>BTW, an uplifting classic long predating David Brin is Olaf Stapeldon's
>_Sirius_.
>It is not good writing, but he takes the ideas very far.
Au contraire! It's wonderful writing, one of the most sublime and moving
sf novels ever written.
A recent *literary* rather than sf sensation using this trope is LIVES OF
THE MONSTER DOGS, by NY writer Kirsten Bakis. I've just started reading
it, so don't know how good it is. (Given its mainstream success, I expect
it to be on the banal side.)
Damien Broderick