The Last Flight of Doctor Ain

February 1, 2004 9:00 PM

James Tiptree's short story The Last Flight Of Dr. Ain has come to mind a number of times since the avian flu hit the news.
posted by y2karl (12 comments total)

Scary story, and what beautiful language. She'll be missed. You a fan?
posted by adamgreenfield at 11:29 PM on February 1, 2004

Which reminds me, have you ever read Richard Cowper's "Message to the King of Brobdignag"?
posted by adamgreenfield at 11:35 PM on February 1, 2004

Creepy, sad story. Tiptree rocks. Thanks for the pointer.
posted by Asparagirl at 9:49 AM on February 2, 2004

good post y2karl, thanks.
posted by madamjujujive at 10:36 AM on February 2, 2004

Also a fan of Tiptree. "The Screwfly Solution" is one of my favorites, and probably one of her most well-known. In the Out of the Everywhere collection, there are two other stories (earlier?) with the same theme, as if she were reworking and refining it.

Nice to see one set of aliens coveting Earth for its magnetic field.
posted by kurumi at 11:44 AM on February 2, 2004

since the avian flu hit the news.

Here's a good Plastic post about the avian flu.
posted by homunculus at 3:03 PM on February 2, 2004

Excellent post. Boy, do I miss Tiptree -- reading about her death was a gutwrenching experience.
posted by languagehat at 5:06 PM on February 2, 2004

Seconded, or thirded-- Tiptree had an extraordinary ability to articulate the fantasies of anxiety felt by many of us... The Screwfly Solution disturbed me deeply when I first read it because I assumed it had been written by a man, and in this case the gender of the author really does make a difference (if male, it's the ultimate misogynist fantasy, if female, a brilliant rendition of women's deepest fears).

And wasn't The Last Flight of Dr. Ain her first published story? I love it because of its narrative complexity-- as someone says, the whole damn story is told backwards-- which is another one of her trademarks.

Her death was a great loss, though I respect her choice. But still.
posted by jokeefe at 10:53 AM on February 3, 2004

And wasn't The Last Flight of Dr. Ain her first published story?

Wasn't it The Women Men Don't See?
posted by y2karl at 11:07 AM on February 3, 2004

You know, we live in the internet age:

1968
"Pupa Knows Best v.t. "Help"
"The Man Doors Said Hello To"
"Birth of a Salesman"
“Mama Come Home”
“Faithful to thee, terra, in our fashion”
“The Snows Are Melted, the Snows are Gone”
“Fault”

1969
"The Last Flight of Dr. Ain"
“Your Haploid Heart”
“Beam Us Home”

"The Women Men Don't See" was 1973.
posted by languagehat at 5:06 PM on February 3, 2004

Or maybe I was just looking for an excuse to link the story. I guess in the internet age, we haven't outgown the tin ear age. But thanks for patronizng this thread.
posted by y2karl at 7:23 PM on February 3, 2004

we haven't outgown the tin ear age

You've lost me. Who's supposed to have the tin ear?
posted by languagehat at 7:40 AM on February 4, 2004