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Also on this page: {Themes}
See also: [SF Film] (major essays; i hope ;)
[SF Alterity]
[SF index]
[SF General]
[SF Mechanics]
[SF Writing]
[SF Effects]
[SF Elements]
[SF FUTURUISM] **MAIN PAGE**
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[LITERATURE INDEX]
[The ALT LIST!] (ah, those literary weirdos!)
[terms] (index of indexes)
SF List
[Show Asimov Cartoon]
THE LIST *** In progress; "completed" so far: Dick, Huxley, Le Guin)
Also refer to: [sf-general] (which forms
a sort of "topics" list for sf)
{And the editors} - brave souls they!
On this page: {Douglas Noel Adams: The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy}
{Asimov: Foundation}
{Aldriss: Cryptozoic}
{Ballard:}
{Frank L. Baum: Adventures in Oz}
{Lloyd Biggle: The Light That Never Was}
{Clarke:}
{Delany: Einstein Intersection}
{Dick: Man in the High Castle}
{Dick: Blade Runner}
{Dick: the Crack in Space}
{Dick: Stories}
{Dickson: The Alien Way}
{Huxley: Brave New World}
{Washington Irving} (Rip Van Winkle)
{Le Guin: The Left Hand of Darkness}
{Stanislov Lem: Solaris & The Cyberiad} (Robot Stories)
{Niven & Pournell: Mote in God's Eye/The Gripping Hand}
{Simak: Ring Around the Sun}
{And they walked like men... Clifford D. Simak}
{Cordwainer Smith: The Instrumentatlity of Man}
{Robert Louis Stevenson}
{Jonathon Swift} (Guliver's Travels)
{Jules Verne}
{Kurt Vonnegut}
{Player Piano}
{The Loss of History}
{You've got tp have Certification}
{H.G. Wells}
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Themes
In this section: {Destroy the World}
Destroy the World
Dick: {Captive Market}
Vonnegut: {Breakfast of Champions}
And the editors
- brave souls they!
Hugo
John Campbell
H.G. Gold
Judith Merril
Sam Moskowitz
hmmm, need to scare up some of their stuff
and of course that most skaliwaginous of all:
Harlan Ellison - who has (time and time again)
shown us the way:
"if you are doing what everyone else
is doing, then you are doing nothing new"
- the poet 't'
REPENT, HARLAN WHILE YOU STILL HAVE TIME!!!
(Oahu Island Daylight Savings time of course)
-[John Campbell award]-
-^_6
Douglas Noel Adams: The H2G2
(The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy)
NEXT: Aldris: "Cryptozoic".
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-^_6
Asimov: Foundation
NEXT: Aldris: "Cryptozoic".
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Aldriss
Ballard:
Frank L. Baum
(Adventures in Oz)
Links
-[Babes in Toyland inspired by Oz tale...]-
Victor Herbert was born on February 1, 1859
in Dublin, Ireland. He studied music in
Germany, where he became a cellist and composer
for the court in Stuttgart and joined the faculty
of the Stuttgart Conservatory of Music. In 1886,
he and his wife, opera singer Therese Foerster,
immigrated to New York where they worked for the
Metropolitan Opera and became active in the musical
life of the city. Herbert was most famous as a
composer of light operetta. His best known remains
"Babes in Toyland", which opened in 1903, a fantasy
inspired by Frank L. Baum's popular The Wonderful
Wizard of Oz.
For the complete text, photos, and links, go to -[memory.loc.gov]-
NEXT: Biggle: The Light That Never Was.
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Loyd Biggle: The Light That Never Was
NEXT: Clarke: 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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Clarke: 2001 - A Space Odyssey
NEXT: Delany: The Einstein Intersection
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Delany: The Einstein Inersection
NEXT: Dick: The Man in the High Castle.
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Philip K. Dick: The Man in the High Castle
NEXT: Dick: Bladerunner/
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Philip K. Dick: Bladerunner
Having "triumphed" with the SF film "Alien", Riddley
Scott goes on to take on "Do Andorids Dream of Electric
Sheep". Technically speaking, "Alien" was just another
horor genre story wrapped up in a nice warmy, fuzzy
SF blanket, and of course it's all just the same old
"Excorist" with music timed to the human heart-beat.
Anyway, onward to conqure Dick!
Judged on its on, "Bladerunner" is an excellent action/
adventure film. It contains more intellectual content
than many of the subsequent films profered in the
"SF" vein. It maintained at least some of the ambiguity
present in the original novel; some, but not much.
Thus, Bladerunner -- (name "borrowed" from a totally un-related
story by (as I recall) Lester del Rey) rode the
anti-hero/dystopic view of the future. In the process
Dick's masterpiece "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep"
was simply chaff for the hollywood mill. Oddly enough,
even Sobchack mis-judges the FILM as being original,
when in fact much of the "look" was extracted from the
novel. For example, [SOBCHACK, 1987; revised edition], P.262
"The 'excess scenography' of Blade Runner, for
for example, is more than mere background. As Bart
Mills says: 'The setting *is* the film'. An
abundance of things to look at serves to inflate
the value of space that contains them, and emphasizes
a particular kind of desnsity and texture. ..."
In point of fact, the environment envisioned in the novel
is that much of the human race has died out, or is dieing
out -- the alternative to slow death is to go offworld.
Thus, the large abundance of abandonded buildings of
which people dredge throught looking for the still
usable. One of the *primary* points of the novel is
the concept of gubble/gubbish/kibble (mertz, the
refuse of the destroyed society). This "look and
feel" in the novel is *of course* carried over into
the film by Lawrence G. Paull (production designer),
Syd Mead (visual consultant), and Ridley Scott
(director) -- that's what they got for the
"production rights": The ability to strip-mine the
work of literature and plop it down into a movie
roughly based on Dick's ideas. The sensitivity of
the novel is barely carried into the film. This
could possibly be the necessities of BOX OFFICE
rather than some lack of aesthetic understanding
on the part of Paull/Mead/Scott -- prob v. likely:
In the end materialism must rule us all.
Reagardless, this trend continues to date with almost
all adaptations of SF novels into SF film -- the
most dazling, least intellectual/spritual/meaningful
ideas are discarded, and the poor saps (Dick's term
for T.C. Mits (The Celebrated Man in the Street;
refer to Lilian Liber's "The Education of T.C. Mits"))
eat it up *at* the boxoffice.
A comment ?author? was that modern film treats us all
like children. The classic "build up the need for
revenge, then express the pent up frustration by that
final, v. violent "pay-back" scene" is the only
liturgy that film producers seem to know.
Indeed as Karl Wessel put it in "Alien Encounters:
SF and the Mysteriusm in 2001, Solaris, and Contact",
(Pp.181-209, in "The Science Fiction Film Reader,
ed. by Gregg Rickman, LCCN PN'1995.9'.S26'R53'2004,
ISBN 0.87910.944.7 (Limelight, New York, 2004).
"Since the release of 2001 in 1968, the alien
first contact theme has fallen upon hard times.
Cynical calculations based on bottom-line market
research, throught-less deendence on special
effects, appeals to narcisstic power fantasies,
intellectual laziness, and simple ignorance have
been the order to the day. In the interim, just
three films that attempt to deal with the theme
of transcendence have risen above this un-distinguished
crown. P.192 [he is refering to "Contact", "Solaris",
and "Pi" -- notably by two of the greatest thinkers
of our age, and obviously by Aranofsky/Gillete who
have a completely different view of the "intellectual
lamb" at the mercy of the captitialist/spirtualistic
wolves. [Note 33]
Needless to say, the complexity of Dick's novel is
completely lost in the film; only hints remain to
be tasted lightly. Among the most attrocious are:
Rick's love of Opera, and the fact that he
must "retire" Luba Loft (the anderoid opera
singer) -- of course she ends up as a stripper
"taking pleasure from the snake".
The chuckle-head (wonderfully rendered by ?actor?)
loses all of the need for self agrandisement and
that by hanging out with androids he can at the
same time feel important, superior, and accepted.
He's pretty much a dupe in the film. Thus, the
social comentary about "lower class" people
hanging out with a dominant gang of usually
perceived lower class people. (Recall that much
of Dick's writing dealt with how blacks (still
refered to as "Negroes" at that time), were
perceived by whites. I've often seen the view
of the androids as slaves (blacks) and the
Chuckle-head (white) hanging with his *social*
inferiors simply to have *some* companionship.
