[Ads-l] Quote: There ’s nothing to be learned from history any more. We =?UTF-8?Q?=E2=80=99re_?=in science fiction now

[Jonathan Lighter]

Ginsberg was fifty years ahead of his time. Especially apt was his
observation that "the past is bunk for people now."

JL

On Wed, May 17, 2023 at 4:04 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Fred has an entry about the quotation in the subject line in "The New
> Yale Book of Quotations". The NYBQ notes that Allen Ginsberg received
> credit for the quotation in a 1980 book. Here is a 1969 citation.
>
> [ref] 1969, Allen Ginsberg in America by Jane Kramer, Part 2, Chapter
> 1, Quote Page 86, Random House, New York. (Verified with scans) [/ref]
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> "What I meant," Ginsberg said, "is that the past is bunk for people
> now. All past consciousness is bunk. History is bunk. Like Henry Ford
> said about technology—there’s nothing to be learned from history any
> more. We’re in science fiction now. All the revolutions and the old
> methods and techniques for changing consciousness are bankrupt. We’re
> back to magic, to psychic life."
> [End excerpt]
>
> I found the above citation while working on an article about this
> general theme. Below is an overview. Earlier citations (or interesting
> citations) for this theme would be welcome.
>
> https://quoteinvestigator.com/2023/05/16/science-fiction/
> https://quoteinvestigator.medium.com/e35caa6f1f38
>
> 1954: We live in a science-fiction age. Yesterday’s fantasy is already
> today’s fact. - Chester Whitehorn, Editor of short-lived "Science
> Fiction Digest"
>
> 1957 Jan: The bizarre fact that we do live in a science-fiction world.
> - Canadian Journalist James Cameron (not the moviemaker)
>
> 1968 Jun: We do live in a science fiction age. - John M. Connor, Librarian
>
> 1969: There’s nothing to be learned from history any more. We’re in
> science fiction now. - Allen Ginsberg, Poet
>
> 1971: I have had the disturbing conviction that we are all living in a
> science-fiction story. - Donald A. Wollheim, Science fiction editor
>
> 1974 May: We live in a science fiction age. - Leonard Nimoy, actor who
> played Spock in “Star Trek”
>
> 1975: We live, indisputably, in a science fiction world. -  James E.
> Gunn, Science fiction scholar and author (not the moviemaker)
>
> 1978: Everything is science fiction. And I ought to know. - Ric Ocasek
> and Greg Hawkes, members of the rock group The Cars
>
> 1982: I think we’re living in a science fiction world right now. -
> Isaac Asimov, Science fiction author
>
> Acknowledgement: This article is dedicated to the memory of science
> fiction fan and librarian extraordinaire Dennis Lien who asked
> fascinating questions and helped QI on many occasions.
>
> The text of the first citation in 1954 within "Science Fiction Digest"
> is visible in snippets in Google Books, but the citation has not yet
> been verified with hardcopy or full scans. "The Encyclopedia of
> Science Fiction" indicates that the publication failed and only two
> issues were published in February and May 1954. So the year is solid.
> An unrelated "Science Fiction Digest" was published in the 1930s.
>
> Garson O’Toole
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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