tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20557562606125474772024-03-14T14:06:02.754+00:00SF Forward | Sci-fi ConnectionsLizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05618355929577935922noreply@blogger.comBlogger125125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-19162855021382219582024-02-10T20:15:00.002+00:002024-03-14T14:05:31.224+00:00J.G. Ballard, Pop Art and the New Wave in Science Fiction<p>Although J.G. Ballard is not always associated with science fiction, he started his career writing short stories for the science fiction magazines <i>Science Fantasy</i> and <i>New Worlds</i>. He later remarked that it was only through these short stories that he discovered what sort of writer he wanted to be. <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL-_BlnvDdX780TwRYj4zbcbpObQiCwcSq91fT_KhTHwgsDWUhG3mgVuWk1P7ZN0N2rGg_Anv1ke4W2wQeluK137NRuytSWKSgO6Epx9ZBqStqV7KkzBWuJU3qRemPGWcHVlblPCE1xAWn-YjGkWcD9ZxKUHGCfwsFlHG2u05Je7Pth6XQTewdT75rCaCR/s924/This-is-tomo.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="924" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL-_BlnvDdX780TwRYj4zbcbpObQiCwcSq91fT_KhTHwgsDWUhG3mgVuWk1P7ZN0N2rGg_Anv1ke4W2wQeluK137NRuytSWKSgO6Epx9ZBqStqV7KkzBWuJU3qRemPGWcHVlblPCE1xAWn-YjGkWcD9ZxKUHGCfwsFlHG2u05Je7Pth6XQTewdT75rCaCR/s320/This-is-tomo.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>Shortly after the publication of his first story in 1956, Ballard visited an exhibition at London’s Whitechapel Gallery that left a lasting impression on him. Now recognised as a key moment in the emergence of Pop Art, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_Tomorrow">‘This is Tomorrow’</a> featured works produced by the Independent Group, which included the artists Eduardo Paolozzi, Richard Hamilton, Victor Pasmore, Lawrence Alloway, Nigel Henderson and Alison and Peter Smithson. The artists formed groups, each producing an installation that represented their vision of the future. The Smithson-Henderson-Paolozzi partnership used found objects to depict the remnants of civilization after a nuclear disaster, while Richard Hamilton’s collage, <i>Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing?</i>, presented a world entirely constructed from popular advertising. Ballard was particularly inspired by these pieces, and the way they interpreted the modern cultural landscape. <br /><p></p><p>The exhibition reinforced his belief that artists were ahead of writers in acknowledging the significance of the media and accelerated developments in technology. Ballard explored similar themes in his own writing, which he explained as a desire to decode the myths of everyday experience. This experience was intimately bound up with a fascination for material culture, an aspect of Pop Art that Ballard admired. He observed that ‘Pop artists deal with the lowly trivia of possessions and equipment that the present generation is lugging along with it on its safari into the future’. </p><p></p><p>Because they shared many interests and influences, Ballard and Paolozzi later became collaborators and friends. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambit_(magazine)">art and literature journal <i>Ambit</i></a>, edited by Martin Bax, was a testing ground for their experimental ideas. Paolozzi’s imagery appeared in Ballard’s notorious fake advertising campaign and his use of assemblage and collage techniques was mirrored by Ballard in the form of short stories such as ‘You: Coma: Marilyn Monroe’, which would later appear in the novel <i>The Atrocity Exhibition. <br /></i></p><p><i></i></p><p></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfVrPckgpdn7zzPUDBsIiNhHd8tDtXt7Hi5rKHSxOyCXI7NWEAYskVxtbeP3SahcNK_a1Vg0DKjF1YP0look-y5jrL1o9FxuZE4Id1yyUhM40D3t5-Qwtqg5uQpw6CNDrLxPTAXbjMpPBpVZ-mVFvr6rZZK5B74aLkSPaio9YZbVBshiv1u7JEIiDYxaa_/s1500/New-worlds.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="907" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfVrPckgpdn7zzPUDBsIiNhHd8tDtXt7Hi5rKHSxOyCXI7NWEAYskVxtbeP3SahcNK_a1Vg0DKjF1YP0look-y5jrL1o9FxuZE4Id1yyUhM40D3t5-Qwtqg5uQpw6CNDrLxPTAXbjMpPBpVZ-mVFvr6rZZK5B74aLkSPaio9YZbVBshiv1u7JEIiDYxaa_/s320/New-worlds.jpg" width="193" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">April 1966 ed. of <i>New Worlds</i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguDUs5P1fq3F5zvDJrHhuaBaOV1T-YWXzCqf-pPaUE5laH4evjBoNA1L240-lNdW9A-ylY4BmAqgArzYSph0WP98FDqdO5XiTPb4maHztXiVCm770K8ZJtR9IREO-k-cIl2vvYTPvQqpAWfZWGSjA_Pq1mWnA8Hn8ICsHdZi8KHYISQiwtgYakLYGX7Vdk/s1000/AE.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="758" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguDUs5P1fq3F5zvDJrHhuaBaOV1T-YWXzCqf-pPaUE5laH4evjBoNA1L240-lNdW9A-ylY4BmAqgArzYSph0WP98FDqdO5XiTPb4maHztXiVCm770K8ZJtR9IREO-k-cIl2vvYTPvQqpAWfZWGSjA_Pq1mWnA8Hn8ICsHdZi8KHYISQiwtgYakLYGX7Vdk/s320/AE.jpg" width="243" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">1990 ed. of <i>The Atrocity Exhibitio</i></span>. </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Perhaps because of these influences, in the 1960s Ballard was linked to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Wave_(science_fiction)">‘New Wave’ avant-garde science fiction movement</a>. Taking its name from the New Wave in French cinema, the movement’s writers were distinguished by their preoccupation with popular culture, often experimenting with unconventional literary styles. However, because he was very much immersed in the culture he was writing about, Ballard was generally dismissive of attempts to locate his work within a particular literary tradition, at the risk of neglecting its populist origins. </p><p>Ballard was never a conventional science fiction writer. In many ways he saw himself as an observer of the present day, finding more inspiration in contemporary society than in the dream of a distant future. Stating his influences as the surrealists, advertising, the mass media and developments in science and technology, Ballard pushed the boundaries of science fiction with his concept of ‘inner space’. Unlike the intergalactic fantasies of outer space, Ballard described inner space as ‘the internal landscape of tomorrow that is a transmuted image of the past’, a form of speculative fiction that reflected the obsessions and imagined landscapes of his characters.</p><p><i>This post adapts text from the booklet <a href="https://issuu.com/sabgallery/docs/booklet">Visions of the Future: The Art of Science Fiction</a> by Paul Whittle and Liz Stainforth</i>.</p>Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05618355929577935922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-33832272423086327182023-09-01T17:00:00.003+01:002023-09-02T09:25:14.200+01:00William Gibson in the 1990s: Virtual RealitiesWilliam Gibson established himself as one of the foremost contemporary SF writers with 1984’s <i>Neuromancer</i>. The first instalment of the ‘Sprawl’ trilogy was followed by <i>Count Zero</i> (1986) and <i>Mona Lisa Overdrive</i> (1988). Set in a futuristic dystopia where all-powerful multinational corporations have largely replaced national governments, Gibson’s characters survive as ‘outsiders’ within the lawless post-industrial cities of the Sprawl. His aesthetic is an updated noir “combination of lowlife and high tech”. Together with the short stories collected in <i>Burning Chrome</i> (1986), <i>Neuromancer</i> and its successors were the precursor of the <a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2017/08/cyberpunk-1990.html " target="_blank">short-lived cyberpunk movement</a>. Most significantly, Gibson’s 1980s works serve as an early exploration of the scope of the Internet as global information source, and the potential for autonomous Artificial Intelligence (AI). <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQLp24a85HIXolnq6oADjjsQzyGgx3LEqfJwmwCqdwoEoapz6WiAUzLjGZhXwlvFnnzkY8FMPg5T05-XgNTPWKAsjXCsfcTaS2Pwd8LppRfmilnmMFW4lS8GTMt_2S7DxaQ4oUBUwk8m5W-lNd5pHEFKiqctCRhhes2JAeeGtEuMIfbaakdbmuhjp7iGc/s5366/Gibson-Bridge.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2726" data-original-width="5366" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQLp24a85HIXolnq6oADjjsQzyGgx3LEqfJwmwCqdwoEoapz6WiAUzLjGZhXwlvFnnzkY8FMPg5T05-XgNTPWKAsjXCsfcTaS2Pwd8LppRfmilnmMFW4lS8GTMt_2S7DxaQ4oUBUwk8m5W-lNd5pHEFKiqctCRhhes2JAeeGtEuMIfbaakdbmuhjp7iGc/w640-h326/Gibson-Bridge.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />In the following decade, <a href="http://www.antonraubenweiss.com/gibson/002frisco.html" target="_blank">the ‘Bridge’ trilogy</a> began with <i>Virtual Light</i> (1993) in a near-future federated Northern and Southern California, c. 2005. Moving primarily between Los Angeles, a reconstructed San Francisco and Tokyo, the subsequent <i>Idoru</i> (1996) and <i>All Tomorrow's Parties</i> (1999) continue Gibson’s investigations of cyber- and pop-culture. The interwoven themes are today mainstream preoccupations: meditations on the development of AI, the “consensual hallucination” of cyberspace, the data-flows and ‘nodal points’ of information on the Web, digital identity, the fusion of big tech, celebrity, consumerism and mass media. The societal impact of new technologies and virtual realities reverberates throughout the Bridge trilogy, as the new phenomenon of the Internet reached a wider public.<br /><div><br /></div><div>The eponymous <a href="https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2021/04/14/idoru-william-gibson/" target="_blank">‘idoru’</a> or idol, Rei Toei, is a computer-generated holographic, whose marriage to a rock star is at the heart of the second novel. Discussing the body as personality construct, author Dani Cavallaro attributes the creation of the idoru to a branch of nanotechnology which renders “the very distinction between the animate and the inanimate somewhat obsolete”. While a post-human construction, Rei Toei “carries traces of personal history”, presumably programmed. Colin Laney, the character who sifts the Internet to identify the significant ‘nodal points’ of incipient change, is described as “an intuitive fisher of patterns of information” – a gift he owes to the ingestion of experimental drugs as an orphaned child. The interaction of the real and the virtual is arguably the defining strand of science fiction tradition that Gibson explores as distinctively as Philip K. Dick before him. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSRERnc8L1gIacCZXM2N4QFkKwJio212yk2xHkUErBmUsty4VBJl2Oj1TQC7q0yyI-E4dE6Q5wSPeRFSybNXcOGsucEL46wTblpMOlMI15wLTlq-rMCSlnrUE8Zr1ywO7mIrq8sTncqxTbW1NRaUYHz9bfgaDhkqIlmtmDsNlYM1-BmctD0Fktg0m7OS8/s2672/Boing%20Boing.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="890" data-original-width="2672" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSRERnc8L1gIacCZXM2N4QFkKwJio212yk2xHkUErBmUsty4VBJl2Oj1TQC7q0yyI-E4dE6Q5wSPeRFSybNXcOGsucEL46wTblpMOlMI15wLTlq-rMCSlnrUE8Zr1ywO7mIrq8sTncqxTbW1NRaUYHz9bfgaDhkqIlmtmDsNlYM1-BmctD0Fktg0m7OS8/w640-h214/Boing%20Boing.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i><a href="https://cityoftongues.com/non-fiction/william-gibson-all-tomorrows-parties/" target="_blank">All Tomorrow's Parties</a></i> brings many of the earlier threads and characters together – Laney is now resident in a cardboard box in a Tokyo subway station, permanently plugged into the Web – and returns the series back to the Bridge. The trilogy’s emblematic setting of the Golden Gate Bridge, now a semi-autonomous zone or outsider community, serves as a counterpoint to the corporate world and provides a (temporary) refuge beyond the reach of an all-pervasive digital surveillance network. The arrival of the Lucky Dragon convenience store franchise signifies not only commodification of the Bridge – now a tourist attraction – but a disruption of its independent status. The Bridge’s virtual analogue is the Walled City (based on the physical location in Kowloon, Hak Nam or <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/kowloon-walled-city " target="_blank">the City of Darkness</a>, which was fully demolished in 1994), a self-regulated space within the web’s data-flows created by disaffected programmers and hackers. This attempt to “create a private realm for themselves where they would enjoy complete autonomy” has evolved outside the control of the multi-nationals; the ‘ownership’ of the Internet is a recurring concern of Gibson’s.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">1995 saw the cinematic release of <i><a href="https://www.neondystopia.com/cyberpunk-movies-anime/if-my-head-doesnt-blow-up-first-a-review-of-johnny-mnemonic-1995/" target="_blank">Johnny Mnemonic</a></i>, an adaptation of his 1981 short story. Starring Keanu Reeves as the title character, a data courier who transports information stored in his head, Gibson was involved in the production but was dissatisfied with the final version – reflected in its mixed reviews. He complained of changes made late in post-production which “destroys the integrity” of the movie, together with the replacement of the original score. Many of the sets dated rapidly, and the film as a whole failed to capture the distinctive vision found in his fiction. <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjayc_FlmaZJvC4GaZqI8ECNbFtG6PBbJmY13eV61Ok-tVkxmSU8ylvRGUbNs0s7gJGzdeYLDXbT2SYyuhg4f5BwwB-T9tmJZxkaDiflfLuy5El2EeF_tCLE4-1QMQBNy-G3EeYvOQ0EhNerRZch5_ZELSeoI-CjxA9KeKd2kzdrvK0nGx25Mv7z1dupLM/s2408/Gibson-Wired.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1466" data-original-width="2408" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjayc_FlmaZJvC4GaZqI8ECNbFtG6PBbJmY13eV61Ok-tVkxmSU8ylvRGUbNs0s7gJGzdeYLDXbT2SYyuhg4f5BwwB-T9tmJZxkaDiflfLuy5El2EeF_tCLE4-1QMQBNy-G3EeYvOQ0EhNerRZch5_ZELSeoI-CjxA9KeKd2kzdrvK0nGx25Mv7z1dupLM/w640-h390/Gibson-Wired.jpg" width="640" /></a></div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Gibson also contributed to the decade’s hugely successful sci-fi TV series, <i>The X-Files</i>, which was largely filmed in his adopted hometown of Vancouver. He collaborated with friend and fellow author Tom Maddox on the script for <a href="https://www.avclub.com/the-x-files-kill-switch-millennium-goodbye-char-1798168545 " target="_blank">‘Kill Switch’</a>, broadcast in 1998 during the show’s fifth season. Many of the themes familiar from Gibson’s fiction are condensed into the episode, combining a rogue autonomous AI with virtual reality scenes – and still categorised as ‘cyberpunk’. Gibson confessed that his daughter (then 15) had introduced him to the series, and she also insisted they be present for the episode’s filming. Also in 1998, Gibson wrote an introduction to <i>The Art of the X-Files</i>, cementing his affinity with the show, which he described as “a disturbing and viscerally satisfying expression of where we've come from, where we are today, and all those places we simultaneously yearn and dread to go.” He again collaborated with Maddox on a second episode, ‘First Person Shooter’, which aired in February 2000 and explored a deadly presence in a role-playing VR game. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxUNnXp41acsAUpnnksonzi-KsSGwpJGtNRVoBJrWX-JV7x55LhLCz13ifslTjOIL1w8MZssP3ww39T3gpE-06DXK6_Apzup8sBcERi4PfjCHwJSlnQXg-Q4g7BffBKwhPH8tuS62xiQZdl-H531Z6o0LoowoK1OaPHaSKY36pz6VGJBa_QhnezLHJ-vI/s4050/Gibson-Reviews.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2874" data-original-width="4050" height="454" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxUNnXp41acsAUpnnksonzi-KsSGwpJGtNRVoBJrWX-JV7x55LhLCz13ifslTjOIL1w8MZssP3ww39T3gpE-06DXK6_Apzup8sBcERi4PfjCHwJSlnQXg-Q4g7BffBKwhPH8tuS62xiQZdl-H531Z6o0LoowoK1OaPHaSKY36pz6VGJBa_QhnezLHJ-vI/w640-h454/Gibson-Reviews.jpg" width="640" /></a></div></div><br />After the impact of the Sprawl trilogy, Gibson was in demand during the 1990s as a cultural commentator and observer of technological developments. In his interviews and non-fiction, he cast a critical eye over emerging trends from an addiction to eBay to the evolution of the World Wide Web, speculating on where the changes might lead society. Famously, in ‘Disneyland with the Death Penalty’ (an article which now has its own Wikipedia page), his record of a visit to Singapore for <a href="http://www.plunkett-kuhr.com/wiredmag.html " target="_blank"><i>Wired</i> magazine</a>, he found disturbing signs of totalitarianism beneath the prosperous, sterile façade of the city-state. The publication was promptly banned there, adding weight to his argument. Gibson also continued to insert musical references into his work, including Nick Cave, Steely Dan and the Velvet Underground in the Bridge trilogy, whilst being cited as an influence by <a href="https://mediagluttony.wordpress.com/2014/05/15/album-review-billy-idol-desperately-wanted-to-hack-the-gibson-in-cyberpunk/ " target="_blank">Billy Idol</a>, Sonic Youth and U2 among others.</div><div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW245347624 BCX0" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: white; clear: both; cursor: text; direction: ltr; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web", Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW245347624 BCX0" paraeid="{fc1e586d-879d-4a05-84b0-fc1a7e60a467}{91}" paraid="591557868" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; 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font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; user-select: text;"><p class="Paragraph SCXW245347624 BCX0" paraeid="{fc1e586d-879d-4a05-84b0-fc1a7e60a467}{95}" paraid="44887726" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-kerning: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; user-select: text; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span class="TextRun EmptyTextRun SCXW245347624 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" face="Calibri, Calibri_EmbeddedFont, Calibri_MSFontService, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-GB"></span><a class="Hyperlink SCXW245347624 BCX0" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUbm9dyITCY" rel="noreferrer noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; user-select: text;" target="_blank"><span class="TextRun Underlined SCXW245347624 BCX0" data-contrast="none" face="Arial, Arial_EmbeddedFont, Arial_MSFontService, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; color: blue; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-ligatures: none; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: underline; user-select: text;" xml:lang="EN-GB"><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW245347624 BCX0" data-ccp-charstyle="Hyperlink" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text;"></span></span></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a class="Hyperlink SCXW245347624 BCX0" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUbm9dyITCY" rel="noreferrer noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; -webkit-user-drag: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; user-select: text;" target="_blank"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lUbm9dyITCY" width="320" youtube-src-id="lUbm9dyITCY"></iframe></a></div><p></p></div><br /><div>He described the significance of the Internet in a 1994 interview:<br /><br />“The advent, evolution and growth of the Internet is, I think, one of the most fascinating and unprecedented human achievements of the century. I sometimes suspect that we’re seeing something in the Internet as significant as the birth of cities. It’s something that profound and with that sort of infinite possibilities. It’s really something new, it’s a new kind of civilization.”</div><div><br /></div><div>Gibson discussed the potential consequences of the Internet in myriad interviews, even as its scope expanded over the course of the decade, anticipating that it would become “completely ubiquitous”. While he believed that “we’ll see some amazing social changes” as it evolves, he recognised within AI and the virtual worlds, “something almost pathological growing out of this technology.” Such observations translate seamlessly to his fiction, and while the narrative viewpoint is generally detached, fears that technological developments may not be entirely beneficial are articulated throughout <a href="https://www.literaryendeavour.org/files/az54rzpsspuwyptjo0fg/2018-07%2036%20WILLIAM%20GIBSON’S%20BRIDGE%20TRILOGY%20AS%20CYBERPUNK%20SCIENCE%20FICTION%20-%20Dr.%20Ramesh%20Chougule.pdf" target="_blank">the Bridge trilogy</a>.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho5YvhPSenLp48oCSp4fSlSv23wzFyK-QEl0gcoDNIngnL7rXwxH7UJueBjMfTZPMzrh192SDyJrjlevbeXhdtbjczgC5K1wfnp_OL11ypVV08iVDlVSSGJUpAKjy9S4KLgkPPVWSzb8cCQk3MDzHz3a71lvLrzVipB5iIs8rR1Nch8EQXQqQN4oxl0Kk/s900/bridge_trilogy_imageby_dahliainosensu.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="555" data-original-width="900" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho5YvhPSenLp48oCSp4fSlSv23wzFyK-QEl0gcoDNIngnL7rXwxH7UJueBjMfTZPMzrh192SDyJrjlevbeXhdtbjczgC5K1wfnp_OL11ypVV08iVDlVSSGJUpAKjy9S4KLgkPPVWSzb8cCQk3MDzHz3a71lvLrzVipB5iIs8rR1Nch8EQXQqQN4oxl0Kk/w640-h394/bridge_trilogy_imageby_dahliainosensu.jpg" title="bridge_trilogy_image by_dahliainosensu" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">bridge_trilogy_image by_dahliainosensu</span></div></span><br />Within its physical and virtual worlds, Gibson’s cast of disenfranchised and rootless characters seek a place in an increasingly de-humanised and polarised society. Counter-cultural remnants carve out a fragile existence in the shadow of omnipresent techno-corporations – what one of the protagonists hopes to document as “interstitial communities”. These urban ‘interzones’, spaces for the marginalised or “places built in the gaps” are found recurrently in Gibson’s work. The settings of Tokyo’s cardboard-box cities and the amorphous jumble of the Golden Gate Bridge are a reflection of the author’s belief “that there are viable degrees of freedom inherent if not realised in interstitial areas.”</div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRzeXtEfBsaHhPG2F2KnIKIZE8ccD-UD9kbXzx9-pvCq-hxn6UmJkT3Cllu9pa1tjxbQVO_m_H0_YAaxig88VYyCNIve4DELVtcyd2cy5jaQzcR3WX4ow6iUU3_ExyqG2Tb4uCvHaJ01avuECGGyICxC2SKoRn9TysyIQD0Qcv1KRKTKsP5el2RKbGVRQ/s561/Bridge%20Trilogy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="294" data-original-width="561" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRzeXtEfBsaHhPG2F2KnIKIZE8ccD-UD9kbXzx9-pvCq-hxn6UmJkT3Cllu9pa1tjxbQVO_m_H0_YAaxig88VYyCNIve4DELVtcyd2cy5jaQzcR3WX4ow6iUU3_ExyqG2Tb4uCvHaJ01avuECGGyICxC2SKoRn9TysyIQD0Qcv1KRKTKsP5el2RKbGVRQ/w640-h336/Bridge%20Trilogy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifSZGyaJ81T3BQMrudU3y8fpv5MZ8BiXEF-Zopi2IqcMC4caqXrnxjq1XLrcTovR2agsKLTpseaWZbo_WGLMzr0izVjInS8YMIncGxgsl1FIZJPsxx5Wb7xMVqsvvM8Xv7Z9vPQ3CTH8nvHwaEvP40RhaETTQCZbistyIwFK0AGXjdijxRMo6V1_5J8dY/s2694/Gibson-Mondo%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="907" data-original-width="2694" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifSZGyaJ81T3BQMrudU3y8fpv5MZ8BiXEF-Zopi2IqcMC4caqXrnxjq1XLrcTovR2agsKLTpseaWZbo_WGLMzr0izVjInS8YMIncGxgsl1FIZJPsxx5Wb7xMVqsvvM8Xv7Z9vPQ3CTH8nvHwaEvP40RhaETTQCZbistyIwFK0AGXjdijxRMo6V1_5J8dY/w640-h216/Gibson-Mondo%201.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOKnhbRSFPRoWoFnsiKw9f0hBfw0xt9thamWQfLxmespH9sk2BZYAzF7_GQ4j95wLZbWxF9L9YqSZXdeZyXywvlafliiaBuQOtz5WEI5VJFIzdzo8hhW0ZD2wimiIuFZ0mx3RTXg_gfdIcCu1tURqq3TFbeafm9UT0Lfd4c8GtBOtxBR5srlIKQTCFr_8/s2708/Gibson-Mondo%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="2708" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOKnhbRSFPRoWoFnsiKw9f0hBfw0xt9thamWQfLxmespH9sk2BZYAzF7_GQ4j95wLZbWxF9L9YqSZXdeZyXywvlafliiaBuQOtz5WEI5VJFIzdzo8hhW0ZD2wimiIuFZ0mx3RTXg_gfdIcCu1tURqq3TFbeafm9UT0Lfd4c8GtBOtxBR5srlIKQTCFr_8/w640-h214/Gibson-Mondo%202.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Characterised elsewhere as a continuation of the “combination of high-tech gadgets, low-tech environments” found in the Sprawl novels, Gibson himself has described the Bridge trilogy as being “my take on the 1990s,” in a decade where technology was shaping an uncertain future. Recalling waiting for “the Soviet Union to collapse” before completing <i><a href="https://www.markeverglade.com/william-gibson-virtual-light-cyberpunk-book-review" target="_blank">Virtual Light</a></i>, in a 1993 interview he acknowledged the setting as “just ‘now’ with the volume cranked up.”</div><div><br /><i>All Tomorrow's Parties</i> in particular introduces the concept of 3D printing (later developed in 2014’s <i>The Peripheral</i>), while nanotechnology permeates the trilogy as a whole, in the reconstructed buildings of San Francisco and Tokyo. As a contemporary SF theme, both 3D printing and nanotechnology are even more exhaustively explored in Neal Stephenson’s <i><a href="https://csi.asu.edu/project-archive/optimism/the-diamond-age-technology/ " target="_blank">The Diamond Age</a>: Or, A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer</i> (1995), his follow-up to the influential <i><a href="https://sfforward.blogspot.com/2020/08/three-sf-novels-of-early-nineties-snow.html " target="_blank">Snow Crash</a></i>. Also notable for its depiction of the ‘neo-Victorians’ which anticipates the Steampunk aesthetic, <a href="https://www.tor.com/2011/10/05/steampunk-appreciations-neal-stephensons-the-diamond-age-steampunks-22nd-century-sourcebook/ " target="_blank">Stephenson’s novel</a> depicts a future where the Matter Compiler (a more advanced 3D printer) is commonplace and nanotechnology ubiquitous – inside bodies, interactive books and the physical environment the characters inhabit. Gibson has acknowledged in Stephenson’s fiction “a natural overlap” with his own. The work of both authors in the 1990s is a guide to the digital landscape which was to come, as much a warning as a celebration of the potential for technology to re-shape the world.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivRY7-PIinY8Mm8tXhYcYcl4yr0fJR16VpsmtBBrJolOvabO8-5J9HOpIyooeuBm3WVegyut_qyI6pq1yC36Puz4DDoNaQB52oeCnEqZL0-PKOiAZLXWeqrYoUJFl0qPwNoQGUBG3FmyIQ8NMAE4PRriGlP7ehExsbXOdRNztDBXjA66rvg6YTC-Y5du4/s1578/Johnny%20Mnemonic-Diamond%20Age.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1198" data-original-width="1578" height="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivRY7-PIinY8Mm8tXhYcYcl4yr0fJR16VpsmtBBrJolOvabO8-5J9HOpIyooeuBm3WVegyut_qyI6pq1yC36Puz4DDoNaQB52oeCnEqZL0-PKOiAZLXWeqrYoUJFl0qPwNoQGUBG3FmyIQ8NMAE4PRriGlP7ehExsbXOdRNztDBXjA66rvg6YTC-Y5du4/w640-h486/Johnny%20Mnemonic-Diamond%20Age.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div>PBLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10424983027343602845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-77301144381157442432023-04-28T10:54:00.003+01:002023-06-10T15:40:30.380+01:00On Decybernation<p>The suggestively titled ‘On Decybernation’ is the name of a report written by the British management cybernetician Stafford Beer, as part of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Cybersyn">Project Cybersyn</a> (1971-1973). This has been the subject of <a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2019/11/computing-utopia.html">previous posts on the blog</a>. Cybersyn was one of Beer’s biggest claims to fame, a cybernetic initiative to manage the national economy of Chile. The aim was to build and implement a system to boost economic production, while also maximising self-regulation at the level of factories and workers. The history of Cybersyn is extensively chronicled in Eden Medina’s book <a href="https://uberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Eden_Medina_Cybernetic_Revolutionaries.pdf"><i>Cybernetic Revolutionaries</i></a>. The Decybernation report has never been published, so I went with a colleague to view it in <a href="https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/microsites/library/special-collections-and-archives/special-collections/stafford-beer-collection">the Stafford Beer archive</a> (at Liverpool John Moores University) last April. </p><p>The report was written in April 1973 at a key turning point in the project (the Chilean President Salvador Allende would be overthrown by a military coup the following September). The report details Beer’s frustration that the technology his team had developed was not being used as he’d originally envisaged. Beer believed in the power of cybernetics to change the organisation of government but, perhaps unsurprisingly, others were more interested in how the technical components of Cybersyn could be used to support existing structures. </p><p>‘On Decybernation’ muses on the relative successes and failures of Cybersyn, highlighting the need to understand the project as an instrument of revolution; beyond changing systems of economic production, Beer outlines his ambition for Cybersyn to change the very organisation of society, beginning with government institutions. Without this level of change, he concludes, ‘we do not get a new system of government, but an old system of government with some new tools’. </p><p>I thought it might be interesting to reproduce a few passages from the report here, for those interested in Beer’s cybernetic theory of government: </p><p><i>If we want a new system of government, we have to change the organization of the established order. All my proposals as to how this should be done have been discarded as ‘politically unrealistic’. Maybe they were. In that case it was for others of our group to make alternative proposals. For without any practical proposals for changing organization in the established order, we cannot have a new system of government.