The last instance where the Nexus+ "becomes
human" and in so doing, dies. Is more directly
taken from Dick's "We can make you" and other
works. The real conflict comes from when Rick
must retire the android that looks like Ms.
Rosen. And the whole pscho-sexual conflict of
*that* chapter (of which Phil wrote extensively
at the time the film was being made), was of
course too complex for the infantile minds of
the male-dominated penis-less-film market. ("We
wouldn't want anyone to get hurt" as "The
Shoveler" sez in "Mystery Men"). Not since
Rauschlaaum ?sp? by Ibsen, has there been so
much suppressed sexual tension; of course, this
topic is exquistely explored in Le Guin's
"Left Hand of Darkness".
The idea of the "shadow" police department. This
of course a key element in Dick's paranoid view
of the world or at least U.S. politics.
And don't *even* get me started about the total
absence of Mercerism!
Sheesh.
Next: Dick: The Crack in Space
Philip K. Dick: The Crack in Space
Dick, Philip K. (1966). The Crack in Space.
Pub: Ace Books. (NY, NY)
Written a year after the assasination of Malxom X and
two years before the assasinations of Dr. King and
Robert Kennedy (1968), Dick entertains the idea of a
black presidential candidate. The character is parallel
to (and much taken from) Leon Cartwright in "Solar Lottery" {below}
written in 1955. The "Col" (coloured) presidential
candiate, Jim Briskin, is again an idealistic dreamer
about "doing what is right". At first (as with Leon
in Solar Lottery), he doesn't realize that by doing
so, he will put his own life at risk.
The cause which occupies Briskin are the "bibs" (or
corpsicles in Larry Niven's terms) - people who in
order to escape the un-employment problems have
themselves frozen to be thawed out when things improve.
It's interesting to note how Phil weaves his political
novel - the fact that the presidential candidate (running
on the "Liberal Republican Party of 2080 !) is black is
only secondary to the usual posturing around a candidate.
Of course to some his colour *does* matter; viz the
neo-nazi pary "CLEAN" headed by Verne Engels. Juxtaposed
to this is the "well meaning" org-transplant, Dr. Lurton Sands
who figures prominantly as per all of the "live forever via
organ transplants" characters in both Dick's as well as Niven's
(and earlier in the *original* "BladeRunner" novel by
Alan E. Norse - title adapted/tranmog'd for the film
by Ridley Scott based on Dicks "Do Androids Dream of..."
-- and having nothing to do with Dr. Norse's novel.
Dick: Stories
Collections
===========
Dick-PM: Dick, P.K. (). The Preserving Machine.
War Vetran
Top Stand-by Job
Jim Briskin character (in passing).
Max Fischer becomes the "stand-by" president while
the Unicephlong 40-D is running the country.
Dick: Captive Market
An old woman "Mrs. Berthelson" is able to jump ahead
in time while driving her truck full of supplies to
sell them to a future group of post-war survivors.
The truck does NOT act as a time machine, but rather
she can see the alternate futures.
This theme (of alternate futures) is explored in
Niven's short story "All the Myriad Ways", a well
as in Simak's {Ring Around the Sun}.
Dick: Captive Market - Theme: Destory the World
A particular searing idea is expressed in this,
In this world, in the "ahead" [ie, alternate time-line-future],
such things [supplies, basic scientific instruments, tools, etc]
didn't exist. At least not so anybody could use them. A cursory
glance [at all of the radioactive ash] had told her that;
she could see the ruin with her own eyes. They hadn't taken very
good care of their world. They had wasted it all, turned into
black ash and ruin. Well, it was their business, not hers.
She had never been much interested in the relationshship between
their world and hers. She was conetnent to know that both existed,
and that wshe could go from one to the other and back. And she was
the *only* one who knew how.
[Dick-PM, P. 162]
as well as in vonnegut's Cat's Craddle}
NEXT: Dickson: The Alien Way
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NOTES: This section only.
[33] A brief note on the power-struggle in "Pi". At
first we might be tempted to distinguish between
the *goal* of the wall-street investors and the mysterious
Jewish cult. In reality, they have the same goal: Power.
That "Max" becomes empowered with this knowledge, and
then becomes the target of these two groups and their
"success" in their respective realms is clear. However,
if we view the two groups from the point of view of
what they hope to achieve, it becomes clear (i would
say) that even the Jewish cult sees things in terms of
material gain. It gives them the chance to redeem
themselves via this *sacred* number. Not that they are
motivated to cleanse their tarnished souls by doing
good deeds, or otherwise aleviating the ills of the
world. And it goes without saying that the investor
types are out only to make money. Alone, "Max" has
the pureist vision: The pursuit of pure knowledge.
The little girl ??character-name?? also, has this
child-like vision probably seeing in Max a curiosity
just like her calculator: "How does it/he do that?"
This (i would say) is a to parallel Max's own
naievte in dealing with both the investors and the
Jewish mystics. "Lenny" of course plays him perfectly
preying upon "Max's" abandonment of his faith -- a
faith that he judges is no longer needed now that
his new "relgion" is the pursuit of absolute knowledge;
ie, "finding" pi.
{Back to the TEXT}
NEXT: Dickson: The Alien Way
{Back to the TOP of this page}
Gordon R. Dickson: The Alien Way
See also: [SF (general) "Alien"]
NEXT: Huxley: Brave New World.
{Back to the TOP of this page}
Adlrous Huxley: Brave New World
See also: [Evolution} (sf-general)
and esp: [Fredric Jameson] (LIT: Postmodernism & Cosumer Society
[Brands/Branding] (Myth: Story of Culture)
All page numbers refer to Harper, Row & Co, Perinial Edition.
1969 edition , paperback, P-3095.
In this section: {Color Coding}
{Castes}
{Infants}
{Challenges to the World of BNW}
{Characters}
Color Coding
As per [P.18]
Alpha - grey
Beta
Gamma - Green
Delta - khaki
Epsilons - black
Obviously the colors are chosen to reflect the level of sophistication
of the person's caste. Clearly black (epsilon) is to keep the epsilons
as docile as possible; ie, nothing stimulating.
I would guess that "grey" was chosen to reflect "the man in the
grey flannel suit" (which was probably *just* starting to emerge
at that time; the captains of industry, presidents and such of
course all wore black suits).
{Back to START of this Section}
{Back to the TOP of this page}
The Caste System
Alpha
Beta
Gama
Delta
Epsilon
These are essentially the "under-people" {Underpeople in SMITH}
BEGIN BLOCK QUOTE
Before Bernard could answer, the lift came to a stand-still.
"Roof!" called a creaking voice.
The liftman was a small simian creature, dressed in the
black tunic of Epsilon-Minus Semi-Moron.
"Roof!"
He flung open the gates. The warm glory of afternoon
sunlight made him start and blink his eyes. "Oh, roof!"
he repeated in a voice of rapture. He was as though
suddenly and joyfully awakened from a dark annihilating
stupor. "Roof!"
He smiled up with a king od doggily expectant adoration
into the faces of his passengers. Talking and laughing
together, they stepped out into the light. The liftman
looked after them.
"Roof?" he said once more, questioningly.
Then a bell rang, and from the ceiling of the lift a
loud speaker began, very softly and yet very imperiously,
to issue its commands.
"Go down", it said, "go down. Floor Eighteen. Go down,
go down. Floor Eighteen. Go down, go..."
The liftman slammed the gates, touched a button and
instantly dropped back into the droning twilight of
the well, the twilight of his own habitual stupor.
-- P. 39.
END BLOCK QUOTE
NEXT: Le Guin.
Part of this is clearly the concept of servants just for
the sake of having servants. Surely if the lift can be
automated, there is in fact no reason to have a "lift man".
I would say that part of this is to emphasize the role of
blacks as servants (if not in England, then certainly
in the United States; ca1932).
Infants
"There is nothing innocuous left. The little
pleasures, expressions of life that seemed
exempt from the responsibilites of thought,
not only have an element of deviant silliness,
of callous refusal to see, but directly serve
their diametrical opposite.
