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awodeyar's review against another edition
4.0
I came to Cordwainer Smith through Ursula Le Guin- she spoke highly of him and then his life story motivated me to read him. A child of two cultures always seems more capable of doing legit scifi. While the stories are interesting and I can see how he always focuses on the humanity of the characters, I found it slightly unfulfilling. I wanted more context in places, I wanted to spend more time with the characters and their unique situations in others, sometimes the reason I wanted this was because then maybe a deus ex machina wouldn't have been needed. Maybe my main issue then is that these short stories didn't work great as short stories because of how rich his world is.
cpontrella's review against another edition
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
4.0
ponycanyon's review
5.0
When I finished "The Rediscovery of Man," I felt like I had read an entire 20-novel future-history cycle; such is the totality and scope of this collection of interconnected short stories. The closest and most obvious comparison would be Asmiov's Foundation books, but I honestly believe that The Rediscovery of Man does the same thing better in the space of about 300 pages. The first story begins 4000 years in the future, and the stories proceed in chronological order from there. Mindblowing.
gon8go's review against another edition
4.0
These stories are way out there and so ahead of their time I had to keep checking the original publication dates. There are concepts that would fit into the new wave, social sci-fi and even cyberpunk that wouldn’t come back for years. Smith was clearly influential in a way that reverberates even now. He further stands out by using Chinese story formats he picked up when living in china in his youth. If that’s not enough to convince you, he’s got some killer prose.
Because of his early death most of his output was short stories all taking place in a future history called the instrumentality of mankind. He did write one novel called notstrillia that I intend to get to soon.
Because of his early death most of his output was short stories all taking place in a future history called the instrumentality of mankind. He did write one novel called notstrillia that I intend to get to soon.
qdony's review against another edition
4.0
Aunque mi lectura ha sido más bien accidentada y mi primer contacto no fue bueno, al final Cordwainer Smith ha sido un verdadero descubrimiento. No todos los relatos me interesan por igual, pero para mi tiene al menos 4 o 5 tremendos. El nivel imaginativo es muy alto —es ciencia ficción del exceso, en cierta manera— y el estilo del autor sabe sacarle partido para dar la sensación de que todo forma parte de un tiempo futuro casi mítico. En general es narrador en tercera persona MUY omnisciente, más o menos extradiegético pero que forma parte del continuo temporal en el que suceden los hechos: opina, mina la autoridad de los personajes, los humaniza. Participa de la historia y la modifica, en definitiva. También crea una mitología interna muy rica y atractiva. Está muy claro, a lo largo del libro, que el autor usa la ciencia ficción para hablar del ser humano y de la historia. Y ya no digo más para no autoboicotearme el artículo de SuperSonic Magazine.
No es una lectura fácil, la he maldecido a ratos, pero volveré a Cordwainer Smith. Me interesa tanto el personaje como la obra.
No es una lectura fácil, la he maldecido a ratos, pero volveré a Cordwainer Smith. Me interesa tanto el personaje como la obra.
rebecita's review against another edition
Whoa, I file this under giving-sci-fi-a-bad-name. At first I just found it not my cup of tea. I don't go in for short stories or mythical far future stuff to begin with. And Smith is so obsessed with moralizing about traditional gender roles it borders on misogyny. But I tried to persevere and finish this for the SF Masterworks group.
Then. Then I got to the story "The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal" which holds the dubious honor of being the most hateful piece of fiction I have ever read. It's literally about GAY MONSTERS FROM SPACE COMING TO GET US. Not even in a metaphorical way. It's... not subtle. So the premise is on some far away planet "femininity became carcinogenic" (!) and thanks to another sci-fi standby, a cold-hearted woman scientist, all the women transgendered into men. Cue B-movie as produced by the Family Research Council.
"Since they did not have the rewards of family life, they became
strutting cockerels, who mixed their love with murder, who blended
their songs with duels, who sharpened their weapons and who earned the
right to reproduce within a strange family system which no decent
Earth-man would find comprehensible... The family, as they recalled
it, was filth and abomination which they were resolved to wipe out if
they should ever meet it."