</i></p><p><i>[…] </i></p><p><i>If what we wanted to do was to meet the objectives listed for Project Cyberstride and Project Cybersyn, then we have succeeded. Those were technical objectives, and meeting them may count as success to some people. </i></p><p><i>If what we wanted to do was to display the technical achievement in management action, then we may yet succeed. This is the technocratic objective, and meeting it may count as success to some people. </i></p><p><i>If we wanted to ‘help the people’, this was a social objective, and the outcome is ambiguous. For if the invention is dismantled, and the tools used are the tools we made, they could become instruments of oppression. This would count as failure. </i></p><p><i>If we wanted a new system of government, then it seems that we are not going to get it, This too must count as failure. </i></p><p><i>Any one person who has worked on this team may have a complex motivation, in which the technical, technocratic, social and political objectives are mixed in unique proportions and constitute his own ‘objective functional’. </i></p><p><i>This would explain the confusion, and the disagreement about success. </i></p><p>While, at first look Cybersyn reads as a classic science fictional case of techno-utopianism, Beer’s perspective shows a genuine belief in the project as an instrument of social change and dismay to see that potential going to waste. The fascinating reference to ‘decybernation’ encapsulates this sense of a critical threat to the dream of cybernetic revolution he saw in Cybersyn and its socio-technical possibilities.</p>Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05618355929577935922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-6183498994955948752022-08-28T11:30:00.000+01:002022-08-28T11:30:08.186+01:00The Story of Stalker The 1972 novel <i>Roadside Picnic</i> by the Strugatsky brothers, Arkady (1925-1991) and Boris (1933-2012), is described by Ursula Le Guin as “a ‘first contact’ story with a difference.” The alien ‘visitors’ have been and gone, apparently indifferent to Earth and its inhabitants, leaving behind in the Visitation Zones a range of objects which remain completely mysterious to Man. Some are deadly, others highly useful and technologically valuable (such as ‘eternal batteries’) – but their operating principles are totally impenetrable to science, despite institutes dedicated to their study. Le Guin makes the comparison with <i><a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2022/02/the-story-of-solaris.html " target="_blank">Solaris</a></i>, “in which the human characters are defeated, humbled by their failure to comprehend alien messages or artefacts.”<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi0lAmUpUHsAu_2MrIzYGIjRUduCy0le1xoe9ltJDZK0ZMhswgr_G3n-E6_TSOcm07FDRXhQiUFTFk0URGckJQsihl4D7EU-fptY94_lYW4hBDP2rlhjoPj3aNHk8XOh9vNTnBXZSDzvJEqJUPIXwRihYvGglXHRnMBxVnDKyf0omNejMPovEQqFAY/s1200/Tarkovsky+Stalker+poster.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQivdXNdYnZW92fVVvA3k3pUQmmhIOSfnrGtF8c8v6sk5DIBU5ecJSEObKliqJUnhCMsBuIN2JkuVUqxXG_MQJz1jpYNZ0UiyXzbBpHgEWFrmrBQ0Jtcdq2asdAR7loDUtwR_vzLt05lHGqa_xC71k9uUjKxQ6McmSRHUs6dZxQa1lGnXe3oLd0Zio/s1024/roadside-picnic.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="642" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQivdXNdYnZW92fVVvA3k3pUQmmhIOSfnrGtF8c8v6sk5DIBU5ecJSEObKliqJUnhCMsBuIN2JkuVUqxXG_MQJz1jpYNZ0UiyXzbBpHgEWFrmrBQ0Jtcdq2asdAR7loDUtwR_vzLt05lHGqa_xC71k9uUjKxQ6McmSRHUs6dZxQa1lGnXe3oLd0Zio/w202-h320/roadside-picnic.jpg" width="202" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkEBnEjituK54w0vuupwz1NjysdEa40LeAkvSxiJN4mhOYt-GOpsBNqfNa6__HycLHYiLiM3vsT6GOO4ftumLePq6clUXd9VaHXeKUluykb4IX7uqwdqtzzb30By9E84N28A6gYBUHNJxVOrdL3bSdSFFOB_Lhy2CfALdZ--mIzvH4wwrJAY8LFZhg/s384/Roadside_Picnic.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="227" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkEBnEjituK54w0vuupwz1NjysdEa40LeAkvSxiJN4mhOYt-GOpsBNqfNa6__HycLHYiLiM3vsT6GOO4ftumLePq6clUXd9VaHXeKUluykb4IX7uqwdqtzzb30By9E84N28A6gYBUHNJxVOrdL3bSdSFFOB_Lhy2CfALdZ--mIzvH4wwrJAY8LFZhg/s320/Roadside_Picnic.jpg" width="189" /></a></div></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />The plot focuses on one of the six Zones – the location is never specified but resembles North America – and the characters who operate in the scientific institute and black market which have grown up around it. Among the troubling phenomena in the wake of the visit are mutated children, reanimated corpses returning to their former homes and catastrophes which follow emigrants from the Zones. The unpredictable hazards within the Zone itself defy the laws of physics; there have been attempts to seal and guard it, but the value of the mysterious artefacts within attracts intruders, or ‘stalkers’. They risk their lives amid the dangers of ‘burning fluff’, ‘mosquito mange’ and ‘witches’ jelly’ to return and sell their bounty. Red Schuhart is one such stalker, and the main protagonist of the novel, last seen in search of the ‘Golden Ball’ which reputedly has the power to grant wishes.</div><div><br />Arkady Strugatsky was a translator and editor, Boris an astro-physicist and computer mathematician. The brothers began writing together in the late 1950s and were the most popular science fiction authors in the USSR but, as Yvonne Howell relates, this did not stop them falling into “a precarious position as writers neither wholly approved of, nor yet officially black-listed.” Boris Strugatsky later charted the tortuous publishing history of <i><a href="http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/reviews/roadside-picnic-by-arkady-boris-strugatsky/" target="_blank">Roadside Picnic</a></i>, which had originally been written in 1971. After appearing in the journal <i>Avrora</i> in 1972, it took eight years to navigate the labyrinth of Soviet-era literary bureaucracy and the eventual book publication was heavily censored. He gives one instance of an 18-page document submitted by the ‘language editors’ – a list of removals and substitutions, covering such categories as ‘Comments Concerning the Immoral Behaviour of the Heroes’, and ‘Comments About Vulgarisms and Slang Expressions’.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj748qmnvbOatxebMLipOUiK54S1vHuRtGKNfXMZu96J7IKEqflQTZL_RFUmPhsP-DsuwJt_jKmAGmsxyAsR9XFCvchzmyEDbtK9MiKIFqK-GF3hA_3hwbbPl5NRk497vglVJRqTitwcx55twJ-IvzciBCRMXXRJg-SOFWDoxJtsGVk8dlSH4AIJlyq/s948/strugatsky_brothers.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="948" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj748qmnvbOatxebMLipOUiK54S1vHuRtGKNfXMZu96J7IKEqflQTZL_RFUmPhsP-DsuwJt_jKmAGmsxyAsR9XFCvchzmyEDbtK9MiKIFqK-GF3hA_3hwbbPl5NRk497vglVJRqTitwcx55twJ-IvzciBCRMXXRJg-SOFWDoxJtsGVk8dlSH4AIJlyq/w320-h180/strugatsky_brothers.jpg" title="Arkady & Boris Strugatsky" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Arkady & Boris Strugatsky</td></tr></tbody></table><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgDA4tPjLRjZ7FVq4Ji1ykSxJRN29bXXJDv-YnA4da1S6ZGF7bTM-2RiQA8nmW2E70fJEQrRP_Qg1vmkn8vfvwWgqWrVP6jUU33TbUnZ04_XX8-FA68PhLj72dvcp7ErwCvk-j2AGpKoxeDTfOLaLW5xUpfycbFeaOP6cPASpLjsxSwVZLQveQ6lzn/s1200/Strugatskie-Piknik-na-obochine-2.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="780" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgDA4tPjLRjZ7FVq4Ji1ykSxJRN29bXXJDv-YnA4da1S6ZGF7bTM-2RiQA8nmW2E70fJEQrRP_Qg1vmkn8vfvwWgqWrVP6jUU33TbUnZ04_XX8-FA68PhLj72dvcp7ErwCvk-j2AGpKoxeDTfOLaLW5xUpfycbFeaOP6cPASpLjsxSwVZLQveQ6lzn/s320/Strugatskie-Piknik-na-obochine-2.jpg" width="208" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>On its English translation in 1977, the novel found admirers including Le Guin abroad. In the Soviet Union, the director Andrei Tarkovsky had been so impressed with the story in its journal form that he almost immediately decided to embark on a film version, his <a href="https://www2.bfi.org.uk/features/tarkovsky/" target="_blank">second foray into science fiction</a> after <i>Solaris</i>. The term ‘stalker’ was previously unknown in the Russian language – the brothers borrowed it from Rudyard Kipling’s <i>Stalky & Co</i> and Tarkovsky adopted it for his title. By 1975, he had agreed to work with the Strugatsky brothers on the script, and shooting began in 1977; after initial filming in Tajikistan was interrupted by an earthquake, moved to <a href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/andrei-tarkovsky-stalker-locations" target="_blank">locations around Tallinn</a>, Estonia. <br /><br />Arkady Strugatsky recalled the tortuous process of scriptwriting for the film – frustration at the frequent changes demanded and last-minute re-writes. Besides the liberties Tarkovsky was taking with the plot, the script was often discarded completely in favour of improvisation on the set. While the brothers were nominally the scriptwriters, the director was seemingly keen “to move away from the original science fiction concepts and premises of the original story”. A baffled Arkady was advised by Tarkovsky that “Stalker must be quite different… I don’t want that bandit of yours in the screenplay.” Eventually they were compelled to write a completely new script, now ‘a fable’, which continued to be adapted, on the set and in post-production. Like Lem before them with <i>Solaris</i>, the Strugatskys more or less disowned the film, claiming the final script was essentially Tarkovsky’s.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi0lAmUpUHsAu_2MrIzYGIjRUduCy0le1xoe9ltJDZK0ZMhswgr_G3n-E6_TSOcm07FDRXhQiUFTFk0URGckJQsihl4D7EU-fptY94_lYW4hBDP2rlhjoPj3aNHk8XOh9vNTnBXZSDzvJEqJUPIXwRihYvGglXHRnMBxVnDKyf0omNejMPovEQqFAY/s1200/Tarkovsky+Stalker+poster.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="834" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi0lAmUpUHsAu_2MrIzYGIjRUduCy0le1xoe9ltJDZK0ZMhswgr_G3n-E6_TSOcm07FDRXhQiUFTFk0URGckJQsihl4D7EU-fptY94_lYW4hBDP2rlhjoPj3aNHk8XOh9vNTnBXZSDzvJEqJUPIXwRihYvGglXHRnMBxVnDKyf0omNejMPovEQqFAY/s320/Tarkovsky+Stalker+poster.jpg" width="222" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqq8UaFtedD5Ie-dYnHRFO5hb-7mlOQJnSe3PPHKdqz0UKpOEDvLtUIkMblE2HQsZ618E7V9pwpzWc1qZDZoUadgipiSpQK_5AQiRQoA1vEaTNfC_F8SlmHxT36q7HGIWRvRMkgQS_8OoxFVfp1MV1_pQGI_SLyIUa92St948L_v52iyBUWoktDmrJ/s801/%D0%A1%D1%82%D0%B0%CC%81%D0%BB%D0%BA%D0%B5%D1%80+(1979).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="801" data-original-width="580" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqq8UaFtedD5Ie-dYnHRFO5hb-7mlOQJnSe3PPHKdqz0UKpOEDvLtUIkMblE2HQsZ618E7V9pwpzWc1qZDZoUadgipiSpQK_5AQiRQoA1vEaTNfC_F8SlmHxT36q7HGIWRvRMkgQS_8OoxFVfp1MV1_pQGI_SLyIUa92St948L_v52iyBUWoktDmrJ/s320/%D0%A1%D1%82%D0%B0%CC%81%D0%BB%D0%BA%D0%B5%D1%80+(1979).jpg" width="232" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0Twch5mMyxAfDc-o6zOTLB8-kUari5QrFEv_nfWeCayYTa8JoGgz4nNSnvEnN-clIn_ffn9Y5GM6bXY1AuA1Y54G5H3nVpYmAG6WTXu9AV4idsaAyhONkHX1WxKgm41XAfzr1EM5qy4SH0w9WKToYYjVHa5lD4B_aU2kddmfE4Hn_PfTgY2TCX4GO/s1040/Stalker-1979-Russian-Movie-Poster.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1040" data-original-width="740" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0Twch5mMyxAfDc-o6zOTLB8-kUari5QrFEv_nfWeCayYTa8JoGgz4nNSnvEnN-clIn_ffn9Y5GM6bXY1AuA1Y54G5H3nVpYmAG6WTXu9AV4idsaAyhONkHX1WxKgm41XAfzr1EM5qy4SH0w9WKToYYjVHa5lD4B_aU2kddmfE4Hn_PfTgY2TCX4GO/s320/Stalker-1979-Russian-Movie-Poster.jpg" width="228" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGcWVFf2R44g9tT2Ie0hayZxopoiE1rTyZ-isgXwByRvRlrqsntukrVkYUrgSgr24OgE4MxNNs3HTt8gGHPvQYX5Yn4-cI_rifZnmJqwzDP-zENPoNOPr0qR_QWd81nWx1iH--NwFoCOGL2uGmOj3jZMtIOnU5NrXoyftK2rAwqCNWIDsmHZ-SSdrv/s1193/Stalker_1980_Russian_film_poster_org_z.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1193" data-original-width="843" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGcWVFf2R44g9tT2Ie0hayZxopoiE1rTyZ-isgXwByRvRlrqsntukrVkYUrgSgr24OgE4MxNNs3HTt8gGHPvQYX5Yn4-cI_rifZnmJqwzDP-zENPoNOPr0qR_QWd81nWx1iH--NwFoCOGL2uGmOj3jZMtIOnU5NrXoyftK2rAwqCNWIDsmHZ-SSdrv/s320/Stalker_1980_Russian_film_poster_org_z.jpg" width="226" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There were further hazards awaiting the film, beyond the usual wrangles with the authorities – after several months, it became apparent that the film stock was defective and useless. Tarkovsky somehow managed to get permission (and money) to re-shoot from scratch and it progressed to a general release in May 1979 without significant cuts. In their study <i>The films of Andrei Tarkovsky</i>, Johnson and Petrie record however that: “Official disapproval was exhibited in the almost complete absence of reviews in major Moscow newspapers and journalists.” Most of the minimal publicity was negative, the director “accused of wasting public funds for films he made ‘for himself and his friends’.” A prize-winner when screened at Cannes in 1980, <i>Stalker</i> was well received in the West with a steadily growing <a href="https://lwlies.com/articles/stalker-andrei-tarkovsky-sculpting-time/" target="_blank">cult reputation</a>. It was the final film that Tarkovsky made in the Soviet Union; he spent the final years of his life in Europe.</div></div><div><div><br /><a href="https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/4739-stalker-meaning-and-making" target="_blank">The filmed version</a> retains the basic outline of <i>Roadside Picnic</i> – the Zone with its altered laws of physics and incomprehensible dangers (such as ‘the meatgrinder’) – and the concept of stalkers. As he had indicated to the Strugatskys, Tarkovsky made significant changes to the characters, namely Red, who is replaced by the eponymous Stalker as the guide to the Zone. The opening scenes show the Stalker, his daughter evidently altered in some way (as is Red’s daughter Monkey in the book), and begged by his wife not to return to the Zone, emerging into a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Rather than a hard-bitten mercenary prone to violence, compelled to return by financial necessity, his is a more philosophical quest as, avoiding military patrols, he leads his companions into the Zone. This pair, known only as Professor and Writer, have even more obscure motives for entering the Zone, with their goal the enigmatic Room at its heart (an analogue of the ‘Golden Ball’).</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDOMVHHOVvw2z0v8utv185APaqlQDRIh9Fu-NQQ1RA3ieFSW-gyc7BB-YTa-fVQzUxVCjoGzgSvpVoVWs71zgoQbUzp7yoTh5oZbwhIsJv8r7vctURWFSQ-f8nO5YqUFIt88fd9SkRRI2zwzACx2ARMCN_Ebk4O2v3DXxt9G62KUhWrT1HBRpmglLQ/s1200/ATLAS-OF-PLACES-ANDREI-TARKOVSKY-STALKER-IMG-8.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="1200" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDOMVHHOVvw2z0v8utv185APaqlQDRIh9Fu-NQQ1RA3ieFSW-gyc7BB-YTa-fVQzUxVCjoGzgSvpVoVWs71zgoQbUzp7yoTh5oZbwhIsJv8r7vctURWFSQ-f8nO5YqUFIt88fd9SkRRI2zwzACx2ARMCN_Ebk4O2v3DXxt9G62KUhWrT1HBRpmglLQ/s320/ATLAS-OF-PLACES-ANDREI-TARKOVSKY-STALKER-IMG-8.jpg" width="320" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU_zUS8QDMu4RF-Z-o8vxG26IsI8CMSPR0fOmwzh7d3cp05VaTt-iXIYcxWM0PgKSyChlJ0c-LWHBEUGh9Bu2UPgRJ4X0l2239l8RtNHihxcVjILiTqL_mID1wK-J3gsQ-ap4EGKqpTzR_It1eBbTnVbMJKplVXnW6033dOYAgBrILHyPu51MBAXhm/s1024/S.T.A.L.K.E.R.+Shadow+of+Chernobyl++-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU_zUS8QDMu4RF-Z-o8vxG26IsI8CMSPR0fOmwzh7d3cp05VaTt-iXIYcxWM0PgKSyChlJ0c-LWHBEUGh9Bu2UPgRJ4X0l2239l8RtNHihxcVjILiTqL_mID1wK-J3gsQ-ap4EGKqpTzR_It1eBbTnVbMJKplVXnW6033dOYAgBrILHyPu51MBAXhm/s320/S.T.A.L.K.E.R.+Shadow+of+Chernobyl++-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><br />By the time Tarkovsky died in Paris on 29 December, 1986, <i>Stalker</i> had taken on darker significance with the Chernobyl disaster of April that year, and the resulting fall-out Zone around the plant. The overgrown wasteland and bleak industrial ruins of the film’s Zone have been seen to anticipate <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/29/22403796/stalker-chernobyl-exclusion-zone-tourists" target="_blank">the Soviet tragedy</a>. This theme is made explicit in the <a href="https://www.openculture.com/2015/01/andrei-tarkovskys-masterpiece-stalker-gets-adapted-into-a-video-game.html" target="_blank">video game franchise <i>S.T.A.L.K.E.R.</i></a> (beginning with <i>Shadow of Chernobyl</i>), as mercenaries brave the irradiated landscape in search of its treasures. Many of the novel’s hazards and artefacts, discarded in the film, are revived in the game – ‘burning fluff’, ‘mosquito mange’, ‘black sprays’ and ‘full empties’. Johnson & Petrie note that: “Among Russian film buffs, <i>Stalker</i> has become a kind of cult figure and film, foreshadowing Chernobyl and the ecological, social and moral collapse of the Soviet Union.” <br /><br />Among the film’s <a href="https://cinephiliabeyond.org/unique-perspective-making-stalker-testimony-mechanic-toiling-away-tarkovskys-guidance/" target="_blank">Estonian locations</a> were two abandoned hydroelectric power stations; downstream along the Jägala River from a chemical plant. <i>Stalker</i>’s sound designer, Vladimir Sharun, recalls it pouring out “poisonous liquids… white foam floating down the river. In fact it was some horrible poison.” Sharun attributes the death of Tarkovsky, his wife Larissa, actors Nikolai Grinko, Aleksandr Kaidanovsky, Anatoly Solonitsyn and others involved in the production to this sinister setting.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6RJ1tK5PnxeQyKXB7IRv4adE46Y3OvrdAf7pPc04UBxyFF1Ylhx-8XAumGpFy1aJfzVafo044W70IU02uaf9UtT8axYYx6hPKE6WIm65lEoyIu5-v_1CWDkIUkVbQbGeswMUDb7T-0Uz7xMMUD-7OAQJObYwUIe0CKU4M3j2mSAYMZblGFiCDWYeA/s1472/Stalker_rotermanni_map.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1312" data-original-width="1472" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6RJ1tK5PnxeQyKXB7IRv4adE46Y3OvrdAf7pPc04UBxyFF1Ylhx-8XAumGpFy1aJfzVafo044W70IU02uaf9UtT8axYYx6hPKE6WIm65lEoyIu5-v_1CWDkIUkVbQbGeswMUDb7T-0Uz7xMMUD-7OAQJObYwUIe0CKU4M3j2mSAYMZblGFiCDWYeA/s320/Stalker_rotermanni_map.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Map of <i>Stalker</i>'s locations</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKFQe3lwPruqnRRw3iStNAPj6AY81p6x7PbRn9WglE2v7D_g82SF3Qp3oDN48z9Lf-qe8NYvyoP2PN_YJ0KVLWwA1qIjePX2Dk7BrIenuaVmG0j0DZHLTlG6td5tT1TWJ6dRLpSKMk94tZIBOCEN3gBGcoAPyxM9yVL2i1rq4sOP0Kzmi93QeEon9H/s1200/Geoff-Dyer-Zona.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="795" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKFQe3lwPruqnRRw3iStNAPj6AY81p6x7PbRn9WglE2v7D_g82SF3Qp3oDN48z9Lf-qe8NYvyoP2PN_YJ0KVLWwA1qIjePX2Dk7BrIenuaVmG0j0DZHLTlG6td5tT1TWJ6dRLpSKMk94tZIBOCEN3gBGcoAPyxM9yVL2i1rq4sOP0Kzmi93QeEon9H/s320/Geoff-Dyer-Zona.jpg" width="212" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6LOHy3qOXuavgQnvh1mPULEtQPx1yeVVBsmsmOma_udmuR3wIXjuMMJrjk38__GaRI8JNRLxRw3auyyuDvdNWPJ7feioGexhxapTOtT_NPnVW6BTnKIj1LDLcqDpzepv1D4OAxSPfONKKWeGfxtxi5WQUz0YepCgvGXlBf8K5iV2nVLe_eiwQQyv3/s225/Stalker-poster-french.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="165" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6LOHy3qOXuavgQnvh1mPULEtQPx1yeVVBsmsmOma_udmuR3wIXjuMMJrjk38__GaRI8JNRLxRw3auyyuDvdNWPJ7feioGexhxapTOtT_NPnVW6BTnKIj1LDLcqDpzepv1D4OAxSPfONKKWeGfxtxi5WQUz0YepCgvGXlBf8K5iV2nVLe_eiwQQyv3/w235-h320/Stalker-poster-french.jpg" width="235" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /><i>Stalker</i> inspired Geoff Dyer’s meditation, <i>Zona: A Book about a Film about a Journey to a Room</i>, a detailed examination of the film. Dyer is among the critics to see echoes of the Soviet Gulags in Tarkovsky’s work, finding it “haunted by memories of the camps,” in the vocabulary of the Zone and the Stalker’s shaved head. James Norton’s article <a href="https://www.closeupfilmcentre.com/vertigo_magazine/volume-3-issue-3-autumn-2006/stalking-the-stalker/" target="_blank">‘Stalking the Stalker’</a> reaches a similar conclusion, that the Zone “was also the term by which the Gulag was known, as the Russian audience would have recognised.” <br /><br />The Strugatsky brothers continued to influence <a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2014/10/structures-of-soviet-science-fiction-ii.html" target="_blank">Soviet science fiction</a>, with other popular film adaptations of their work including <i>Dead Mountaineer’s Hotel</i>, and <i>Hard to be a God</i>. The director Konstantin Lopuchansky was an assistant to Tarkovsky on <i>Stalker</i>, and the influence of film and director can be seen in the <a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2017/10/communist-post-apocalyptic-film.html" target="_blank">post-apocalyptic landscapes</a> of <i>Letters from a Dead Man</i> (1986) and <i>Visitor to a Museum</i> (1989). Lopuchansky returned to the dystopian sci-fi theme in 2006 with <i><a href="https://www.balkanwritersproject.com/single-post/2016/03/20/The-Ugly-Swans-2006-Konstantin-Lopushansky" target="_blank">The Ugly Swans</a></i>, also based on a novel by the Strugatskys. <i>The Ugly Swans</i> revisits many aspects of <i>Roadside Picnic</i> in its setting of a quarantined zone, mutated children, and allusions to the aftermath of alien visitation.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtD3OZcffL-JIJ-154RenEDMcCIknSjasAJ4_HBL6ec8Nv9ZwqmfF9obotjlM5YfDYX_0e8Z-MDyK-cl_gqS5CpeMqpA_A1S20xIqyDDGF1tGWTWuYNW8EZyueKc_I-HBAAWPG6oq-rjh_pe_CjJ8tWPg98SpczySd8iasrwB41hpWQESrMrGKQGtD/s586/UglySwans.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="586" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtD3OZcffL-JIJ-154RenEDMcCIknSjasAJ4_HBL6ec8Nv9ZwqmfF9obotjlM5YfDYX_0e8Z-MDyK-cl_gqS5CpeMqpA_A1S20xIqyDDGF1tGWTWuYNW8EZyueKc_I-HBAAWPG6oq-rjh_pe_CjJ8tWPg98SpczySd8iasrwB41hpWQESrMrGKQGtD/s320/UglySwans.jpg" width="218" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4CxE-8gy4JhfCrG14tIH1laUOTRdHVw_mnafnzfwt-Ti5mTAzfZiRSd9hk5D997oxReqMttqC40FYjUnM028POIEnRyySQKBeizMT44RR1gf61pfn_nmGKCQWTttBObqmHxSTjEjUA1c6lvQsoispKhp7JK1Ov7Z3NhD0VPAxXi7UWoonmpbadIir/s640/The+Ugly+Swans+Strugatsky.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="429" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4CxE-8gy4JhfCrG14tIH1laUOTRdHVw_mnafnzfwt-Ti5mTAzfZiRSd9hk5D997oxReqMttqC40FYjUnM028POIEnRyySQKBeizMT44RR1gf61pfn_nmGKCQWTttBObqmHxSTjEjUA1c6lvQsoispKhp7JK1Ov7Z3NhD0VPAxXi7UWoonmpbadIir/s320/The+Ugly+Swans+Strugatsky.jpg" width="215" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q3hBLv-HLEc" width="320" youtube-src-id="Q3hBLv-HLEc"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>PBLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10424983027343602845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-56477452644001112902022-04-28T09:47:00.013+01:002023-09-20T19:01:27.632+01:00Arturo Aldunate Phillips<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSXxi14GdQWVlwSC_grlXDa5PWzx3XRFyUUiKaURyVSP9uUU7fnZ16jBiph9RRVkfZOFWw2KM29N4byIf0Ogc4yZdg7niq0SwYfr9BimpXvDLzy-MovjIF8D8zbKMjAxexzK9pjj8yGshFOPA8UEHYP1nSldcXGtbnqnsDTZQYiZN2g4N1TGM4zvXzxQ/s458/Los-robots1.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="418" data-original-width="458" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSXxi14GdQWVlwSC_grlXDa5PWzx3XRFyUUiKaURyVSP9uUU7fnZ16jBiph9RRVkfZOFWw2KM29N4byIf0Ogc4yZdg7niq0SwYfr9BimpXvDLzy-MovjIF8D8zbKMjAxexzK9pjj8yGshFOPA8UEHYP1nSldcXGtbnqnsDTZQYiZN2g4N1TGM4zvXzxQ/w320-h293/Los-robots1.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aldunate Phillips (left) with Norbert Wiener</td></tr></tbody></table>In November 2020, <a href="https://sfforward.blogspot.com/2020/11/juana-y-la-cibernetica.html">I wrote a post about a project I’d been involved in</a>, to translate <i><a href="https://desperateliterature.com/product/juana/" target="_blank">Juana y la cibernética</a></i> (1963), a short story by the Chilean SF writer <a href="https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/aldunate_elena" target="_blank">Elena Aldunate</a>, with my colleague Ana Baeza Ruiz. The publication, a Spanish-English bilingual edition of the story, had an online launch at the <a href="https://desperateliterature.com/" target="_blank">Desperate Literature bookshop in Madrid</a>. During the event, Ana and I reflected on the translation and aspects of the story we’d found intriguing. One of the questions raised by <i>Juana</i> concerns cybernetics itself. The plot, which revolves around an erotic encounter between the protagonist (Juana) and her factory work station, never explicitly touches on the topic of cybernetics and is very far removed from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norbert_Wiener" target="_blank">Norbert Wiener’s</a> influential definition of ‘the entire field of control and communication theory, whether in the machine or in the animal’. However, the human-machine relationship which is central to the story does suggest a thematic link to the idea of cybernetics as it relates to the imaginary of robots and automated life. <p></p><p>This is where the figure of <a href="https://www.uc.cl/universidad/premios-nacionales/arturo-aldunate-phillips/" target="_blank">Arturo Alduante Phillips</a> (the author’s father) comes in. A writer-poet and engineer, Aldunate worked for the Electricity Company in Chile (later Chilectra) and as a university lecturer teaching courses in cybernetics. Even more significant, he published two books on cybernetics, <i><a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/6344614 " target="_blank">Los robots no tienen a Dios en el corazón</a></i> (Robots do not have God in their hearts) (1963) and <i><a href=" http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/55242325" target="_blank">Por las fronteras de la cibernética</a></i> (On the frontiers of cybernetics) (1973). In the first of these books, published in the same year as Elena’s story, Aldunate Phillips explains the fundamentals of cybernetics and the current state of the discipline in relation to machine intelligence, as well as discussing the implications for industry, construction and healthcare. <a href="http://www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/bnd/628/w3-article-326632.html " target="_blank">A contemporary review</a> remarks that the book will be of interest to readers who want to know more about how today’s scientific developments will contribute to ‘the material progress of the world and the social transformation that will follow from their application’.<br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvJqC54piSSBV-qFBpQpDxYT1afW6Hh3RSsvKvQEs-DdFhOK0EZkQDfr5eOHnXsu_AliRTfaGgY8hJKrQmFOMD5HaUW-e7R_dkMG8txou0U6-bMdH4lxYnOROs3MtnF5t5JqHKQ8BC7PRi9PiiwK1FhNd4SA9_iSCoTD3cSKdLxtKAkcgbAyos5r3-RQ/s1447/Los-robots3.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1141" data-original-width="1447" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvJqC54piSSBV-qFBpQpDxYT1afW6Hh3RSsvKvQEs-DdFhOK0EZkQDfr5eOHnXsu_AliRTfaGgY8hJKrQmFOMD5HaUW-e7R_dkMG8txou0U6-bMdH4lxYnOROs3MtnF5t5JqHKQ8BC7PRi9PiiwK1FhNd4SA9_iSCoTD3cSKdLxtKAkcgbAyos5r3-RQ/w400-h315/Los-robots3.