-- Theodore Adorno, Minima Moralia
as quoted in:
REF: "The Mouse that Roared: Disney and the End of
Innocence", by Henry A. Giroux,
LCCN PN'1999.W27'G57'1999, ISBN 0.8476.9109.8
(Rowman, Cumnor Hill, Eng, 1999)
The idea of "turning us all into infants" is scarily
reflected by THE MOUSE:
BEGIN BLOCK QUOTE
"The ensemble of [the Disney] theme parks, including
those opened in Tokyo and Paris iin 1983 and 1992,
are central to Disney's homage to white, middle-class,
post-war America. The parks are a blend of "Taylorized
fun" [????], patriotic populism, and
consumerism dressed up as a childhood fantasy.
[LOCAL NOTE 46: The term "Taylorized fun" is taken from
Sorkin "See you in Disneyland", P.223. ????ref????]
As Steven Watts rightly argues, Disneyland in particular,
"can be seen as quint-essential expression of the Disney
culture industry machine in the post-war era."
[LOCAL NOTE 47: Watts: "Magic Kingdom", P.391]
While the parks ofer variations in place and purpose,
they share a number of assumptions that are essential
to Disney's conservative world-view. Far from representing
a benign cultureal force, Disney's theme parks offer
pre-packaged, sanitised versions of America's past,
place a strong emphasis on the virtues of the
individual as an essentially consuming subject,
transform the work of production into the production
of play, and ignroe the exclusionary dynamcis of class
and race that permeat Disney culture. -- P.39
[The New York City-ier, Elayne Rapping, a cultural
critic made a visit to 1990's] expressed shock on
finding herself transported into a world that was
totally *other* but at the same time 'the most
mundanely quint-essential of American landscapes.
[LOCAL NOTE 42: Elayne Rapping, "A Bad Ride at
Disney World", Progressive (Nov 1995), P.36]
.. [in] an enviroment entirely pre-packaged and
controlled. Shuffled through transportation
systems with the ut-most efficiency, met by an
army of smiling, well-mannered cast memebers,
and presented with an array of planned tours,
she found herself in a **space** [emph mine]
where "nothing could possibly go wrong because
nothing could possibly happen".
As a simulacrum of society, purged of conflicts,
differences, and **complexity** [emph mine],
Disney World eleiminaes the need for the public
to utilze any of theose compacities that mark
them as social agents. Instead, it positions them
within a cultural landscape, as Rapping points
out, "in which no trace of anything un-commodified,
non-simulated, non-regulated, non-smiley-faced,
is visible or reachable". And yet it is precisely
this editing-out of conflict, this concern with
control, this over-determined emphasis on the
familiar and the uniform that appeals to the
white, middle class families that make up most
of the visitors to Disney World". -- P.40
[Frank: And in keeping with the use of RADIO's in BNW ...]
Michael Eisner's rational for Radio Disney and its
intrusion into Saturday-morning chldren's programming
is utterly predictable: "Radio Disney, our new radio
network, is thriving on 13 ABC-owned radio stations
across the country. By the way, I love Radio Disney.
It plays on 710 AM here in LA, and I listen to it
all the time. I feel a little silly because we
advertise it as radio for kids. What can i do?
I like the music! Maybe I need grandchildren! Breck
... Eric ... (Anders, you're too young) .. do you
hear that??" Maybe Eisner's commentary wouldn't
be subject to the charger of dis-ingenous-ness if
it didn't appear in a report to Disney shareholders,
a report that in its over-bearing emphasis on profit
margins and expansion belies Disney's attempt to
appear un-interested in the bototm line. Or [P.33/34]
maybe Eisner truly believes that there is nothing
wrong with making Disney cultuer an advertisement
for America itself, a model for a corporate version
of utopia aimed at creating a Disney citizenry
ready and willing to purchase Disney's packaged
version of history, fantasy, and the **future**. [emph mine]
-- P.34.
END BLOCK QUOTE
This instance of "being like an infant" is again emphasised
when Lenina and Bernard visit the Primitive Reservation".
First there is the "encounter" with the Native Dance, the
rhthym of which is:
"Orgy-porgy," she whispered to herself. These
drums beat out just the same rhythms. -- P.75.
... [the natives begin singing]
"It reminds me of a lower-caste Community Sing",
she told Bernard.
But a little later it was reminder her a good
deal less of that in-nocuous funtion. For suddenly
there had swarmed up from those round chambers
under-ground a ghastly toop of monsters. Hideously
masked or painted out of all semblance of humanity, [emph mine]
they had tramped out a strange limping dance round
the square; roudn and again round, signing as they
went, round and round -- each time a little faster.
Pp.74-75.
Note the clear use of her first observing that the
dance reminded here of their own primitive and
caste which was *designed* "out of all semblance of
humanity", and then the further re-inforcement of
the analogue in "strange limping dance", thus refering
to the physical de-habilitation of the epsilons.
I think there are two possible *intentions* here by
Huxley:
(1) That "without" knowing it, the programming and design
(by THE STATE) of the "orgy-porgy" harkens back to
this primitiveness; possibly Jungian implication of the
collective sub-conscious. That is the scientists who
"designed" the orgy porgy did so, not realising that
they are drawing upon this commonality of all humans.
We note that the *designers* (Alpha+'s) are themselves
the least modified (indeed as pointed out with the
conversation between Bernard and the Director (P.65)
"Alphas are conditioned that they do not have
to be infantile in their emotional behaviour. But,
that is all the more reason for their making a
special effort to conform."
Actually, i would say that they are not "conditioned so that",
but rather that they are in fact NOT conditioned at all --
or at least only moderately so.
Thus, it is at least arguable that the alpha+'s that designed
the orgy-porgy without being aware of it, were tap-ing into
the common primitive subconscious of the human race; ie, the
"id" at the very least.
(2) On the other hand, either Huxley is simply using a parallel
device here (again with the "intentionalist falacy"), to
draw the parallels between this *intense* dance, and as
Lenina sees it sharing nothing in common with that *in-nocous*
activity. Alternatively, Huxley may have very consciously
(being after all *Huxley*) quite aware of the making that
connection between the Freudian "id", Jungian "un-consicousness"
and expressing that as a direct ane *intentional* connection
between the primitive *orgy-porgy* and the *dance music*,
and then between the "lower caste group sing" and the
"wild dance". Of course Lenina (because of her programming)
can never understand that the lower caste sing is anything
but in-nocuous.
Next: Chalenges to the World of BNW.
Challenges to the World of BNW
As with all *absolute* systems, there is the question of
what are the threats -- or the "challenges". That is where
are the boundaries of weakness, indeed what the weaknesses
of the primary strengths of the system -- taking a page
from Machivelli.
After the Savage John is brought back to the London central
office, it is apparent that no realises the "danger" to the
system that John reprsents. Indeed,
"The controller skipped the next sentences [on John's
view of the soul] and was just about to turn the page
in search of something more interestingly concrete,
when his eye was caught by a series quite extraordinary
phrases. '... though I must admit", he read, 'that I
agree with the Savage in finding civilized inantility
too easy or, as he puts it, not expensive enough; and
would like to take this opportunity of drawing your
fordship's attention to...'
"Mustapha Mond's anger [from the fact that Bernard was
so dainty to think that he might offend the World
Controller, and so uses 'M-----' instead of spelling
out the ofensive word Mother], gave place almost at once
to mirth. The idea of this creature [Bernard] solemnly
lecturing him -- him -- about the social order
was rally too outrageous. The man must have gone mad.
'I ought to give him a lesson', he said to himself;
then threw back his head and laughed aloud. For the
moment, at any rate, the lesson would not be given."
-- Pp.106-107, Chapter 11.
This is key in that due to the hierarchical view, Mustapha
must necessarily consider himself superior to anyone else
other than a world leader -- he's *designed* that way; and,
especially to an accident like "Bernard". This also, is
one of the dangers of "believing in the system of belief"
that they have *the* perfect society. It is Mustapha's
un-conscious rejection of the "radically new" ideas of
John (the soul, his oppinions, in general) as nothing
but the ramblings of a throw-back and thus purely ludicrous.
This point is crucial in understanding how dangerous John
is to *the system* -- he has none of their suppositions,
indeed, he has none of their programming what-so-evev.
Indeed (apparently un-beknownst to them), he possess a
training in Shakespear -- arguably one of the fore-most
observer's of human nature. Thus, making John if nothing
else something of a totally alien creature: A visitor
to the Brave New World, whose "field training" includes
Shakespear as b/g for his "first contact mission".
All of this goes back to the concept of revolution in
Larry Niven's "Tourist" ??title? (later expanded into
the novel "World out of Joint/Time???title??), where --- title???
