Chapter ǴǴ: Uchronia, or Alternative History ȂȇȈEdward Bellamy’sLooking Backward(ȀȇȇȆ) projects an opposite vision,
one intended as backward only in an ironic sense; it imagines a prosperous
and happy socialist utopia ofȁǿǿǿ. Ļis uchronia actually exerted some
influence in its time, converting many readers to socialism because they
wanted to live in the world of Bellamy’s vision. A less satisfying example of
the first category of uchronian works isHadrianVII(ȀȈǿȃ), a rather ama-
teurish fantasy by Frederick Rolfe, the self-appointed Baron Corvo. Its
hero is a frustrated would-be priest whom a deadlocked College of Cardi-
nals implausibly elects as pope, the second English pope in history. Pope
Hadrian radiates his benevolence right up to World WarI or, rather, to
its avoidance. His ministrations successfully adjust the world’s important
political conflicts. Ļis story also had real-world effects. Ļe oddness of
the book and its author inspired a famous work of literary detection,Ļe
Quest for Corvo(ȀȈȂȃ), in which A.J.A. Symons discovered how strange
the “Baron” actually was.
Ļe second (and my preferred) category of uchronian literature is more
strictly what-if history. It concerns actual events or circumstances that
might plausibly have been different.If: Or History Rewritten, edited by
J.C. Squire (ȀȈȂȀ), samples the genre with stories by many writers. Phillip
Guedalla supposes that the Christian Reconquista of Spain had somehow
not gone far enough to absorb the Moorish Kingdom of Grenada, leaving
it a power in international affairs into the twentieth century and presum-
ably beyond. Hendrik Willem van Loon supposes that the Dutch had
retained Nieuw Amsterdam until, by a treaty with a curiously libertarian
provision, it joined the United States inȀȇȃȀ. André Maurois supposes
that LouisXVIhad been firm enough to keep Turgot, his liberalizing
finance minister, until and beyondȀȆȇȈ(when the French Revolution
began, in the real world), instead of dismissing him inȀȆȆȅ. Hillaire Belloc
supposes that the cart that blocked Louis’s path when he tried to flee
from France inȀȆȈȀhad gotten stuck before reaching the crucial spot
at Varennes. Emil Ludwig asks what if German Emperor FrederickIII ,
liberal-minded and married to a daughter of Queen Victoria, instead of
dying after only ninety-nine days on the throne inȀȇȇȇ, had survived
and exerted his moderating influence untilȀȈȀȃ. Winston Churchill, in
a double twist, writes as a historian in a world in which Lee had actu-
ally won the battle of Gettysburg and who speculates about his not hav-
ing won. Milton Waldman supposes that Booth’s shot missed Lincoln.
G.K. Chesterton imagines Don John of Austria married to Mary Queen
of Scots; Harold Nicholson, Byron enthroned as King of Greece; and