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pages from <i>Los Robots</i> (1963)</td></tr></tbody></table><br />In this context, the reference to cybernetics in <i>Juana </i>appears to be less incidental, as it seems likely that the topic was discussed in Elena Aldunate’s family. There is one moment in the story that especially chimes with the issues and debates covered by Aldunate Phillips in his book. Juana remembers some articles she's read in the newspapers: ‘One day the machines will rebel against their masters. They will not depend on them, they will take control of their future’. By contrast, <i>Los Robots</i> is dismissive of the idea of autonomous automated life. One of the concluding remarks in the book reads ‘I believe that it will never be given to the machine to replace the capacity of the human brain, which will continue to be the inspirer, the guide, the one that will have to manage the world of machines’. The message of <i>Juana</i> is more ambiguous and can be read as a cautionary tale. In the final passages, in the consummation of Juana’s desire, she is simultaneously released and obliterated by the machine’s motions: ‘The movement demands surrender […] its expression is burning, lacerating’. An interpretation of this ending might be that humans underestimate machines at their peril, with Juana’s fate serving as a warning about the destructive tendencies of automation…<p></p>Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05618355929577935922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-28189205324687995232022-02-26T09:00:00.003+00:002022-08-28T11:31:45.882+01:00The Story of Solaris<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]--><i>Solaris</i> is the best-known work of the Polish novelist Stanisław Lem (1921-2006), a philosophical science fiction writer. It has been adapted twice into major feature films and on each occasion met with the author’s disapproval. <br /><br /><a href="https://www.thereader.org.uk/review-solaris-by-stanislaw-lem/" target="_blank">Lem’s 1961 book</a> re-evaluates the nature of Contact with a truly alien intelligence, an immeasurable and unknowable entity. It opens with the arrival of a psychologist, Dr Kris Kelvin, at the station on Solaris, a distant planet dominated by its sentient, plasmic ocean. The disordered state of the station is reflected in the mental distress of the beleaguered remaining crew – the ocean apparently sends ‘visitors’ to them, (re-)constructed from their memories. From the initial premise, Kelvin recounts the science of Solaristics, the planet’s discovery, exploration and studies/theories of the ocean’s enigmatic organic structures, before he receives his own ‘visitor’. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhD_yGmLVHBWfqDI1TBlr_x0nU1w8qdNo6Ns1QG94y9Yz1VyRSht82hNXQRDWpkZMPgTaqNhleHln15MzNGNXX2-AW7T0B8nzJJMejRD8Rim6bLIEcPhsETpnVuOz2_thaD4d-zT7j-0DnH5PL88LK9gmQS3A3w-94bNaj7GJmptmPOSCR2BhK-BveS=s1600" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="980" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhD_yGmLVHBWfqDI1TBlr_x0nU1w8qdNo6Ns1QG94y9Yz1VyRSht82hNXQRDWpkZMPgTaqNhleHln15MzNGNXX2-AW7T0B8nzJJMejRD8Rim6bLIEcPhsETpnVuOz2_thaD4d-zT7j-0DnH5PL88LK9gmQS3A3w-94bNaj7GJmptmPOSCR2BhK-BveS=s320" width="196" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjst6_Ys4Ye_wahWFJtoa5Gk6aIEhsAVURTXb68qNZIFYSJhb-o3ym0CESE_dd23N-dQEntE2xoOSmd9C5FL1TLQCMWtCAVe-p03_ADeSeloKbF1Hkzi2BRdAF7J7kHamBY6_D0-UEcSNgHVCF8nAVj9adOjj1q-rqibjslQJUvKSC0mZRhQXXKQ4Na=s1302" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1302" data-original-width="674" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjst6_Ys4Ye_wahWFJtoa5Gk6aIEhsAVURTXb68qNZIFYSJhb-o3ym0CESE_dd23N-dQEntE2xoOSmd9C5FL1TLQCMWtCAVe-p03_ADeSeloKbF1Hkzi2BRdAF7J7kHamBY6_D0-UEcSNgHVCF8nAVj9adOjj1q-rqibjslQJUvKSC0mZRhQXXKQ4Na=s320" width="166" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgpdzZyf4Uj1rOO52S9WFl0j38oxz8nE9tTQnuX0BoYOlb6PJVeOog-fkMuaxxGLwqvO8JJYcX34w5My7MefTlocWcpw90zxf4SypEd5hqGMQFJGDDe1EzX_-nqY_wVU3Ji9rvk2ZBoKAEOMAe1cePuC2W2c_mhFjyBjeAJltuFAUXn78SYZMgPaz1f=s747" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="474" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgpdzZyf4Uj1rOO52S9WFl0j38oxz8nE9tTQnuX0BoYOlb6PJVeOog-fkMuaxxGLwqvO8JJYcX34w5My7MefTlocWcpw90zxf4SypEd5hqGMQFJGDDe1EzX_-nqY_wVU3Ji9rvk2ZBoKAEOMAe1cePuC2W2c_mhFjyBjeAJltuFAUXn78SYZMgPaz1f=s320" width="203" /></a><br /><br /> <br />The Yugoslav SF writer, Darko Suvin, a contemporary of Lem’s, credits the Polish author with raising sci-fi “to the dignity of a major literary genre,” praising <i>Solaris</i> as “puzzle, parable and cognition of freedom”. Critics have attempted to unlock the book’s “psychological puzzle” by placing it within a Freudian framework or interpreting it as a parable of madness/schizophrenia. Acknowledging the novel’s complexity, Richard E. Ziegfeld saw in it Lem’s depiction of “the infinite nature of the universe,” contrasted with “the limits of man’s knowledge”. <br /><br /> Both the English and Russian translations of <i>Solaris</i> are problematic – an English version (the first of any of Lem’s work) was not available until 1970, Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox basing it on a French translation. The background to the film adaptation is similarly complex and difficult. <a href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/tarkovsky-original-version-solaris" target="_blank">The very first film</a> was made for Soviet television in 1968, directed by Boris Nuremberg and, though low-budget, regarded as faithful to the novel (more so than the following versions). It was Andrei Tarkovsky’s film, released in 1972, that remains the most celebrated and controversial version of <i>Solaris</i>. <br /><br /> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKZMbZtpg1chjQBfTJQlCNk2G8uDXgKjCIWmNXALP4ZIyEhThquriZkFZWRacX9aWnj9mYOrR_TC4Hk27pJOeQ-FtIGLJ8c7KwkdN0HdgJ0DO70Jn9IHmDpw8ZYWLzteU068b7DFsyF44aoJ1T6xL9tm2q2GRMm2eOHua0OXrynXDQeft-T83IaduL=s3000" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="2186" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKZMbZtpg1chjQBfTJQlCNk2G8uDXgKjCIWmNXALP4ZIyEhThquriZkFZWRacX9aWnj9mYOrR_TC4Hk27pJOeQ-FtIGLJ8c7KwkdN0HdgJ0DO70Jn9IHmDpw8ZYWLzteU068b7DFsyF44aoJ1T6xL9tm2q2GRMm2eOHua0OXrynXDQeft-T83IaduL=s320" width="233" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhPSJ6hmfM1QETsOQe5dMvZlgSbomSY6R0Yytb8NZJ_TDFCktbcxowoiyKr1nXQZrN2aUl-zgKksXAapOgwiqZ00GfJneB2TWVUZQ19BjwQBm9QYRplGNr9NyVopGXDNGCcEHRR3yPJkybKPa0gO4iDpfOcFjkVGUi8AlM4JsEI1T4kJAVF_5V2e9-l=s1172" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1172" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhPSJ6hmfM1QETsOQe5dMvZlgSbomSY6R0Yytb8NZJ_TDFCktbcxowoiyKr1nXQZrN2aUl-zgKksXAapOgwiqZ00GfJneB2TWVUZQ19BjwQBm9QYRplGNr9NyVopGXDNGCcEHRR3yPJkybKPa0gO4iDpfOcFjkVGUi8AlM4JsEI1T4kJAVF_5V2e9-l=s320" width="218" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">An “uncompromising visionary” working within the Soviet system, Tarkovsky had no love of science fiction, but (correctly) reasoned that working within the genre would grant him greater leeway. He had seen numerous projects blocked outright, and others subject to lengthy delays before release. According to artist and the set designer of <i>Solaris</i>, Mikhail Romadin, in the eyes of the authorities sci-fi “was hardly serious and intended for youngsters”. Tarkovsky’s proposal of “a futuristic thriller set on board a remote space station” was granted official approval by Goskino (USSR State Committee for Cinematography), though an initial draft of the screenplay re-located two-thirds of the film to Earth. After meeting <a href="https://culture.pl/en/article/lem-vs-tarkovsky-the-fight-over-solaris" target="_blank">a disapproving Lem</a> in Moscow, and working with writer Friedrich Gorenstein, Tarkovsky settled on another draft, closer to the novel. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgXAcmLp1HBNGuNbuda55DS-kAg07nwyZ_VoAtOpSBhuz2xKzu2G9g4VZ0icD-pzuIzGwosxRMqIK-1Mm7B6pyjtt-C_PIUDwKqWyDqwvL6WVFcnCA3ecC4hLPOAtqXi8Te90U8nOptN9GFCjX-BJmgzDAPGD5B46VU_sTel-_PlvGjAXMvM1Iv8bnV=s1280" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="977" data-original-width="1280" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgXAcmLp1HBNGuNbuda55DS-kAg07nwyZ_VoAtOpSBhuz2xKzu2G9g4VZ0icD-pzuIzGwosxRMqIK-1Mm7B6pyjtt-C_PIUDwKqWyDqwvL6WVFcnCA3ecC4hLPOAtqXi8Te90U8nOptN9GFCjX-BJmgzDAPGD5B46VU_sTel-_PlvGjAXMvM1Iv8bnV=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andrei Tarkovsky on the set of <i>Solaris</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">However, the <a href="https://www2.bfi.org.uk/features/tarkovsky/" target="_blank">final version of <i>Solaris</i></a>, clocking in at more than two and a half hours at a stately pace, concentrates more on the ‘human’ aspect of the narrative. The film inserts a lengthy prologue on Earth, at Kelvin’s dacha, where the pilot Berton’s report on the phenomena he witnessed in the ocean is delivered. Kelvin’s relationship with his own ‘visitor’ and the response of the other inhabitants of the station to theirs remains central. Even after filming was completed, at a reduced budget, further changes and cuts were requested by the authorities. Ostensibly science fiction, Soviet censors still objected to the religious themes (present in all Tarkovsky’s work) and caused the usual delays in the film’s release; meanwhile Lem, already irritated by the liberties taken with his novel in the screenplay, accused the director of making “<i>Crime and Punishment</i> in space”. <br /><br /> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg8BHi8EnTZjuC7GCKBFg28uBGLn6T0lWkYNquO1MMIDzewhbSpuGsZYZcE4nE3CN5raQDS5IkIbOHgF7htqeYta7tKpJuP_9No1Y90HUChkHhhYuDfDJSy8FKoncEc7tBH6XF_MAzQlv2bvJKMBC0S1K8lYf6GlFfMrSp_hnKrSKOeGA5pGxNgSah2=s1415" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1415" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg8BHi8EnTZjuC7GCKBFg28uBGLn6T0lWkYNquO1MMIDzewhbSpuGsZYZcE4nE3CN5raQDS5IkIbOHgF7htqeYta7tKpJuP_9No1Y90HUChkHhhYuDfDJSy8FKoncEc7tBH6XF_MAzQlv2bvJKMBC0S1K8lYf6GlFfMrSp_hnKrSKOeGA5pGxNgSah2=s320" width="320" /></a><br /></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Coming soon after Stanley Kubrick’s celebrated <i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i>, there was bound to be a perception of <i>Solaris</i> as a Soviet equivalent. Where <i>2001</i> used <a href="http://www.brendanfinan.net/wordpress/kubricks-music-1-2001-a-space-odyssey/" target="_blank">compositions by Johan and Richard Strauss</a>, J.S. Bach provides the main theme for <i>Solaris</i>, with additional soundtrack contributions from the contemporary Soviet <a href="https://eefb.org/retrospectives/eduard-artemyevs-compositional-strategies/" target="_blank">electronic music composer Eduard Artemiev</a> (in the first of his three collaborations with Tarkovsky). The production values reflected the respective budgets, with Mikhail Romadin in charge of the slightly kitsch interior design of the <i>Solaris</i> space station at the state studio Mosfilm – cutting-edge certainly in terms of Soviet film at the time, the future has dated rapidly in this instance. However, Tarkovsky clung to his vision of a mysterious, philosophical epic, haughtily <a href="https://www.openculture.com/2015/07/andrei-tarkovsky-calls-kubricks-2001-a-space-odyssey-a-phony-film-with-only-pretensions-to-truth.html" target="_blank">dismissing <i>2001</i></a> as “phony... a lifeless schema with only pretensions to truth,” and continuing to bemoan his own film’s sci-fi trappings as “a distraction.” </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjhYfuf8sSJ5Y7a9qP-zGynVAhTOe9_wDUCExYfGQgzE4ozYbSsgVMpbjODnc1wuoUwTFAnSydvPHUd2nRA4AOSS6rrejxmhql-G7QOfBDiMnccEwOFbTqomf_8dc4_nfS2VSKHCTY4_YODWWuNQmLvetNrQtOI0JvOoEB3MJRNcFcn2vjedh5BVC5z=s1280" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="710" data-original-width="1280" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjhYfuf8sSJ5Y7a9qP-zGynVAhTOe9_wDUCExYfGQgzE4ozYbSsgVMpbjODnc1wuoUwTFAnSydvPHUd2nRA4AOSS6rrejxmhql-G7QOfBDiMnccEwOFbTqomf_8dc4_nfS2VSKHCTY4_YODWWuNQmLvetNrQtOI0JvOoEB3MJRNcFcn2vjedh5BVC5z=s320" width="320" /></a><br /></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">After winning the Grand Jury Special Prize at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival (and also the BFI’s ‘Film of the Year’ award), the <a href="https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/239-solaris-inner-space" target="_blank">international reputation of <i>Solaris</i></a> was secured. Its many admirers see it as a high watermark for the genre in film: “the benchmark against which all sci-fi should be held accountable.” The <a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2018/05/trevor-hoyle-interview-part-two.html" target="_blank">English writer Trevor Hoyle</a> was “absolutely blown away” by Tarkovsky’s “magical” film. Other critics have found it confusing, overly long, pretentious and – presumably in contrast to <i>2001</i> – commented on its “visual poverty” (<i>New York Times</i>). The director himself later came to regard <i>Solaris</i> as the least favourite of his films. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Like <i>2001</i>, <i>Solaris</i> has been subjected to innumerable academic re-readings and critical interpretations, and remains the <a href="https://lwlies.com/articles/solaris-andrei-tarkovsky-greatest-science-fiction-film/" target="_blank">director’s most enduring work</a>. Tarkovsky returned once more to science fiction for the similarly fascinating, grandiose and troubled <i><a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-story-of-stalker.html" target="_blank">Stalker</a></i> in 1979. He left the Soviet Union the same year, made two further films during his European exile and died of cancer in Paris, aged only 54, in 1986. <br /><br /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjd9Av-UkrY41GRbGhpUo_Kt8zPcgTC9YCcJxJKHNrG0VMzZ1qlNdaADviBlPjezbVIoz07_YLIkMWQYTyy2v8iFe7mrVAkAW0azDr5W87sBaSn26Z46FbJteKBMFsr_fC1YRae6hyIqqgh0RQ4GLoYD4omgqHtsl2ZcFGg3Iq6_qNXoROiq7rJbzxb=s2362" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2362" data-original-width="1656" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjd9Av-UkrY41GRbGhpUo_Kt8zPcgTC9YCcJxJKHNrG0VMzZ1qlNdaADviBlPjezbVIoz07_YLIkMWQYTyy2v8iFe7mrVAkAW0azDr5W87sBaSn26Z46FbJteKBMFsr_fC1YRae6hyIqqgh0RQ4GLoYD4omgqHtsl2ZcFGg3Iq6_qNXoROiq7rJbzxb=s320" width="224" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEivBjIMS2r8k0Pl1uhYWYmORO_WoSwIRJEjlkA-mnzEsv9vBsIUiUI8RnkNjRVNst5koeZ5AJp3xMfSNsTnxRLjS-UIzRkAgYfwpmKRAKkHN0vajIUI4FcG0BU3dco1uBhl908SbCBury8ihRvHzy-SZVnGNEhmHQNaAK1dwlEEf5ZKl4z9_xLz358Q=s2941" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2941" data-original-width="2047" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEivBjIMS2r8k0Pl1uhYWYmORO_WoSwIRJEjlkA-mnzEsv9vBsIUiUI8RnkNjRVNst5koeZ5AJp3xMfSNsTnxRLjS-UIzRkAgYfwpmKRAKkHN0vajIUI4FcG0BU3dco1uBhl908SbCBury8ihRvHzy-SZVnGNEhmHQNaAK1dwlEEf5ZKl4z9_xLz358Q=s320" width="223" /></a><br /><br /> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Long after Tarkovsky’s death, <a href="https://oneroomwithaview.com/2017/08/22/soderbergh-solaris-superior-remake/" target="_blank">a third adaption of <i>Solaris</i></a> was made, this time in the United States. Steven Soderbergh’s slick and expensive 2002 film version, while cutting more than an hour off the running time, is essentially a Hollywood re-make of the Soviet epic thirty years on rather than an attempt to return to Lem’s text. The author was distinctly unimpressed: “And I thought Tarkovsky’s <i>Solaris</i> was bad.” <br /><br />In continuing to distance himself from both major versions of the film, as late as a 2002 interview, Lem stated: “As <i>Solaris</i>’ author I shall allow myself to repeat that I only wanted to create a vision of a human encounter with something that certainly exists, in a mighty manner perhaps, but cannot be reduced to human concepts, ideas or images.”</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj8OIka8jwroEQ2zbGsQWslrbNKOgUv9jN8Lir1_pQAVpuvoFjQOUP7E0SXkk1THx43OpaZvwXPBfmaWcUrM4eNGpnz3066W_pra7ZGWb0njHvPOeqojjEz4ZbHkqL2XctAHfHInutHFIKU4NcOgSS7XYJQZ2FgO7dI4oI91iSaXIewH2fVNC4lJ1SV=s1923" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1923" data-original-width="1920" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj8OIka8jwroEQ2zbGsQWslrbNKOgUv9jN8Lir1_pQAVpuvoFjQOUP7E0SXkk1THx43OpaZvwXPBfmaWcUrM4eNGpnz3066W_pra7ZGWb0njHvPOeqojjEz4ZbHkqL2XctAHfHInutHFIKU4NcOgSS7XYJQZ2FgO7dI4oI91iSaXIewH2fVNC4lJ1SV=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stanisław Lem</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> PBLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10424983027343602845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-23109717090810327582021-09-04T09:00:00.004+01:002023-08-16T13:42:34.979+01:00Science Fiction-Music Interconnections: Listening in the 1990s<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiBG5vHTJ5UzTi-ERsJnFoGE28omGepJZ0bhxFLO3SMgp_qi9Dtm5wPOKfE1VOHrjilL-ITEfe6YqyS94CnLPOVhD_UAyOzq3KSlwboPBSn8H-wUUQepWHnl9_6vtQ-PxJeGdfpRev3lnex40EZKrfGRlZroX5qrLWh4EGXMBW7MwIKJzSmwSYJNEB0=s2624" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1676" data-original-width="2624" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiBG5vHTJ5UzTi-ERsJnFoGE28omGepJZ0bhxFLO3SMgp_qi9Dtm5wPOKfE1VOHrjilL-ITEfe6YqyS94CnLPOVhD_UAyOzq3KSlwboPBSn8H-wUUQepWHnl9_6vtQ-PxJeGdfpRev3lnex40EZKrfGRlZroX5qrLWh4EGXMBW7MwIKJzSmwSYJNEB0=w400-h255" width="400" /></a></div>Hi-Fi: Heading to the Digital Age<br /><br />How was the music of the 1990s experienced as home entertainment? On traditional stereo ‘systems’ via the analogue formats of vinyl and cassette, with the future looming in the shape of compact discs, and the brave new world of <a href="https://www.just-cassette.com/post/digital-audio-cassette-dat" target="_blank">Digital Audio Tape</a> about to <a href="https://reverb.com/news/how-the-1990s-changed-recording-and-music-production-forever" target="_blank">revolutionise the music industry</a>… <p></p><p> </p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhTf9zrtvE-VDb3nP_VIVzs2uFYK7VkQYUC6kQPl_6Rrd7ufdz5pNtUHGybUFzavWGS90Ac8830dWfumZL74df5IfnAqH7xfUoLE53U345ec1eldGBzfth9d1mBK2O8DmDoXTvVnWbx_MJc8X4-qUOvmA38-SvC7cegLRaPL6TWYF9iUYl9jKizKJ_Y=s2579" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhTf9zrtvE-VDb3nP_VIVzs2uFYK7VkQYUC6kQPl_6Rrd7ufdz5pNtUHGybUFzavWGS90Ac8830dWfumZL74df5IfnAqH7xfUoLE53U345ec1eldGBzfth9d1mBK2O8DmDoXTvVnWbx_MJc8X4-qUOvmA38-SvC7cegLRaPL6TWYF9iUYl9jKizKJ_Y=s2579" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1676" data-original-width="2579" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhTf9zrtvE-VDb3nP_VIVzs2uFYK7VkQYUC6kQPl_6Rrd7ufdz5pNtUHGybUFzavWGS90Ac8830dWfumZL74df5IfnAqH7xfUoLE53U345ec1eldGBzfth9d1mBK2O8DmDoXTvVnWbx_MJc8X4-qUOvmA38-SvC7cegLRaPL6TWYF9iUYl9jKizKJ_Y=w400-h260" width="400" /></a> <br /></div><div> </div><div>On the Move<br /><br />Anyone storing their entire music collection on a phone or iPod should spare a thought for the 90s mobile listening experience. Developed over the previous decade, surprisingly bulky Minidisc and <a href="https://techspirited.com/timeline-history-of-walkman" target="_blank">Walkman players</a> allowed you to enjoy your favourite discs and tapes (one at a time) if you were on the move – until the batteries ran out… </div><div> </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj1_bOtDLb-PV7L2A308jDAPgROfGxUq6QDfPXHjLpDoxNT_CT6xcKB2SJK9HtR9K243o0UjTrR-6JGKIAAEeNlmIeR8rBUJ92egVK92O-JDIT1j8kve6rTLgSPT20_WazTETt9xX8vnA5e7IuGmrtQmhd9zgajvqtd1p4z4N-mxDfAadh3zYVA19dG=s1115" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1115" data-original-width="827" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj1_bOtDLb-PV7L2A308jDAPgROfGxUq6QDfPXHjLpDoxNT_CT6xcKB2SJK9HtR9K243o0UjTrR-6JGKIAAEeNlmIeR8rBUJ92egVK92O-JDIT1j8kve6rTLgSPT20_WazTETt9xX8vnA5e7IuGmrtQmhd9zgajvqtd1p4z4N-mxDfAadh3zYVA19dG=s320" width="237" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6nAKz1ESMLpbtyqkwM_0y7z7fN-1wfRREOmP2SKpat4hMnCq7CDmYxK58PjUXWw7BBn6pSBE_2GRREZRD4QvG2AyIFbsuQkvcNgWiNgwnfo3ReG8wuR8OTVNtMTFar-PW3vFFRz8x-YGUf9MMwvPl_9REGFzdBZ3osWHjuqbBMWLuKQUHJ8gJsJ50=s2267" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1571" data-original-width="2267" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6nAKz1ESMLpbtyqkwM_0y7z7fN-1wfRREOmP2SKpat4hMnCq7CDmYxK58PjUXWw7BBn6pSBE_2GRREZRD4QvG2AyIFbsuQkvcNgWiNgwnfo3ReG8wuR8OTVNtMTFar-PW3vFFRz8x-YGUf9MMwvPl_9REGFzdBZ3osWHjuqbBMWLuKQUHJ8gJsJ50=w400-h278" width="400" /></a></div><br /> </div><div>Cassette Culture: Home Taping is Killing Music<br /><br /><a href="https://tapetardis.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">The cassette</a>
remained thriving throughout the first half of the decade (in my
experience at least), both in commercial form and for exchanging music
via the ubiquitous mix-tape – there was even a market for the cassette
single… </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgnDXK3yfxRs6r9YAcLMKN1xyR4c4iSgevJgdzLnqZgB9xeLFiuSNzM2DsPKiKXrSe7EDVsrkod7h1Htae0Ok6Nrsm2mdGnqNWGBhbe6VQtsmLtfumZmmu9EaFpBxnstBYWc2j8K5jPEJIr4pldF2i8r0WZ06C3Xhcs0IevKko2FjEISdyMXWhpBSds=s2861" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1458" data-original-width="2861" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgnDXK3yfxRs6r9YAcLMKN1xyR4c4iSgevJgdzLnqZgB9xeLFiuSNzM2DsPKiKXrSe7EDVsrkod7h1Htae0Ok6Nrsm2mdGnqNWGBhbe6VQtsmLtfumZmmu9EaFpBxnstBYWc2j8K5jPEJIr4pldF2i8r0WZ06C3Xhcs0IevKko2FjEISdyMXWhpBSds=s320" width="320" /></a></div><div> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhWNGthRywVYg0QsociAm3PslCjKUAZGw31swPk2JMWaw3IWuWenRo7dyLghVbDG29BKt1nRVZ_CdtdR4RsnyGI8ft1i8L0f152KHO7UC7yhzHwQr1HYqRgQhBO44BKug880zS2fdGU2791JP4lKKoAf-FP4aztyUovgbGG-YygN7qZV9Gu0InnaVyH=s2799" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2799" data-original-width="1791" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhWNGthRywVYg0QsociAm3PslCjKUAZGw31swPk2JMWaw3IWuWenRo7dyLghVbDG29BKt1nRVZ_CdtdR4RsnyGI8ft1i8L0f152KHO7UC7yhzHwQr1HYqRgQhBO44BKug880zS2fdGU2791JP4lKKoAf-FP4aztyUovgbGG-YygN7qZV9Gu0InnaVyH=s320" width="205" /></a></div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZE5wPTpf9GXEtOTq6UrRQUbExDJsGJLba2dVx11tDP_iim2eM06zByNWzwY8TjpNWj2_L4rQytP8FqoiuwXZTfRB1szlBVn-4JM_H9RsFg3wnQ82ifFf0OicOSyq1sqc_kDsUkJFhGoRpe9uq0lJtX3vhKMHYh56AcQ88jr8gPQsuwgK8-k0HyQTJ=s1995" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1456" data-original-width="1995" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgZE5wPTpf9GXEtOTq6UrRQUbExDJsGJLba2dVx11tDP_iim2eM06zByNWzwY8TjpNWj2_L4rQytP8FqoiuwXZTfRB1szlBVn-4JM_H9RsFg3wnQ82ifFf0OicOSyq1sqc_kDsUkJFhGoRpe9uq0lJtX3vhKMHYh56AcQ88jr8gPQsuwgK8-k0HyQTJ=s320" width="320" /></a></div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Among the more notable discoveries was the ‘outer space’ design of <a href="https://planetodatapes.blogspot.com/2013/12/memorex-is-it-real-or-is-it-memorex.html" target="_blank">Memorex’s Sound Invasion</a> tape – this particular example found at Music Zone, Salford Shopping City in 1993/94…</div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinwU-HGzD9KJJcKL37lAzeVt-o02j_LrbrIJylOzZQMQNEE_kJhW2GcGNa_Z4sJhNJMWl_hKMprPskz-cjOQgeVWi1p1XpvJ3XmaWgvqmePBUt0M75vvvDMOhfXakdKI5XNEiyC1fI6Alt79GzqZW8ib2ZtYg1MZ3-JhLjjLGy0THc4ntAvFcTCJ9t=s2553" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1103" data-original-width="2553" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinwU-HGzD9KJJcKL37lAzeVt-o02j_LrbrIJylOzZQMQNEE_kJhW2GcGNa_Z4sJhNJMWl_hKMprPskz-cjOQgeVWi1p1XpvJ3XmaWgvqmePBUt0M75vvvDMOhfXakdKI5XNEiyC1fI6Alt79GzqZW8ib2ZtYg1MZ3-JhLjjLGy0THc4ntAvFcTCJ9t=w400-h173" width="400" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div>A number of <a href="https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/lo-fi-tape-heroes-of-the-80s-and-90s/" target="_blank">‘lo-fi’ musicians</a>
made an art form of the humble cassette, while magazines were still
happily advertising blank tapes for sale, compatible with glossy home
stereo and portable players… </div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj1Y4Ht6BF6sxJQyXVLemCaKkEA3v5oNOFp1bT_5Sp8ZppDaagqDoUnrYTKBho44TdiFazDDfBjF3tQmgxriJGuwNT008IPcuMWxmuekS3FfieJfGyztRlFnBIkqRDCJA74bgpLjVgrMBiJMDwIuuFkD21Eh8RFJU9d82uqeBhNvKUzdkK1USQjTYpD=s2313" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2313" data-original-width="1669" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj1Y4Ht6BF6sxJQyXVLemCaKkEA3v5oNOFp1bT_5Sp8ZppDaagqDoUnrYTKBho44TdiFazDDfBjF3tQmgxriJGuwNT008IPcuMWxmuekS3FfieJfGyztRlFnBIkqRDCJA74bgpLjVgrMBiJMDwIuuFkD21Eh8RFJU9d82uqeBhNvKUzdkK1USQjTYpD=s320" width="231" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0FzJnN3cBa5kAMYK2bC3c4uLcdL1TztsPV15or1yY0FD--tdU8nkZALhh1VSvBB-AHP_4SoFmXCg1Ya-h7ydATHqkSwDVOiPjzfH6V3pFr_m8Zr1rxRv6ClEY3z86A2zBA6SVcZQraZTkQKtXtGC6Tt30cfvrtLC1d9SGz4QMa8l9JeP9duD5kTFt=s2292" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2292" data-original-width="1764" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0FzJnN3cBa5kAMYK2bC3c4uLcdL1TztsPV15or1yY0FD--tdU8nkZALhh1VSvBB-AHP_4SoFmXCg1Ya-h7ydATHqkSwDVOiPjzfH6V3pFr_m8Zr1rxRv6ClEY3z86A2zBA6SVcZQraZTkQKtXtGC6Tt30cfvrtLC1d9SGz4QMa8l9JeP9duD5kTFt=s320" width="246" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0FzJnN3cBa5kAMYK2bC3c4uLcdL1TztsPV15or1yY0FD--tdU8nkZALhh1VSvBB-AHP_4SoFmXCg1Ya-h7ydATHqkSwDVOiPjzfH6V3pFr_m8Zr1rxRv6ClEY3z86A2zBA6SVcZQraZTkQKtXtGC6Tt30cfvrtLC1d9SGz4QMa8l9JeP9duD5kTFt=s2292" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhfyzmAQnk46OdMq61jdpPF_ZTsj-Z9fDMWF92B3KyXHFiYtSVaM-taSRh0LRgi6QCbTWMO_Kbk17ZdB8jZSuLlIS61hczejA0hGdEzqtLCwOiOuMjiI6TltUgJEYUT-WR-XUGqbkX_GLU2gWWpduhr_vkgLbmoFoqxCKO23iO8iE1ilganZrnhfYnV=s2327" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2327" data-original-width="1704" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhfyzmAQnk46OdMq61jdpPF_ZTsj-Z9fDMWF92B3KyXHFiYtSVaM-taSRh0LRgi6QCbTWMO_Kbk17ZdB8jZSuLlIS61hczejA0hGdEzqtLCwOiOuMjiI6TltUgJEYUT-WR-XUGqbkX_GLU2gWWpduhr_vkgLbmoFoqxCKO23iO8iE1ilganZrnhfYnV=s320" width="234" /></a></div><br /></div><div>In the Future</div><div><br />Meanwhile, German researchers had been working since 1987 on developing digital audio files, a project which eventually resulted in the MP3. It was patented in the US in 1996 and, rather than a <a href="https://sfforward.blogspot.com/2019/04/science-fiction-music-interconnections.html" target="_blank">cutting-edge electronic</a> label, the independent <a href="https://www.wired.com/1999/02/sub-pop-enters-mp3-domain/" target="_blank">Seattle-based Sub Pop</a> (the first home of Nirvana and ‘grunge’) is credited as the first to release music in the MP3 format. The file-sharing network Napster was launched in 1999, and the transformation of the record industry was underway. Music in the twenty-first century was to be <span>consumed</span> in different ways than any previous listening experience…</div><div> </div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4HZEghHyz5fPkNQ-W8Ov8mf98ELJ07mZqaHCLHh80i43kflass_0nZBdQQAaXaq0E8w9eCUXPHvEZxEW1m8He6aP1HeXhROzHt4K9HRK3effxyX9gcDaJptSOvOl7Zczermq5akqhedlcKexEsTG5au9EH_3hXDc9NbY_HHUCnpzhHFJu02jGcabp=s2256" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2256" data-original-width="1760" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4HZEghHyz5fPkNQ-W8Ov8mf98ELJ07mZqaHCLHh80i43kflass_0nZBdQQAaXaq0E8w9eCUXPHvEZxEW1m8He6aP1HeXhROzHt4K9HRK3effxyX9gcDaJptSOvOl7Zczermq5akqhedlcKexEsTG5au9EH_3hXDc9NbY_HHUCnpzhHFJu02jGcabp=s320" width="250" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8c5jrBcBEKAKx-k6j4o6LB0_xPs9yicq-jwWQtEO2M5th6WXst9OzLb1ZpTJdz6AlokcaQYeIv-rTXjDa2JngsbXnlo4-kYW2nYcacI9eL0eKZ4YPOZw8Oqesq7U5HPPjMLTakSbD0egW9osDVGquEviRNqKTkoOoKhaUkqPpoG47qxsyQjrmXEta=s2222" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2222" data-original-width="1747" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8c5jrBcBEKAKx-k6j4o6LB0_xPs9yicq-jwWQtEO2M5th6WXst9OzLb1ZpTJdz6AlokcaQYeIv-rTXjDa2JngsbXnlo4-kYW2nYcacI9eL0eKZ4YPOZw8Oqesq7U5HPPjMLTakSbD0egW9osDVGquEviRNqKTkoOoKhaUkqPpoG47qxsyQjrmXEta=s320" width="252" /></a> </div><br />PBLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10424983027343602845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-81812226792217002492021-06-16T10:37:00.003+01:002022-01-02T14:54:20.101+00:00Day in the Life of a Tech Hub Librarian<p><i>I was going through some old files the other day, when I came across a speculative writing exercise I did for <a href="https://sfforward.blogspot.com/2016/10/a-dream-of-low-carbon-future-new.html">the Dream of a Low Carbon Future project</a> back in 2014. The brief was to use the model of the future envisaged by the project (based on people, societies, and the human and physical environment) and write a 'day in the life' of someone from 2150. Reading it back now, some of these ideas already seem out of date (!) but anyway this is what I came up with... </i></p><p><b>The Tech Hub Librarian</b></p><p>Let me describe for you the conditions of my life in 2150AD. I live a fairly solitary existence. I’m not exactly a social pariah but my position in my community is a precarious one. Now at 60 years of age, with no close family, it hardly seems to matter much, although loneliness sets in from time to time. I should be grateful, at least I’m never cold; a side-effect of living in the hub is the abundance of surplus heat generated in powering the knowledge servers. My job title ‘librarian’ is somewhat deceptive. The general understanding of such a role was for many years closely associated with books and written papers, and it was those things that initially drew me to the profession. I was always attached to the romantic idea of preserving material culture - caring for the books and artefacts accumulated over centuries and so treasured by 20th and 21st century societies - that old-fashioned notion of the ‘authentic’. The reality, of course, is vastly different. The hubs constitute a digital cultural record, made up of 0s and 1s. It’s not much to look at; rows and rows of servers punctuated by the odd terminal. There’s a popular myth that these hubs still hold and protect the original treasures. In fact, most of them were sold off long ago into private collections; no one really noticed, what with all the flooding and famine. And goodness knows what happened to them after that! </p><p>Long-held prejudices persist, however, the old ‘knowledge is power’ stereotype... Naturally, it gives us librarians a bad reputation. We’re treated with general suspicion, subject to occasional threats and one extremist group is out to prove we’re a sect of information overlords, who control the inner workings of society. Par for the course, I suppose. Perhaps once there was some grounding for this conspiracy theory. Back in the 21st century, huge server warehouses (probably resembling the hubs of today) used to guide the investment of trillions of assets all over the world, prolonging the boom years and delaying the inevitable financial collapse of world economies by almost 100 years. Sinister stuff. Now, the economy is relatively transparent, although the Citizen’s Income allocation gets more farcical every year. Yes, gone are the ‘knowledge societies’ of the 21st century. A popular, widely held view is that culture is dormant and we’ve returned to the Dark Ages. Odd time to be a librarian, eh? </p><p>It’s all nonsense though! The concept of high culture may be dead but a different kind of cultural value has taken centre stage: know-how, as opposed to Knowledge with a capital ‘K’. There’s still an appetite for heritage in my community but more in the form of family history, which has always been popular. That’s what the majority of the hub’s visitors come for. In the 21st century, there were companies that compiled huge databases of information, digitized from written records: birth, death and marriage certificates, newspapers etc. The floods wiped most of them out but there are still records, saved from the Amazon servers, of individuals’ purchasing history. An odd kind of family history if you ask me but people seem to be fascinated to learn that on the 23 May 2050 great great grandad bought a new birdfeeder. They obviously find all that consumerism rather quaint.