Peersa for the state (the computerised version of
the "controller") realises that the pilot that they
were training for ferrying planetary probes out to
the stars, and then has hijacked the ship, and plans
to return back to Earth -- how dangerous he might
be to "the state". The idea being that systems like
"the state" become stagnant, and thus vulnerable to
invasion from the outside. The conclusion being drawn
as an explanation for the fall of empires of the past.
Next: The characters of BNW.
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Characters
Bernard Marx (even at an early stage) is protrayed as the
less-than perfect character, and as such the most human;
ie, human as we would recognise it. Oddly in parallel to
the pathetic Lift Man, he too is struck by the simple
beauty of the sun-light/view at the top of the building.
The next sentence is key to understanding the *conditioning*
"Isn't it beautiful!" His [Bernard's] voice trembled a little.
She smiles at him with an expression of the most sympathetic
understanding. "Simply perfect for Obstacle Golf", she
answered rapturously. "And now I must fly, Bernard. ..."
-- P.40.
They both are programmed (probably via the flowers) to view
light and color as happy things. But Lenina's view is still
tied to "the proper behaviour" model. She interprets the
sun-light in terms of what Alphas should be doing, not in
the particular experience of the sunlight as pure experinence.
That is, interpreted *through* their programmed behaviours,
rather than interpreted as a simple and un-mediated experience.
Later (after his out-burst against Henry, and his
"seeing through" all of the programming; well, much of it).
He is with Helmholtz Watson (Pp.45-47), and he expresses
this "wanting something more"; ie, to make some deeper
contribution than the trite little "piercing phrases"
(P. 46). At the end of the chapter (P.47):
"Helmholtz Watson listened with a certain sense
of discomfort. "Poor Little Berard!" he said
to himself. But at the same time, he felt
rather ashamed for his friend. He wished Bernard
would show a little more pride."
This goes back to Helmholtz being so immersed in *the
system* -- he has benefitted from it greatly. And now of
course, that constant level of *sameness* is beginning to
weigh on him. I don't think this is Huxley as cautionary
tale-teller, i think it's rather more "too much of a good
thing". In fact, this goes back to the (i assume) Controller's
(Mustapha Mond), P.37:
"Now -- such progress -- the old men work, the old
men copulate, the old men have not time, no leisure
from pleasure, not a moment to sit down and think
-- or if ever by some unlucky chance such a crevice
of time should yawn in the solid substance of their
distractions, there is always soma, half a gram
for a half-holiday, a gramme for a week-end, two
grams for a trip to th gorgeous East, three for a
dark eternity on the moon; returning whnce they find
themselves on the other side of the crevice, safe
on the solid ground of daily labour and distraction,
scamperinty from feely to feely, from girl to
pneumatic girl, from Electomagetic Golf course, to..."
This is the ghost that haunts Helmholtz: Due to his
advanced mind, the normal pleasures are growing thin;
satiated in the same way that the programming is
supposed to drill things into everyone, the repeated
experience is now perceived as just that -- mindless
repetition.
This too is what Bernard already sees: Taking everything
for granted, but pretending like its all unique and
different. He sees them as choosing girls like so much
meat -- denying them (and themselves) any kind of
uniqueness. Thus, the experiences become generic.
This leads of course to the need for the *new* feelies.
And of course, the soma which skips them over the
abysis of free time.
From even this stronghold the unlucky Rip was at length routed by his termagant wife, who would suddenly break in upon the tranquillity of the assemblage and call the members all to naught; nor was that august personage, Nicholas Vedder himself, sacred from the daring tongue of this terrible virago, who charged him outright with encouraging her husband in habits of idleness.
Poor Rip was at last reduced almost to despair; and his only alternative, to escape from the labor of the farm and clamor of his wife, was to take gun in hand and stroll away into the woods. Here he would sometimes seat himself at the foot of a tree, and share the contents of his wallet with Wolf, with whom he sympathized as a fellow-sufferer in persecution. "Poor Wolf," he would say, "thy mistress leads thee a dog's life of it; but never mind, my lad, whilst I live thou shalt never want a friend to stand by thee!" Wolf would wag his tail, look wistfully in his master's face, and if dogs can feel pity I verily believe he reciprocated the sentiment with all his heart.
In a long ramble of the kind on a fine autumnal day, Rip had unconsciously scrambled to one of the highest parts of the Kaatskill mountains. He was after his favorite sport of squirrel shooting, and the still solitudes had echoed and re-echoed with the reports of his gun. Panting and fatigued, he threw himself, late in the afternoon, on a green knoll, covered with mountain herbage, that crowned the brow of a precipice. From an opening between the trees he could overlook all the lower country for many a mile of rich woodland. He saw at a distance the lordly Hudson, far, far below him, moving on its silent but majestic course, with the reflection of a purple cloud, or the sail of a lagging bark, here and there sleeping on its glassy bosom, and at last losing itself in the blue highlands.
On the other side he looked down into a deep mountain glen, wild, lonely, and shagged, the bottom filled with fragments from the impending cliffs, and scarcely lighted by the reflected rays of the setting sun. For some time Rip lay musing on this scene; evening was gradually advancing; the mountains began to throw their long blue shadows over the valleys; he saw that it would be dark long before he could reach the village, and he heaved a heavy sigh when he thought of encountering the terrors of Dame Van Winkle.
Washington Irving
(Rip Van Winkle)
See esp: -[Futurism: Before there was a future]-
Annotated text: -[The Legend of Sleepy Hollow]-
http://www.islandmm.com/vbs/ripv/index.html
http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00000519.shtml
http://www.positivewordsforparents.com/homeschool/id19.html
http://www.timetravelreviews.com/shorts/rip_van_winkle.html
Next: Le Guin.
NOTES (this section only)
[93]
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Ursula K. Le Guin: The Left Hand of Darkness
NOTE: All pages refer to the paperback edition:
"The Left Hand of Darkness", ISBN 0.441.47810.7
(Berkley publishing, New York, 1984)
In this section: {References}
{Comments upon first reading}
{Alien-ness}
{Patriotism}
{Time}
{Truth & Ignornace}
{Shifgrethor}
{Thirteen!}
Left Hand: References
All page numbers refer to the paperback edition:
"The Left Hand of Darkness", ISBN 0.441.47810.7
(Berkley publishing, New York, 1984)
[LEFT: Beyond Genre}
"Beyond Genre: Fiction for Children and Aduts",
by Mike Cadden, LCCN PS'3562.E42'Z615'2005,
ISBN 0.415.97218.3 (Routledge, NY/London, 2005).
(Series editor: Jack Zipes!)
The "Hainish Series"
(The "historiographic b/g" is given after the title
"Planet of Exile" -- clan tale
"Eye of the Heron" -- colonial imperialism
"Rocannon's World" --
"Left Hand of Darkness" -- potential Eckumen world; first contact
"The Dispossesed" -- Uniting two worlds
Next: Alien-ness in "Left Hand"...
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Alien-ness in "Left Hand"
Ostensibly, Left Hand does not deal with aliens. The idea
(so far, in my first reading of the first 30 pages) is that
these are "splinter" groups of the human race that have
lost contact with each other. (Similar to Eric Frank
Russell's short story "Freedom: I Want" (the planet of -----------
the "Gandhs" ??name??).
Thus, the alien-ness is that of culture (need to cf/qv this
with Dickinson's "Alien Way" -- ie, an acutal alien way of
thinking). As to how this alien-ness is developed -- we'll
see, we'll see.
For the present, at the time of its writng (1969) most people
would have thought "bi-sexual" to be quite alien (I know that
i did ;). But, more than that she presses this home:
... Such a man as Estraven must have guards about him
somewhere, for assasination is a lively institution
in Karhide, but I had seen no guard, heard none. We
were alone. [Note 1]
I was alone, with a stanger, inside the walls of
a dark palace, in s atrange snow-changed city, in the
heart of an Ice Age of an alien world.
Everhthing I had said, tonight and ever since I
came to Winter, suddenly apppeard to me as both stupid
and incredible. How could I expect this man or any
other to believe my tales about other worlds, other
races, a vague benevolent government somewhere off
in space? It was all non-sense. I had appeared in
Harhid in a queer [2] kind of ship, and I differed
physically from Gehenians in some respects; that
wanted explaining. But my own explanations were
preposterous. I did not, in that moment, beleive
them myself. -- P. 18.
