Re: Best parody of a hoary SF line

Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@xxxxxxxxxx> writes:

Paul Ciszek wrote:
In article <e4faf107-fe3b-4a41-b877-7103763a6659@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Ilya2 <ilya2@xxxxxxx> wrote:
From "Saturn's Children" by Charles Stross:

"The door dilated. I stepped through trying not to think what went on
in the architect's mind."

Although it makes fun not so much of Heinlein's original line, as of
countless analyzing of it by SF fans.

I must have a dirty mind; I assumed that the point of view character
thought that the architect had issues with something Freudian.

"A womb with a view".

But other things dilate... but few that are very much less
embarrassing, in context.

I haven't as yet got round to _Saturn's Children_, but what comes
to my mind is that the architecture of one generation is on occasion
taken by future generations (and not just the next) to be so unspeakably
awful as to threaten the viewer with madness.

Probably there's not much room for stories outside Lovecraft
pastiche and the occasional short-short where aliens can't stand the
Chrysler building about bad architecture, but the occasional mention
of the really hideous architecture of past days seems like a piece of
world-building background which could be slipped easily in.


Remembering the painting "The Origin of the World", I find with
detached interest that Wikipedia's recent purge of naughty pictures so
far leaves
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L'Origine_du_monde>
still unsafe for viewing in the workplace. Unless your workplace is
an art gallery or otherwise broad-minded.

I really must remember to read Usenet at night sometime.

--
Joseph Nebus
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