</p>Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05618355929577935922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-23656902642045461982021-04-21T16:30:00.004+01:002022-01-02T14:40:55.013+00:00Reciprocal Dialogues: Researching Digital Culture and Science Fiction<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRYbPWTl8ECoRLiWYFagI5B3b3woEfrIirc9ba0CFIymQExZM6B6xoQ7SE-jH2wLP9K8yxmZ7qdypqIwjrJggYqQkKR947vxR64iRnFUEfqbpgWn09eFu5SULb3r7iCjP280oa4oI3XUzv/s512/Ballard2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="261" data-original-width="512" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRYbPWTl8ECoRLiWYFagI5B3b3woEfrIirc9ba0CFIymQExZM6B6xoQ7SE-jH2wLP9K8yxmZ7qdypqIwjrJggYqQkKR947vxR64iRnFUEfqbpgWn09eFu5SULb3r7iCjP280oa4oI3XUzv/w640-h326/Ballard2.png" width="640" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It feels like a very long time ago now, but back in January 2020 (pre-the first UK lockdown), I gave <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/edacs/departments/english/events/2020/digital-cultures-liz-stainforth-sf.aspx">a talk</a> at the University of Birmingham in the <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/edacs/departments/english/research/centres/digital-cultures/index.aspx">Centre for Digital Cultures</a>. The theme 'Researching Digital Culture and Science Fiction' gave me the opportunity to draw together the threads of my research over the last few years, and speak about many topics I've covered in the blog in one form or another, including <a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2014/08/jg-ballards-invisible-library.html">J.G. Ballard's invisible literature</a>, <a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2019/11/computing-utopia.html">Computational Economies in History and Science Fiction</a>, and the <a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-transcultural-fantastic-at-leeds.html">Transcultural Fantastic</a>.</div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/edacs/departments/english/research/postgraduateresearch/profiles/gallen-niall.aspx">Niall Gallen</a> - who invited me to Birmingham - <a href="https://researchcurate.com/a-reflection-liz-stainforth-reciprocal-dialogues/">produced a write-up of the talk here</a>, which includes some great critical reflections and insights. Niall is a doctoral researcher in the department of English Literature (Birmingham), whose thesis explores Eduardo Paolozzi, J.G. Ballard and contemporary responses to technological acceleration. He is also a committee member of <a href="https://researchcurate.com/about/">Research/Curate</a>, a network for postgraduate students researching curation, art, or objects within an academic context. His recent projects include co-editing <a href="https://www.alluvium-journal.org/2021/02/09/call-for-papers/">a special issue of <i>Alluvium</i> journal</a> on 'Futurity in Crisis'.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks to Niall for this piece and the original invite to speak. I really enjoyed the conversation with other researchers and students affiliated with the Centre.</div>Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05618355929577935922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-72625097685525766902021-02-27T09:30:00.004+00:002023-08-16T13:42:48.127+01:00Science Fiction-Music Interconnections: The Indie 90s<div class="separator">Whilst researching the various SF-related 90s topics which have informed recent posts, I began to explore the connections with one of my formative influences of the decade: Indie Rock. As a fan of all things ‘indie’ around the first half of the 90s (when I was a late-teenager and student), I had various memories and favourites from the <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/10/25/16070928/peak-indie-rock-1997" target="_blank">genre’s heyday</a> in that pre-Internet age. The affiliation is less immediate than with the <a href="https://sfforward.blogspot.com/2019/04/science-fiction-music-interconnections.html" target="_blank">ambient</a> and <a href="https://sfforward.blogspot.com/2019/09/science-fiction-music-interconnections.html" target="_blank">rave</a> scenes of the era, but various connections can be found. </div><br />The associated English artists Spacemen 3, Sonic Boom/Spectrum, and Spiritualized (the best-known/most commercially successful of the trio) all explored otherworldly imagery and themes, often pharmacologically inspired. The Spiritualized albums <i>Lazer Guided Melodies</i> (1992) and especially <i>Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Now Floating in Space</i> (1997) epitomise these qualities. Among their contemporaries categorised as <a href="https://recordcollectormag.com/articles/young-sole-rebels" target="_blank">‘shoegazers’</a>, the band Slowdive ventured into similar territory with their second album, 1993’s <i>Souvlaki</i>, including collaborations with Brian Eno and the ambient-inspired ‘Souvlaki Space Station’. <br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7i2TQimFYHAjdHQnW56PJLO7GRmtNUjrHZWjxwML9xiCUnh8377lCdl79-GyC9qKQEEOo24sWrmzq-fl_0rgyTeXoR5xCfWTR6OtXWcVqqHvr50FkX8us_E7zxrRfr0iIBx2sESylK3M/s600/Spectrum.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="Sonic Boom, Spectrum (1990)" border="0" data-original-height="591" data-original-width="600" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7i2TQimFYHAjdHQnW56PJLO7GRmtNUjrHZWjxwML9xiCUnh8377lCdl79-GyC9qKQEEOo24sWrmzq-fl_0rgyTeXoR5xCfWTR6OtXWcVqqHvr50FkX8us_E7zxrRfr0iIBx2sESylK3M/w307-h303/Spectrum.jpg" title="Sonic Boom, Spectrum (1990)" width="307" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnWAD2k4dgskSF05M-PVULnQ6fs9eBKtc-I9UO7ltteUFOIwdrTB_uy6Rlu2xvZD09gjyCA6C7H-OC8giDAyvZ98cc2c44haz8n6YY_FQTOu0GWu2X2FxkIEnB6xC35zDYdIJRGG3LgMs/s500/Lazer+Guided.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="Spiritualized, Lazer Guided Melodies (1992)" border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnWAD2k4dgskSF05M-PVULnQ6fs9eBKtc-I9UO7ltteUFOIwdrTB_uy6Rlu2xvZD09gjyCA6C7H-OC8giDAyvZ98cc2c44haz8n6YY_FQTOu0GWu2X2FxkIEnB6xC35zDYdIJRGG3LgMs/w303-h303/Lazer+Guided.jpg" title="Spiritualized, Lazer Guided Melodies (1992)" width="303" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhwM41PNkv1gF1p5aWBXTmGOLozDJnlGtK0EGbN0d83udlH7s_MQKuLnG0Li3TGAN8VCYtkHhNkW4KHu_MHTwTLf7EWArL6-LurCFmPZ4Tt9z7sT0i3XRobM3qGjeLI_bUFf6cW7QnTjU/s700/Stereolab_Space+Age.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="Stereolab, Space Age Bachelor Pad Music (1993)" border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="700" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhwM41PNkv1gF1p5aWBXTmGOLozDJnlGtK0EGbN0d83udlH7s_MQKuLnG0Li3TGAN8VCYtkHhNkW4KHu_MHTwTLf7EWArL6-LurCFmPZ4Tt9z7sT0i3XRobM3qGjeLI_bUFf6cW7QnTjU/w320-h320/Stereolab_Space+Age.jpg" title="Stereolab, Space Age Bachelor Pad Music (1993)" width="320" /></a></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_nLPzLih2IkhEFeu-POKWukkx7L_rKkIat29ubEg-Sx_mu5puaOB9rhEyFNvPFlK8Z_xIohu8a-hwfIqzHgTF7JKdF2NwXjfF0EpuPXkhm-CpHwIMatFVd_f8MblDqU30Z1JBstzvN-bAQ6m1-2C8ax3x3CY9oJ6ZeD7GKj66a-g7Ke7SSz2t-_8b=s1801" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1801" data-original-width="1772" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_nLPzLih2IkhEFeu-POKWukkx7L_rKkIat29ubEg-Sx_mu5puaOB9rhEyFNvPFlK8Z_xIohu8a-hwfIqzHgTF7JKdF2NwXjfF0EpuPXkhm-CpHwIMatFVd_f8MblDqU30Z1JBstzvN-bAQ6m1-2C8ax3x3CY9oJ6ZeD7GKj66a-g7Ke7SSz2t-_8b=s320" width="315" /></a></div><br /><a href="http://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/stereolab" target="_blank">Stereolab</a>, with French vocalist Laetitia Sadier, offered a combination of easy-listening sensibilities and avant-pop epitomised in the 1993 EP <i>Space Age Batchelor Pad Music</i> – a nod to the hi-fi test records and <a href="https://sfforward.blogspot.com/2015/08/science-fiction-music-interconnections.html" target="_blank">‘space age pop’</a> of an earlier era. The following year’s <i>Mars Audiac Quintet</i> expanded on the formula, with ‘The Stars Our Destination’ a reference to <a href="https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-essential-cyberpunk-reading-list-1714180001" target="_blank">Alfred Bester’s 1956 novel</a> (itself seen as a precursor of <a href="https://sfforward.blogspot.com/2017/08/cyberpunk-1990.html" target="_blank">Cyberpunk</a>). Meanwhile ‘International Colouring Contest’ was a tribute to outsider musician <a href="https://www.intoouterspace.com/" target="_blank">Lucia Pamela</a>, whose 1969 album <i>Into Outer Space</i> reports a trip to the moon. <br /><div><br /></div><div><br /><br /><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1TnOxkVj432HruEYiKokHfmgDXtP94jrrF3qTIl8DZFqSH0aWeVLVh9VOBU4T42TtWJOzgSECAA1eX4s5ImSPo6g_GYvCjq9WhXUt9tKXUjpCy6sEJrLhfmEtTN5kosVTdVh80x53Lo4/s600/Girl+from+Mars.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="Ash, 'Girl from Mars' (1995)" border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1TnOxkVj432HruEYiKokHfmgDXtP94jrrF3qTIl8DZFqSH0aWeVLVh9VOBU4T42TtWJOzgSECAA1eX4s5ImSPo6g_GYvCjq9WhXUt9tKXUjpCy6sEJrLhfmEtTN5kosVTdVh80x53Lo4/w320-h320/Girl+from+Mars.jpg" title="Ash, 'Girl from Mars' (1995)" width="320" /></a>Northern Irish band Ash kicked off a series of successful singles with 1995’s ‘Girl from Mars’, and a later compilation, <i>Intergalactic Sonic 7″s</i>, reinforced their sci-fi influences. Less likely artists also touched on sf themes; the title and artwork of Suede’s B-sides collection, <i>Sci-Fi Lullabies</i> (lifted from an earlier lyric). A song by Swedish outfit the Cardigans, ‘Daddy’s car’, imagines a carefree European road trip turned cosmic: “From Luxembourg to Rome, From Berlin to the moon / From Paris to Lausanne, From Athens to the sun / Our car became a spacecraft, flashing through the world – Crashed down in Amsterdam.” </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWhdjeS253ReIZEwpirODoUtp6eo-9ZbPRWhSO_5eh7DPGTALbFkVaHdDuvVvEsj3NZckkXg6Vf0XnDGw0-hP28LuKgJm50MYcNsUOYYniDSVzIh-V3E8KLTXEGYJvzTrNxH73pxbtdI0/s1000/Sci+Fi+Lullabies.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="Suede, Sci-Fi Lullabies (1997)" border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWhdjeS253ReIZEwpirODoUtp6eo-9ZbPRWhSO_5eh7DPGTALbFkVaHdDuvVvEsj3NZckkXg6Vf0XnDGw0-hP28LuKgJm50MYcNsUOYYniDSVzIh-V3E8KLTXEGYJvzTrNxH73pxbtdI0/w320-h320/Sci+Fi+Lullabies.jpg" title="Suede, Sci-Fi Lullabies (1997)" width="320" /></a></div><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>The ongoing rise of MTV in North America saw an expansion of indie content, notably <i><a href="https://120minutes.tylerc.com/features/about-120-minutes/" target="_blank">120 Minutes</a></i>. Videos by artists drew on sci-fi themes, even where they were apparently unrelated to the song. The Smashing Pumpkins produced ‘Tonight, tonight’, directly influenced by Georges Méliès’ 1902 pioneering silent film <i><a href="https://scifibulletin.com/film-reviews/science-fiction/review-george-melies-a-trip-to-the-moon/" target="_blank">A Trip to the Moon</a></i>. Also in 1995, Norfolk band Catherine Wheel collaborated with <a href="https://www.4ad.com/artists/tanyadonelly" target="_blank">Tanya Donelly</a> (one of the decade’s most influential indie figures with Throwing Muses, the Breeders, Belly and as a solo artist) on ‘Judy Staring at the Sun’, with its kitsch sf imagery. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NOG3eus4ZSo" width="320" youtube-src-id="NOG3eus4ZSo"></iframe></div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XdWTtbcr_s8" width="320" youtube-src-id="XdWTtbcr_s8"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjCWeAPgiH8TZq0uX7-JCtxuKZJZo71PrnGKgFO511Iz5jPNcGHF-g9aJ6wEJhR-EP7ziT4pJ7ixcB_nFiEzL8MJ_G8c-Z_UODfbR4MR5YL2efy4UK9fdGxQyXu43sp53sgMKKiUDzOgktqLiZ7UlZQBn9J0_UrWKuw90CmmmYy8tbfCOVsOIutxaYU=s1813" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1813" data-original-width="1789" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjCWeAPgiH8TZq0uX7-JCtxuKZJZo71PrnGKgFO511Iz5jPNcGHF-g9aJ6wEJhR-EP7ziT4pJ7ixcB_nFiEzL8MJ_G8c-Z_UODfbR4MR5YL2efy4UK9fdGxQyXu43sp53sgMKKiUDzOgktqLiZ7UlZQBn9J0_UrWKuw90CmmmYy8tbfCOVsOIutxaYU=s320" width="316" /></a></div>The growth of US alternative/college rock music through the 1980s saw a spate of bands emerge in the Boston/Massachusetts area. Galaxie 500 produced a psychedelia-influenced sound with space-rock references. I continued to associate them with sci-fi even after discovering they were actually named after a car! Singer and lead guitarist Dean Wareham continued to explore this ‘dream pop’ territory with his next band, Luna, formed in 1991. The better-known Pixies also sprang from the Boston area, led by Black Francis and gaining acclaim by the late 80s for their combining an abrasive style with melody, and the quiet/loud dynamics which would influence Nirvana among others. Their early 90s albums <i>Bossanova</i> and <i>Trompe le Monde</i> saw Francis delve into <a href="https://www.tor.com/2011/05/09/planet-of-sound-pixies-the-happening/" target="_blank">sf-inspired lyrics</a>, which developed further in his solo career as <a href="http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/04.25.96/frank-black-9617.html" target="_blank">Frank Black</a>. His 1997 album <i>The Cult of Ray</i> paid homage to writer Ray Bradbury (who <a href="http://forum.frankblack.net/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=12838" target="_blank">Black also interviewed</a>). <br /></div><br /><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEigJoITV8A-TUIMANsEP46ZvSlULboFUqhrjvCtEYK1Sm2MQCsY1uYRrFJ8nJkbICvuoTscFECgqedRaEIwMJf8fr3KX_8eUGoyR4y4uju5VLviddjRg3YO2L-AThVZdX41W2gydVghww9Lsa_mMsIKeYoAxvW6wYCQ8OPtWDrbck94tVSrTlAVKjj3=s1803" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1803" data-original-width="1791" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEigJoITV8A-TUIMANsEP46ZvSlULboFUqhrjvCtEYK1Sm2MQCsY1uYRrFJ8nJkbICvuoTscFECgqedRaEIwMJf8fr3KX_8eUGoyR4y4uju5VLviddjRg3YO2L-AThVZdX41W2gydVghww9Lsa_mMsIKeYoAxvW6wYCQ8OPtWDrbck94tVSrTlAVKjj3=s320" width="318" /></a></div> <br /><br />Finally, a song that stands alone: Pop Will Eat Itself’s ‘X, Y and Zee’, 1991’s slice of ‘intergalactic punk rock hip hop’. Singer Clint Mansell later became a film composer, with credits including the soundtrack to <i><a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/moon-2009" target="_blank">Moon</a></i>, directed by Duncan Jones in 2009.</div><br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rxObjZnOSJk" width="320" youtube-src-id="rxObjZnOSJk"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div>Art & Design Credits: <br /><br /><b>Ash, ‘Girl from Mars’ (1995):</b> Design – Carnage; Other [Girl from Mars] – Sarah From Islington; Photography – Roger Sargent <br /><b>Luna, <i>Lunapark</i> (1992):</b> Art Direction – Laurie Henzel; Studio Photography – Macioce <br /><b>Pixies, <i>Bossanova</i> (1990):</b> Art Direction, Design – Vaughan Oliver / v23; Artwork [Globe] – Pirate Design; Photography – Simon Larbastier; Design Assistance – Chris Bigg <br /><b>Sonic Boom, <i>Spectrum</i> (1990):</b> Artwork [Commercial Art] – Sonic, T + CP London; Lacquer Cut By – Porky; Photography [Sonic] – Steve Double; Photography– Andy Earl <br /><b>Spiritualized, <i>Lazer Guided Melodies</i> (1992):</b> Original Artwork – Mr Ugly; Logo Design – Albert Tupelo; Design – Andrew Sutton for Blue Source; Model Maker – Gavin Lindsay; Photography – Pete Gardner <br /><b>Stereolab, <i>Space Age Bachelor Pad Music</i> (1993)</b>: Design – Magic Glue <br /><b>Stereolab, <i>Mars Audiac Quintet</i> (1994):</b> Layout – Trouble; Photography – Peter Morris </div><div><b>Suede, <i>Sci-Fi Lullabies</i> (1997):</b> Image ‘Hidden’ by John Kippin; Art Direction – Peter Saville; Design – Howard Wakefield<br /></div>PBLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10424983027343602845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-62581699070852483632020-11-28T18:51:00.010+00:002020-11-29T12:04:06.967+00:00Juana y la cibernética<p>November 2020 saw <a href="https://twitter.com/DesperateLit/status/1325418413678878720">the online launch</a> of a new Spanish-English parallel text translation of the science fiction story <i>Juana y la cibernética</i> (1963) by <a href="http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/aldunate_elena">Elena Aldunate</a> at <a href="https://desperateliterature.com/">Desperate Literature, Madrid</a>, for <a href="http://www.madrid.org/lanochedeloslibros/2020/index.html">La noche de los libros</a>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFizrEzTHJirZDo53K4r00wQWQA_mV3I1KtJDrp86IkDgJHgIYM8b3Zrl5gUmL4JTUn0Xh3WMzNGSda_XiPDyZjtT8bmR4tbGkfI0JH9oR0H65pGFNtP924paFWfJOu7sP2yJKcV0ZZhgJ/s1226/Juana.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1226" data-original-width="870" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFizrEzTHJirZDo53K4r00wQWQA_mV3I1KtJDrp86IkDgJHgIYM8b3Zrl5gUmL4JTUn0Xh3WMzNGSda_XiPDyZjtT8bmR4tbGkfI0JH9oR0H65pGFNtP924paFWfJOu7sP2yJKcV0ZZhgJ/s320/Juana.jpeg" /></a></div><p>Elena Aldunate (1925-2005) was born María Elena Aldunate Bezanilla in Santiago de Chile, the daughter of the mathematician and engineer Arturo Aldunate Phillips, who was also a published author. She worked as a writer of stories, articles and radio scripts, from the 1950s onwards. An early pioneer of science fiction writing in Chile, Aldunate was one of the first women authors to become associated with the genre through her story anthologies, including <i>El señor de las mariposas</i> (1967) and <i>Angélica y el delfín</i> (1977). With Ilda Cádiz, Hugo Correa, Antonio Montero, Roberto Pliscoff and Andrés Rojas, Aldunate was also involved in the founding of the <a href="http://bibliotecajuntoalmar.blogspot.com/2012/06/club-chileno-de-ciencia-ficcion.html">Club Chileno de Ciencia Ficción</a>, which began in the 1970s. </p><p>As critics have noted, Aldunate’s stories consistently explore psychological themes, such as loneliness, repressed desire and existential crisis, from the perspective of women protagonists. In a biographical essay on Aldunate by Barbara Loach, she quotes the author as saying that ‘one is constantly being filled with experiences and one has to know how to take advantage of what one sees, hears, lives [...] Only with this basis can the imagination be given wings: that is, make fantasy with a foot in reality, and with elements that will be difficult to refute’. Aldunate’s literary influences include Jules Verne, Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Chilean authors <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Correa">Hugo Correa</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADa_Luisa_Bombal">María Luisa Bombal</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marta_Brunet">Marta Brunet</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADa_Elena_Gertner">María Elena Gertner</a>. </p><p>Reflecting on the emerging legacy of Aldunate, Andrea Bell observes that, although she was ‘occasionally profiled and her books reviewed in the Chilean press, her work has only recently come to the attention of literary historians’. During the last decade, the re-publication of Aldunate’s stories in collections such as <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13105979-cuentos-de-elena-aldunate">Cuentos de Elena Aldunate: La dama de la ciencia ficción</a></i> has helped to remedy this situation, and introduced the author to a new generation of readers. However, little of Aldunate’s writing has been translated into English, an oversight we sought address through the production of this new bilingual edition of <i>Juana y la cibernética</i>. Among the most remarkable and disturbing of Aldunate’s stories, it narrates an ambiguously erotic encounter between the character Juana and her factory work station. </p><p>The seeds of this idea for a translation were planted a while ago at the start of 2018, but the planning became more concrete because of my involvement in an event series at the University of Leeds: <a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/leeds-arts-humanities-research-institute/doc/transcultural-fantastic">The Transcultural Fantastic</a> (co-organised with colleagues <a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/languages/staff/35/professor-ingo-cornils">Ingo Cornils</a> and <a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/languages/staff/717/dr-sarah-dodd">Sarah Dodd</a>). The joint aims of the series were to open up the traditions of the Fantastic from a transcultural and interdisciplinary perspective, investigating utopian and dystopian thought in art, fiction and film, as well as science fiction, folktales and fantasy literature. A workshop on <a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/leeds-arts-humanities-research-institute/events/event/1313/publishing-the-transcultural-fantastic">‘Publishing the Transcultural Fantastic’</a>, which took place on 15 March 2019, featured insights from Terry Craven, co-owner of Desperate Literature; researcher <a href="https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/people/ruth-kelly">Ruth Kelly</a> (University of Oxford), who has worked on publishing projects in Bangladesh and Uganda; and Sarah Dodd, who, in addition to her role at the University of Leeds, is co-editor of the online magazine of speculative fiction in translation <i><a href="http://samovar.strangehorizons.com/about/">Samovar</a></i>. The workshop discussed methods for contributing to a body of scholarship that has concerned itself with recuperating the Fantastic from contexts beyond the Anglo-American tradition, as well as alternative approaches to publishing, through small presses, short editions and print on demand, which offer more responsive and dynamic publishing routes. The series also contributed funding for the print edition of <i>Juana</i>.</p><p>You can find out more about the translation here: <a href="https://desperateliterature.com/product/juana/">https://desperateliterature.com/product/juana/</a></p>Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05618355929577935922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-73005333728226877982020-08-08T09:00:00.002+01:002023-08-16T13:43:02.970+01:00Three SF Novels of the Early Nineties: Snow Crash, Virtual Light and VurtThe early nineties were a fertile time for futurists, eyeing the new millennium at a time of rapid technological advances and refining the ideas of <a href="https://sfforward.blogspot.com/2017/08/cyberpunk-1990.html" target="_blank">‘cyberpunk’</a> into a more nuanced vision. William Gibson was already established as one of SF’s leading visionaries by the time 1993’s <i><a href="https://andrewdarlington.blogspot.com/2019/06/william-gibson-virtual-light-review.html" target="_blank">Virtual Light</a></i> began his second major trilogy. The breakthrough novels of <a href="http://jeffnoon.weebly.com/" target="_blank">Jeff Noon</a> (<i>Vurt</i>, 1993) and Neal Stephenson (<i><a href="https://entertainment.time.com/2005/10/16/all-time-100-novels/slide/snow-crash-1992-by-neal-stephenson/" target="_blank">Snow Crash</a></i>, 1992), saw them join the decade’s most influential writers. <div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsey-3TFarWhAbOatq2VTRJLe35RFqZ6Bn2NWF9UZMYdCQ5YzwgrRpc39hJT_s30vpy3Z-IeDSj0UaVLjlhGrRq4loOPb-O4MwShBa_XFQ3ONZrB8urZo_RpZcZMx-V0zm0fT3vpdZPno/s2048/Gibson-Virtual.JPG" style="clear: right; display: inline; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; padding: 1em 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1315" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsey-3TFarWhAbOatq2VTRJLe35RFqZ6Bn2NWF9UZMYdCQ5YzwgrRpc39hJT_s30vpy3Z-IeDSj0UaVLjlhGrRq4loOPb-O4MwShBa_XFQ3ONZrB8urZo_RpZcZMx-V0zm0fT3vpdZPno/w263-h410/Gibson-Virtual.JPG" width="263" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWRN8FBRihlMVoCHTzgjDZGQWZTXyIToKPlBkXY2e8XDNXfjmpFi6fea-5HNBeN4cwJH34cfcqoauS5u2oQ71NraVYT_EF4RrIDx6-ZqoUYTS4xSuT4h0aZC47CwgBnM5YxBokxDYYe9E/s2048/Snow-Crash.