L'Ére des Miracles

In Age of Miracles Brunner confronts his characters with an alien transportation system produced by unknown creatures clearly superior in knowledge that is, being a man is not innately noble. It's behaving as a good man would behave that creates the nobility. One feels that a story about a rat that somehow had won thru to a sense of "rathood" & then acted upon that sense would equally impart a tone of optimism for the rest. It's the experience of self-affirmation that's important here, a self-affirmation which enables the character to tell all that he is what he is.

There are two points to be gained from reading Age of Miracles with implications for all of Brunner's work. The 1st point is concerned with the future. He doesn't assume a future of promise & glory. The optimism of a manifest destiny isn't part of the world he creates. Instead, he's far more likely to question the future & man's place in it. The 2nd point is, in many ways, a consequence of the 1st. Since mankind has no manifest destiny, how is man to determine his place in the future if he has any voice in it at all? In Age of Miracles the answer is given: man's place in the future will be determined by individuals who call themselves men. In other words, the future of the race is an open question & the solution to that question depends on the people who are part of the race.

Three of Brunner's novels are particularly concerned with exactly this issue. Each of these novels, Stand on Zanzibar, The Sheep Look Up & The Shockwave Rider, substitutes the image of a dystopia for the alien in Age of Miracles, but the problem remains the same: man must take responsibility for himself & his race.--Stephen H. Goldman (edited)