Next: {Patriotism}
NOTES (This section only)
[1] This set-up only serves to
create the sense of isolation for the next part. (This
goes back to the H2G2 when the bar-keep "gets" the sense
of far from home Ford Prefect is (some-where in the first
chapter or 2).
{Back to the TEXT}
[2] I can *not* believe the
choice of this word (queer) is arbitrary. Obviously
to an enlightened individual (Mr. Ai) -- or so, i assume
at this point in the novel (page 30, first reading) would
hardly use the word in a derrogatory manner -- perhaps
even having lost its meaning entirely over the years.
The "Art of Being Human", short story where on a planet
??title?? the natives had a previous visitor and had
warned them how primitive the human race was. The aliens
are then ready when some 200 years later they are contacted
by an official scout ship. And the visitors "read" the
minds of the natives and find that if they say the
wrong thing, the natives will instantly kill them.
Finally, they are brought into a shrine to the earlier
explorer (who helped them build proper sewers, and
other benefits of civilisation). Finally the captain
of the ship sez: Look I know you all think of this
man as some sort of god, but look at him. He's just
a man. Yes, in those days it took a certain kind of
man to dare to set off into the cosmos alone to explore,
those were rough and tumble days, but we are more
civilised now. I'm sorry, but to us he's just an
ordinary man -- nothing more!" (not an exact quote)
At that point, the chieftain sez they are welcome and
that the entire village welcomes the earther's as
friends. The captain confesses that they had read
their minds, hoping to make concact as peacfull as
possible. And that they didn't know what it was that
they were supposed to say that would trigger their
own deaths. The chieftain speaks two words. The captain
and the others are completely puxxled -- they had
never even heard the words. They go off into the
nights hand-in-hand. As (in the novel) the "camera
pans" back, it reveals in the portrait a paining
of an heroic figure in a space suit, helmit under
his arm, white hair, and jet black skin.
-- damn it! I wish I had still had that collection
-- every story in there was *that* good. Such are
the dreams and tales that we simple hippy poets
try to use to heal the world and slowly lead us all
into a better future.
(night all)
{Back to the TEXT}
Next: Left hand: Patriotism.
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Patriotism in "Left Hand"
...[Estraven speaking:] I can not ask for your trust any
longer, either, having put you in jeopardy. I forgot what
a king is, forgot that the king is his own eyes is
Karhide, forgot what patriotism is and that he is, of
necessity, the perfect patriot. Let me ask you this,
Mr. Ai: do you know by your own experience, what
patriotism is?"
"No", I said, shaken by the force of that intense
personality suddenly turning itself wholly upon me.
"I don't think I do. If by patriotism you don't
mean the love of one's home-land, for that I do know".
"No, I don't mean love, when I say patriotism. I
mean fear. The fear of the other. And its expressions
are politcial, not poetical: hate, rivalry, aggression.
It grows in us, that fear. It grows in us year by year.
We've followed our road too far. And you, who come
from a world that out-grew nations centuries ago, who
hardly know what I'm talking about, who show us the
new road --" He broke off. After a while he went on,
in control again, cool polite: "It's because of fear
that I refuse to urge your cause with the king, now.
But not fear for myself, Mr. Ai. I'm not acting
patriotically. There are, afer all, other nations
on Gethen". -- P. 19. [3]
I had no idea what he was driving at, but was sure
that he did not mean what he seemed to mean. Of
all the dark, obstructive, enigmatic souls I had met
in this bleak city, his was the darkest. I would not
play his labyrithine game. I made no reply. After a
while he went on, rather cautiously, "If I've
understood you, your Ekumen [galactic conclave] is
devoted essentially to the general [page 19/20 break]
interest of mankind. Now, for instance, the Orgota
have experience in subordinating local interests to
a general interest, while Karhide has almost none.
And the Commenesals of Orgogreyn are mostly sane men,
if un-intellegent, while the king of Karhide is not
only insane but rather stupid". [4] -- Pp. 19-20.
It was clear that Estraven had no loyalties at all.
I said in faint disgust, "It must be difficult to
serve him, if that's the case".
I'm not sure that I've ever severd the king", said the
king's prime minister. "Or ever intended to. I'm not
anyone's servant. A man must cast his own shadow. ..."
[Note that the "shadow" metaphor is mentioned again
in the next chapter "The Place in the Blizzard"]
A further example of what Estraven meant by "patriotims"
(and amplication of how "wrong" Ai's reply to "What is
patriotism?" was):
[The sailor that rescued Estraven]: "It's not Sixth
Hour yet", and yet answering another, "What affair
of mine is that? The king exiled him, I'll follow
the king's order, no lesser man's".
So, against radio commands from Tibe's men ashore
and against the arguments of his mate [I assume
ships-mate, and not a "kemmer"], who feared
retribution, that officer of the Kuseben Patrol
took me across the Gulf of Charisune and set me
ashore asafe in Shelt Port in Orgoreyn. Whether
he did this *shifgrethor* against Tibe's men who
would kill an un-armed man, or in kindness, I do
not know. Nusuth "The admirable is
in-explicable".
-- P.78.
{Back to SHIFGRETHOR discussion}
Next: Time.
NOTES (this section only)
[3] Here we notice the way that the two views of
patriotism are played out against each other. On
the one hand Ai views it as loyalty to one's country
-- that is united in a cultural, linguistic, and
historical sense. Estraven (and presumably his fellow
citizens) define it by their fear of the other. The
irony here is that a person from a galactic empire
(100 light years across) expresses an almost nostaglic
sense of patriotism, while on this tiny little world
the petty-minded natives can only see their own bickering
and fighting for favor with the king, or at least not
being attacked by other "nations".
This goes back to the cultural homo-geneity of Karhide.
The people vary in height, but not by much, their
behaviour (so far, it seems) is governed by strict
structures of socially acceptable practice. (This
is made even more apparent in the next chapter
"The Place Inside The Blizard" -- as cautionary
tale (esp the interpretation of "incest" -- v. odd,
will require some thought!).
{Back to the TEXT}
[4] At this point, I will refrain (slightly)
from connecting the dialog to the politics of Nixon,
Vietnam, etc. There could however be an imlication about
democracy vs communism. If we read the "general
interest" to be a "world-view" (which I think *is*
valid), then the "local interest" goes back to
nationalism -- and hence the almost rabbid isolationism
of Karhide. This is made all the clear by the word
"subordinating" when speacking about the Orgata.
And Estraven use of "sane if un-intellegent" shows us
his view (predjudice) against prefering the general to
the local (indeed this point is hammered home in the
next paragraph) -- Estraven puts his onwn, private (local)
interests ahead of those of the public (general).
Odd thought: The name Estraven "Est" "raven" hmm, wonder
if there's a connection or intention there?
"EST" could be the cult-like "E.S.T. training" and of
course raven - a mysterious, black bird of note at least
in Poe's poem of the same name.
{Back to the TEXT}
Next: "Time".
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Time
See also: {Time & Truth}
Again the problem of tim appears (most cogently, need re-read
the whole thing from a "time" POV) in the section of
the fastness; esp, P. 59. This goes back to the feel of
the place (Rer/HanHanddara/Otherhord) as sort of a Buddhist temple
-- trying to lose one self (the "un-trance"). This also
goes back to "they always live in year zero". Very odd,
as if "just by saying it is so, they can fix their time.
(THis goes doubly back to the "illusion" of immortality
that they preceive in Ai's "time-dilution" via lightspeed
travel). hmmm
Also, this goes to the idea of the foretellers as being
sought after since they can tell the "people who live in
year zero" about the FUTURE. (spooky music in background)
P.61 - ref to taoism/i ching. Hmmm. What *is* she sayin???
(how old was she when she wrote this?? Hmm, 40 years old
apparently!
Near the bottom of P.70, Faxe (facsimille?) seems to be
saying that the "foretelling" is not so much as asking a
question and then looking into the future, but by asking
the question and DETERMINING an answer, that they are
CREATING that future.
And then the thing about "not asking the wrong question".
And the divinely mystical statement:
"To exhibit the perfect use-less-ness of knowing the
answer to the wrong question".
That is, that as an example (another cautionary tale?)
to those that would have the ENTIRE future spelled out.
Thus, by exhibiting the idea of such "nothingness"
("Nusuth", bot of P.58) as i'm reading it (non-ado
-- assuming i'm correct in that she's using the tao as
part of (at least) some of the back-story of the novel).
the foretellers "warn" kings and such about the useless
of asking. (hmmm,?)
