032 Project Hail Mary and The Competent Man Trope

During the “golden age” of science fiction (late 1930s to 1950s), a particular type of story dominated the pages of magazines. It was the “Competent Man” narrative. Comparisons of Andy Weir’s novels to this particular trope have been made by literary critics.In this episode, I discuss how I see the movie and book, Project Hail Mary, as being in dialogue with the "Competent Man” trope, drawing from classic science fiction, but putting an interesting twist on the narrative that arguably subverts the old use of this trope.Want episodes early and bonus content? Join my Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/mikelwisler