TO READ FOR NEXT WEEK:
Neutron Star by Larry Niven
The Machine Stops by E.M. Forester
This week's non-Hugo is a suggestion from a new member to the scificlub/hubski. Thanks Trombone!
DISCUSSION OF LAST WEEK'S READING:
Prompts for discussion
"REPENT, HARLEQUIN!" SAID THE TICKTOCKMAN: Here we have a short story about civil disobedience that actually seems rather topical right now. What's the virtues of the Harlequin's disobedience, and is his disobedience effective?
And remember to vote for your favorites for next week
Ongoing list of material to vote on
Frankenstein
Forbidden Planet
The Day the Earth Stood Still
I, Robot (book)
Watchbird by Robert Sheckley
Equoid by Charles Stross
Shoutouts:
Trombone kleinbl00 JakobVirgil mhr OftenBen plewemt elizabeth blackbootz flagamuffin Meriadoc minimum_wage Tiger_the_Lion _thoracic johnnyFive tehstone rthomas6 War Dala OftenBen bhrgunatha kantos francopoli anatomygeek Purple_Ruby
So I really enjoy Ellison's style myself. It's very vivid and exuberant and not afraid to break any boundaries to achieve the effect it wants, which is in fact very suiting for the story itself. As has been mentioned before, Harlan Ellison is quite an antagonistic fellow, and if he weren't so good at what he does he'd probably been thrown in some ditch ages ago--as the stories would imply. I look forward to the other entries of his that have won Hugos in this category. I've only read "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" on the list.
I haven't read much by Ellison, although I'm of course familiar with his TV writing. "I have no mouth and I must scream" is fantastic. This one, though, didn't really do it for me. It's too much on the 1984 side of spectrum (with the opposite end being Brave New World). BNW is, to me, far more prescient. I'm not afraid of the kind of regimen he describes, which smacks of the whole "liberal fascism" idea. Where I do see some current relevance is the idea of a character self-destructively lashing out because that's all he knows how to (or, more accurately, can be bothered to) do.
Firstoff, I have no previous familiarity with Ellison and this was my introduction to him (besides knowing he wrote an episode of Star Trek). I generally liked "Repent", most of all for the writing style. The jelly bean paragraph is really quite spectacular. I also enjoyed some of the parallels that were drawn in the text (for example: the Ticktockman purrs, as does the fatbox that hands down his messages). However, I don't think the anti-regimentation message is terribly engaging. I found myself wondering more about the implications and mechanics of the cardioplate system than anything. Surely, random errors occur in this society. Things must break down or glitch out sometimes, or maybe they're interrupted by the Harlequin. So, what happens if you're late because of something out of your control? Do you still get time docked? Is there a review committee to determine extenuating circumstances? Can you appeal?
I can relate with your roadblock about the surrealty of the world that is presented. It's one of the weaknesses of the style. How the hell does X work if yadda yadda... But the point is not so much the believability of the World, as the author would have it; it's all a parable-scape to explore the topic at hand. The topic at hand seems to be the incessant rage for the world that does not understand Ellison's own eccentricities. If there's one thing I've learned from 20-or-so scificlubs, it's that there's a range of certain aspects that determine how we respond to literature. One such aspect is the willful suspension of disbelief. A generous willful suspension of disbelief will not poke at faults in Repent, but a strict one will reject it completely. I think there's a limited number of dimensions on which can describe our tastes in literature and predict it effectively (willful suspension of disbelief being one. Prosaity, for example, could be another). I'd like to develop an idea of these dimensions as the club progresses.
Yep, I think you've diagnosed my perspective pretty accurately. I understand that the World in this case is just a vehicle, but I've always been a stickler for detail. I wouldn't say I reject the World in this case, but I certainly am curious about how it works. It shouldn't come as a surprise that I found the level of detail in Red Mars quite satisfying when I read it.