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Classic Australian SF #5
A Week in the Future
Catherine Helen Spence (1825-1910) was an Australian author, teacher, journalist, politician and leading suffragette. In 1897 she became Australia's first female political candidate after standing (unsuccessfully) for the Federal Convention held in Adelaide. Known as the "Greatest Australian Woman" and given the epitaph "Grand Old Woman of Australasia", Spence is commemorated on the Australian 5 dollar note issued for the Centenary of Federation. Spence had a talent for writing and an urge to be read, so it was natural that in her teens she became attracted to journalism through family connections, beginning at first with short pieces and poetry published in The South Australian. She also worked as a governess for some of the leading families in Adelaide at the rate of sixpence an hour. Her first major work was the novel Clara A Tale of South Australia During the Gold Fever (1854). Her second novel Tender and True was published in 1856 and to her delight went through a second and third printing, though she never received a penny more than the initial twenty pounds.
148 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1888
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About the author
Catherine Helen Spence
40 books6 followersScottish-born Australian novelist, a critic, an accomplished journalist, a preacher, a lecturer, a philanthropist, and a social and moral reformer. Australia’s first female political candidate after standing for the Federal Convention held in Adelaide, and a keen campaigner for electoral reform, (Thomas Hare's voting scheme for the representation of minorities). She admitted in her autobiography that she was late to 'lend a hand' to the Australian suffragist movement, believing that electoral reform for male voters was a higher priority than votes for women.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 21, 2018
A fascinating visionary book. Written in 1897, the narrator a late 50-ish spinster is given a choice of 2 years to live or the chance to one final week in the future. She choses the later and is transported to London 1986. Instead of giving us a sci-fi book full of new gadgets she just has machines that do more and focuses her book on a social revolution that has been lead by the people.
She describes an almost utopian future of full employment, financial and social equality, cooperative living and working, happiness everywhere, no wars, and the focus on sustainability and agriculture. Not only an industrial revolution but also a massive social one has occurred. There are even women priests.
Of course there are elements of the 1890s values. England is leading the way with America, Canada and Australia. The Asians and Russians are still lagging but they will catch up one day.
But what a stir this must have caused in 1897. It's a classic and unique way of looking at what may have been.
She describes an almost utopian future of full employment, financial and social equality, cooperative living and working, happiness everywhere, no wars, and the focus on sustainability and agriculture. Not only an industrial revolution but also a massive social one has occurred. There are even women priests.
Of course there are elements of the 1890s values. England is leading the way with America, Canada and Australia. The Asians and Russians are still lagging but they will catch up one day.
But what a stir this must have caused in 1897. It's a classic and unique way of looking at what may have been.
August 5, 2011
This proved to be quite a page turner. CHS is standing on one side of a 120 year divide, and I am on the other, ticking and crossing her ideas as she presents them. Fascinating, and at times a little spine-chilling how accurately she was able to guess how things would work out. Not the greatest prose, but I don't think she meant it to be.
March 21, 2018
Catherine Helen Spence’s short story A Week in the Future was published serially in the Centennial Magazine between January and July 1889, then later published independently as a book later that year.
...
Basically, the story is that Miss Emily Bethel, a Scottish lady resident in Adelaide who had recently lost her mother (as had, indeed Spence herself when she wrote it) suffered a heart attack and was given a choice of 1-2 years of enforced invalidism or a week in the future instead. She chose to spend one week in the future in England a century hence- i.e. in 1988.
... The story is very much a vehicle by which Spence expounds on her views of the way society should run, largely influenced by her Unitarian faith. Like Unitarians in England, she favoured co-operative housing, she believed in girls’ education, and embraced a religion that did not grind its adherents under the burden of original sin.
A Week in the Future is in effect a political tract, wrapped in a story. Still, given that for us 1988 has been and gone, it’s interesting seeing the aspects she highlighted, which in many cases still have yet to come to pass.
For my complete review, see
https://residentjudge.wordpress.com/2...
...
Basically, the story is that Miss Emily Bethel, a Scottish lady resident in Adelaide who had recently lost her mother (as had, indeed Spence herself when she wrote it) suffered a heart attack and was given a choice of 1-2 years of enforced invalidism or a week in the future instead. She chose to spend one week in the future in England a century hence- i.e. in 1988.
... The story is very much a vehicle by which Spence expounds on her views of the way society should run, largely influenced by her Unitarian faith. Like Unitarians in England, she favoured co-operative housing, she believed in girls’ education, and embraced a religion that did not grind its adherents under the burden of original sin.
A Week in the Future is in effect a political tract, wrapped in a story. Still, given that for us 1988 has been and gone, it’s interesting seeing the aspects she highlighted, which in many cases still have yet to come to pass.
For my complete review, see
https://residentjudge.wordpress.com/2...
November 16, 2013
Fascinating.
Torn between enjoying this book and being absolutely horrified at the narrowness of thought. I need to think about this more to write something more intelligent for this.
Still engaged and I learned a lot so. Still. Middle class women back then. Really really horrific and racist in and awful. But probably not actually as awful as 1988 actually was in those terms.
Torn between enjoying this book and being absolutely horrified at the narrowness of thought. I need to think about this more to write something more intelligent for this.
Still engaged and I learned a lot so. Still. Middle class women back then. Really really horrific and racist in and awful. But probably not actually as awful as 1988 actually was in those terms.
November 2, 2011
Fascinating, considering this book was written well over 120 years ago.
May 23, 2021
This was an interesting read but it's also more of an essay than a story with any kind of real narrative. Yes there's a short first chapter where the main character decides to go to the future and there are short paragraphs at the beginning of the rest of the chapters where things are set up like 'oh we're on a train going to see what a farm is like' or 'we just got back from my great nephew's wedding' but for the most part the book is just one long info dump conversation where the main character asks leading questions to people from the future so they can tell her how everything works.
It's still a good read if you're interested in classic sci-fi and classic female authors though. While she's not particularly accurate with her predictions, there's a lot of stuff that we are still trying to make happen today. There's also a lot of things that she thinks would be good that most people today would vehemently disagree with and probably find a bit morally repulsive so it's interesting to compare and contrast some of her ideas. Definitely a dry read overall but still a classic that I would recommend.
It's still a good read if you're interested in classic sci-fi and classic female authors though. While she's not particularly accurate with her predictions, there's a lot of stuff that we are still trying to make happen today. There's also a lot of things that she thinks would be good that most people today would vehemently disagree with and probably find a bit morally repulsive so it's interesting to compare and contrast some of her ideas. Definitely a dry read overall but still a classic that I would recommend.
May 1, 2015
nice book of the future for kids
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews