Steampunk is an interesting new subculture to be aware of in places that reflect modern trends. This style makes a nearly-Chestertonian, paradoxical attempt to reconcile opposites: the breakaway from the bourgeois (the “punk”) and a return to Victorian formality (the era of “steam”). Not only that, but it attempts to bring together both extremes of artifacts in past centuries: both the obvious practicality of bare metal, gears, chains, screws; and the equally apparent ostentation of lace, well-finished wood, polished brass, ferns and leather-bound books. Ultimately, it is an attempt to take modern technology and to embed it in the appearances of an earlier age.
I think this can be a very Catholic attitude, not only because of our timeless heritage and our ability to incorporate the tradition of earlier ages, but also because it displays a respect for creation – specifically, the artifacts which are our own creations. Steampunk aims for beauty, practicality and durability – a combination which is all but lost in a consumerist society that depends upon plastics, convenience and disposability.
Of course, much of steampunk is merely for show, and does not offer the durability it advertises. It’s a good start, though, and something I’ll be interested in following over the next few years. Though not to the extent of dressing in a top hat, as some have done.
One of the things that underlies the Steampunk aesthetic, I believe, is a nostalgia for retro visions of the future. Steam-punk fans enjoy looking at science fiction of the 1930s, and 1890s; looking back at a period of both relative naievete and wonderment, at the possibilities.
One Canadian writer of young-adult fantasy, Kenneth Oppel, has a trilogy of books about an alternative victorian world, where lighter-than-air airships powered by some mysterious element called “hydrium”. No it’s not hydrogen.
There’s hydrogen on this planet too, but it’s heaver than “hydrium”. One wonders what the atomic number of Hydrium is, or if it’s a strange result of “quantum entanglement”.
Anyways, the ladies wear Victorian clothes, and the male heros are gentlemen and scholars, and some of them even wear top hats and tails. Even the villains have a kind of quaint dignity to them. There’s lots of victorian “steam” qualities; an appreciation of the art of machining metal into gleaming well-oiled machines, but there’s not much “punk” in these novels. I think the “punk” suffix comes from the way “steampunk” is a genre which could be contrasted with “cyberpunk”. I can’t think of two things farther apart; Victorians, and Punks.
Anyways, I recommend these Opel books. They are called “Airborn”, “Skybreaker”, and “Starclimber”, by Kenneth Opel, who lives in Toronto, as it happens.
Warren
— Warren · Jun 23, 12:33 PM · #
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— Markus · Jul 2, 07:48 AM · #
Well, that was the weirdest thing I’ve read all day, Markus.
W
— warren · Jul 23, 10:40 PM · #