This [thread=476851]thread[/thread] about Nicolas Flamel, in which it is pointed out that Leonardo Da Vinci was a real person, reminded me of a short story I read ages ago.
In it, two future historians are arguing about whether WW2 really happened. The guy saying it was not real was taking the position that it was an allegorical tale, and proving it with the names of the protagonists - that is:
Adolf - Wolf
Stalin - Steel
Eisenhower - Iron Hewer
Churchill - Church, Hill
deGaulle - of France
Does this ring a bell with anyone? I’m thinking Azimov, but so far, no luck
I recall a science fiction story set in the Foundation universe, not written by Asimov ( possibly in Foundation’s Friends ) that that spoke of future misinterpretation of the past like that, but I’m not sure if that specific example was used. The part I recall is an attempt to figure out the origin of the children’s song that goes ‘Ashes, Ashes, all fall down’, but there was more.
I wish I could help with the name of the story, but I just don’t remember it. But I do recall the story and have often mentioned to others the odd “cooincidences” you have mentioned. I must have read the story 40 or more years ago, so it’s an old one.
Give us some more information. What year did you read it? (A long time ago isn’t a useful term. For some people that’s ten years. For some that’s fifty years.) Where did it appear, in a magazine, an anthology with many authors, or in a single-author collection? What did the magazine or book look like, if you remember? Do you remember any other stories in the magazine or book?
It was a long time, likely greater than 30 years. My siblings are older than me by another decade, and it could easily be from a book they had bought, so lets say 30-45 years ago.
Likely a magazine, or a pulpy paperback. Other than that, I got nothin’. The future historians talking aspect is what makes me think Asimov, but…could be somebody else.
I also remember this story. I’m pretty sure it was in Analog magazine in the early-to-mid seventies. I think it was one on their stories that was in the form of letters or memos between two people. In this case one scholar was debunking another scholar’s claims that the ancient myth of WWII was real. I think this was in Analog because that was the one SF magazine my Dad subscribed to when I was growing up. I’m inclined to think it was early seventies, because for some odd reason I remember reading this before my family moved in 1974. I think this was in one of their digest size issue, rather than the large format issues Analog had for a time in the 1960s.
A friend who reads the SDMB but doesn’t post just E-mailed me identifying the story. It’s “Letter from a Higher Critic” by Stewart Robb from the November 1966 issue of Analog. Here’s the Internet Science Fiction Database entry:
Awesome. Thanks, and thank your friend. Actually, your friend must join the dope. We obviously need him, he must be assimilated. He could call himself:
[del]1920s style “Death Ray”
Der Trihs
Attack from the 3rd dimension
Voyager
Speaker for the Dead [/del]
Some kind of classic science fiction themed dopername
He already belongs to the SDMB. He says that he hasn’t posted in years and has forgotten his password. I didn’t know that he belonged till he E-mailed me on Saturday and gave me the answer to the question. I only see him a couple of times a year.
Uh, actually, I have that one on reserve, in the event that I ever tire of kaylasdad99 (which, come to think of it, has kind of lost its futuristic cachet since the turn of the century).