"Mankind could not meet the terrible people of Arachosia without the
people of Arachosia following them home and bringing to mankind a
grief greater than grief, a craziness worse than mere insanity, a
plague surpassing all imaginable plagues."
Hoooooly crap. I felt dirty just retyping that. This from a man who is widely considered a visionary and master of the genre. I don't want to censor his writing or lessen the inspiration readers have taken from him, but it makes me sad that amidst the rave reviews I couldn't find one single reference or discussion online regarding his gender issues, let alone this virulent homophobia. Scifi community, you're letting me down!
Then. Then I got to the story "The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal" which holds the dubious honor of being the most hateful piece of fiction I have ever read. It's literally about GAY MONSTERS FROM SPACE COMING TO GET US. Not even in a metaphorical way. It's... not subtle. So the premise is on some far away planet "femininity became carcinogenic" (!) and thanks to another sci-fi standby, a cold-hearted woman scientist, all the women transgendered into men. Cue B-movie as produced by the Family Research Council.
"Since they did not have the rewards of family life, they became
strutting cockerels, who mixed their love with murder, who blended
their songs with duels, who sharpened their weapons and who earned the
right to reproduce within a strange family system which no decent
Earth-man would find comprehensible... The family, as they recalled
it, was filth and abomination which they were resolved to wipe out if
they should ever meet it."
"Mankind could not meet the terrible people of Arachosia without the
people of Arachosia following them home and bringing to mankind a
grief greater than grief, a craziness worse than mere insanity, a
plague surpassing all imaginable plagues."
Hoooooly crap. I felt dirty just retyping that. This from a man who is widely considered a visionary and master of the genre. I don't want to censor his writing or lessen the inspiration readers have taken from him, but it makes me sad that amidst the rave reviews I couldn't find one single reference or discussion online regarding his gender issues, let alone this virulent homophobia. Scifi community, you're letting me down!
oleksandr's review against another edition
4.0
This is a collection of weird SF future history by [a:Cordwainer Smith|11390|Cordwainer Smith|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1244379873p2/11390.jpg], whose style and ideas were notably ahead of their time in the 50s and 60s, when they were published. Before reading this collection, I’ve read only one story by the author and I guess a bit underestimated its quality because I wasn’t aware of the larger picture of his universe.
Cordwainer Smith is a pen-name of an American SF author Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger (July 11, 1913 – August 6, 1966). His short and very interesting biography, including his work on how he made Chinese solders to concede during the Korean war w/o loss of honor, is described here.
This collection consists of nine works, each with a short one paragraph note by the editor on where/when in his future history it fits.
Scanners Live in Vain (1950) his is the first work set in that universe and while initially published in an obscure magazine, but got popular, entering multiple Best of books for the 50s SF. The idea is that there is the "pain of space", making space travel impossible for humans, and there are Habermans and their supervisors, Scanners, had all their sensory nerves but eyesight cut to block that pain to guide the spaceships with sleeping passengers. The protagonist visits his wife and is temporary ‘crunched’ i.e. gets a virtual restoration of emotions, when he is unexpectedly summoned to a meeting of Scanners, who discuss a possible technological breakthrough that may make them obsolete. 4*
The Lady Who Sailed the Soul (1960) a story of a women pilot Helen America of solar sail ship, who fells in love with another pilot, Mr. Grey-no-more. The problem is that piloting takes decades of real time, but drugs make pilots feel them like a month, even if their body ages much more rapidly. The story is made as a historical essay of a famous romance, later embellished by many authors. 4*
The Game of Rat and Dragon (1955) The only story I’ve read before. There is a new way to travel between planets – Planoforming, where a spacecraft shifts to change the number of dimensions to achieve faster travel. However, in these dimensions live some malevolent entities, which endanger the ship. A crew of human telepaths and cats are defending against the attacks. 4.5*
The Burning of the Brain (1958) a version of The Lady Who.. from above, but with a Go-Captain Magno Taliano and of his wife Dolores Oh, whose obsessive jealousy leads to a tragedy. 3*
Golden the Ship Was---Oh! Oh! Oh! (1959) one of a weirder pieces, a to win a war a special golden ship is created by Earth, The ship itself, larger than most stars, was an incredible monstrosity. but is actually ‘all barf no bite’. 3* sidnote: the earliest notion of electrostimulating brain pleasure region as a drug variant, later used by e.g. [a:Larry Niven|12534|Larry Niven|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1596428206p2/12534.jpg].
