Scott Westerfeld has authored a set of four related speculative texts about an amazing world of the future. Beginning with Uglies, Mr. Westerfeld introduces us to a world wherein everyone gets an extensive operation and turns pretty at age 16. People who have not yet had the operation are termed uglies and spend their lives dreaming of the pretty life to come. Shay and Tally chafe at their ugly lives and employ their energies in trying to disrupt the system, (which they are quite adept at doing...)
Pretties shows Shay and Tally with another point of view on their society. Having successfully become pretties, they enjoy the parties and glamour, but they begin to miss their ugly little adventures. Something beckons to them. Specials brings Tally and Shay together on a special mission. They are out to find and destroy the counter-culture. Morphed into humans of super strength and sensitivity, the girls ride their hoverboards into stardom. Mysteries are explained, hearts are broken, and friendships are lost and found. Finally, Extras is a twist on the preceding three books. The main characters have changed as has society. Rather than strive to be pretty, people now strive to be in the top 1000 of famous people. Technology and personal uniqueness is all the rage. The new focus, Aya, is a kicker. She publishes, what she hopes is, breaking news. Her news brings out Tally from the wilderness and the reader enjoys further adventures.
As described, these books may not sound like much, but they are difficult to put down. Westerfeld's imagination is powerful. The mileau that he creates is fascinating. The language used by the characters, the structure of society, and the technology used by the characters is plausible, possible, and forward looking. My 8th grade students recommended the books to me and I read them with pleasure. I even bought the hard copy of the fourth book because I was so eager to read it. Westerfeld's books are engrossing and appealing to a wide range of reader. He also has a web site: http://www.scottwesterfeld.com/
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
The Fox and the Jewel, by Karen A Smyers
The worship of Inari seems to be more prevalent in Japan than I had ever imagined. Being a devotee of the fox image in Chinese and Japanese art and literature, I am ever on the look out for more information about this favorite topic. Ms. Smyers, an assistant professor of Religion at Wesleyen University, has written an interesting study of the connection of foxes with the worship of Inari.
According to Ms. Smyers, the worship of Inari is highly individualized and is concerned with growth, change, increase, fertility, etc. (214). Although not officially identified with Inari, the fox is a main symbol and is considered to accompany or act as a messenger to Inari. Ms. Smyers provides many references to foxes in folk tale, legend, and image. She references the Hiroshige woodblock depicted on this blog.
I found her study very interesting and thorough. I recommend it to anyone with interests similar to mine.
Smyers, Karen A. The Fox and the Jewel. 1999. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
According to Ms. Smyers, the worship of Inari is highly individualized and is concerned with growth, change, increase, fertility, etc. (214). Although not officially identified with Inari, the fox is a main symbol and is considered to accompany or act as a messenger to Inari. Ms. Smyers provides many references to foxes in folk tale, legend, and image. She references the Hiroshige woodblock depicted on this blog.
I found her study very interesting and thorough. I recommend it to anyone with interests similar to mine.
Smyers, Karen A. The Fox and the Jewel. 1999. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Cosmos and Pornographia, by Witold Gombrowicz
This guy is a very odd writer. He is Polish; he examines the periods of the world wars. Yet his interest is in the individual perspective on the erotic. HE would not be so crass as to say erotic, yet he is very interested in the way one pays attention and the mode of consciousness involved in being aware. His awareness is centered on common place details that are not usually noticed. He makes much of details that are triadic in nature. If they occur as threes, they must be significant. Mr. Gombrowicz makes much of nothing and thereby makes more than the reader has expected.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler
Speculative Fiction.
“It’s raining.
We heard last night on the radio that there was a storm sweeping in from the Pacific, but most people didn’t believe it. ‘We’ll have wind,’ Cory said. ‘Wind and maybe a few drops of rain, or maybe just a little cool weather. That would be welcome. It’s all we’ll get.’
That’s all there has been for six years. I can remember the rain six years ago, water swirling around the back porch, not high enough to come into the house, but high enough to attract my brothers who wanted to play in it” (45).
There has been no rain for 6 years, the future in Butler’s story is dry and desolate. California has become a living hell. What does the future hold? How can a population survive?
Octavia Butler seeks to answer these questions in her creation of a dystopic world of the future. Written as a journal between the dates of Saturday, July 20, 2024 and October 1, 2027, the 15 year old author, Lauren Olamina, struggles to make sense of her world. It’s a different world from the one that we are used to now. In 2024, People live in walled communities and outside the walls is anarchy. It is not safe to drive to work; cars are hijacked, people are shot at, and arson is a regular occurrence. Water has become extremely rare and people will kill for it. Everyone carries a weapon for safety. Addiction is common and the favorite drug of choice is one that causes its users to burn, rape, and murder. Life is hell, yet people still try to raise families and survive the best they are able.