Next: "Truth and Ignornace".
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Truth & Ignorance
Pp.38&ff.
The King asks "Very well. As your machine what makes
a man a traitor".
And of course gets back a nebulous (and if we look
closely) *relativist* answer. This gives us the
impression that "tratorship" is in the eyes of
a *different* beholder; ie, mo man considers himself
a traitor. (This is arguable, since s/he may be
acting in *self* interest and not give a damn about
either (any) side, dismissing (rationalising) their
actions with "they're all a bunch of insane fools".
Regardless, a telling moment occurs,
"And if there were anything that the Ekumens ?eka-humans? hmmm
wanted from us, they wouldn;t have sent you alone.
It's a joke, a hoax. ALiens would be here by the
thousdand".
Ai: "But it doesn't take a thousand men to open a door,
my lord".
Arg: "It might to keep it open"
Ai: The Ekumen will wait till you open it, sir. It will
force nothing on you. I was sent alond, and remain
alone, in order to make it impossible for you to fear me.
"Fear you?", said the king, turning his shadow-scarred face,
grinning, speaking loud and high. "But I do fear you, Envoy.
I fear those who sent you. I fear liars, and I fear
tricksters, and worst I fear the bitter truth."
-- P.39-40.
And then with the tale of the fore-tellers, it is clear that
Lord Berosty (in his arogance of power?) seeks to know the
day of his death, and the foretellers say on the 19th of
some month (but not which month or year). His lover Herbor
then un-selfishly goes to find out, and is told that Berosty
will die after Herbor. This is "future knowledge" as not
necessarily cautionary tale. I take the "moral" of the tale
that in arrogance Berosty sets in motion his own doom --
obviously since he is obsessed with his on mortality,
and to the extent that (if not already mad) he certainly
goes mad there-after. Also, I take it since the tale
ends "He lived a month thus" (P.46) that the time of the
original event of Herbor was in fact on the 18th/19th,
thus he lived a full (and exactly one) month longer than
Herbor.
This being the second tale (the Place in the Blizzard
being the first), Le Guin seems to be making a special
"thing" out of time. This coupled with the light-speed
thingie, as well as the "simultaneity" communicator.
These are "sort of" in defiance of relativity. I'm not
sure if this is just a "plot element" (ie, "History has
known many liars, Kopernicus, Ralph the Liar, Einstein" ;)
or is supposed to be a future break-thru as necessary
element for space travel. On the other hand, I will be
"watching" for other references to time! (what-ever that is!)
{Back to TIME}
*** NOT SURE where this next thing goes (hmmm, should i
provide a "glossary" -- prob one out on the net!
** VOCAB: Investigaor vs Mobile; note the similarity
of mobile to "missionary" in "spreading the
word" or the "galactic union".
Shifgrether
The word "shifgrether" ???
Ref'd earlier: {Estraven's escape}
Yegey: "I waive shifgrethor". P. 84.
Thirteen
Refered to variously (odd)
Yegey: "I've voted thirteen times now against pressing
the Sinoth Valley dispute. -- P.85
CLearly (to me) the border dispute between Karhide and
Orgoreyn (Soviet Union) is parallel to US vs Russia.
There's even a reference (P.82) "Yegey (Yevgenye in Russian)
looking just as he looked at the Reception of
the *Archipelegan* Ambassador in the Ceremmonial
Hall of the Plaace of Erhenrang seven month before". -P.82.
SITH ref (prob a coinkydink) -- Yegey poured out another
dram around of lifewater.
Orgota nobelmen drink that precious fire, brought 5000
miles over the foggy seas from Sith, as if it were beer"
--P.85.
The wonder of "first contact" P.86&ff -- beauty, 'tis
beauty squared that this wondrous poetess has seen fit
to bestow upon our world. And here I sit, almost half
a century in the future and her words come to me. Guide
me, oh poetess! Oh, muses! (it is enough to drive me
insane -- providing of course i'm not in for it already!)
Dothe (hysterical strength; note "hyster" == "fem"),
P.59 (bottom), and then when the
disappearance of kings P. 69, and hence Ai's *** LINK/NOVE to patriotism section.
mis-understanding of patriotism.
to not know is to know, etc. P.70-71.
Pronoun usage: Pp.94-95.
Again "war as purely masculine" thing:
Pp.48 (bottom), P.49 (patriotism as well)
Pp.95-96
War (contemplated, meeting with Yegey & Obsule), P.84
(bottom) to P.85
Shifgrether
The word "shifgrether" ???
Ref'd earlier: {Estraven's escape}
Ignorance
Anyway, at the "Fastness"P.56, Ai admits "I'm exceedingly
ignorant", to which the other replies in great admiration,
"I've lived here 3 years, but haven't acquire enough
ignornace to be worth mentioning". Hmmm, i take this back
to the King fearing "the biter truths". This smacks of
ignorance is bliss (or at the very least ignorance *as*
bliss). Thus, as we grow wiser (more knowledgible) we
realise just how much we don't know. Thus, to be ignorant
(or at least "properly so") *would* be a sign of great
wisdom, and hence achievement. This goes back to the idea
of a "specialist" who knows more and more about less and
less.
Next: Lem, natch!
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Stanislov Lem
In this section: {The Cyberiad} (Robot Stories)
{SOlaris}
Lem: Cyberiad
This section contains NO SPOILERS; but, sub-sections below DO.
This beautiful "fair tales of the future" book concerns a far
future (or a different universe?) where-in the inhabitants
(and main protagonists) are two inventor robots that are in
constant competition with each other.
Lem (like Douglas Adams) has that fanciful turn of phrase
and plot of a poet that takes us on a roller coaster ride
of ideas. One of the more delightful episodes comes when
one inventor tries to create a computer that can create
poetry to "show" the other what a brill inventor he is.
As he progresses to figure out how to program the robot,
Lem tells us that he first reads works on language theory,
and technical matters; but, as he becomes bored with that,
he turns to works on poetry, the aesthetics, etc. And then
when he becomes bored with that, he switches back to the
technical matters. This simple matter has much gainstayed
me in my own works - as i get tired of working on the
"Maths Appreciation", then i switch (for example ;) to
the on-going text on "Science Fiction as Literature", and
by odd thoughts take up writing about the author of
"Solaris" and his Polish book entitled "Robot Stories".
To discuss:
making nothing
SPOILERS in this sub-section.
the conglomerated giant
NO SPOILERS, this sub-section ONLY.
The Priate and the Maxwell's Demon of the Second kind.
the fake human // to John Savage
Next: Niven & Pournell.
Niven & Pournelle
The Mote in God's Eye & The Gripping Hand.
Philip Pullman
Golden Compass (Dark Matters series)
J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter
See also: -[Harry Potter]- (in SF-film; vid)
In this section: {}
{}
{}
{}
{}
{quidditch}
{}
{Refs}
quidditch
Concept of the game (via the text) followed by the so-called
muggle-version (played on the ground by muggles or magical
folk forsworn not to use magic during play).
An intro to the game:
-[Overview of Quidditch Play]-
International quidditch Association handbook...
-[International Quidditch Rules]-
-[Local copy]-
Refs - Harry Potter
Gupta, Suman (2003). Re-Reading Harry Potter.
Also presents on Pp. 25ff - lit crit methods, etc.
29ff - Umberto Eco's "open" vs "closed" texts
And they walked like men... Clifford D. Simak
While many other SF writers told the "cute story" (which
always sells - not that i dont' enjoy taking one of the
standard "20 plots" and plumping it down into the middle
of a trans-atlantic er, ahm trans-galactic voyage on a
luxury star-liner and a mysterious death that can only
mean that the treasure map has been stolenn....
but.
certain other authors have *all*ways* pointed out the slight
problems with society (others that springs readily to mind
is of course Ursula K. Le Guin and Philip K. Dick).
Here then (with slight spoilers) is...
An extract...
"Auk House"
From "Stellar #3" edited by Judy-Lynn DelRey
pbd edition: Ballentine, 1977 ISBN0.345.25152.0
A painter/artist suddenly finds himself transported to
a remote mysterious house (later to be called "Auk House"
by "the keepers"). Meanswhile life is pleasant here, and
he dines with one of the other *forced* guests, a
philosophical older man (methinks the writer in us all???)