The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal (1964) a planet on the outskirts of human space is discovered by Commander Suzdal. There, initial human colonists were affected by alien illness that targetted women, so they ended up a men-only society that over generations (they recreate) developed a hate-love to unknown beings – women and Earth and Suzdal fought them the crazy way that led to a creation of Underpeople - animals modified into human form and intelligence to fulfill servile roles, and treated as property. 5*
The Dead Lady of Clown Town (1964) a new utopia shows dark backside: a woman named Elaine by error was born on a developed world with good healthcare – she is a witch, one of modified humans (most people are these day, eugenic heaven) for new colonies, where they worked unaccountable cures. For pioneer parties, these lay therapists were invaluable; in settled societies, they became an awful nuisance. She doesn’t know why she doesn’t fit into a society and once she meets a robot with an uploaded real person mind, who opens her a way to Underworld, where Underpeople hide. These uplifted animals had a mythos of a savior that will come one day, and this is the day. 5*
Under Old Earth (1966) the Lord Sto Odin prepares to die and wonders on a palatine with two robots made like Roman legionaries and uploaded personalities, because he assumes that happy new world made people uninterested in living and outcasts and rebels live deep underground. One of such rebels, Sun-boy, got an alien artifact with strange properties and started his cult. 4*
Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons (1961) there is a rejuvenation drug, stroon is harvested only on the planet Norstrilia from gigantic, virus-infected sheep each weighing more than 100 tons. Norstrilians are the richest people in the galaxy and defend their immensely valuable drug with sophisticated weapons. A representative of another planet, the best of thieves, tries to steal the secret of their defenses. 3.5*
Alpha Ralpha Boulevard (1961) bland happy utopia that almost destroyed the humanity is replaced by the Rediscovery of Man, a revival of old cultures and languages to return risks, that spice the life. A couple of people, who are now Frenchmen rediscover the world around them. 4*
The Ballad of Lost C'Mell (1962) a cat Underperson C'Mell worked as a girly girl on the Earthport, welcoming visitors, and together with the Lord Jestocost she is to change the status of underpeople from property to persons. 3*
A Planet Named Shayol (1961) a hell for criminals, a planet were local biosphere causes people to grow extra organs, which the Empire harvests for medical purposes. The bull-man B'dikkat administers the prisoners a drug called super-condamine to alleviate the pain of their punishment and from their surgeries, so they fluctuate between bliss and damnation. Inspired by [a:Dante Alighieri|5031312|Dante Alighieri|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1310943198p2/5031312.jpg]‘s [b:The Divine Comedy:|57991483|The Divine Comedy (illustrated edition)|Dante Alighieri|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1620597336l/57991483._SX50_.jpg|809248]. 4*
Cordwainer Smith is a pen-name of an American SF author Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger (July 11, 1913 – August 6, 1966). His short and very interesting biography, including his work on how he made Chinese solders to concede during the Korean war w/o loss of honor, is described here.
This collection consists of nine works, each with a short one paragraph note by the editor on where/when in his future history it fits.
Scanners Live in Vain (1950) his is the first work set in that universe and while initially published in an obscure magazine, but got popular, entering multiple Best of books for the 50s SF. The idea is that there is the "pain of space", making space travel impossible for humans, and there are Habermans and their supervisors, Scanners, had all their sensory nerves but eyesight cut to block that pain to guide the spaceships with sleeping passengers. The protagonist visits his wife and is temporary ‘crunched’ i.e. gets a virtual restoration of emotions, when he is unexpectedly summoned to a meeting of Scanners, who discuss a possible technological breakthrough that may make them obsolete. 4*
The Lady Who Sailed the Soul (1960) a story of a women pilot Helen America of solar sail ship, who fells in love with another pilot, Mr. Grey-no-more. The problem is that piloting takes decades of real time, but drugs make pilots feel them like a month, even if their body ages much more rapidly. The story is made as a historical essay of a famous romance, later embellished by many authors. 4*
The Game of Rat and Dragon (1955) The only story I’ve read before. There is a new way to travel between planets – Planoforming, where a spacecraft shifts to change the number of dimensions to achieve faster travel. However, in these dimensions live some malevolent entities, which endanger the ship. A crew of human telepaths and cats are defending against the attacks. 4.5*
The Burning of the Brain (1958) a version of The Lady Who.. from above, but with a Go-Captain Magno Taliano and of his wife Dolores Oh, whose obsessive jealousy leads to a tragedy. 3*
Golden the Ship Was---Oh! Oh! Oh! (1959) one of a weirder pieces, a to win a war a special golden ship is created by Earth, The ship itself, larger than most stars, was an incredible monstrosity. but is actually ‘all barf no bite’. 3* sidnote: the earliest notion of electrostimulating brain pleasure region as a drug variant, later used by e.g. [a:Larry Niven|12534|Larry Niven|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1596428206p2/12534.jpg].
