There are at least 3 novels by 2 different "major" classic sci fi authors ( Farnham's Freehold and Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein, and Helstrom's Hive by Frank Herbert, in which routine cannibalism is a relatively major plot point.
It also comes up at least briefly in, among other books, Babel 17, by Samuel Delaney.
That seems… oddly specific. And these aren't fringe authors no one has heard of or something, and the books didn't really come across as an attempt at horror or anything. Particularly the second one. So… what's up with that?
by tamtrible
8 Comments
Can’t say I’ve ever read a sci fi that was about cannibalism and I’ve read a fair amount.
Subjects come and go as they’re fashionable… Then not. Early 70s quick sand was a recurring theme that came and went.
Perhaps linked to interests in the donner party being written about or in a movie?
It’s a crucial point in Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun as well.
Plots come and go. Cannibalism is having a comeback in horror at the moment. Some of those books you listed were published around the same time, and trends are cyclical.
Cannibalism is also a good subject for how far we can be pushed and what it means to be human versus food.
They are from a generation that saw the birth and expansion of anthropology and the exploration of “primitive” cultures on Earth, especially in Africa, Papau, and South America. Some of said cultures were (often incorrectly) said to practice cannibalism or cannibalistic rituals.
Cannibalism was also something that was whispered about but people avoided openly discussing in historical events (the Donner Party, HMS Wager, and others) and thus would have been a prime target for early science fiction.
A lot of Sci Fi is a response to the author asking a particular question, such as “What if Jesus was actually just a human raised by aliens on another planet?” If you don’t recognize *Stranger in a Strange Land*’s obvious and intentional parallels to Christianity, which *also* practices ritual cannibalism in a religious context, I don’t really think I can help you understand why Heinlein made that literary choice.
I think writers read other writers and contemporaries and are influenced by them (consciously or not), outside trends echo even in writing and publishing, and sometimes being able to tell a writer or novel is part of a greater trend isn’t easy until after the trend is over.
Your question plugs into a problem a lot of fiction writers have when plotting books, which is “how do you move beyond murder as the worst thing a person can do to another one?” Cannibalism can be the answer, but so often are rape, incest, national-level betrayal and treachery, and some other things. Writers are looking for ways to create friction in fiction that builds on existing taboos and mores. They are constructing their own tales on top of useful societal frameworks. It saves a lot of universe-building, for one thing.
Cannibalism, interestingly, isn’t illegal in many places. What may be illegal is desecrating a corpse, killing someone so you can then eat them, and other peripheral issues related to cannibalism. However, the actual eating is not always expressly legally forbidden, in part because the taboo and the disgust we feel are so great that it may be that writing legislation for it seems redundant.
It’s just that cannibalism makes so much sense, it really should have been 10 times more prevalent along history