As we join Latimer and the professor (Jonathon) are discussing
why they might have been brought there and what the "keepers"
who *manage* the place might have as their motivations. It
is (once again) late evening as the curtain rises...
[written about 1977]
BEGIN BLOCK QUOTE
[P. 199]
[Latimer] "You mean only people without strong ties were
picked?"
"No, I dought that would have been the case. Perhaps
among the kind of people who are here, there is no
tendency to develop such strong ties."
L: Tell me what kind of people. You told me you are a
philosopher and I know some of the others. WHat
about Underwood?
J: A Playwrigth. And a rather successful one before he
came here.
L: Charlie? Jane?
J: Charlie is a cartoonist, Jane an essayist.
L: Essayist?
J: yes, high social consciousness. She wrote rather
telling articles for some of the so-called little
magazines, even a few for more prestigious publications.
Charlie was big in the Middle West. Worked for a small
daily, but his cartoons were widely reprinted. he was
building a reputation and probably would have been moving
on to more important fields.
L: Then we're not all from around here. Not all from
New England.
J: No. Some of us, of course. Myself and you. The others
are from other parts of the country.
L: All of us from what can be roughly called the arts.
And from a wide area. How in the world they -- whoever
they may be -- have managed to lure all these people
to this house? Because I gather we had to come
ourselves that none of us was seized and brought here.
J: I think you are right. I can't imagine how it was
managed. Psychological management of some sort, I
would assume, but I have no idea how it might be done.
L: You say you are a philosopher. Does that mean you
taught philosophy?
J: I did at one time. But it was not a satisfactory job.
Teaching those old dead philosophies to a group of
youngsters who paid but slight attention was no bargain,
I can tell you. Although, I sholdn't blame them, I
suppose. Philosophy today is largely dead. It's primitive,
[Page 200]
J: outdated, the most of it. What we need is a new philosophy
that will enable us to cope with the present world.
L: And you are writing such a philosophy?
J: Writing at it. I find that as time goes on, I get less
and less done. I havent' the drive any longer. THis life
of ease, I suppose. SOmething's gone out of me. The anger,
maybe. Maybe the loss of contact with the world I knew.
No longer exposed to the world's conditions, I have lost
the feel for it. I don't feel the need of protest, I've
lost my sens of outrage, and the need for a new philosophy
has become remote.
L: This business about the staff. You say that from time to time
it changes.
J: It may be fairly simple to explain. I told you that we watch,
but we can't have a water posted all the time. The staff, on
the other hand, can keep track of us. Old staff members leave,
others come in when we are somewhere else.
L: And supplies. they have to bring in supplies. That would not
be as simple.
J: (chucling) You've really got your teeth into this.
L: I'm interested, dammit. There are questions about how the
operation works and I want to know. how about the basement?
Tunnels, maybe. Could they bring in staff and supplies
through tnnels in the basement? I know that sounds cloak-and-dagger
but ...
J: I suppose they could. If they did, we'd never know. The
basement is used to store supplies and we're not welcome
there. One of the staff, a burly brute who is deaf-mute,
or pretends to be, has charge of the basement. He lives
down there, eats and sleeps down here, takes care of
the supplies.
L: It could be possible then.
J: Yes. It could be possible.
....
...(the next night)....
[P. 206]
L: Last night, you told me we needed a new philosophy, that
the old ones were no longer valid.
J: That I did. We are faced today with a managed society.
We live by restrictive rules, we have been reducd to
numbers -- our Social Security numbers, our Internal
Revenue Service numbers, the numbers on our credit cards,
on our checking and savings accounts, on any number of
things. We are being de-humanised and, in most cases,
willingly, because this numbers game may seem to make
life easier, but most often because no one wants to
bother to make a fuss about it. We have come to believe
that a man who makes a fuss is anti-social. We are a
flock of senseles chickens, fluttering and scurrying,
cackling and squawking, but being shooed along in the
way that others want us to go. The advertising agencies
tell us what buy, the public relations people tell us
what to think, and even knowning this, we do not resent
it. We sometimes damn the government when we work up the
courage to damn anyone at all. But I am certain it is not
the government we should be damning, but, rather, the
world's business managers. We have seen the reise of
multi-national complexes that owe no loyalty to any
government, that think and plan in global terms, that
view the human populatins as a joint
labor corps/consumer group, some of which also may have
inventment potential. This is a threat, as I see it,
against human free will and human dignity, and we need
a philosophical appraoch that will enable us to deal
with it.
L: And if you should write this philosophy,
[P. 207]
L: it would pose a potential threat against the managers.
J: Not at first. Perhapse never. but it might have some
influence over the years. It might start a trend of
thinking. To break the grip the managers now hold
would rquire sometihng like a social revolutionj...
L: These men, these managers you are talking about -- they
would be cautious men, would they not, far-seeing
man? They would take no chances. They'd have too much
at stake to take any chance at all.
J: You aren't saying...
L: Yes, I think I am. It is, at least, a thought.
J: I have thought of it myself, but rejected it because I
couldn't trust myself. It follows my bias too closely.
And it doesn't make sense. If there were people they
wanted to get out of the way, there'd be other ways
to do it.
L: Not as safely. Here there is no way we could be found.
Daed, we would be found...
J: I wasn't thinking of killing.
L: Oh, well, it was only a thought. Another guess.
END BLOCK QUOTE
Simak: Ring Around the Sun
NEXT: Cordwainer Smith.
{Back to the TOP of this page}
Cordwainer Smith
See also: [Paul Linebarger (MAC: sf writers)]
The Instrumentality of man (series/future history)
Under People
See also: {
NEXT: Aldris: "Cryptozoic".
{Back to the TOP of this page}
Kurt Vonnegut
In this section:
{BOc - Breakfast of Champions}
{Cat's Cradle}
{}
{Player Piano}
{Links}
Breakfast of Champions
Cat's Cradle
Player Piano
In this section: {General Comments}
{The Loss of History}
{You've got tp have Certification}
General Comments
In the nature of "Nick Appleby" in Dick's "Our Friends From Frolix",
Dr. Paul Proteus finds himself the focus of the "revolution", but
he is filled with much more self doubt than Nick. For one thing,
the dis-illusionment with his entire life is something that Dick
rarely touches on -- mostly in "Galactic Pot Healer" and
"The Maze of Death". The book is rather heavy going (it was
written at the time of the cold war, and Vonnegut has many
tales to tell. Probably influenced by Rachel Carson and
the movement to start questioning the un-questioned
supremacy of technology.... hmmmm
The Loss of History
[P. 25] In the bar, Dr. Paul Proteus is confronted (nicely)
by Rudy (the old machinest)...
... He thrust out his hands, palms up. "But look at those, doctor.
Good as ever, and there's not two like them anywhere. you said it
yourself."
"Hertz," said paul. "You're Rudy Hertz."
rudy laughed, and looked about the room triumphantlyk, as though to say, "See, by God, Rudy Hertz does know Doctor Proteus, and Proteus knows hert how many of you can say that?"
...
... Rudy shook the arm of the man next to him, a short, heavy, seemingly soft man, middle-aged, with a momely, round face. His eyes were magnified and fogged by exrtremely thick glasses.
...
Paul wished to god the bartender would hurry up. The many Rudy had shaken was now studying Paull sullenly. Paul glanced quickl;y about the room and swa hostility all around him.
Addled Rudy hertz thought he was doing a handsome thing by Paul, showing him off to the crowd. Rudy was senile, re-membering only his prime, incapable of rememebering or understanding what had followed his retirement. ... [sic]
But these others, these men in their thirties, fourties, and fifties -- they knew. The youngsters in the booth, the two soldiers and three girls, they were like Katharine Finch. they couldn't remember when things had been different, could hardly make sense of what
had been different, could hardly make sense of what had been, though they didn;'t necessarily like what was. But these others who stared now,
they remembered. They had been the rioters, the smashers of machines. There was no threat of violence in their looks now, but the rhere was resentment, a wish to let him know that he had intruded where he was not liked.
[vonnegut, "Player Piano", P. 25]
You've got tp have Certification
[Pp. 26-27] In the bar, Dr. Paul Proteus is confronted (pleadingly)
by the man with the Thick glasses...
"Let's drink to our sons," said the man with the thick glasses, suddenly. His voice was surprisingly high for so resonant-looking a man.
