this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2024
19 points (100.0% liked)

Daystrom Institute

3454 readers
42 users here now

Welcome to Daystrom Institute!

Serious, in-depth discussion about Star Trek from both in-universe and real world perspectives.

Read more about how to comment at Daystrom.

Rules

1. Explain your reasoning

All threads and comments submitted to the Daystrom Institute must contain an explanation of the reasoning put forth.

2. No whinging, jokes, memes, and other shallow content.

This entire community has a “serious tag” on it. Shitposts are encouraged in Risa.

3. Be diplomatic.

Participate in a courteous, objective, and open-minded fashion. Be nice to other posters and the people who make Star Trek. Disagree respectfully and don’t gatekeep.

4. Assume good faith.

Assume good faith. Give other posters the benefit of the doubt, but report them if you genuinely believe they are trolling. Don’t whine about “politics.”

5. Tag spoilers.

Historically Daystrom has not had a spoiler policy, so you may encounter untagged spoilers here. Ultimately, avoiding online discussion until you are caught up is the only certain way to avoid spoilers.

6. Stay on-topic.

Threads must discuss Star Trek. Comments must discuss the topic raised in the original post.

Episode Guides

The /r/DaystromInstitute wiki held a number of popular Star Trek watch guides. We have rehosted them here:

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Garak asserts to Bashir that the Repetitive Epic is the finest form of Cardassian literature. I was wondering, is there any real-life literature that could be considered a "repetitive epic" in the same vein as "The Neverending Sacrifice?"

all 12 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I think you might be able to draw a parallel with long-running serials like comic books, or even Star Trek itself. They tend to revisit old themes and revolve around a certain status quo.

They tend not to involve multigenerational obedience to an authoritarian regime, though...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Isn't there a version of Superman where he lands in Siberia instead of Saskatchewan and ends up a good Soviet citizen?

[–] JungleJim 1 points 10 months ago

Now I want a Canadian superman. I think he was originally from Kansas. Well, first Krypton, but later Kansas.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. It tells the story of a man who lives his life over and over again. Very interesting story and while not exactly like Garak’s repetitive epic its definitely in the same vein.

[–] ElderWendigo 6 points 10 months ago

I feel like repetitive epic is like a Cardassian version of the dubious literary idea of The Hero's Journey, adapted for the Cardassian heroic ideal of selfless sacrifice to the state. I think Garak would appreciate the "Rememberence of Earth's Past" series (Three Body Problem) for the way that individual heroics take a backseat to the glory and survival of the state.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

I love this question. My first thought was not a book, but Béla Tarr's The Turin Horse which depicts the repetitive life of a Hungarian farmer and his daughter. Each day is essentially the same, with similar but ever-changing frustrations, and no hope for change in sight. The audience really feels their frustrations, but the characters also appear to have fully accepted the situation. The title is a reference to the horse-whipping that allegedly drove Nietzsche insane.

Not quite an "epic" in the usual sense, but absolutely repetitive and a surrender to economic powers beyond one's control.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

I don't know what the most similar novel to The Neverending Sacrifice might be, but I think the exact opposite is probably the 1970s novels satirizing the British Raj called The Flashman Papers. They are incredibly funny, highly offensive, beautiful assaults on the landed gentry, set during one of the most incompetent, badly failed military expeditions to Afghanistan in the history of badly failed military expeditions to Afghanistan--the British one.

No, not the American one with British help--the actual British one, from way back in the seventeenth century.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

I always got “Groundhog Day with Guns,” plus “Waiting for Godot,” plus Game of Thrones.

Too much alliteration?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

The closest I can think of--at least as far as multi-generation epics--would be Wilbur Smith novels.