The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal (1964) a planet on the outskirts of human space is discovered by Commander Suzdal. There, initial human colonists were affected by alien illness that targetted women, so they ended up a men-only society that over generations (they recreate) developed a hate-love to unknown beings – women and Earth and Suzdal fought them the crazy way that led to a creation of Underpeople - animals modified into human form and intelligence to fulfill servile roles, and treated as property. 5*
The Dead Lady of Clown Town (1964) a new utopia shows dark backside: a woman named Elaine by error was born on a developed world with good healthcare – she is a witch, one of modified humans (most people are these day, eugenic heaven) for new colonies, where they worked unaccountable cures. For pioneer parties, these lay therapists were invaluable; in settled societies, they became an awful nuisance. She doesn’t know why she doesn’t fit into a society and once she meets a robot with an uploaded real person mind, who opens her a way to Underworld, where Underpeople hide. These uplifted animals had a mythos of a savior that will come one day, and this is the day. 5*
Under Old Earth (1966) the Lord Sto Odin prepares to die and wonders on a palatine with two robots made like Roman legionaries and uploaded personalities, because he assumes that happy new world made people uninterested in living and outcasts and rebels live deep underground. One of such rebels, Sun-boy, got an alien artifact with strange properties and started his cult. 4*
Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons (1961) there is a rejuvenation drug, stroon is harvested only on the planet Norstrilia from gigantic, virus-infected sheep each weighing more than 100 tons. Norstrilians are the richest people in the galaxy and defend their immensely valuable drug with sophisticated weapons. A representative of another planet, the best of thieves, tries to steal the secret of their defenses. 3.5*
Alpha Ralpha Boulevard (1961) bland happy utopia that almost destroyed the humanity is replaced by the Rediscovery of Man, a revival of old cultures and languages to return risks, that spice the life. A couple of people, who are now Frenchmen rediscover the world around them. 4*
The Ballad of Lost C'Mell (1962) a cat Underperson C'Mell worked as a girly girl on the Earthport, welcoming visitors, and together with the Lord Jestocost she is to change the status of underpeople from property to persons. 3*
A Planet Named Shayol (1961) a hell for criminals, a planet were local biosphere causes people to grow extra organs, which the Empire harvests for medical purposes. The bull-man B'dikkat administers the prisoners a drug called super-condamine to alleviate the pain of their punishment and from their surgeries, so they fluctuate between bliss and damnation. Inspired by [a:Dante Alighieri|5031312|Dante Alighieri|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1310943198p2/5031312.jpg]‘s [b:The Divine Comedy:|57991483|The Divine Comedy (illustrated edition)|Dante Alighieri|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1620597336l/57991483._SX50_.jpg|809248]. 4*
elbimsalem's review against another edition
challenging
dark
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.5
nwhyte's review
http://nhw.livejournal.com/997655.html[return][return]This volume pulls together a dozen of his short stories, all loosely connected through his future history based on the controlling Instrumentality and featuring the planet Norstrilia. I found the style on the whole almost incomprehensible in places and yet weirdly compelling; tales told with utterly unselfconscious conviction, of beings whose consciousness teeters on the edge of human understanding. I may try and find a reader's guide somewhere to help me understand what was going on, and then go back to it. Fascinating stuff.