George R.R. Martin’s epic fantasy series, “A Song of Ice and Fire” (Bantam Books) is an excellent summer reading project for many reasons. The four novels currently in print – with a fifth due in July of this year – are a densely packed treasure trove of high adventure, romance, mystery, intrigue and magic, with exceptional character development and a brilliantly limned tapestry of the never-ending battle between good and evil for the souls of mankind.
HBO has ventured to capture the medieval-like splendor of this roaring tale with a season’s offering of episodes built around the first of the novels, A Game of Thrones, and initial reports convey an enthusiastic response from a growing fan base.
I have always been a sucker for the Fantasy/Science Fiction genre. Even though these stories often feature wildly improbable settings and characters, there is always an underlying theme that depicts with unsettling clarity the chasm between nobility and savagery that defines the human race. Our past and our future are equally represented through these traits and although the past has been written the future remains an empty page and therein lies the hope for all of us.
Mr. Martin’s tale can be compared to the ending of the European Dark Ages, when the brutality and lack of moral structure endemic among the fractured society of “kings and lords” (or warlords and bandits, depending upon one’s perceptions) began to give way to the unifying efforts of such heroes as Richard the Lionheart, Barbarossa, and Charlemagne. Eventually the common or “small people” were able to slowly gain the human rights that with the support of Christianity grew into the basis for Western civilization.
But the suppression of the horror, unmitigated evil and atrocities that can become the hallmark of an unrestrained Ruling Class is never completely eliminated, as can be attested to by the actions of regimes such as Nazi Germany, Japan, the fractured Balkans, Uganda and Communism in all its variants.
Mankind can rightfully recoil in horror from such examples and vow to prevent their perpetration. Such determination produces entities such as the Magna Carta, the United Nations, NATO, and the European Union.
But even as societies continue to evolve, our ancient proclivities remain. The Ruling Class tenaciously survives, determined to maintain its assumed superiority, its privileges and its aristocratic smugness. Power is its only goal and all else is subservient, as evidenced by such diverse examples as the droit du seigneur proclivities exhibited by International Monetary Fund managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the arrogant antics of Congressman Anthony Weiner, Senator Ted Kennedy and other national and international figures.
But surely, you might protest, such mild transgressions hardly compare with the beheadings, amputations, endless war and uncountable other atrocities portrayed in Mr. Martin’s fictional saga. A logical point.
We can regard with justifiable pride the enormous strides we have made from Thomas Hobbes’s view of life as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” as expressed in his famous book, Leviathan, published in 1651. But Hobbes was also an unrepentant advocate of a strong central government and would undoubtedly be profoundly disturbed by the more vocal elements of libertarianism to be found in today’s society, let alone the French Revolution of 1848.
As a species, humanity seems to find itself careening madly from extreme to extreme, from anarchy to totalitarianism. But we are indeed evolving, as history might indicate, and our major societal shifts are somewhat tempered by the implementation of such restraints as the rule of law, elections, and religious values.
We are far from perfect, but with our capacity to read, understand, evaluate, discuss, and make cooperative decisions we have the opportunity to influence what our future may bring.
Hopefully, we will come to recognize the genius and talent of some of our most prolific writers and incorporate their teachings into our march toward the future.
