to students familiar with calculators from birth.
These changes have all happened or are now in the process. What do we not need to explain to readers now, but will in the future?
How about getting a driver’s license? Self-driving cars are still much farther away than many people think, but they’re coming. The matter of disease is more problematic, for though some that have been historically dangerous are one their way out, obviously there are new ones to consider. Of course, the biggest changes will be those no one sees coming. What will you have to explain to future readers about life today?
