I Want To Live In Centennius' 1983

There are two things that are most striking about the Centennius piece, neither of which are his ability to prognosticate the future. In that respect, he was a complete and utter failure (albeit entertainingly so) What are most striking is first, his unabashed love and respect for his home and native land, and second, the level of dislike and frustration he had for the true north strong and free of his day.

When reading science-fiction, speculative fiction, and fantasy it’s always a good idea to not forget that what the writer is writing about is not simply trolls and hobbits, dragons and knights, vampires and buffys. The writer is in fact speaking volumes about the time they live in. These genres of fiction are not purely escapism, to think so is folly, no—laziness, and worst of all limits the scope to which one can enjoy a piece and actually take something away from it. Even the in formulaic writing of Ann Rice (as well as those of her court) there is a criticism of society buried somewhere deep within the pages of purple prose. The criticism may be directed at the political, the religious, sexuality, gender; you name it, it’s been criticized. The criticism is there, and undeniably so.

I have to admit that this is the first piece of science-fiction written by a Canadian that doubles as a piece of patriotic sentiment that I have ever come across. And actually, I don’t believe I’ve ever read any piece of fiction that really bolsters and stirs patriotism in me as this has. It’s just so heartening, in both the warm and fuzzy sense of the word as well as in the saddening sense, to see this man in 1883 writing by lamp light penning down his hopes for Canada 100 years down the road. I say hopes because this is what his foretellings of the future amounts to. Couple that with his dissatisfaction with the Canada of his day, how can someone not be moved by either Centennius’ earnest wishes and hopes for the Canada of the future or by the image of Centennius happening upon the Canada of our day and age which would have been very disappointing in lieu of his expectations?

It seems to me that in “The Dominion in 1983” Centennius highlights three aspects of the Canada of his day that he holds serious issue with, they are: Transportation, Health Care, and Governmental practices with specific attention to Parliament. The first two of the three are understandable, while the third of which (although I’m sure he didn’t intend it to be) is pure comedic genius. How does the old adage go? It’s funny because it’s true. When Centennius writes, “Our manners and customs are so vastly different from those of our great-grandfathers that we should feel out of place indeed had we to go back, even for a short time, to their uncouth and imperfect ways,” he’s signaling to the reader (both of his time and of the future) to pay attention, and that he’s about to give us his opinion of the current state of affairs. From this he launches into a two page tirade on the government and parliament. I love how he says,

“Their extraordinarily complex methods of governing themselves, and their intricate political machinery would be very distressing to us, and are calculated to make one think that a keen pleasure in governing or in being overgoverned—not a special aptitude or genius for governing—must have been very common”

which to me, a lowly York student translates out to, “some people are sheep and some people are shepherds, it’s a dissatisfactory symbiotic relationship.”

Further along we come to his discussion of parliaments, of which he writes, “Provincial Parliaments, with their crowds of M.P.P.’s, were abolished in 1935, and it was then also that the number of members at Ottawa was reduced from the absurd total of 750 to 15, and the round million or so which they cost the country saved.” A shocking, thrilling statement followed by, “Members are not now paid; the honour of the position is sufficient emolument.” To which I scribbled the follow marginalia: hahaha… now i know this is science-fiction.

All joking aside, as I said previously what is most interesting about this Centennius piece for me is not the forward looking, national fortune-telling (that is undoubtedly delightful and entertaining) but is snap-shot of his time period that Centennius locks away in this piece. You can almost smell the seasoned cedar burning in his cast-iron stove as he writes by lamplight and the snow falls outside.