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1252" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWRN8FBRihlMVoCHTzgjDZGQWZTXyIToKPlBkXY2e8XDNXfjmpFi6fea-5HNBeN4cwJH34cfcqoauS5u2oQ71NraVYT_EF4RrIDx6-ZqoUYTS4xSuT4h0aZC47CwgBnM5YxBokxDYYe9E/w250-h410/Snow-Crash.JPG" width="250" /></a></div><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizHQNdiAcYxbICEmk7XhcHGyzwiYWaI-kpZjtPGysOZmXC0Mq-L-lGh3MpPovKKofkHmLq5ndSSI_6IBFN9sfV-JzzenQvO8K5K_GeebEdsRUO9GjGNEBntOO8fNl4brDYBq6xDHFrPnU/s800/Vurt.jpg" style="display: inline; padding: 1em 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="535" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizHQNdiAcYxbICEmk7XhcHGyzwiYWaI-kpZjtPGysOZmXC0Mq-L-lGh3MpPovKKofkHmLq5ndSSI_6IBFN9sfV-JzzenQvO8K5K_GeebEdsRUO9GjGNEBntOO8fNl4brDYBq6xDHFrPnU/w274-h410/Vurt.jpg" width="274" /></a></div><div><br /></div>These books share a central theme of an escape from dystopian futures into alternate worlds, and display an interest in altered states, shared hallucinations and virtual realities. In <i>Vurt</i> and <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com/blogs/science-fiction-and-fantasy/jeff-noon-the-five-question-interview" target="_blank">Noon’s related novels</a>, the titular magical realm – a shared hallucination or fantastic place – is reached via ingesting feathers. <i>Snow Crash</i> posits a form of virtual reality as a fully-formed location (<a href="https://www.matthewball.vc/all/themetaverse" target="_blank">the ‘Metaverse’</a>), populated by avatars, as an alternative to daily life. <i>Virtual Light</i> begins the ‘Bridge’ trilogy, grounded in a recognisable California shaped by corporate technology, with a view through virtual reality glasses. <br /><br /><i><a href="https://www.gamesradar.com/uk/neuromancer-25-years-later/" target="_blank">Neuromancer</a></i> and Gibson’s other early work (the ‘Sprawl’ trilogy) charts the vast uncharted territory of data-information he designates as ‘cyberspace’. <a href="https://io9.gizmodo.com/william-gibson-reveals-a-secret-experiment-in-his-bri-5635066" target="_blank">The ‘Bridge’ trilogy</a> (<i>Virtual Light</i>, <i>Idoru</i>, <i>All Tomorrow’s Parties</i>; 1993-99) is set in a more identifiable near future than <i>Neuromancer</i> and the cyberpunk novels and stories which built Gibson’s reputation. The author himself described these novels as “my take on the 1990s” but commented that “lots of people assumed I was still writing about the capital-F future.” <br /><br />Combining elements of post-apocalyptic and dystopian imagery with a characteristic eye on the effects of technology, <i>Virtual Light</i> follows marginalised characters through a fractured California. San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, no longer used for vehicles but colonised by the disenfranchised, is the book’s emblematic location. The novel grew from Gibson’s short story, ‘Skinner’s Room’, commissioned by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art for a 1990 exhibition, <i><a href="https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2cr0d67q" target="_blank">Visionary San Francisco</a></i>. Architects Ming Fung and Craig Hodgetts created an installation envisaging the transformation of the Bridge in response to the story. <br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1056" data-original-width="1600" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1F21KDZJ2opbUPhoI-x5QwUMN-6eBmAyPIpN3Pyh21ouj2noLXy08conw78eL1k7n6AAmWphudlYCDp7yKOVghpER0CV4eDW9-izkiPS5EvZQMRVKXv2DFIvihVttu2HEncyQn2zsbdI/w640-h422/bridge-gibson.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Untitled (The Bridge, a shanty-town on the remnants of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge) by Ming Fung and Craig Hodgetts in Visionary San Francisco." width="640" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />Untitled (The Bridge, a shanty-town on the remnants of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge) by Ming Fung and Craig Hodgetts in <i>Visionary San Francisco</i></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>The disintegration of the social structure, the privatisation of public bodies (and spaces) of Virtual Light are taken one stage further in <i>Snow Crash</i>, also set in California. The central characters, as in Gibson’s work, are trying to find a niche in this unforgiving society, working in security, as couriers, or operating as hackers. Here, the state has almost entirely ceded control to corporations which own portions of land as autonomous commercial republics, or ‘Franchise-Organised Quasi-National Entities’. Private citizens, or those who can afford it, live in the anodyne gated communities of ‘Burbclaves’, guarded by their own security forces. <br /><br />Where Gibson’s plot revolves around a stolen pair of Virtual Reality goggles (the <i>Virtual Light</i> of the title) but remains in a familiar landscape, Stephenson’s Metaverse is “a computer-generated universe”. Information and power are concentrated in the Metaverse, where the digital/neuro-linguistic virus of the title is unleashed with consequences for the ‘real world’. Visitors to this virtual world are represented by their avatars, while still constrained by spending power and status. In recent months the Metaverse has become particularly topical, a process accelerated by the need for ‘virtual’ spaces in a world locked down by Covid-19. Big tech and media conglomerates see popular multi-player games such as <a href="https://www.virtuality.blog/metaverse-fortnite/" target="_blank">Fortnite</a> and <a href="https://www.protocol.com/roblox-metaverse" target="_blank">Roblox</a> as <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/10/wave-opens-the-door-for-musicians-looking-for-a-metaverse-beyond-fortnite/" target="_blank">potential platforms</a>, where concerts and films can be hosted (and paid for in digital currency), building on earlier virtual reality concepts like <i><a href="https://secondlife.com/" target="_blank">Second Life</a></i>. Many articles on the goal of creating a Metaverse explicitly reference Stephenson and <i>Snow Crash</i>. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9EcoRrZqyPUFf2fBxk-W7R9BQ20l-_DX0kML_UgIXaTh_n-1fnH2Vjy0tt7cFg4qlxmD4qtYVhvhzIrXBqDJHc_3XiV-_k4JU0fMAd_HVvOLMknUnVx2RNSANFbWz6vvBUKNwAidCuE0/s1600/Snow+Crash-Metaverse.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9EcoRrZqyPUFf2fBxk-W7R9BQ20l-_DX0kML_UgIXaTh_n-1fnH2Vjy0tt7cFg4qlxmD4qtYVhvhzIrXBqDJHc_3XiV-_k4JU0fMAd_HVvOLMknUnVx2RNSANFbWz6vvBUKNwAidCuE0/w640-h360/Snow+Crash-Metaverse.jpg" title="A rendering of Snow Crash's Metaverse" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A rendering of <i>Snow Crash</i>'s Metaverse</td></tr></tbody></table><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Informed by developments in virtual worlds and rave culture’s hedonistic escapism, Noon conjures an imagined, transitory utopia from the lawless, rain-swept streets of a near-future Manchester. <i>Vurt</i>’s action follows Scribble, Beetle and the gang of ‘Stash Riders’ riding their van in search of the differently-coloured feathers which unlock the key to other worlds. The dream-scape of the ‘Vurt’, like the Metaverse, has its casualties, brings real dangers, and poses philosophical questions reminiscent of Philip K. Dick alongside its escapist thrills. Less preoccupied with technology than pharmacology, <i>Vurt</i> draws on post-rave subcultures in its depictions of the various human and mutant variations which fall under the intoxicating spell of the feathers, enigmatic portals to alternate worlds. <a href="https://spikemagazine.com/0800jeffnoon/" target="_blank">Noon’s creation</a> has also lent itself to <a href="http://www.ravendeskgames.com/vurt-the-tabletop-roleplaying-game" target="_blank">virtual role-playing games</a>.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqpgQD-kUj7XPlXwEmDPAWRQ9K_Y_fLKP1qAqwQs5GM8k1is9rlEQ3apn2_A3HYM8HMzuMJjvmw3AqhNaJYjF7JDba8hX6UKhXv_L4zwkpdDNsJdFp2TPGv_vqRA0gTm5ZGGsJJh5Juws/s474/Vurt-RPG.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="255" data-original-width="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqpgQD-kUj7XPlXwEmDPAWRQ9K_Y_fLKP1qAqwQs5GM8k1is9rlEQ3apn2_A3HYM8HMzuMJjvmw3AqhNaJYjF7JDba8hX6UKhXv_L4zwkpdDNsJdFp2TPGv_vqRA0gTm5ZGGsJJh5Juws/s0/Vurt-RPG.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Vurt</i>: the role-playing game<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><br />Noon has ‘retro-engineered’ a sequence of novels in the <i>Vurt</i> series and spoken of his affinity with the <a href="https://sfforward.blogspot.com/2019/09/science-fiction-music-interconnections.html" target="_blank">electronic music scene</a>, especially the techniques of re-mixing in what he calls ‘dub fiction’. The depictions of a <a href="https://anti-materia.org/electronic-mythology" target="_blank">rave/techno drug-based subculture</a> supplement the theme of escape; nightclub characters Inky MC and Dingo Tush (the man-dog, “presented by Das Uberdog Enterprises”) illuminate a phantasmagorical Manchester. <i>Snow Crash</i> too draws on <a href="https://www.factmag.com/2012/11/29/premiere-download-xander-harris-tribute-to-neal-stephensons-snow-crash/" target="_blank">elements of dance</a> and indie music which were already blending and metamorphosing in pop culture at the time. The vivid depictions of Vitaly Chernobyl & the Meltdowns’ experimental ‘nuclear fuzz-grunge’ gig under the freeway, and the stylings of ‘Nipponese rap star’ Sushi K, show Stephenson’s wry humour. </div><div><br />Where Gibson’s earlier ‘Sprawl’ trilogy was peppered with pop-cultural references <a href="https://sfforward.blogspot.com/2014/04/interconnections-from-william-burroughs_6.html" target="_blank">from William Burroughs to Steely Dan</a>, <i>Virtual Light</i> is more restrained, content to include the iconoclastic band Chrome Koran. However <i>Idoru</i> (1996), the next novel in the series, focusses on the computer-simulation pop star <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20091015134527/http:/www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/88/bolton%20intro.asp" target="_blank">Rei Toei</a>, an Artificial Intelligence idoru or ‘idol’; Gibson continues to weave music-based themes into his work, not least in <i>All Tomorrow’s Parties</i> (1999), which completed the ‘Bridge’ trilogy. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXzv_w-rQcC_ijACY45k86H6jA35cOCwgHtjMyA5UZ9jCqQJPdKUKvfbW3sP6T6uDxZTliShrKj4UwW0W3JiNcDiu1J9MHvSqzV0WUYvF-PUrYQj1T-K2-N2BWSMc9Uj_GSp0Dw3fqan0/s2048/Gibson-Idoru-Tomorrows.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1549" data-original-width="2048" height="387" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXzv_w-rQcC_ijACY45k86H6jA35cOCwgHtjMyA5UZ9jCqQJPdKUKvfbW3sP6T6uDxZTliShrKj4UwW0W3JiNcDiu1J9MHvSqzV0WUYvF-PUrYQj1T-K2-N2BWSMc9Uj_GSp0Dw3fqan0/w512-h387/Gibson-Idoru-Tomorrows.JPG" width="512" /></a></div><div><br />All three books share a preoccupation with misfits and outsiders navigating a grim urban landscape, struggling to find a place in an increasingly alienating society, often only to be found in alternate or virtual realms, drug-induced or computer-generated. Nearly thirty years on, we appear to be increasingly living in the world/s they anticipated.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TJQozxjAk68" width="320" youtube-src-id="TJQozxjAk68"></iframe></div><div><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div>PBLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10424983027343602845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-47897707143039477202020-06-17T19:07:00.001+01:002022-05-18T16:37:59.266+01:00The Gernsback ContinuumI posted about the <a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-transcultural-fantastic-at-leeds.html">Transcultural Fantastic seminar series</a> at the University of Leeds last year and, a few weeks ago, the latest in this series of events took place as an online talk, <a href="https://twitter.com/SF_Leeds/status/1261264281087225856">'The Ekphrastic Fantastic' by Dr Richard Brown</a>. The talk explored the ekphrastic - understood as a verbal evocation of the visual - in contemporary writing, drawing from selected works by J.G. Ballard, China Miéville and Ali Smith.<br />
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There were some also fascinating SF connections made in relation to the William Gibson short story <i><a href="https://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/66/bredehoft.html">The Gernsback Continuum</a></i>, which I'd never come across before. Hugo Gernsback, the writer, inventer and SF magazine publisher, <a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2018/12/hugo-gernsback-and-electrical.html">has featured more than once on this blog</a>, so the title of the story immediately piqued my curiosity. The story is told in the first person, from the perspective of a US photographer, who's commissioned by a British 'trendy trade paperback publisher' to photograph examples of futuristic American city architecture of the Thirties and Forties. It transpires that this book project - working title <i>The Airstream Futuropolis: The Tomorrow That Never Was</i> - is the brainchild of fashionable pop art historian Dialta Downes. The narrator's mild contempt for the idea is evident in his initial encounter with Downes:<br />
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<i>There’s a British obsession with the more baroque elements of American pop culture [...] In Dialta Downes this manifested itself in a mania for a uniquely American form of architecture that most Americans are scarcely aware of. At first I wasn’t sure what she was talking about, but gradually it began to dawn on me [...] She was talking about those odds and ends of ‘futuristic’ Thirties and Forties architecture you pass daily in American cities without noticing: the movie marquees ribbed to radiate some mysterious energy, the dime stores faced with fluted aluminium, the chrome-tube chairs gathering dust in the lobbies of transient hotels. She saw these things as segments of a dreamworld, abandoned in the uncaring present; she wanted me to photograph them for her</i>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYTZblEcXAo5tQG59caK4ATV9c-oRRnXpqA917EOzM7PVNg7rJ1FnY15KGWpkQqdRfDsyluT1pSgONgKRx4V9D1AUhybwQ5d04ZeCWZXn0yi7St09Cji8XDybkxQ6ROiywYVdZ8PfsnihO/s1600/Pool-1940s.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="332" data-original-width="400" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYTZblEcXAo5tQG59caK4ATV9c-oRRnXpqA917EOzM7PVNg7rJ1FnY15KGWpkQqdRfDsyluT1pSgONgKRx4V9D1AUhybwQ5d04ZeCWZXn0yi7St09Cji8XDybkxQ6ROiywYVdZ8PfsnihO/s200/Pool-1940s.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdNAo-Zper02pxWHRgxaMYguST8juJknMFXahP_LF7fiqfRsHfY9fGRsln7HdEWMAO2oqHdiKx3gN9Hyevi1XBk6rkFesibseKY6XL2yjwMzL5H9VPhSLXaHvjAUtFPyf7uApstczuLvOp/s1600/Austin-hotel.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="164" data-original-width="307" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdNAo-Zper02pxWHRgxaMYguST8juJknMFXahP_LF7fiqfRsHfY9fGRsln7HdEWMAO2oqHdiKx3gN9Hyevi1XBk6rkFesibseKY6XL2yjwMzL5H9VPhSLXaHvjAUtFPyf7uApstczuLvOp/s400/Austin-hotel.jpeg" width="400" /></a><br />
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The connection to Gernsback becomes clearer when the photographer is shown a collection of Downes' favourite examples of this architectural style, what she calls 'American Streamlined Moderne':<br />
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<i>I saw a dozen shots of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Johnson’s Wax Building, juxtaposed with the covers of old Amazing Stories pulps, by an artist named Frank R. Paul; the employees of Johnson’s Wax must have felt as though they were walking into one of Paul’s spray-paint pulp utopias. Wright’s building looked as though it had been designed for people who wore white togas and Lucite sandals</i>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc3gvADqHQzvTGfy2ySy-kLHWrrvpjdGqVR48RlM_lDnHz-gf7FtD4SDHmZsZPRo7XC8CrQpKyd0UuTExv59MQ67SGuwqltjAdkb9Z70fRCbej0tK577hrk8P8rWgkCPv7abn-P1NvqrRq/s1600/sc-johnson-headquarters.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="550" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc3gvADqHQzvTGfy2ySy-kLHWrrvpjdGqVR48RlM_lDnHz-gf7FtD4SDHmZsZPRo7XC8CrQpKyd0UuTExv59MQ67SGuwqltjAdkb9Z70fRCbej0tK577hrk8P8rWgkCPv7abn-P1NvqrRq/s320/sc-johnson-headquarters.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Interior of Johnson's Wax Building</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaYjHQ70789L0-QazvmtbcZ2NADdkJnaQRQ0iAKfFIKWOwv6842_TmJ8u9UQ9TAzy-S1e2OZm9MMDSYA3KZqEwr34zVh5qWtaxjqW2xuWclWzwy35nY4Fzhe4x6ZNlrBL-YFGwUvHXNtP1/s1600/Amazing-stories.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="863" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaYjHQ70789L0-QazvmtbcZ2NADdkJnaQRQ0iAKfFIKWOwv6842_TmJ8u9UQ9TAzy-S1e2OZm9MMDSYA3KZqEwr34zVh5qWtaxjqW2xuWclWzwy35nY4Fzhe4x6ZNlrBL-YFGwUvHXNtP1/s320/Amazing-stories.jpg" width="228" /></a><br />
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Here, we see a reference to <i>Amazing Stories</i>, published by Gernsback, and <a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-reader-speaks.html">the cover art of Frank R. Paul</a>, an artist closely associated with this magazine's visual style, who trained as an architect himself. Downes says that we might think of these images and designs 'as a kind of alternate America: a 1980 that never happened. An architecture of broken dreams'. The narrator starts to warm up to the project, and he tries to re-imagine the environment around him according to this aesthetic:<br />
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<i>I thought myself in Dialta Downes’s America. When I isolated a few of the factory buildings on the ground glass of the Hasselblad, they came across with a kind of sinister totalitarian dignity, like the stadiums Albert Speer built for Hitler. But the rest of it was relentlessly tacky: ephemeral stuff extruded by the collective American subconscious of the Thirties, tending mostly to survive along depressing strips lined with dusty motels, mattress wholesalers, and small used-car lots. I went for the gas stations in a big way</i>.<br />
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As the photographer tunes in more and more to this 'shadowy America-that-wasn’t', the images begin to take on real forms, a phenomenon his journalist friend Kihn calls 'semiotic phantoms, bits of deep cultural imagery that have split off and taken on a life of their own'. Driving back to Los Angeles, he reflects on this explanation but it troubles him and, exhausted and agitated, he pulls over the car to sleep. Upon waking, he finds a phantom futuristic city looming before him; this is the ekphrastic element Richard highlighted in his talk:<br />
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<i>Then I looked behind me and saw the city. The books on Thirties design were in the trunk; one of them contained sketches of an idealised city that drew on </i>Metropolis<i> and </i>Things to Come<i>, but squared everything, soaring up through an architect’s perfect clouds to zeppelin docks and mad neon spires. That city was a scale model of the one that rose behind me [...] You could hide the Empire State Building in the smallest of those towers. Roads of crystal soared between the spires, crossed and recrossed by smooth silver shapes like beads of running mercury. The air was thick with ships: giant wing-liners, little darting silver things (sometimes one of the quicksilver shapes from the sky bridges rose gracefully into the air and flew up to join the dance), mile-long blimps, hovering dragonfly things that were gyrocopters...</i><br />
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Even more troubling is the appearance of a couple, 'white, blond', the 'children of Dialta Downes’s ’80-that-wasn’t', framed by the illuminated shadow city. The narrator imagines the city populated by these creatures 'orderly and alert, their bright eyes shining with enthusiasm for their floodlit avenues and silver cars', deciding 'it had all the sinister fruitiness of Hitler Youth propaganda'.<br />
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The photography for Downes' book ends up being a great success. But, desperate to return to some kind of normality, the story ends with the photographer rushing to the nearest newsstand to buy a paper and read about the petroleum crisis and the nuclear energy hazard:<br />
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<i>[Newsstand proprietor] ‘Hell of a world we live in, huh?’ [...] ‘But it could be worse, huh?’ </i><br />
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<i>‘That’s right,’ I said, ‘or even worse, it could be perfect.’</i><br />
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Overall then, Gibson takes a cynical view of the technophilia and optimism of the 1930s and 1940s, epitomised in the covers of Gernsback's SF magazines. As Bruce Sterling has commented, '<i>The Gernsback Continuum </i>shows [Gibson] consciously drawing a bead on the shambling figure of the SF tradition'. Nevertheless, his evocative rendering of the 'semiotic phantoms' lurking in American architecture throws a sharp critical and visual lens on one of the country's many futures past.Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05618355929577935922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-62261087654174198532020-04-18T19:07:00.002+01:002020-04-18T19:12:24.442+01:00SagaGuest post by Peter Martin, see also Old Rope blog: <a href="https://oldrope.wordpress.com/2020/02/06/saga/">https://oldrope.wordpress.com/2020/02/06/saga/</a><br />
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A comic about an alien family on the lamb in a flying tree in space? You had me at comic, but yes, <i>obviously</i> I want to read that. It’s been going since 2012? Why has no one told me about this sooner? My dear friend Giro recommended me the curious tale of the Saga, er, saga. Yeah, it’s not a great name I grant you, but to quote Lisa Simpson, it’s apt – APT! At the time of writing, the 54 issues of the series have been collected into nine volumes, with six comics comprising each story arc. The series is planned to finish at 108 issues or 18 volumes. I have read four so far and it is these that inform the below.<br />
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Drawn by Fiona Staples and written by Brian K Vaughn, Saga follows the plights of Alana and Marko, a couple who are on the run from both sides of an intergalactic war. Their crime is falling in love with the enemy and having an interracial baby, a political affront to the two extraterrestrial species embroiled in the long-standing conflict. They hop from planet to planet, hunted by soldiers, hired assassins, irate parents and disgruntled exes, all the while just trying to live a normal family life.<br />
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Saga is no ordinary comic and not just because it is narrated by a baby. Though it would be disingenuous to say that the medium is all unsubtle macho superhero fodder – and also conceding that I am no expert – it’s rare to get something so rich and varied in the mainstream (it’s published by Image, one of the big three publishing houses). Saga’s themes of family, motherhood, racism, war, politics and sex, while by no means unique to this book, are a rich and refreshing blend. Not only are the heroes young struggling parents, they are actively refusing to fight in the war that rages around them, setting this story apart from much of the work we might wish to compare it to. Pacifism is seldom at the forefront of popular sci-fi, bristling with blasters, troopers, space-battles and laser-swords, nor its fantasy counterparts with whopping big blades, magic and monsters. That’s not to say that Saga doesn’t have its fair share of any of the above – it does in spades – and barely an issue goes by without some form of gratuitous, albeit funny, violence.<br />
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Our protagonists are basically sexy alt-rock tattoos come to life. Alana, with her dyed fringe and unlikely post-natal smoking bod, is from the planet Landfall where the locals sport delicate insect-like wings. Her beau is Marko, all brooding brows, trench coats and a massive pair of curly goat horns. Phwoar! Don’t worry, they regularly go at it like hammer and tongs, as if unable to resist the collective yearning of hundreds of thousands of swooning readers. Sex is never shied away from throughout the pages of Saga, be it the impossibly hot and passionate form in the early days of Alana and Marko’s relationship, the lovesick longing of the hit man loner reminiscing of his time getting it on with an armless spiderwoman (armless not harmless, she too is a deadly hired assassin) or the seedy underbelly of alien sex work where anything goes. Taboo is a strong undercurrent, from forbidden love in the prism of societal racism lived by our heroes or the homophobia experienced by journalists Upsher and Doff, to alien fetishism, subversive literature and indeed the belief in peace in a time of war.<br />
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Taboo also bleeds into real life with several instances of censorship affecting the book. As a young mother, Alana is regularly shown breast-feeding Hazel – tolerable until it graced the cover of the hardback edition prompting squeamishness from retailers. Digital editions of the book were also briefly censored for an act of homosexual fellatio, shown on a blurred TV screen. The American Library Association included Saga in its 2014 list of the ten most frequently challenged books that year, for containing nudity, offensive language and for being “anti-family, … sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group.” And people wonder why it sold so well.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1sP-nyEZlAl6KnzeLFWzptI1g_CYP8RGEAkq8larEJKl9dALtUULvytbts_PXvigYb4D5EKzrk-Ti0BN1NbQd-kPRR5SJnZh_127feFac6Py4HCuk_eakSAiqnQN1rmmFoMepI-0rwvYv/s1600/saga-is-ending-cover-2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="369" data-original-width="655" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1sP-nyEZlAl6KnzeLFWzptI1g_CYP8RGEAkq8larEJKl9dALtUULvytbts_PXvigYb4D5EKzrk-Ti0BN1NbQd-kPRR5SJnZh_127feFac6Py4HCuk_eakSAiqnQN1rmmFoMepI-0rwvYv/s400/saga-is-ending-cover-2.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Like many endearing works of serialised fiction, one of Saga’s strengths is its cast of thousands. Alana and Marko may be recognisable lead characters – fit, loveable, morally right – but they are ably supported by a bonkers, imaginative and genuinely diverse bunch: Izabel the disembodied severed-at-the-waist war casualty teen baby-sitter, a sort of floating ghost with hanging entrails; Prince Robot IV, from a breed of royal androids with TVs for heads; the Freelancers, with their distinctive definite articles, The Will, The Stalk, The Brand; Marko’s relatably in-the-way mum and dad, but doting grandparents to Hazel; Lying Cat – a giant feline who speaks only to tell if someone is fibbing or not; whatever the heck loveable fan-favourite Ghüs is; and of course D. Oswald Heist, author of the dangerous polemic that ‘radicalised’ Alana and Marko.<br />
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<i>A Night Time Smoke</i>, the fictional novel by Heist, is shown in glimpses through the perspectives of characters on all sides of the war. From what we know of it, at face value it’s a fairly trashy affair, akin to pulp fiction or throwaway romance of the Mills and Boon ilk. Coursing through its pages, however, is the outrageous message that war is – get this – ‘bad’ and worse, the cover art shows us that the principal characters, Contessa and Eames the rock monster are from different races.<br />
