To Build a More Imperfect World: a Review of The Rediscovery of Man by Cordwainer Smith
I recently finished The Rediscovery of Man: The Complete Short Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith (one of many pseudonyms under which Paul Linebarger, soldier, diplomat, spy, linguist, Orientalist, and psychological warfare expert wrote), edited by James A. Mann for the New England Science Fiction Association. I then felt compelled to return to the beginning and read, in whole or in part, several of the earlier pieces.
The majority of the stories are part of Linebarger's Instrumentality of Man cycle, which in some ways fits into the dying Earth genre, except that most of it is set after the Earth is reborn (although his notes indicate that had Linebarger lived, we might have been able to enjoy stories set in the long dark ages beginning, it would seem, in the 2400s, and lasting until at least 18,000 AD).
In the last days of the Dark Ages, ancient menschenjäger from the Sixth German Reich hunt all non-Germans over fifteen millennia after their creation while fleeing the American-created Kaskaskia Effect and the True Men seek freedom from the Jwindz who control them with opiates. Eventually the True Men create the Instrumentality of Man, which governs the Earth (and eventually many of the known worlds inhabited by man (although there are many unknown ones as well)). Worlds beyond Earth are connected by the Scanners, who live though they are dead, for only the dead can bear the Pain-of-Space to pilot spaceships full of frozen humans to the stars.
In course of time men learn to muffle the Pain-of-Space and sail between the stars on the solar winds, and later still to travel almost instantly by planoforming (once the pinlighters and their non-human Partners learn to fight the dragons that live below our universe). The great wealth of space, including stroon, which allows men to live for ever (if they can afford it) and the labour of the Underpeople (animals surgically altered and mentally enhanced to do the work of humans without the rights of them) makes mankind itself rich, powerful, insipid, and bland, until the Lords of the Instrumentality initiate the Rediscovery of Man, recreating nations, languages, religions, ancient customs and economies (after exchanging his birth-number for a name and becoming French, a certain Paul becomes the first man to mail a letter with a postage stamp in thousands of years), and releasing ancient diseases, after concluding that the struggle with such things was what made man what he was in the days of his glories. The Underpeople also seek to achieve what their masters would keep from them, and struggle for rights such as living to old age, or when sick or injured (rather than being put down).
There is a sense of melancholy in many of these stories, alongside a sense of wonder (albeit, in many cases, a wonder at bygone ages far in the future). There is a sense of compassion as well, and a deep exploration of spirituality and the psychological impact of space travel (many of the dangers of space are dangers of insanity rather than simple physical dangers, which are usually quick and deadly and outside the direct control of the average space-traveler, and thus a poor subject for drama). Finally, there are stories that are designed to be humourous (particularly 'From Gustible's Planet') and many that have an uplifting ending despite sorrow in their midst. I find 'The Game of Rat and Dragon,' a tale of the pinlighters and their Partners, a particularly entertaining piece, with more than one good twist. 'Scanners Live in Vain,' despite the inherent pathos of the Scanners' living death, is also a tale of honour, nobility, courage, and just rewards.
I certainly recommend this collection of stories of an expansive and exotic future, even if they have a sense of nostalgia for a future past that may never be.
It's also hard not to admire the turtle-men (and one turtle-girl) or to love the puppy-dog-people (as Juli vom Acht first meets them).
The majority of the stories are part of Linebarger's Instrumentality of Man cycle, which in some ways fits into the dying Earth genre, except that most of it is set after the Earth is reborn (although his notes indicate that had Linebarger lived, we might have been able to enjoy stories set in the long dark ages beginning, it would seem, in the 2400s, and lasting until at least 18,000 AD).
In the last days of the Dark Ages, ancient menschenjäger from the Sixth German Reich hunt all non-Germans over fifteen millennia after their creation while fleeing the American-created Kaskaskia Effect and the True Men seek freedom from the Jwindz who control them with opiates. Eventually the True Men create the Instrumentality of Man, which governs the Earth (and eventually many of the known worlds inhabited by man (although there are many unknown ones as well)). Worlds beyond Earth are connected by the Scanners, who live though they are dead, for only the dead can bear the Pain-of-Space to pilot spaceships full of frozen humans to the stars.
In course of time men learn to muffle the Pain-of-Space and sail between the stars on the solar winds, and later still to travel almost instantly by planoforming (once the pinlighters and their non-human Partners learn to fight the dragons that live below our universe). The great wealth of space, including stroon, which allows men to live for ever (if they can afford it) and the labour of the Underpeople (animals surgically altered and mentally enhanced to do the work of humans without the rights of them) makes mankind itself rich, powerful, insipid, and bland, until the Lords of the Instrumentality initiate the Rediscovery of Man, recreating nations, languages, religions, ancient customs and economies (after exchanging his birth-number for a name and becoming French, a certain Paul becomes the first man to mail a letter with a postage stamp in thousands of years), and releasing ancient diseases, after concluding that the struggle with such things was what made man what he was in the days of his glories. The Underpeople also seek to achieve what their masters would keep from them, and struggle for rights such as living to old age, or when sick or injured (rather than being put down).
There is a sense of melancholy in many of these stories, alongside a sense of wonder (albeit, in many cases, a wonder at bygone ages far in the future). There is a sense of compassion as well, and a deep exploration of spirituality and the psychological impact of space travel (many of the dangers of space are dangers of insanity rather than simple physical dangers, which are usually quick and deadly and outside the direct control of the average space-traveler, and thus a poor subject for drama). Finally, there are stories that are designed to be humourous (particularly 'From Gustible's Planet') and many that have an uplifting ending despite sorrow in their midst. I find 'The Game of Rat and Dragon,' a tale of the pinlighters and their Partners, a particularly entertaining piece, with more than one good twist. 'Scanners Live in Vain,' despite the inherent pathos of the Scanners' living death, is also a tale of honour, nobility, courage, and just rewards.
I certainly recommend this collection of stories of an expansive and exotic future, even if they have a sense of nostalgia for a future past that may never be.
It's also hard not to admire the turtle-men (and one turtle-girl) or to love the puppy-dog-people (as Juli vom Acht first meets them).