Several glasses were raised this time. when the toast was done, the man turned with the friendliest of smiles and said, "My boy's just turned eighteen, Doctor."
"That's nice."
"He's got his whole life ahead of him. Wonderful age, eighteen." he paused, as though his remark demanded a response.
"I'd like to be eithteen again," said Pauyld lamely.
"e's a good boy, Doctor. He isn't what you'd call real bright. Like his old man -- his heart's in the right place, and he wants to do the most he can with what he's got." Again the waiting pause.
"That's all anty of us can do," said Paul.
"Well, as long as such a smart man as you is here, maybe I could get you to give me some advice for the boy. He just finiehsed his National General Classification Tests. he jus about killed himself stuying for them, but it wasn't any use. He didnt nearly well enough for college. There were only twenty seven openings, and six hundred kids trying for them."
he shrugged. "I can't afford to send him to a private school, so now he's got to decide what he's going to do with his likfe,
[P. 27]
Doctor - what's it going to be, the Army or the Reeks or the Wrecks?"
"I suppose there's a lot to be said for both, " said Paul uncomfortably. "I really don't know much about either one. Somebody else, like Matheson, mabybe would ..." His sentence trailed off. matheson was Illium's managers in charge of testing and placement.
Paul knew him slightly, didn't like him very well. Matheoson was a powerful bureaucrat who went about his job with the air of a high priest. "I'll call Matheson, if you like and ask, him, and let you know what he says."
"Doctor," said the man, desparately now, with no tinge of baithing, "isn't there something the boy could do at the Works? He's awfully clever with his hands. He's got a knind of insticnt iwht machines. Give him one he's never seen beofre, and in ten minutes he;ll have it apart and back togehrer again. he loves that kind of work. Isn't there someplace in the plant---?"
"He's got to have qa graduate degree," said Paul. he reddened. "That's the polich, and I didn't make it. Sometimes we get Reconstruction and reclamaintion peiople over to help opuyt in big machines or do a heavy repair job, but not very often.
Matybe he could open a repair shop."
The man exhaneld, slumped degectedly. "Repair shop," he sighted. "Repair shop, he says. How many repair shopts you think Ilium can support, eh? Repair shop, sure! I was going to open one when I got laid off. So was Joe, so was sam, so was Alf. We;are all clever with our hands, so we'll all open repair shops. One repairman for every broken article in Ilium. Meanwhile, our wives clean up as dressmakers -- one dressmaker for every woman in town."
Redy Hertz had apparently missed all the talk and was still celebraing in his mind the happty reunion with his great and good friend, doctor Paul Proteus. "Music, said Rudy grankly. "Let's have music!" He reached over Paul's shoulder and popped a nickle into the player piano.
[vonnegut, "Player Piano", Pp. 26-27]
(Note the almost plebian nomality of Paul - cf/qv in "Edgar and Ellen" when
Edgar gets pranker's block and all he can say, is "nice weather")
Also, note the parallels to the idea in PK Dick's "Solar Lottery" - the
out of work optical workers, as well as in "Our friends from frolix XI"
with the TESTS. Also, cf/qv this with the current trend in the USA
of the high school (and lower schools) testing - teaching the tests, etc.
Links
Chronology site: http://www.ee0r.com/vonnegut.html
-[Open local copy of the list]-
Robert Louis Stevenson
-[Futurism: Before there was a future]-
"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"
published in 1886
Also, compare this with the publication of Mary Shelly's
"Frankenstein - Or the Modern Prometheus" (1918) and her
ideas that the difference between life and death would be
eroded by the march of science. And even more important
that even the scientist involved was powerless to control
his creation. We could take this as a cautionary tale of
how the fruits of the industrial revolution itself were of
a "mixed nature" - one only has to look at paintings of
the time of SMOKE stacks spoling the pristine country-side
to see the reflection of this first falling away of the
Age of Romance's love affair "progress".
Stevenson's ??? text ???
Among Freud's most important (and earliest) publications are:
Studies on Hysteria (with Josef Breuer) (Studien über Hysterie, 1895)
The Interpretation of Dreams (Die Traumdeutung, 1899 [1900])
The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (Zur Psychopathologie des Alltagslebens, 1901)
Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (Drei Abhandlungen zur Sexualtheorie, 1905)
-- src: -[wikipedia]-
Note that his "3 essays on sexuality" were published in 1905,
the same year as Einstein's paper on Relativity.
To the prim and proper "best of all possible *industrial* worlds,
Freud's ideas must have come like a bombshell. Not only had Darwin
told us that we were decended from "lower" forms, and Shelly
and Stevenson had warned us of the possible mis-uses of
science and its effect on man - now Freud said that we
carried "the mindless savage" within each of us, and
it needed no potions or scientific trickery to bring it out.
Jonathon Swift
(Gulliver's Travels)
See esp: -[Futurism: Before there was a future]-
Jules Verne
-[Futurism: Before there was a future]-
H.G. Wells
-[Futurism: Before there was a future]-
In this section: {Stuff, bio, etc}
{The Time Machine}
In addition to being classically trained in the sciences (as
well as literature and writing), Herbert George was something
of a mis-fit from the start. When he was 7, he broke his leg -[wiki: H.G. Wells]-
and (so the story goes) forced him to begin to do a bit of
reading, later the same year he entered schoold which was
unfortunately rather mundane in its curricuulum. After a
series of un-rewarding tries at being a tradesman (draperies),
and as a pharmacy assistant, and as an "unsatifactory" teacher,
he finally ended up:
"he won a scholarship to the Normal School of
Science (later the Royal College of Science,
now part of Imperial College London) in London,
studying biology under T. H. Huxley. "
-- wiki, loc cit.
And of course the rest "is/was/will-always-be 'history'"...
Utopia
As for utopia (again from the wiki article)
-[Wells' Politics]-
(down loaded on 2008.01.27 at 6:08 PCT)
BEGIN BLOCK QUOTE
His most consistent political ideal was the
World State. He stated in his autobiography
that from 1900 onward he considered a world-state
inevitable. The details of this state varied but
in general it would be a planned society that
would advance science, end nationalism, and
allow people to advance solely by merit rather
than birth.
He also was consistent [sic; insistent??] that it
must not be a democracy. He stated that in the
same period he came to realise a world-state was
inevitable, he realised that parliamentary democracy
as then practised was insufficient. Wells remained
fairly consistent in rejection of a world-state
being a parliamentary democracy and therefore during
his work on the United Nations Charter he opposed
any mention of democracy. He feared that the average
citizen could never be educated or aware enough to
decide the major issues of the world. Therefore he
favoured the vote be limited to scientists, organisers,
engineers, and others of merit. At the same time he
strongly believed citizens should have as much freedom
as they could without consequently restricting the
freedom of others. These values came under increasing
criticism from the 1920s and afterwards.[11]
Local Note #11: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._G._Wells#_note-9
"An Experiment in Autobiography 556". Also chapter four of
Future as Nightmare: H. G. Wells and the Anti-Utopians
by Mark Robert Hillegas.
The Time Machine
There are TWO important things to note:
1) Well's idea of time travel (1895; pub'd) preceeded Einstein's
discovery (1905; pub'd) by some ten years.
2) Ever since the publications of the "new" geoemetries
(such as Lobchevski's negatively curved space; 1826,
pub'd 1840; Engl transl. 1891) the idea of a FOURTH
DIMENSION had been "much in the air". In fact it
became quite the rage around the turn of the 1899/1900c.
Thus, this idea of time being a fourth dimension was not all
together that new. In fact, Wells (in the novel) does NOT
metnion such dimensionality. His view of time (in my oppinion)
is that time is a flowing substance or thing. The time machine
achieves its motion by the creation of friction against the
normal flow of time. *** need to look this back up ***
Regardless, the story (again ref to Ms. Sobchak's book) involves
time travel in the SAME way that Vernes involved space travel.
The point here is that where-as Wells wanted to say something
about social evolution (as well as social de-evolution) and
chose time as the venue can be //'d to Nemo's view of the world
as being a bunch of haves and have nots and the one's wot have
aren't so nice as it turns out...
START AGAIN
Must get a copy of Verne's greates judgment against the glories
of the "new age" -- captain of the air.
Odd how none of their ideas of a social nature and the sicknesses
of society quite make it into the films, eh???
-- tired, night all; frank.
refs
Aldiss, Brian W. (1973). Billion Year Spree - The True
History of Science Fiction.
Links