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I’ll admit it, I’m a sucker for a text within a text. From <i>The Grasshopper Lies Heavy</i>, by Hawthorne Abendsen (Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle), <i>to K/L. Callan’s Marx, Christ and Satan United In Struggle</i> (Stewart Home’s Red London), to <i>The Benefit Of Christ Crucified</i> (Luther Blissett’s Q), to <i>The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy</i> (Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy), to the endless quotations of Stewpot Hauser and Out To Lunch (Ben Watson’s Shitkicks and Doughballs), to the book within the book within the book within the book neo-pulp madness of Bobo the Monkey (Steven Well’s Tits Out Teenage Terror Totty). It’s all good baby and super meta.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3LfW9TpDGgqPJAmZ6oWaD_nU6SXAkZHjffyNdtU9a6JomhaYNAF64U42W-VXISKgzk7p996lCeiB8O1JS0ZXqpIUOsw-eyWz_oKDVAHJZVzoAzIFJHm6yW2yvLH3Q-9-cVlwVQoZUpefB/s1600/Saga3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="474" data-original-width="723" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3LfW9TpDGgqPJAmZ6oWaD_nU6SXAkZHjffyNdtU9a6JomhaYNAF64U42W-VXISKgzk7p996lCeiB8O1JS0ZXqpIUOsw-eyWz_oKDVAHJZVzoAzIFJHm6yW2yvLH3Q-9-cVlwVQoZUpefB/s400/Saga3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Returning briefly to the issue of diversity, something that many well-known comics have struggled with in recent years. Though I am sure there are plenty of books telling stories other than those of hetro-normative, mostly white massive ab-ed and big boobed superheroes, it’s fair to say that many of the medium’s biggest sellers still have room for improvement. Clumsy attempts to make minor characters ‘come out’ still result in shitfits from keyboard warriors lamenting the fact that writers can’t make new, minor, LGBQT or POC heroes that they can ignore. Saga shouldn’t need to be lauded for starring loads of women (including breastfeeding mums), gay characters and every kind of alien-sexual preference you can think of, but it does feel uncommonly vibrant.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTW_cssfhEhf15LE9fQDu86VAAtjZ5RGlA1RPKM1EnWDbMl0dkXPVyWKtwd3C8kzzyBBdgV98mF6xKuRBWPfsYOajMA3SBKpKLkelwfDMA5IcG3YsaGYmOHHSo5vmhQ2qRt-DV6DlaYMc1/s1600/Saga4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="352" data-original-width="625" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTW_cssfhEhf15LE9fQDu86VAAtjZ5RGlA1RPKM1EnWDbMl0dkXPVyWKtwd3C8kzzyBBdgV98mF6xKuRBWPfsYOajMA3SBKpKLkelwfDMA5IcG3YsaGYmOHHSo5vmhQ2qRt-DV6DlaYMc1/s400/Saga4.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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It’s not all politics, proxy wars, racism towards ‘horns and wings’ and baby McGuffins. Much of the story is about how hard it is to be a parent, the challenges of keeping relationships afloat and the pressures of daily life. There is much that is relatable despite the fantastical settings. Gun for hire The Will munches space-cereal and sulkingly blanks his ex’s calls. There are translation problems (the Horns speak some sort of Latinate, Esperanto language). Alana gets an acting gig on a space soap opera. Marko takes their toddler on play-dates. Unions struggle against employers. Mums – albeit ones with TV screens for faces – take their kids to the beach. People have baths. This is key to making the world of Saga appealing and enduring. It’s not all decapitations and saggy-testicled ogres, there’s hues of real life in all its humorous mundanity. And it does make you laugh. Liar Cat and the Royals with TV heads are the gifts that keep on giving and Staples’ artwork veers between heart-string tugging poetry and mischievous comedy.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ZBbqaBF67kzB29lg62xWDiVZcMPkRVZk29114zxDXe_Ru4DDxrjnZDaqzATTdKwx8qX_vrEij4uOdAXlGC1h8KNVWb-cSXqnuV2mfdlZMkCux2aeLsvZIf7L54FXd6YeVrZzaUizHeUL/s1600/Saga5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="723" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9ZBbqaBF67kzB29lg62xWDiVZcMPkRVZk29114zxDXe_Ru4DDxrjnZDaqzATTdKwx8qX_vrEij4uOdAXlGC1h8KNVWb-cSXqnuV2mfdlZMkCux2aeLsvZIf7L54FXd6YeVrZzaUizHeUL/s400/Saga5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Vaughn has made clear that much of the inspiration behind the narrative of the book came from the birth of his own child. Let’s leave the final word to him:<br />
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<i>I realized that making comics and making babies were kind of the same thing and if I could combine the two, it would be less boring if I set it in a crazy sci-fi fantasy universe and not just have anecdotes about diaper bags … I didn’t want to tell a Star Wars adventure with these noble heroes fighting an empire. These are people on the outskirts of the story who want out of this never-ending galactic war … I’m part of the generation that all we do is complain about the prequels and how they let us down … And if every one of us who complained about how the prequels didn’t live up to our expectations would just make our own sci-fi fantasy, then it would be a much better use of our time</i>.Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05618355929577935922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-53221994581438266822020-02-01T10:00:00.000+00:002020-02-08T15:40:13.226+00:00The Misleading Book Covers of Philip K. Dick<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Though today widely admired for their psychological complexity and visionary insights, the <a href="https://pkdickbooks.com/sfnovels.php" target="_blank">novels of Philip K. Dick</a> were published in his lifetime as standard science fiction. That is to say, cheaply and with no regard to the artwork – the generic formula of ray-guns, rocket-ships and space-battles was applied indiscriminately to his work. In the late 1950s, <a href="https://justseeds.org/244-philip-k-dick/" target="_blank">his first books</a> were issued in then-popular double editions; two novels ‘back-to-back’ with interchangeable artwork by anonymous artists. Even when published individually, their packaging remained in the cost-saving pulp tradition, as befitted their status as genre fodder in the years before Dick’s critical acclaim. This applied to the UK as well as the US paperback industry, with British imprints such as Granada and Grafton, Pan and Panther turning out re-issues using the same regulation artwork.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBpXsimjWLjdsb3BZ0JeLgdW1_8sEGbs-ZFvdcjhQKSIy1BjJPsebD1bsduHDrGBIP-a7XX-QsEa6groMEFtYsBMWDlDyGgsXPHlnGsgtigZvi8kXYLJA4iDlwDnKriy1DUrD7ClcTyMo/s1600/Three+Stigmata.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0pWtoULWpdbEmSuC1ftX0z08LNi87itOxccKZJj7_IKog36q8fva_FCGLHQF0jeqnWfnp4s8n0_O7iVfpe6Z-Imk9QUwHrIW9SXfSrjr3jNDaP5hWqJzc6DPM3bSUUht069jVHDMCTtM/s1600/IMG_1998.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="707" data-original-width="1600" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0pWtoULWpdbEmSuC1ftX0z08LNi87itOxccKZJj7_IKog36q8fva_FCGLHQF0jeqnWfnp4s8n0_O7iVfpe6Z-Imk9QUwHrIW9SXfSrjr3jNDaP5hWqJzc6DPM3bSUUht069jVHDMCTtM/s640/IMG_1998.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN1ZEIMsPnw1G8G8zFQ_x6HEuXgXfzmzmv37Y_jygOECA4wxXlO1Nyttfs3brerwbUKgql7koFsvVzPLD1yx89PpT0H-JwxHSnlTHCU6T_qDE5dESfgFvyiAcX59p7-PoAw_GPyYjp-CQ/s1600/lsd-astronauten2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="699" data-original-width="401" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN1ZEIMsPnw1G8G8zFQ_x6HEuXgXfzmzmv37Y_jygOECA4wxXlO1Nyttfs3brerwbUKgql7koFsvVzPLD1yx89PpT0H-JwxHSnlTHCU6T_qDE5dESfgFvyiAcX59p7-PoAw_GPyYjp-CQ/s320/lsd-astronauten2.jpg" width="183" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBpXsimjWLjdsb3BZ0JeLgdW1_8sEGbs-ZFvdcjhQKSIy1BjJPsebD1bsduHDrGBIP-a7XX-QsEa6groMEFtYsBMWDlDyGgsXPHlnGsgtigZvi8kXYLJA4iDlwDnKriy1DUrD7ClcTyMo/s1600/Three+Stigmata.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>While the pulp SF market was resistant to change, having employed the same methods successfully since the inception of the genre, Dick’s work gradually gained more literary credibility, especially in Europe. The production values of several<a href="http://www.openculture.com/2015/02/600-covers-of-philip-k-dick-novels-from-all-around-the-world.html" target="_blank"> foreign-language editions</a> suggested an attempt to capture some of the depth which critics were beginning to detect. By the end of the 1960s and early 70s, though Dick himself had already written the bulk of his novels, the seeping of the counter-culture, the <a href="https://lithub.com/33-of-the-weirdest-philip-k-dick-covers-we-could-find/" target="_blank">esoteric and the experimental</a>, into the mainstream was apparent. The influences of pop-art, psychedelia and surrealism began to be manifested on <a href="https://themarquisblogger.wordpress.com/2015/02/27/philip-k-dick-books-covers/" target="_blank">book covers</a>, with Philip K. Dick ripe for such treatment. The US Daw edition of 1965’s <i>The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch</i>, a favourite of John Lennon’s, is a classic of its type; no wonder the German translation of the same book was rendered as <i>LSD-Astronauts</i>. </div>
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<u><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPXF5iColZMyo2_dPV8b62Qq06MF9QDurTum9mp8euQ2YqbsDbk0zr5ymM8jpihYMQeLmlTy-14WRiII6YGZRcUTGPBjo3kFObNzskhhtG5kOWpdtIFedaLWmLzBGyl8VTu6JZi-Ra6J4/s1600/IMG_2004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1015" data-original-width="1600" height="403" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPXF5iColZMyo2_dPV8b62Qq06MF9QDurTum9mp8euQ2YqbsDbk0zr5ymM8jpihYMQeLmlTy-14WRiII6YGZRcUTGPBjo3kFObNzskhhtG5kOWpdtIFedaLWmLzBGyl8VTu6JZi-Ra6J4/s640/IMG_2004.JPG" width="640" /></a></u><b></b><i></i><br />
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Sadly Dick died in 1982, on the cusp of <a href="https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/2016/11/11/philip-k-dick-rolling-stone/" target="_blank">wider recognition</a>, shortly before the release of <i>Blade Runner</i> brought his work to a whole new audience. Based on his 1968 novel <i><a href="https://bladerunner.fandom.com/wiki/Do_Androids_Dream_of_Electric_Sheep%3F" target="_blank">Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?</a></i>, the film’s success gave rise to an ongoing succession of lavish Hollywood adaptations. From <i>Total Recall</i> to <i>Minority Report</i>, several of the novels and stories which inspired them have since been given the ‘movie tie-in’ cover. Richard Linklater’s 2006 film of <i>A Scanner Darkly</i>, an ambitious <a href="http://brightlightsfilm.com/a-scanner-darkly-linklater-gets-pkd-right/#.WvgD-KyWys0" target="_blank">‘rotoscope’ animated version</a> of Dick’s dystopian vision of societal breakdown and drug-induced paranoia, was also issued as a graphic novel. However, since his death, few publishers have surely even considered issuing <a href="https://2013philipkdick.philipdick.com/works_covers.html" target="_blank">Philip K. Dick’s novels</a> with illustrations of rocket-fire and spaceships. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiynacpQmhbJoYD_Sp4DaKbmL9w1dDhKXQZBSwvsr7EiA6SEBG6d3xI_2mjVgkj_VVdoG-JwbbLABMTld9asBLRz9p3tY_Y6BWmJidoAqQ4q2r4cbpQcfKyBhvIa0I4NM33dNxHbQzQgOk/s1600/IMG_2006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1008" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQZ6_udsorO1CFd2TtYTzAYoJHJ69CAm9dKODnHtMjyZtH7tTdmnqbtq_Wgw7X1tjsuz_ZwFDGYN42cEH4OwuXA8IgaG5ou-Yn9iKmCS7fZczFMjRIhjuxS4_bAsml0Qw0wAMfBYvacV4/s320/androids.TIF" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; cursor: move; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" width="201" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8rNwl0KORNG1PyVc2-ej4peH_P-baAeC4584LrFIiIJYKVHTsV9T8rVK7CpdMmi0IEPHESk3YA0lqX6NPNNGtqKOFSti_SJOo2sHKedAmp3-xxCIsK5SSz1f56SD5g0MOv6RQ1CNTWq8/s1600/scanner-film.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhky8lBznYhJY3bVp7BuEzt15wtTPyDCkMnkR2Yu7SdCgnJT4cpcDydDF_Rrf9OWYIjX9tlLMryvpF4n4A07irZ-wXbVFGSCgcJwFsxNMw5RxjaIWCDTiSIUXPaA8_XnzxUt__aheHRVIc/s1600/scanner-book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiynacpQmhbJoYD_Sp4DaKbmL9w1dDhKXQZBSwvsr7EiA6SEBG6d3xI_2mjVgkj_VVdoG-JwbbLABMTld9asBLRz9p3tY_Y6BWmJidoAqQ4q2r4cbpQcfKyBhvIa0I4NM33dNxHbQzQgOk/s1600/IMG_2006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1061" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiynacpQmhbJoYD_Sp4DaKbmL9w1dDhKXQZBSwvsr7EiA6SEBG6d3xI_2mjVgkj_VVdoG-JwbbLABMTld9asBLRz9p3tY_Y6BWmJidoAqQ4q2r4cbpQcfKyBhvIa0I4NM33dNxHbQzQgOk/s320/IMG_2006.JPG" width="212" /></a></div>
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PBLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10424983027343602845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-89670658015191709532019-11-20T15:47:00.000+00:002019-12-24T15:20:46.024+00:00Computing Utopia[The following is a draft excerpt from an article written with Jo Lindsay Walton called 'Computing Utopia: The Horizons of Computational Economies in History and Science Fiction', which appeared in this month's issue of <i><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5621/sciefictstud.46.3.0471">Science Fiction Studies</a></i>]<br />
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In speculative and science fiction, computation is often represented as morally ambiguous, at odds with human concerns or not entirely explicable within human frames of reason. One notable example can be found in the trope of the supercomputer, wherein anxieties about artificial intelligence and automation combine to produce an entity capable of superseding or displacing humankind. For example, Kendell Foster Crossen’s <i>Year of Consent</i> (1954) features the totalitarian supercomputer SOCIAC, who manipulates the “consenting” population via forms of social control. Likewise, Isaac Asimov’s short story <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Question">‘The Last Question’</a> (1956) centres on the human-created supercomputer Multivac (and its successors) and their obsession with the question of how to reverse entropy. They work on the answer over a hundred billion years, long after the end of humankind and the universe itself. </div>
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The imaginary of the supercomputer, then, is entangled with both positive and negative impulses. These impulses crystallize in the tension between computational utopia’s promise of superior knowledge and reason, and the threat of an oppressive and dystopian calculative order. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics">history of cybernetics</a> is laden with comparable tensions. In popular culture, cybernetics has frequently been conflated with robotics or computer science, an association that was formed through early media reactions to it. The 1948 publication of <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics:_Or_Control_and_Communication_in_the_Animal_and_the_Machine">Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine</a></i> by the American mathematician Norbert Wiener, one of the originators of the field, gained enormous press attention and led to response articles such as ‘Will Machines Replace the Human Brain?’ (<i>American Monthly</i> 1953) and ‘Man Viewed as a Machine’ (<i>Scientific American</i> 1955). </div>
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In fact, cybernetics refers to a far broader set of concerns, which can be glossed as the study of systems governance, including organic, machinic, and socio-economic systems. It also includes the study of self-governance: how systems constitute and stabilize themselves, how they adapt to changes in their environments and how they survive or fail to survive damage or the introduction of new elements. It is the study of communication, feedback and control that came to define cybernetics as a field of inquiry. </div>
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This interest in feedback, and the maintenance of equilibrium through feedback mechanisms is also the thing that most clearly connects cybernetics with economics. In particular, there are links between cybernetics and neoclassical models of markets and economies as self-governing systems, entities which accomplish an optimum distribution of resources through the self-stabilizing interactions of supply and demand. These principles were at the heart of what came to be known as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_school_of_economics">“Chicago school” of economics</a> through figures such as George Stigler and Milton Friedman. Both worked for the Statistical Research Group (SRG), funded by the US National Defense Research Committee during World War II, and links have been traced between cybernetic experiments in defense systems carried out in the SRG and Friedman’s later work (Mirowski, 205-206). Mike Featherstone foregrounds this link in his study of the underpinnings of contemporary capitalist thought: </div>
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<i>Friedman’s free market economics presented a computational vision of freedom and social relations, which transformed economy into an apolitical closed space defined by machinic interactions, cold strategic decision making, militarised risk assessment and management, and a complete lack of empathy for the other who was similarly imagined through the lens of cybernetics</i>. (94) </div>
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The characterization of “machinic interactions” is central to Featherstone’s argument that “it is possible to understand the development of late capitalism through its embrace of techno-science and specifically cybernetic theory over the course of the 20th century” (82). This view, while valid, rests on a partial interpretation of the cybernetic field. Historian Ronald R. Kline has argued for the disunity of cybernetics, not only in its multiple meanings, but also with regard to “the different paths cybernetics took in different countries” (7). To some extent, these histories have been obscured by dominant narratives, which inform ideas – in both science fiction and contemporary politics – about the inseparability of cybernetic theory from capitalism. Yet the uptake of cybernetics in countries with distinct social and political trajectories presents a challenge to such ideas. </div>
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An important, if unrealized, project that marks a chapter in the diverse history of cybernetics is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Cybersyn">Project Cybersyn</a> (or Proyecto Synco in Spanish), a Chilean initiative funded under the socialist government of Salvador Allende between 1971 and 1973. Cybersyn was directed towards the development of a cybernetic system to manage the economy and communicate with factories that had come under government control as part of Allende’s nationalization efforts. The project was a collaboration between Chilean technical experts and Stafford Beer, a British research scientist in management cybernetics. Beer was interested in cybernetics as “the science of effective organization” and how it could be applied to the field of industrial management (Beer, <i>Decision and Control</i>, 425). </div>
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Project Cybersyn was intended to manage economic production using the feedback of data from the factories. Statistical software programs were designed to model factory performance scenarios, based on analysis of the data, enabling the Chilean government to regulate production and pre-empt crises with effective action (Medina, 6). Despite limited technological resources, consisting of one central computer and a network of telex machines, the project went some way towards developing this system (Pickering, 250). The main objectives of Cybersyn were to maximize economic production while also facilitating self-regulation of the factories. It thus represented an attempt to incorporate devolved decision-making and worker autonomy into a cybernetic management system. For Beer, the design constituted “a weapon against state bureaucracy” (see Medina, 170). </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cybersyn control room</td></tr>
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A comprehensive history of Project Cybersyn is the subject of a <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/cybernetic-revolutionaries">2011 book by Eden Medina</a>. Her study focuses on the relationship between computer technology and politics, and the difficulty of embedding political values in systems design. In the case of Cybersyn, she argues that this can be seen in the frequent mischaracterization of the project as a tool for centralized government control of the economy, despite its outwardly decentralized approach. Indeed, in January 1973, when <i>The Observer</i> broke the news of Cybersyn to the English-speaking public, the headline simply ran “Chile run by computer.” In an allusion to <i>Nineteen Eighty-Four</i>, Cybersyn, the “first computer system designed to control an entire economy” had allegedly been “assembled in some secrecy so as to avoid opposition charges of ‘Big Brother’ tactics.” Later that year, Allende’s government was overthrown by a military coup and Project Cybersyn was never completed. Under the subsequent dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, economic policy was remodelled by a group of Chilean neoliberal economists called the Chicago Boys, some of whom trained under Friedman. In the decades that followed, information technology became increasingly integrated into global finance and financial markets were rapidly expanded, deregulated, and diversified. </div>
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In his novel <i>Synco</i> (2008), the Chilean SF writer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Baradit">Jorge Baradit</a> offers an alternative history of Project Cybersyn. It opens six years after the coup of 1973 which, in a parallel version of events, is dismantled with the assistance of Pinochet. The completion of Synco – “the hidden leviathan [...] the mechanical eye of socialist Chile” (Baradit, 29-30) – has transformed Chile into a fully-fledged cybernetic state. The country’s capital of Santiago provides the backdrop for the main action of the story and it is here that the protagonist Martina returns after some years in Venezuela. She is startled at the changes wrought by Synco but she soon becomes disquieted after witnessing the full extent of its political influence and surveillance. While the circumstances that lead to this totalitarian regime are never fully explained, it is implied that a cybernetic model of government is inextricable from centralized state control, and the collaboration between Pinochet and Allende serves to bolster the system. Synco’s power grows and by the end of the novel its network begins to effect changes in the language and geography of Chile. In the final scenes, as Martina is flown out of the country, she sees military jets heading the other way for a final showdown with this “god made of wires” (230). </div>
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The novel’s bleak view assumes the inevitability of Cybersyn’s techno-totalitarian trajectory. The actual project, by contrast, was fragile and fledgling. Its computing resources were minimal. Devoted to a broadly “decentralizing, worker-participative and anti-bureaucratic” form of economic management (Beer, <i>Brain of the Firm</i>, 257), it was tantalizingly poised between a model and the thing itself. Along these lines, Medina maintains that “there is historical value in studying innovative technological systems, even if they are never fully realized” (Medina, 10). The recognition that systems like Cybersyn cannot be measured only by the logic of ‘what happened’ is an important one and highlights the question of making visible alternatives to dystopian economic computation.</div>
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<b>References</b></div>
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Asimov, Isaac. “The Last Question.” <i>Science Fiction Quarterly</i> (November 1956): 6-15. </div>
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Baradit, Jorge. <i>Synco</i>. Madrid and Barcelona: Ediciones B, 2008.</div>
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Beer, Stafford. <i>Decision and Control</i>. London: Wiley, 1966. </div>
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---. <i>The Brain of the Firm</i>. London: Allen Lane, 1972. </div>
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Crossen, Kendall Foster. Year of Consent. New York: Dell Publishing Company, 1954. </div>
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Featherstone, Mike. <i>Planet Utopia: Utopia, Dystopia, and Globalisation</i>. London: Routledge, 2017. </div>
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Fliegers, Serge. “Will Machines Replace the Human Brain?” <i>American Monthly</i>. 76 (1953): 53-61. </div>
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Hawkes, Nigel. “Chile Run by Computer.” <i>The Observer</i>, 7 Jan 1973. </div>
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Kemeny, John G. “Man Viewed as a Machine.” <i>Scientific American</i>. 192 (April 1955): 58-67. </div>
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Kline, Ronald R. <i>The Cybernetics Moment: Or Why We Call Our Age the Information Age</i>. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins UP, 2015. </div>
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Medina, Eden. <i>Cybernetic Revolutionaries: Technology and Politics in Allende’s Chile</i>. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2011. </div>
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Mirowski, Philip. <i>Machine Dreams: Economics Becomes a Computer Science</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2002. </div>
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Orwell, George. <i>Nineteen Eighty-Four</i>. London: Secker & Warburg, 1949. </div>
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Pickering, Andrew. <i>The Cybernetic Brain: Sketches Of Another Future</i>. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2011. </div>
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Wiener, Norbert. <i>Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine</i>. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1948.</div>
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Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05618355929577935922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-13284059845056045322019-09-28T10:45:00.001+01:002023-08-16T13:43:15.349+01:00Science Fiction-Music Interconnections: The Raving 90sThe rise of rave culture from the late 1980s to the early 1990s was a worldwide phenomenon which had a particular impact in the UK. Like many other youth subcultures, the emphasis on drugs and loud music, other worlds and altered states, brought notoriety to the rave scene. Rave was rife with science fiction imagery, from <a href="http://www.loftsites.co.uk/old_school_rave/flyers/rave_flyers.html" target="_blank">promotional flyers</a> to the stylings of the music’s practitioners. Operating at the intersection of chill-out/eco/new age/techno and dance subcultures, rave reached the zenith of its popularity at the huge <a href="https://909originals.com/2019/05/22/the-storming-of-castlemorton-common-may-1992/" target="_blank">Castlemorton Common Festival of 1992</a>, in Worcestershire’s Malvern Hills. This event, to borrow the terminology of the 60s, represented a ‘gathering of the tribes’ and saw rave as a unifying force among disparate groups; it was also the precursor to state intervention.<br />
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The connections with 60s/70s ‘alternative’ lifestyles (even the term ‘rave’) were inescapable, apparent in the tendencies toward escapism and hedonism and the trajectory from the underground to the mainstream. Antonio Melechi was among the commentators to note that “Not until the expansion of rave culture... has the counterculture so explicitly harked back to the sixties.” It was a ‘grass roots’ movement, building on the UK’s tradition of nationwide free festivals established in the wake of the huge gatherings at Woodstock and <a href="http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/iow1970menu.html" target="_blank">the Isle of Wight</a> which marked the commercialisation of 60s rock. An anonymous pamphlet published at the end of the 1970s summarised the free festival ethos:<br />
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“Free festivals are practical demonstrations of what society could be like all the time; miniature Utopias of joy and communal awareness rising for a few days from grey morass of mundane, inhibited, paranoid and repressive everyday existence.”<br />
