The Book of Nicodemus and Other Apocrypha: The Works of Robert C. O’Brien as a Reflection of Technological/Scientific Anxieties in 1960s American Culture

Abstract

The Americans of 1960s had inherited decades of anxiety about scientific and technological progress. In the span of fifty-one years, from the beginning of World War I to the start of the Vietnam War, the devastating potential of weaponry seemed to exponentially increase – from nuclear weaponry to the re-emergence of chemical warfare. It was not just the sci-tech of war that worried Americans in the 1960s, however, but equally disturbing were the implications of advances in fields like genetic engineering and the worries over the increased presence of technology in everyday life. Such anxieties were heightened by revelations of unethical medical experimentation and of government cover-ups of the dangers of nuclear power and the fallout from bomb testing. Joining the voices of the 1960s counterculture movement, more and more Americans were raising their voices against the dangers of science and technology unfettered by social and ethical considerations.

Robert Conly spoke to many of these anxieties in his books. The Silver Crown (1968) addressed concerns over scientifically engineered education and mind control. Conly’s, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (1971), which is usually associated with animal rights first and foremost, also included references to genetic engineering and technological materialism. Conly’s sole contribution to adult fiction was a Cold War thriller: A Report from Group 17 (1972). The book featured escaped Nazi War criminals, bioweapons research, and scientific sadism. Conly’s final work, Z for Zachariah, which was published posthumously in 1972, was set in a post-apocalyptic world and depicted the darkest sides of human behavior (and, in this case, an unethical scientist’s behavior) in such a world. What is also remarkable about Conly is that three of his four works were meant for youth readers. These books used science fiction and fantasy not to give children tales of escapism, but rather to introduce real-world problems and give them ways to think about them. Nor did he veil his messages under metaphor or euphemism – Conly’s books do not shy away from realistic language or depictions of situations. The Silver Crown and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH may have fantastical elements, but their infusion of a sometimes frightening or cruel reality offered children the chance to develop critical thinking skills about these issues. During the process of reading a book, said Conly, a child’s mind also has the opportunity to learn that “it is not easy to separate good from bad,” and “that not all doors are simply open or shut.” Even his adult work, A Report from Group 17, leaves the reader with a sense of ambiguity regarding the intentions of some of the protagonist’s allies.

Ambiguity can be frightening, but that was the reality that Americans were facing – one where the sci-tech world was no longer one that could be blithely trusted to bring a “promised land,” but one which left them in continual limbo – and with a fear of possible hells to come. Conly’s placement in the news world would have left the already nervous author constantly exposed to the emerging developments in science and technology, and the news of its misuse. In-depth readings of his works reveal that Conly’s works, taken together, clearly reflect the many scientific and technological anxieties present in 1960s American culture.