Lauren has been raised in a loving family in a town called Robledo, twenty miles from Los Angeles. Her Dad is a black college professor and preacher and her step-mother’s name is Corazon or “heart.” It’s a good thing that Lauren’s step-mother has a lot of heart, because Lauren’s mother was drug addicted and Lauren was born with a syndrome called, “Hyperempathy.” Lauren shares the pain and suffering of others. She feels what others feel as if it is happening to herself. This makes for a difficult life and Lauren has developed all sorts of ways to protect herself. Unfortunately, the walls don’t hold and Lauren is thrust out into the world and left to survive on her own. She finds herself walking the freeways to northern California, supported by the friends she picks up along the way and her philosophy of life. “We are Earthseed / The life that perceives itself / Changing” (117).
Olivia Butler is one of the first of a very few black female science fiction writers. Her stories are about people who struggle with a marginalized existence and find power and faith in community. She also writes very interesting stories about alien/human encounters, and stories about populations of people with various types of genetic mutations. Her books are fascinating studies of marginalized existence. People have to struggle to make it in the world. What is ethical/permissible when one has to struggle for one’s very existence – for one’s right to life? Ms. Butler shows us lives in extremity, people trying to do the best they can with the resources available. It isn’t always a pretty sight, but it is always gripping and sometimes sensational. Her characterizations offer sparkles of light in otherwise bleak situations. Possibly a metaphor for those of us that struggle in our society today, Octavia Butler’s novels are always creative, honest, and startling imaginative.
“It’s raining.
We heard last night on the radio that there was a storm sweeping in from the Pacific, but most people didn’t believe it. ‘We’ll have wind,’ Cory said. ‘Wind and maybe a few drops of rain, or maybe just a little cool weather. That would be welcome. It’s all we’ll get.’
That’s all there has been for six years. I can remember the rain six years ago, water swirling around the back porch, not high enough to come into the house, but high enough to attract my brothers who wanted to play in it” (45).
There has been no rain for 6 years, the future in Butler’s story is dry and desolate. California has become a living hell. What does the future hold? How can a population survive?
Octavia Butler seeks to answer these questions in her creation of a dystopic world of the future. Written as a journal between the dates of Saturday, July 20, 2024 and October 1, 2027, the 15 year old author, Lauren Olamina, struggles to make sense of her world. It’s a different world from the one that we are used to now. In 2024, People live in walled communities and outside the walls is anarchy. It is not safe to drive to work; cars are hijacked, people are shot at, and arson is a regular occurrence. Water has become extremely rare and people will kill for it. Everyone carries a weapon for safety. Addiction is common and the favorite drug of choice is one that causes its users to burn, rape, and murder. Life is hell, yet people still try to raise families and survive the best they are able.
Lauren has been raised in a loving family in a town called Robledo, twenty miles from Los Angeles. Her Dad is a black college professor and preacher and her step-mother’s name is Corazon or “heart.” It’s a good thing that Lauren’s step-mother has a lot of heart, because Lauren’s mother was drug addicted and Lauren was born with a syndrome called, “Hyperempathy.” Lauren shares the pain and suffering of others. She feels what others feel as if it is happening to herself. This makes for a difficult life and Lauren has developed all sorts of ways to protect herself. Unfortunately, the walls don’t hold and Lauren is thrust out into the world and left to survive on her own. She finds herself walking the freeways to northern California, supported by the friends she picks up along the way and her philosophy of life. “We are Earthseed / The life that perceives itself / Changing” (117).
Olivia Butler is one of the first of a very few black female science fiction writers. Her stories are about people who struggle with a marginalized existence and find power and faith in community. She also writes very interesting stories about alien/human encounters, and stories about populations of people with various types of genetic mutations. Her books are fascinating studies of marginalized existence. People have to struggle to make it in the world. What is ethical/permissible when one has to struggle for one’s very existence – for one’s right to life? Ms. Butler shows us lives in extremity, people trying to do the best they can with the resources available. It isn’t always a pretty sight, but it is always gripping and sometimes sensational. Her characterizations offer sparkles of light in otherwise bleak situations. Possibly a metaphor for those of us that struggle in our society today, Octavia Butler’s novels are always creative, honest, and startling imaginative.
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