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George McKay, writing in <em>Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistance since the Sixties</em>, recognised the tendency toward transformation; “One of the spaces of the dance scene side of rave – the club – is presented as libertarian utopian space, packed with transformative possibility.” As in the 60s, through the festivals, the subculture came to span both rural and urban environments, encompassing illicit rave parties in warehouses and the countryside, embracing both a ‘back to nature’ impulse and the modern technology of the music itself. Though rave styled itself as a movement without ‘stars’, stressing anonymity as central to the communality of the experience, artists such as Altern8, Orbital and the Prodigy became popular, together with the <a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2019/04/science-fiction-music-interconnections.html" target="_blank">Orb and Steve Hillage on the ambient fringe</a>, while <a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2016/11/science-fiction-music-interconnections.html" target="_blank">Hawkwind</a>, veterans of the counterculture and free festival circuit, incorporated dance elements and demonstrated the affinities with an earlier generation.<br />
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Undeniably central to rave’s appeal was Ecstasy, functioning like LSD decades earlier as both a catalyst and symbol of the movement, defining and enhancing the musical experience. This parallel was identified by <a href="http://hqinfo.blogspot.com/2006/08/alternative-society-1970s-nicholas.html" target="_blank">Nicholas Saunders</a>, one of the individuals to span both eras. Saunders was behind the 1970 publication of <em>Alternative London</em>, described as “a key text of the counterculture packed with information about subjects from health foods to communes to drugs.” As a rave enthusiast and the author of <em>E is for Ecstasy</em> (1993), Saunders described the affinities between the two eras, both culturally and in their respective choices of <a href="http://www.dazeddigital.com/science-tech/article/39397/1/the-uk-ecstasy-guru-from-the-90s-who-influenced-mdma-research-today" target="_blank">recreational chemicals</a>: “I felt symptoms familiar from taking LSD in the sixties... A kind of uplifting religious experience of unity that I have only felt once before”.<br />
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With growing popularity came increasing attention from the press and public authorities; at this point, parallels with the free and easy 60s and 70s began to evaporate. While some debate took place around the medical effects of Ecstasy, the high-profile deaths of Leah Betts and Clare Layton fuelled media sensationalism and moral panic. The veteran investigative reporter Roger Cook used his <em>Cook Report</em>, broadcast nationally, for an episode entitled <a href="http://borosix.co.uk/history/1992_r.html" target="_blank">‘Ecstasy Kills’ in 1992</a>, which served as a prolonged broadside against the evils of drugs. The popular press followed suit. Criminalisation was in the offing, with the Castlemorton event, a week-long free festival, serving as the basis for the legislation which was enacted in the 1994 Criminal Justice Act. There was <a href="https://datacide-magazine.com/revolt-of-the-ravers-the-movement-against-the-criminal-justice-act-in-britain-1993-95/" target="_blank">strong public opposition</a>, with critics describing the provisions of the Act as “explicitly aimed at suppressing the activities of certain strands of alternative culture”, but it was duly passed. The widespread sceptical sentiments were echoed by author Jon Savage, who stated that the legislation was “about politicians making laws on the basis of judging people’s lifestyles, and that’s no way to make laws.” The Prodigy registered their disapproval with the themes and <a href="https://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/20680/1/music-for-the-jilted-generation-the-artwork" target="_blank">artwork of their 1994 album</a> <em>Music for the Jilted Generation</em>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDhqOUXbMwW5mVQuJ96uCabTaLxXs78jekYZZRJuAOuQHP_aS3Y3CfiUyW-11G_ZvyFxbILGVaswrwM5IwRk3lxVnE8IM4lNsF-G8G36p_JUppVM2kZYFvnY0Z93Ubwd2icvgWQxvUIsI/s1600/Jilted_Generation_Inner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="786" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDhqOUXbMwW5mVQuJ96uCabTaLxXs78jekYZZRJuAOuQHP_aS3Y3CfiUyW-11G_ZvyFxbILGVaswrwM5IwRk3lxVnE8IM4lNsF-G8G36p_JUppVM2kZYFvnY0Z93Ubwd2icvgWQxvUIsI/s320/Jilted_Generation_Inner.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Music for the Jilted Generation</em>. Inner sleeve artwork by Les Edwards.</td></tr>
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Previous governments had imposed certain restrictions on large-scale gatherings, notably The Isle of Wight County Council Act 1971, which contains provisions aimed at the control of overnight assemblies in the open, and gives the local authority powers to set conditions and to veto unsuitable sites. Whilst regulating, the authorities of that era remained open to the utopian possibilities of such free festivals, recognised by the government commission established in the wake of the Isle of Wight chaos of 1970. The Stevenson Committee’s 1973 Report to the Department of Environment states: “These young people have been expressing a need to get away from their immediate environment and the inhibitions and limitations of everyday life – particularly in our towns – to a situation in which they can experiment socially, come face to face with new ideals and concepts of life and decide for themselves what they wish to accept or reject.” The liberal attitude extended to ministerial level, with the Secretary of State for the Environment at the time, Geoffrey Rippon, commenting “The last thing the Government wants to do is to intervene in people’s reasonable pleasures”, in sharp contrast to <a href="https://buckethatparadigm.wordpress.com/2016/07/19/raveculturethatcherism/" target="_blank">the draconian provisions of the Criminal Justice Act</a>, a bill passed in Parliament twenty years later aimed at doing exactly that.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Police Review</i>, June 1992, in the wake of the Castlemorton Festival</td></tr>
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While rave as a mass movement never recovered from the effects of the 1994 legislation, it reverted to an underground sub-culture, evolved into different forms, and enjoyed a surprisingly <a href="http://www.ravepreservationproject.com/" target="_blank">durable afterlife</a>. For an experience predicated on transitory chemical pleasures and instant thrills, rave culture has left an extensive legacy of <a href="http://www.ravearchive.com/" target="_blank">archive, ephemera and memorabilia</a> – blogs, compilations, flyers, <a href="http://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/book-to-document-history-of-rave-flyers/" target="_blank">literature</a>, some of it even collectable. As one of the last widespread pre-Internet phenomena, nostalgic ravers and inquisitive researchers can read reminiscences, browse <a href="http://www.flyingoverengland.co.uk/" target="_blank">galleries of retro-flyers</a> and glimpse ecstatic states in their vivid other-worldly imagery, without popping a pill and setting out for warehouse or field.<br />
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PBLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10424983027343602845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-78675871436325514152019-06-27T17:06:00.000+01:002019-08-21T18:30:29.676+01:00Australian SF Fan Fiction and ConventionsThe other day I was thinking about the SF encounters I had while visiting Australia last year, including a trip to the exhibition ‘'Synthesizers: Sound of the Future’, <a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2018/10/synthesizers-sound-of-future.html">which I wrote about back in October</a>.<br />
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The reason I went to Aus was to research digital heritage collections, but this project turned up some intriguing SF connections of its own. <a href="https://huni.net.au/#/search">HuNI, a digital research and discovery platform</a> developed in partnership with Deakin University, was one of several interesting efforts I learned of to foster new approaches to researching cultural collections.<br />
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It works by drawing together records from across different research, museum and archive collections and lets people make their own connections between them, based on their field of interest. If you go on the <a href="https://huni.net.au/#/collections">‘Collections’</a> part of the site you can see a list of public collections created by researchers. This consists of a range of topics, from railways, to skateboarding, to Australian literary journals. While browsing through, two collections in particular caught my eye; one called <a href="https://huni.net.au/#/collection/305">‘Australian Speculative Fiction Fan Groups and Conventions’</a>, the other <a href="https://huni.net.au/#/collection/303">‘Australian Speculative Fiction Small Presses and Publishing Houses’</a>, created by Gene Melzack.<br />
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Here was an insight into a whole world of SF fandom and writing previously unknown to me; prolific fan editors such as <a href="https://fanlore.org/wiki/Susan_Smith-Clarke">Susan Smith-Clarke</a>, or small fanzine clubs like the <a href="http://fancyclopedia.org/futurian-society-of-sydney">Futurian Society of Sydney</a>, contemporary with the Leeds-based fanzines <i>Futurian</i> and <i>New Futurian</i>, <a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2013/06/futures-past-sf-history-in-leeds-p4-fan.html">which were featured on the blog previously</a>. Or Australian SF publishers including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimaera_Publications">Chimaera</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orb_Publications">Orb</a> and <a href="http://ticonderogapublications.com/web/">Ticonderoga Publications</a> that have been going since the 1990s, alongside more recent efforts like <a href="http://www.twelfthplanetpress.com/">Twelfth Planet Press</a>, established in 2006. What’s more, HuNI allows the connections between groups, fan conventions and publishing houses to be mapped visually (see image). In this way, I was able to learn that the fanzine editor <a href="http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/gillespie_bruce">Bruce Gillespie</a> helped to found the small press <a href="http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/norstrilia_press">Norstrilia (1975-1985)</a>, which published <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Egan">Greg Egan’s</a> first novel.<br />
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To learn more about HuNI, you can read <a href="https://medium.com/@bestqualitycrab/https-medium-com-huni2-0-48373de1e3a1">this Medium article</a> by Deb Verhoeven and Toby Burrows.Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05618355929577935922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-3044208420121099882019-04-27T09:00:00.002+01:002023-08-16T13:43:23.743+01:00Science Fiction-Music Interconnections: The Ambient 90s<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Electronic music, developed from the <a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2015/05/science-fiction-music-interconnections.html" target="_blank">synthesiser experiments of the earlier twentieth century</a> and refined by German band Kraftwerk in the 1970s, was at the peak of its popularity on the cusp of the 1990s, both in the pop mainstream and underground variants. Combined with the prevalence of mind-altering chemicals, different strands of 90s electronic music drew heavily on science fiction themes. In the UK, the ‘ambient’ <a href="http://ambientmusicguide.com/a-z-essential-albums/brian-eno/" target="_blank">instrumental soundscapes of Brian Eno</a> and others were modified for club-goers ‘coming down’ from chemical highs as the basis of ‘ambient house’. The Orb, a partnership of Alex Paterson and Jimmy Cauty, a member of the Justified Ancients of Mu-Mu (or JAMs), were influential in refining the genre. Cauty eventually re-worked their collaboration <i>Space</i> into a solo recording, released in 1990; with nods to 1970s ambient pioneers <a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2015/01/science-fiction-music-interconnections.html" target="_blank">Tangerine Dream and Pink Floyd</a>, it was envisaged as “a voyage through the solar system from Mercury outwards”, with each piece named after a planet.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Space</i>, 1990</td></tr>
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The Orb evolved into Paterson and a shifting cast of associates; their 1991 debut album <i>Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld</i> set the template for sci-fi-influenced themes and imagery. The album’s centrepiece, the side-long ‘A huge ever-growing pulsating brain that rules from the centre of the Ultraworld’ was directly inspired by an episode of <i>Blake’s Seven</i>, ‘Ultraworld’, written by <a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2017/06/trevor-hoyle-introduction.html" target="_blank">Trevor Hoyle</a>. Their <a href="https://www.jambase.com/band/the-orb" target="_blank">live performances</a> were accompanied by “a constant stream of psychedelic images… projected onto the screens about the stage” (another echo of Pink Floyd), typically featuring aliens, astronauts and futuristic cityscapes. Their next album, <i>U.F. Orb</i>, continued the sci-fi links with samples from NASA transmissions, science fiction references and ambient explorations of space travel, notably on the 40-minute 1992 single, ‘Blue Room’. The track is believed to reference a secret location at <a href="https://www.ufoinsight.com/hangar-18-legends-based-facts-blue-room/" target="_blank">Wright-Patterson Air Force Base</a>, Ohio, containing UFO evidence. An edited version was aired on <i>Top of the Pops</i>. </div>
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The Orb’s affinity with the progressive rock of an earlier era was illustrated by their connection to guitarist Steve Hillage, member of 1970s cosmic rockers Khan and Gong. He played on several sessions, was credited as a co-writer on ‘Blue Room’ and his 1979 solo proto-ambient album <i>Rainbow Dome Musick</i> was sometimes aired before Orb performances. Hillage, who was originally part of <a href="https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-canterbury-scene-the-sound-of-the-underground" target="_blank">the influential Canterbury Scene</a> and later worked with <a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2016/11/science-fiction-music-interconnections.html" target="_blank">Hawkwind’s Nik Turner</a>, pursued his own early 90s ambient/dance project as System 7 with partner Miquette Giraudy. Hillage’s burgeoning interest in electronica led to him programming the acts for the first Dance Tent at the <a href="https://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/history/history-1995/" target="_blank">Glastonbury Festival of 1995</a>, at which System 7 themselves performed.<br />
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Paterson’s contemporaries, Cauty and Bill Drummond, had first recorded as the <a href="http://www.libraryofmu.net/display-resource.php?id=226" target="_blank">Justified Ancients of Mu Mu</a>, a name taken from a secret society in the counter-cultural <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Illuminatus!_Trilogy" target="_blank">1975 <i>Illuminatus!</i> Trilogy</a> of novels by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. The duo’s first commercial success was as the Timelords, whose single ‘Doctorin’ the Tardis’, incorporating the <i>Dr Who</i> theme tune, was a ‘novelty’ number one in the UK in 1988. They released an ambient house album in 1990, <i>Chill Out</i>, a term derived from an area called ‘The White Room’ (the title of their next album) at London’s Heaven nightclub, where Cauty and Paterson were DJs in the late 1980s. Later applied to various forms of “music of a trance-like nature”, chill-out was defined by slowed-down dance beats. Cauty and Drummond rose to international fame with a series of classic chart-topping singles as the KLF, whilst earning notoriety for their post-modern pranks. Upon their retirement from music in 1992, they deleted their back catalogue and pursued situationist ‘actions’, art projects and media campaigns as the K Foundation. When they <a href="http://www.superweirdsubstance.com/jams-klf-dark-ages/" target="_blank">returned on 23 August 2017</a>, it was with a novel, <i>2023: A Trilogy</i>, a “self-referential dystopian tale” credited to the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, drawing both on the <i>Illuminatus!</i> Trilogy and their own self-created ‘mythology’. </div>
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<div>Many of the original creative forces behind ambient house moved beyond its confines; Cornish electronic artist Richard James went by the name <a href="https://pitchfork.com/features/cover-story/reader/aphex-twin/" target="_blank">Aphex Twin</a>, and explored the hinterlands of acid house, ambient, jungle and techno music in a bewildering series of releases with an other-worldly flavour. He enjoyed chart success in the late 90s, before promptly reverting back to more experimental forms. Another band rising from obscurity to mainstream success in the 90s were <a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/shamen" target="_blank">the Shamen</a>, initially a psychedelic guitar band who embraced new technology and sampling. An interest in mind-expansion and dance culture saw them emerge as pioneers of multi-media performance whose ‘Synergy’ concept was intended to dissolve “the boundaries between rock gigs and warehouse parties”. Their 1990 LP <i>En-Tact</i> was described by one breathless reviewer as “the KLF remixed by William Gibson in a massive multi-coloured warehouse inside your head”.</div>
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After the untimely death of key member Will Sin, the Shamen subsequently enjoyed their biggest hit with ‘Ebenezer Goode’ in 1992, a straightforward celebration of drug/rave culture which also erased much of their underground credibility. A spoken-word collaboration with the celebrated author, ethno-botanist and <a href="https://kahpi.net/the-life-of-psychedelic-bard-terence-mckenna/" target="_blank">psychedelic enthusiast Terence McKenna</a> (“the intellectual voice of rave culture”) on ‘Re-Evolution’ was more in the spirit of their early work. With another contribution by Steve Hillage on the same album, the past was acknowledged as they simultaneously embraced the future. With a long-standing interest in cyberspace, the Shamen were among the first bands to explore Internet releases on their <a href="http://www.nemeton.com/static/nemeton/history.html" target="_blank">interactive site Nemeton</a>, launched in 1995. The group’s mainstay, founder member Colin Angus, commented that “We’ve always seen ourselves as an ‘information band’, so it was a natural step to connect to the internet.” </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD_G7tYORzGgVBshhoPAI3qsuUhl-xuHai0t0EuTq2atPY7adEGrUO_YPunH3Y_yavWmSd6sR1e2bNOBbwVJ_P04QMIzURvqLa535DBXyMRNBP_U7dZ-EN9swpooxooEGo5n75NSgMHPc/s1360/Ambient+A-Z+The+Wire+Issue+113+July+1993.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="846" data-original-width="1360" height="391" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD_G7tYORzGgVBshhoPAI3qsuUhl-xuHai0t0EuTq2atPY7adEGrUO_YPunH3Y_yavWmSd6sR1e2bNOBbwVJ_P04QMIzURvqLa535DBXyMRNBP_U7dZ-EN9swpooxooEGo5n75NSgMHPc/w628-h391/Ambient+A-Z+The+Wire+Issue+113+July+1993.PNG" width="628" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'An A-Z of Ambient', <i>The Wire</i>, Issue 113, July 1993</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br />
Hillage and McKenna’s involvement, like that of Timothy Leary with the <a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2017/08/cyberpunk-1990.html" target="_blank">contemporary Cyberpunk trend</a>, reinforced the connections between the cultural explorations of the late 60s/early 70s and the dawn of the 90s, not least a shared interest in altered states of consciousness. It also linked to ‘new age’ overtones, a label with which ambient house was becoming associated, together with ‘chill out’, or ‘trance’, as the terms became interchangeable – certainly for the record labels who capitalised on its popularity with vast numbers of compilations over the following years. Once the impetus of its innovators was removed, the music was as bland and formulaic as the artwork; uninspiring and depressingly earth-bound. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdEmJFbQ46hKU7ZdxiGQIXjZVqekT9BrlXdusrfUyfiEX4xexYitAiWDoAzfgZNDjsPM_ajQ_R4wn-CLT5nfGmWwIZRP5EHdBo3J9qCWsMFpxGrwcuwEN-s89pXK1wnWo1OK2gqASkXuo/s1600/Ambient_formula.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdEmJFbQ46hKU7ZdxiGQIXjZVqekT9BrlXdusrfUyfiEX4xexYitAiWDoAzfgZNDjsPM_ajQ_R4wn-CLT5nfGmWwIZRP5EHdBo3J9qCWsMFpxGrwcuwEN-s89pXK1wnWo1OK2gqASkXuo/s200/Ambient_formula.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2LrTGk-8A0ur82kvGlrFBHqiscUtx4pQ1PoD5OS-vdC7AXE7Ss286rS7cdu515n4UsvmSz2Fbpg8jMNYhafD9ge4rnNHz3FVXW43RqMg70SGmNeJDOBo88UyQPpC4OcQaxflfCbd5LgE/s1600/Ambient-formula.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2LrTGk-8A0ur82kvGlrFBHqiscUtx4pQ1PoD5OS-vdC7AXE7Ss286rS7cdu515n4UsvmSz2Fbpg8jMNYhafD9ge4rnNHz3FVXW43RqMg70SGmNeJDOBo88UyQPpC4OcQaxflfCbd5LgE/s200/Ambient-formula.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipfzwC5sBeX6k6zpQqBviUMnzc2_RakdnsiEGjA7ahwCui2vUWuz74PW_4W7AfR32iYbF_EdGDdyPZHZ36iA12tlZVj82zBVysRE4Y0BomwF1ZgiKMpF3tiuwXPbK5Kh0D0q1A6XsAYmI/s1600/Ambient-the-formula.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipfzwC5sBeX6k6zpQqBviUMnzc2_RakdnsiEGjA7ahwCui2vUWuz74PW_4W7AfR32iYbF_EdGDdyPZHZ36iA12tlZVj82zBVysRE4Y0BomwF1ZgiKMpF3tiuwXPbK5Kh0D0q1A6XsAYmI/s200/Ambient-the-formula.jpg" width="200" /></div>
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PBLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10424983027343602845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-84223985644439818952019-02-18T17:14:00.001+00:002022-05-18T17:36:46.691+01:00The Transcultural Fantastic at Leeds<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPy6ORhAUgyDyddtJG9gb9kPCJ3o1QOjy6MFiboaZ1gac7iWMRxigV0751At_XeQQp-g-SyXLNSC-Km-L2xWJ4sBVmKQJPKcaWj8aHsxouIS9f29A4RktCz7OdQN7TGJ-3IyoecrsXzfvD/s1600/BlAONIvs_400x400.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPy6ORhAUgyDyddtJG9gb9kPCJ3o1QOjy6MFiboaZ1gac7iWMRxigV0751At_XeQQp-g-SyXLNSC-Km-L2xWJ4sBVmKQJPKcaWj8aHsxouIS9f29A4RktCz7OdQN7TGJ-3IyoecrsXzfvD/s200/BlAONIvs_400x400.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
The <a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/languages/dir-record/research-projects/1288/the-transcultural-fantastic">Transcultural Fantastic seminar series</a> – hosted at the University of Leeds in 2018-19 – aims to opens up the rich traditions of the Fantastic from a transcultural and interdisciplinary perspective, investigating utopian and dystopian thought in art, fiction and film, as well as science fiction, folktales and fantasy literature.<br />
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The series seeks to conceptualise and problematise the Transcultural Fantastic and discuss the following questions:<br />
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<ul>
<li>What are the local and global contexts for the Transcultural Fantastic? </li>
<li>What is the critical and political potential of the Transcultural Fantastic? </li>
<li>What drives multi-media and artistic expressions of the Transcultural Fantastic? </li>
<li>What is the role of translation and publishing in the creation and consumption of the Transcultural Fantastic? </li>
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This inquiry into the transcultural is grounded in the local, highlighting the regional and the provincial as part of the wider transcultural imagination. Leeds and the University’s <a href="https://library.leeds.ac.uk/info/1500/special_collections">Special Collections</a> strengths in the Fantastic are important in this space, as is the city’s own history of the Fantastic, being JRR Tolkien’s inspiration for Middle Earth and the site of the <a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2012/12/futures-past-sf-history-in-leeds-p2.html">first World Science Fiction Convention in 1937</a>. The series also explores the importance of ‘the North’ in recent publishing ventures such as the <a href="http://northernfictionalliance.com/">Northern Fiction Alliance</a>, which has a strong focus on translation and the intercultural, as well as being firmly rooted in the local.<br />
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Questions around place and origin feed into the broader international dimensions of the Fantastic, informed by the research specialisms of the organisers. The Transcultural Fantastic depends on, and benefits from, a global and multilingual exchange of ideas, cultures, traditions and media. Events in the series are listed below.<br />
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<u>Semester 1 – Local Contexts for the Transcultural Fantastic </u><br />
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<a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/events/event/908/fantastic_leeds">‘Fantastic Leeds’</a> – seminar exploring the history of the Fantastic in Leeds, coupled with an exploration of selected items from Special Collections.<br />
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<a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/events/event/1038/the_northern_fantastic_a_public_lecture_by_tom_shippey">‘The Old Gods Return’</a> - Professor Tom Shippey discusses Norse Mythology in contemporary novels.<br />
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<a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/leeds-arts-humanities-research-institute/events/event/1130/realms-both-real-and-unreal-a-reading-by-simon-armitage">‘Realms both Real and Unreal’</a> – Simon Armitage reads from and discusses his revised translation of the medieval epic poem <i>Sir Gawain and the Green Knight</i>.<br />
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<u>Semester 2 – Global Contexts for the Transcultural Fantastic </u><br />
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<a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/languages/events/event/1199/beyond-tomorrow-german-science-fiction-and-utopian-thought-in-the-20th-and-21st-century">‘Beyond Tomorrow. German Science Fiction and Utopian Thought in the 20th and 21st Century’</a> – Ingo Cornils examines humanity and technological progress in German film and literature.<br />
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<a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/events/event/1230/transcultural_fantastic_works_in_progress_session">‘Works in Progress‘</a> – research presentations from the series organisers and other colleagues working on the Transcultural Fantastic.<br />
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<a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/leeds-arts-humanities-research-institute/events/event/1313/publishing-the-transcultural-fantastic">‘Publishing and Translating the Transcultural Fantastic’</a> – workshop to explore publishing opportunities and potential anthologies.<br />
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<a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/leeds-arts-humanities-research-institute/events/event/1257/posthuman-futures-biopunk-cyberpunk-and-the-world-today">‘From Cyberpunk to Biopunk: On Posthuman Technologies’</a> – Lars Schmeink traces the shift from cybernetic and prosthetic transhumanist fantasies of 1980s cyberpunk to critical posthumanist interventions in contemporary SF, or biopunk dystopias.<br />
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The series organisers are Ingo Cornils (School of Languages, Cultures and Societies), Sarah Dodd (School of Languages, Cultures and Societies) and Liz Stainforth (School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies).<br />
