Star Trek and History by Reagin Nancy

Author:Reagin, Nancy
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Published: 2013-02-15T16:00:00+00:00

Part Three

Future Culture

“Eaten any good books lately?”

—Q (to Worf), TNG, “Deja-Q”

Picard: Well, it seems Mrs. Troi is our acting ambassador of goodwill for today”

Troi: “You just think of me as your entertainment director”

—TNG, “Half a Life”

Chapter 11

Shakespeare (and the Rest of the Great Books) in the Original Klingon

Elizabeth Baird Hardy

For those who love books, one of the most encouraging aspects of the Star Trek future is the fact that its people work in outer space and visit distant planets but still read, enjoy, and quote the books that are already classics in our own time period. Even in the twenty-first century, book aficionados often lament the advent of e-readers and other technological replacements for the experience of reading an actual book, but the use of classic literature by the characters of Star Trek reinforces the historical and literary value of these venerated texts.

A number of scholars and fans have meticulously tracked down the plethora of literary allusions in the films and television series, and even viewers with only a passing acquaintance with what literary scholars refer to as the “Great Books” can identify the references in episode titles such as “By Any Other Name” or recognize the deerstalker hat and pipe of Sherlock Holmes when they are worn by Lt. Commander Data.1 Some critics have theorized that these literary elements are intended only to provide a facade of elegance, but there is far more at work than mere window dressing.2 In the distant future, works considered “Great Books” today remain popular for entertainment in both traditional and technologically enhanced performances, without eliminating the pleasure of reading an actual book with pages and a cover. The texts of the Western literary canon are clearly still materially and culturally valuable in a distant future whose stories sometimes echo those told in the antique books they continue to treasure, and they reflect the histories of the texts themselves as well.

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