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The series is funded as part of the <a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/leeds-arts-humanities-research-institute/doc/sadler-seminar-series">Sadler seminar series at Leeds Arts and Humanities Research Institute</a>.Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05618355929577935922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-72774336835150829172018-12-31T09:15:00.000+00:002019-01-07T14:33:15.759+00:00Hugo Gernsback and the Electrical Experimenter Archive<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Born in Luxembourg, Hugo Gernsbacher emigrated to New York at the age of 20, in 1904. In the USA, he soon displayed an entrepreneurial spirit, changing his surname to Gernsback and setting up the Electro Importing Co. to sell the latest specialist electronic devices from Europe. Always interested in developments in science and technology, he founded <a href="http://www.magazineart.org/main.php/v/technical/modernelectrics/" target="_blank">the magazine <em>Modern Electrics</em></a> in 1908 as a mail-order catalogue, with technical articles and instructions for home electronics enthusiasts. He also registered patents for such exotic items as <a href="https://www.strangerdimensions.com/2014/12/09/strange-inventions-isolator-1925/" target="_blank">the Isolator, a sensory-deprivation helmet</a> intended to increase concentration and focus, despite looking more suitable for deep-sea diving.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1h4dQQu3zws9BqEkBdg-RC7EL6IqyjKli_CPbCOoQj8Y-Mp2cPlbgpYYFbepx4yIyLp65b1alZxIaUQE8XugW2JNwIkiEzysW9duCbUq83n9GOMuO092KKmrWvJntVYgMmbqK59_Htrc/s1600/Gernsback-Isolator.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="402" data-original-width="477" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1h4dQQu3zws9BqEkBdg-RC7EL6IqyjKli_CPbCOoQj8Y-Mp2cPlbgpYYFbepx4yIyLp65b1alZxIaUQE8XugW2JNwIkiEzysW9duCbUq83n9GOMuO092KKmrWvJntVYgMmbqK59_Htrc/s320/Gernsback-Isolator.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiexEQsi4pKCKUNZPVeHcm9y9QUJAHyNDV785G6RVSRVMrE1R3j-WZb-IxNpdYUXyGBmGN9By2me6fH_C8RpyRIXN2pI0DAWPUz2O6t9h4yupYkSC4SLlErevLfAYdjtqTSuvvIfedelQg/s1600/electricalex-advert.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="998" data-original-width="727" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiexEQsi4pKCKUNZPVeHcm9y9QUJAHyNDV785G6RVSRVMrE1R3j-WZb-IxNpdYUXyGBmGN9By2me6fH_C8RpyRIXN2pI0DAWPUz2O6t9h4yupYkSC4SLlErevLfAYdjtqTSuvvIfedelQg/s320/electricalex-advert.jpg" width="233" /></a><em>Electrical Experimenter</em>, which ran between May 1913 and July 1920, was the successor to <em>Modern Electrics</em>, where Gernsback had serialised his own novel <em>Ralph-124C 41+</em> between 1911 and 1912. Although, like its predecessor, it concentrated on technical science for amateur hobbyists – particularly <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070704174902/http:/home.utah.edu/~u0202363/hugo_pub.pdf" target="_blank">in the field of radio</a>, or ‘wireless’ – its scope was expanded to include some early science fiction, among them his own stories. Alongside these were <a href="https://teslauniverse.com/nikola-tesla/articles/authors/hugo-gernsback" target="_blank">articles by Nikolai Tesla</a>, who also published segments of his autobiography in the magazine during 1919. In a 1916 editorial, Gernsback argued that a “real electrical experimenter, worthy of the name” must have imagination and a vision for the future. <br />
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The monthly editions of <em>Electrical Experimenter</em> in 1918 largely focused on technology in warfare, with the First World War still raging in Europe. From January’s ‘Electro-Magnetic Depth-Bombs’ through the ‘Gyro-Electric Destroyer’ to ‘The Automatic Soldier’, Gernsback showed his pragmatic knack of seizing the moment. Although the August issue harked back to a more innocent era of transport speculation, presenting the ‘Aerial Mono-Flyer of the Future’, the year concluded with tanks and barbed wire. The magazine continued to run extensive advertisements for all things electrical, including Gernsback’s own Electro Importing Co., which was still in business. The archives of <em>Electrical Experimenter</em> can be found in several <a href="http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=elecexperimenter" target="_blank">digital repositories</a>; the bulk of them are at <a href="https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Electrical_Experimenter.htm" target="_blank">American Radio History</a>, <a href="http://electricalexperimenter.com/">electricalexperimenter.com</a> and <a href="https://archive.org/details/electricalexperi03gern/page/n3" target="_blank">the Internet Archive</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjagIxWSpoy9ixR-E9a98Zmza9Wa1O_7EnQPUGsWm9GQK7PReydM_gk1T6NefyMzlFVAtk9E7guY60hVhgofR7zLv7OKMlVHVYg5WIfozw8PJhR61dtaYIeyrEkvQyMn-e19AEvnBrGu7w/s1600/ElectricalExperimenter1918-08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="896" data-original-width="650" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjagIxWSpoy9ixR-E9a98Zmza9Wa1O_7EnQPUGsWm9GQK7PReydM_gk1T6NefyMzlFVAtk9E7guY60hVhgofR7zLv7OKMlVHVYg5WIfozw8PJhR61dtaYIeyrEkvQyMn-e19AEvnBrGu7w/s320/ElectricalExperimenter1918-08.jpg" width="232" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhedG7ES7bGArLFUSuoZ0jU774sVK9ko1CbermJ3LVpF8ohAGFYv4ZrFEhlkzIfK5teC9KeWaLmPrXdZ-dm4r0DG4S1PEDZqAgadYQdp__PShenvs30nu8B1ebHfsdQi3B4nvkitefPRP0/s1600/Electrical+Experimenter+1918-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="891" data-original-width="650" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhedG7ES7bGArLFUSuoZ0jU774sVK9ko1CbermJ3LVpF8ohAGFYv4ZrFEhlkzIfK5teC9KeWaLmPrXdZ-dm4r0DG4S1PEDZqAgadYQdp__PShenvs30nu8B1ebHfsdQi3B4nvkitefPRP0/s320/Electrical+Experimenter+1918-10.jpg" width="232" /></a></div>
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Though his magazines were both successful and influential, Gernsback was notorious for his sharp business practices, taking advantage of struggling writers. One of these was H.P. Lovecraft, who referred to him as ‘Hugo the Rat’. He went on to found <em><a href="https://www.pulpmags.org/content/info/amazing-stories.html" target="_blank">Amazing Stories</a></em> in 1926, accepted as the first major science fiction magazine (although Gernsback’s preferred term was ‘scientifiction’, which he initially used). He was declared bankrupt in 1929, losing control of his publishing empire, but recovered to launch <em>Wonder Stories</em> and other popular magazines; he founded over 50 different titles during his lifetime. Gernsback was involved in early radio and television broadcasts, and anticipated the rise of mass media and air travel as early as the 1920s. He continued to <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/predictions-from-the-father-of-science-fiction-61256664/" target="_blank">envision the future</a>, invent and register patents, until his death in 1967. The prestigious <a href="http://www.thehugoawards.org/" target="_blank">Hugo Awards</a>, inaugurated in 1953 at the World Science Fiction Convention, are named after him in recognition of <a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/hugo-gernsback-great-heights-and-down-again/" target="_blank">his contribution to the genre</a>, as is a crater on the Moon.<br />
<img height="96" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjagIxWSpoy9ixR-E9a98Zmza9Wa1O_7EnQPUGsWm9GQK7PReydM_gk1T6NefyMzlFVAtk9E7guY60hVhgofR7zLv7OKMlVHVYg5WIfozw8PJhR61dtaYIeyrEkvQyMn-e19AEvnBrGu7w/s320/ElectricalExperimenter1918-08.jpg" style="left: 239.13px; opacity: 0.3; position: absolute; top: 1090.86px;" width="69" />PBLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10424983027343602845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-19265060500034074612018-10-25T17:41:00.000+01:002018-11-09T17:50:18.926+00:00Synthesizers: Sound of the Future<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj833yIZDxPrEc3iISarTNI1e_u2AmWBtGmCIi2lGYeqYiIakK2Sa20kUHYOrjCvXkm2rH0BuEjKYr_Atq5SSyLdUc2xD9IgZvWarFDCbSgwtaKWistfQco7NSzf841fRvPWaiPNQcBX0Zy/s1600/Synths.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="954" data-original-width="759" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj833yIZDxPrEc3iISarTNI1e_u2AmWBtGmCIi2lGYeqYiIakK2Sa20kUHYOrjCvXkm2rH0BuEjKYr_Atq5SSyLdUc2xD9IgZvWarFDCbSgwtaKWistfQco7NSzf841fRvPWaiPNQcBX0Zy/s320/Synths.jpeg" width="253" /></a></div>
A recent trip to Melbourne took me back to some of the blog's 2015 posts, on <a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2015/05/science-fiction-music-interconnections.html">the theremin</a> and <a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2015/08/science-fiction-music-interconnections.html">electronic music</a>. <a href="https://grainger.unimelb.edu.au/">The Grainger Museum's</a> exhibition <a href="https://grainger.unimelb.edu.au/whats-on/exhibitions/synthesizers-sound-of-the-future">'Synthesizers: Sound of the Future'</a> explored electronic music experimentation in Melbourne in the 1960s and 70s.<br />
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Based on the <a href="https://www.unimelb.edu.au/">University of Melbourne campus</a>, the Grainger Museum was originally set up by Australian composer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Grainger">Percy Grainger</a> and opened in 1938. The Museum's collection holds scores and manuscripts relating to Grainger's compositional career, as well as 50,000 other items, including diaries, ethnographic objects, furniture, decorative arts, photographs, artworks, clothing and correspondence.<br />
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After giving some background to Grainger's own interest and experimentation in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_improvisation">free music</a> in the 1950s, the exhibition then turned to the Museum's 1960s transformation into 'the Grainger Centre', a studio for students and composers of experimental electronic music. This was largely brought about by composer <a href="http://www.move.com.au/artist/keith-humble">Keith Humble</a>, who was appointed as a senior lecturer at the University in 1966.<br />
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Over eight years, Humble built up the Centre's electronic music studio, sourcing the most cutting-edge synthesizers of the time, including a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMS_VCS_3">VCS3</a> MK1, VCS3 MKII, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMS_Synthi_AKS">Synthi AKS</a> (which included a keyboard) and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMS_Synthi_100">EMS Synthi 100</a>. These were purchased from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Music_Studios">Electronic Music Studios (EMS)</a> in London, a company formed of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Zinovieff">Peter Zinovieff</a>, David Cockerell and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristram_Cary">Tristram Cary</a>, the latter of whom wrote music for <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who">Doctor Who</a></i>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe4ejT1oRxLYeI-LD1LLCbhPgP-XbZ6EEnBLYphZiHGtKhUUNWaIcratnsUWCDAkRinfewro3p_OviqTkM87btOSKCtl1hrdhIRZTFchNakKBnOEqy-DfE83ipMOs77ufy17LXzXE4S91Y/s1600/WhatsApp+Image+2018-11-09+at+14.57.58+%25281%2529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe4ejT1oRxLYeI-LD1LLCbhPgP-XbZ6EEnBLYphZiHGtKhUUNWaIcratnsUWCDAkRinfewro3p_OviqTkM87btOSKCtl1hrdhIRZTFchNakKBnOEqy-DfE83ipMOs77ufy17LXzXE4S91Y/s320/WhatsApp+Image+2018-11-09+at+14.57.58+%25281%2529.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Theremin</td></tr>
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One of the highlights of the exhibition was its bringing together of a range of these EMS instruments, some of which could be played. I couldn't resist trying out the <a href="http://sfforward.blogspot.com/2015/05/science-fiction-music-interconnections.html">theremin</a> (an earlier invention) and hearing its spooky science fictional tones, although 'playing' thin air proved difficult!<br />
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The exhibition finished on the 9 September but the Grainger Museum have <a href="https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/grainger/exhibits/show/synthesizers-sound-future/synthesizers_online_exhib">created an online exhibition</a> based on the show for those interested in finding out more.<br />
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Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05618355929577935922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-71975434179238523482018-09-30T09:45:00.001+01:002018-10-02T06:07:04.449+01:00R.C. Churchill – A Short History of the Future<div style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqR4q34jbwcb5VJywHi6EjLiciRwzYZbKHyQy2h3Ocd_81g0hG9I3iMsNW480ap5ifnSLJto2xneH_JimAtGkiNdCRdCA_0pmAuKvXK26H8Qz0o2HmBCSUcG6uX2PlaKHBTLERtJfPGi8/s1600/ASHotF.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1108" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqR4q34jbwcb5VJywHi6EjLiciRwzYZbKHyQy2h3Ocd_81g0hG9I3iMsNW480ap5ifnSLJto2xneH_JimAtGkiNdCRdCA_0pmAuKvXK26H8Qz0o2HmBCSUcG6uX2PlaKHBTLERtJfPGi8/s320/ASHotF.JPG" width="221" /></a>The 1950s seem to have been a particularly fertile period for writers exploring both the near and far future. In the wake of the totalitarian regimes which proliferated in Europe during the 1920s and 30s, with the coming of the Cold War and the horrors of Hiroshima, the Holocaust, and Stalin’s purges still fresh in the collective memory, these speculative visions tended toward the dystopian. Influenced by accelerating cultural and technological change, popular topics included authoritarianism, mechanisation, post-apocalypse survival, social control and state tyranny, reflecting the fears of a post-War generation. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTuqboLiq8Bd_mvx-S8uHE19jCv7tqKR8mnOfZclnqAWAhb-IcZ0t2vxR9wvmFLkFMkSlUSOYhHG9WvSDnYGK0D3huOZkSfZkc1vU8uumTccTpsbgqF_AIoL2E20OyRvfBOF6e_KYndgA/s1600/ASHotF-Chart.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTuqboLiq8Bd_mvx-S8uHE19jCv7tqKR8mnOfZclnqAWAhb-IcZ0t2vxR9wvmFLkFMkSlUSOYhHG9WvSDnYGK0D3huOZkSfZkc1vU8uumTccTpsbgqF_AIoL2E20OyRvfBOF6e_KYndgA/s320/ASHotF-Chart.JPG" width="215" /></a>In the middle of the decade, the English writer R.C. Churchill delved into this world to produce <em>A Short History of the Future</em>. Presented as a factual work based on ‘historical’ sources, Churchill constructed a chronology of the future from the 1950s to the sixtieth century, including maps and a timeline to trace the rise and fall of various fictional empires and regimes. The Airstrip One of Orwell’s <em>Nineteen Eighty-Four</em>, a primary text, is supplemented by <a href="http://ageofuncertainty.blogspot.com/2010/10/david-karp.html" target="_blank">American author David Karp’s <em>One</em></a>, which expands on the terrors of Winston Smith and the Ministry of Love with Professor Burden and the Department of Internal Examination. Ranging across the world, the benign New Cretan Epoch documented by <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/182222/seven-days-in-new-crete/9780141197678.html" target="_blank">Robert Graves’ <em>Seven Days in New Crete</em></a> is followed by Gilbert Frankau’s Second Christian Empire in 4192 (from <em>Unborn Tomorrow</em>). Churchill concludes by drawing on Bertrand Russell’s short story ‘Zahatopolk’, which depicts the fall of a sixtieth-century ‘religious dystopia’ governed from the University of Cuzco, Peru, and its succession by a reformation centred on Mount Kilimanjaro.<br />
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The works and writers considered in <em>A Short History of the Future</em> range from the well-known to the obscure and all-but-forgotten, concentrating on the literary tendency of sf rather than the pulp magazines. Thus Ray Bradbury, Bertrand Russell, Kurt Vonnegut and Evelyn Waugh are cited alongside Margot Bennett, Charles Chilton, Geddes MacGregor and C. H. Sisson. Sometimes Churchill references a lesser-known work by a famed author; <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05262-2" target="_blank">Aldous Huxley’s <em>Ape and Essence</em></a> rather than <em>Brave New World</em>, or Nevil Shute’s <em>In the Wet</em>, as <em>On the Beach</em> was yet to come. The skill with which the various sources are woven together is satisfying, providing a portrait of the times which produced them, and leaving scope for the future updating of this history.</div>
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R.C. Churchill (1916-1986) was born in Bromley, Kent – also <a href="http://www.bromleytimes.co.uk/news/exhibition-unlocks-secret-life-of-h-g-wells-1-737322" target="_blank">the birthplace of H.G. Wells</a>. In a long and varied literary career, he worked as a journalist and book reviewer for the <em>Birmingham Post</em>. He had pieces published in T.S. Eliot’s prestigious literary magazine <em>The Criterion</em> and the journal <em>Scrutiny</em>, founded by the influential critic F. R. Leavis. Churchill wrote extensively on English Literature, mainly Shakespeare and Dickens – his essay ‘The Genius of Charles Dickens’ appears in <em>The Pelican Guide to English Literature</em>. His interests and subject matter were wide-ranging, with titles and topics including <em>Art and Christianity</em> (1945), culture and democracy (<em>Disagreements</em>, 1950), <em>The English Sunday</em> (1954), and <em>Sixty Seasons of League Football</em> (1958). <em>A Short History of the Future</em> is, to my knowledge, his only foray into <a href="http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/churchill_r_c" target="_blank">the field of science fiction</a>.</div>
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I am grateful to Nick Reynolds for his help with my initial research into <em>A Short History of the Future</em>; <a href="https://nickreynoldsatwork.wordpress.com/2011/09/19/a-short-history-of-the-future-by-r-c-churchill/" target="_blank">his blog contains valuable information</a> on the book, which otherwise has a very small digital footprint.PBLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10424983027343602845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-82514410927745786682018-08-10T09:00:00.000+01:002018-08-10T03:45:05.656+01:00A Spanish Anarchist View on The Dispossessed<i>Ursula K. Le Guin’s </i>The Dispossessed<i> found an appreciative reader in the Spanish anarchist Victor García (the pseudonym of Germinal Gracia). Here, we reproduce the brief summary of the novel he included in his untranslated 1977 work on utopias and anarchism. Gracia was a veteran of the Spanish Civil War and the post-war clandestine anarchist movement in Spain who had subsequently spent decades exiled in Venezuela and France. A voracious reader, traveller and linguist, Gracia was concerned that the classic works of anarchism that had shaped his ideological development and that of his comrades were no longer appropriate for disseminating anarchist ideas. In Le Guin, Gracia perceived an imagination capable of translating their shared ideals for a contemporary audience</i>.<br />
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Taken from: Victor García, <i>Utopías y Anarquismo</i>. Laguna de Mayrán: Editores Mexicanos Unidos, 1977, pp. 101-3 (my translation):<br />
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Because it doesn’t have established pre-requisites, science fiction offers its readership all kinds of fantastical situations.<br />
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Such is the case of Anarres, the utopian planet created by Ursula K. Le Guin, nine light years from Earth, where the Odonians – anarchists who wanted to found a regime without authority or government, with solidarity as the basic norm of behaviour – chose to live in voluntary exile.<br />
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<i>The Dispossessed</i> is the work of a writer with a deep understanding of and open sympathy for libertarian ideals. It is the first work of science fiction in which anarchism is brought into objective focus without avoiding, which is to be applauded, the recurrence of human problems that no social regime could ever eliminate.<br />
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Three space days’ travel from Anarres we find Urras, the planet the Odonians left one hundred and sixty years ago. Shevek, a great mathematical physicist, is working on an equation as transcendental as those of Einstein and Planck, and as such is the first inhabitant of Anarres to visit Urras, where he is feted by the great and good and universities fight for his services.<br />
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Urras conforms to a system of state regimes more or less like our own, where the powerful live in unimaginable luxury while those in poverty would envy the conditions endured by the poor in our society. Shevek discovers this gradually:<br />
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The conversation went on. It was
difficult for Shevek to follow, both in language and in substance. He was being
told about things he had no experience of at all. He had never seen a rat, or
an army barracks, or an insane asylum, or a poorhouse, or a pawnshop, or an
execution, or a thief, or a tenement, or a rent collector, or a man who wanted
to work and could not find work to do, or a dead baby in a ditch.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When Shevek, evading the surveillance of the powerful, manages to visit the poor neighbourhoods where a general strike is being planned, the people let him know that they are aware of the existence of Anarres and long to emulate its system. The greatest wish they express for one another is ‘May you get reborn on Anarres!’ ‘To know that it exists, to know that there is a society without government, without police, without economic exploitation…’ ‘I wonder’, the worker Maedda says to Shevek, ‘if you fully understand why they [the powerful] have kept you so well hidden… because you are an idea. A dangerous one. The idea of anarchism, made flesh. Walking amongst us.’<br />
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Shevek returns to Anarres disillusioned. He has not revealed his theory because the powers that be in Urras only wanted to understand it to make themselves still more powerful and to subjugate the nine planets of their universe, which includes Earth: ‘A planet spoiled by the human species’, as Keng, ambassador of earth on Urras, explains:<br />
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We multiplied and gobbled and
fought until there was nothing left, and then we died. We controlled neither
appetite nor violence; we did not adapt. We destroyed ourselves. But we
destroyed the world first. There are no forests left on my Earth. The air is
grey, the sky is grey, it is always hot. It is still habitable, but not as this
world is.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The work of Ursula K. Le Guin could successfully replace, for modern minds, venerable tomes like <i>At the Café</i> and <i>Between Peasants</i> by Malatesta, <i>Sembrando flores</i> by Federico Urales, and Jean Grave’s <i>The Adventures of Nono</i>. While it suffers the impact of environmental pessimism, it holds fast to a glimmer of salvation: Anarres, refuge of the anarchists.Dannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10851924193534547127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2055756260612547477.post-66465637725477824222018-07-26T09:48:00.000+01:002020-07-22T15:40:11.952+01:00SF Images on the Mechanical CuratorI attended a <a href="https://www.bl.uk/">British Library</a> event in Edinburgh recently where I learned more about the activities of their Labs initiative, which is funded by the <a href="http://www.mellon.org/">Andrew W. Mellon Foundation</a>. Launched in 2013, <a href="https://www.bl.uk/projects/british-library-labs">BL Labs</a> helps researchers develop new ways of working with collections content and data. In practice, this work ranges from making digitised collections more accessible, to facilitating the use of text analysis software and spatial mapping tools.<br />
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So, on to the SF part of the story. Many people who encounter BL Labs will have done so (perhaps without knowing it) through the images taken from its ‘Mechanical Curator’ project. This is a program that BL Labs created to extract images from 65,000 of the digitised books in the Library's collection. In 2013, as a result of this process, a million images were uploaded to Flickr Commons under the CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication, which means that anyone can copy, modify and distribute them, even for commercial purposes, without needing permission. The collection includes cartoons, architecture, adverts and decorative art, among other things. But there's also a <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/albums/72157638850077096">Space and SF album</a>, made up of astronomical and speculative space imagery (see example below).<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDwN6ETx3Kv3LADYNTGiNRFFdetPYnzp5bVt8RVOYiyqjltNNB8HyyQEmsB-ylsfJ5eC1qJ71KHG30eZCUkWVoiTBzIvgYpuYM3xPHDp46yWIfhDeSej9dzxmtBarhAYstML761do-pOZM/s1600/11264126373_4d993c6eed_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="640" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDwN6ETx3Kv3LADYNTGiNRFFdetPYnzp5bVt8RVOYiyqjltNNB8HyyQEmsB-ylsfJ5eC1qJ71KHG30eZCUkWVoiTBzIvgYpuYM3xPHDp46yWIfhDeSej9dzxmtBarhAYstML761do-pOZM/s400/11264126373_4d993c6eed_z.jpg" title="https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/11264126373/in/album-72157638850077096/" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image taken from page 84 of <i>La fregate l'Incomprise. Voyage autour du monde à la plume par Sahib</i>.</td></tr>
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These reminded me of illustrations from some of the Special Collections volumes included in the the <a href="https://library.leeds.ac.uk/info/1900/galleries">Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery’s</a> exhibition <a href="https://issuu.com/sabgallery/docs/booklet">‘Visions of the Future’</a> (4 April - 11 June 2011) (see below).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZhv_iSMNKr8dpdvCo3RW3fvnJ5vYnsJV_Oe0FZG9mkgJxgYJqCOQbrz3U4Fk3Mhc0vfIpzEOHM0rst6CkukPwuPYAYyXXX_ZvWvynyYg79ehOfMIIHcZeecfGOy7DLqs0Z86YnNMiH7DR/s1600/Robida.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="306" data-original-width="210" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZhv_iSMNKr8dpdvCo3RW3fvnJ5vYnsJV_Oe0FZG9mkgJxgYJqCOQbrz3U4Fk3Mhc0vfIpzEOHM0rst6CkukPwuPYAYyXXX_ZvWvynyYg79ehOfMIIHcZeecfGOy7DLqs0Z86YnNMiH7DR/s400/Robida.jpg" width="274" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Albert Robida <i>Le Vingtième Siècle</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjglsCC0qiq41WNXWoFkz0GzW2V2Z2FasGWNTmfL-ea17pGe43iccLK3NiW7QiXZvhGSHi2T3xyBwz-3QGjOnkV5J98bSvhyphenhyphent8l9XfF-yiAY5OoYiUx4yWikJUEDvhIdtHZxph4ZTUqohoM/s1600/Robida.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="706" data-original-width="423" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjglsCC0qiq41WNXWoFkz0GzW2V2Z2FasGWNTmfL-ea17pGe43iccLK3NiW7QiXZvhGSHi2T3xyBwz-3QGjOnkV5J98bSvhyphenhyphent8l9XfF-yiAY5OoYiUx4yWikJUEDvhIdtHZxph4ZTUqohoM/s400/Robida.png" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Albert Robida <i>Voyages Très Extraordinaires</i></td></tr>
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For those who prefer chance encounters, there's also the <a href="http://mechanicalcurator.tumblr.com/">Mechanical Curator tumblr page</a>, which automatically publishes a randomly selected image from the collection every hour. And the public domain mark on the images has led to some interesting cases of creative re-use. Notable examples include artist Mario Klingemann's <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/quasimondo/sets/72157638820730895">series of artworks</a> using the images and the music video design for the song 'Hey There Young Sailor' by The Impatient Sisters.<br />
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Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05618355929577935922noreply@blogger.com0