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What really happened in the Marabar caves? This is the mystery at the heart of E.M. Forster's 1924 novel, A Passage to India, the puzzle that sets in motion events highlighting an even larger question: Can an Englishman and an Indian be friends?
"It is impossible here," an Indian character tells his friend, Dr. Aziz, early in the novel.
"They come out intending to be gentlemen, and are told it will not do.... Why, I remember when Turton came out first. It was in another part of the Province. You fellows will not believe me, but I have driven with Turton in his carriage--Turton! Oh yes, we were once quite intimate. He has shown me his stamp collection.
"He would expect you to steal it now. Turton! But red-nosed boy will be far worse than Turton!
"I do not think so. They all become exactly the same, not worse, not better. I give any Englishman two years, be he Turton or Burton. It is only the difference of a letter. And I give any Englishwoman six months. All are exactly alike."
Written while England was still firmly in control of India, Forster's novel follows the fortunes of three English newcomers to India--Miss Adela Quested, Mrs. Moore, and Cyril Fielding--and the Indian, Dr. Aziz, with whom they cross destinies. The idea of true friendship between the races was a radical one in Forster's time, and he makes it abundantly clear that it was not one that either side welcomed. If Aziz's friend, Hamidullah, believed it impossible, the British representatives of the Raj were equally discouraging.
"Why, the kindest thing one can do to a native is to let him die," said Mrs. Callendar.
"How if he went to heaven?" asked Mrs. Moore, with a gentle but crooked smile.
"He can go where he likes as long as he doesn't come near me. They give me the creeps."
Despite their countrymen's disapproval, Miss Quested, Mrs. Moore, and Mr. Fielding are all eager to meet Indians, and in Dr. Aziz they find a perfect companion: educated, westernized, and open-minded. Slowly, the friendships ripen, especially between Aziz and Fielding. Having created the possibility of esteem based on trust and mutual affection, Forster then subjects it to the crucible of racial hatred: during a visit to the famed Marabar caves, Miss Quested accuses Dr. Aziz of sexually assaulting her, then later recants during the frenzied trial that follows. Under such circumstances, affection proves to be a very fragile commodity indeed.
Arguably Forster's greatest novel, A Passage to India limns a troubling portrait of colonialism at its worst, and is remarkable for the complexity of its characters. Here the personal becomes the political and in the breach between Aziz and his English "friends," Forster foreshadows the eventual end of the Raj. --Alix Wilber
Book Description
Among the greatest novels of the twentieth century and the basis for director David Lean’s Academy Award-winning film, A Passage to India tells of the clash of cultures in British India after the turn of the century. In exquisite prose, Forster reveals the menace that lurks just beneath the surface of ordinary life, as a common misunderstanding erupts into a devastating affair.
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A classic novel about the misperceptions and misunderstandings that illustrate the divide between East and West, E.M. Forster's A Passage to India is a masterpiece of twentieth century English fiction, and an important text for anyone interested in understanding the British involvement in colonial India.
Customer Reviews:
Good book, but a word of caution.......2007-08-31
A Passage to India is an excellently written book, and a benchmark in the literary age of British Imperialism. It deserves a place on the bookshelf with Great Expectations and The Grapes of Wrath. The symbols are rich, deep, and thought provoking, and Forster provides a realistic storyline and a timeless classic.
However, a word of caution. A Passage to India is an excellent book, but not an excellent story. If you don't like deciphering symbols and "reading between the lines," and instead prefer a page-turning plot that produces sweaty fingers and a rapid heart rate, this book isn't for you. An excellent story with a similar setting and similar circumstances is Burmese Days, by George Orwell, which takes place in Burma under the imperialist regime of the British Empire.
Couldn't do it.......2007-08-08
I wanted to like this classic but I gave up after Chapter 6. I found the characters confusing and couldn't relate to the story or understand a lot of the terminology used. I didn't feel compelled to make a study of it. I loved Mistry's A Fine Balance and hoped for a similarly well-developed story and characters.
Fine Characterization of British India, But Dated and Not Much of a Story.......2007-07-12
Set in the fictional northern India city of Chandrapore, E.M. Forster's 'Passage to India', widely regarded as an early 20th century classic, tells the tale of the troubled interactions between British India and the country's Indian inhabitants. Forster's message seems to be that the white British and the native Indians should not have tried to interact socially outside of the accepted forms because it always ended badly for all concerned.
Rating this book is difficult. On the one hand, the characters are exceptionally well drawn as is life in British India (especially the British side). And the theme is undoubtedly largely correct that when British tried to befriend Indians in this colonial setting it usually went badly. At the same time, I found myself disliking the major characters, and particularly found young Dr. Aziz to be annoyingly flighty and over-wrought as he quickly jumped to conclusions over and over again.
The story meanders, to put it kindly, until Part 2 when the 'event' occurs at the also-fictional Marabar Caves and Forster breathes some life into the tale. Yet, while the confusion over what really happened at the caves is the focus of much of the second part of the book and the characters think they know at least what did NOT happen, Forster never does really explore what did in fact happen. And while there is clearly much fallout over the accusations Forster again does not explore how the fallout occurs.
An interesting aspect for the modern reader is the predominance of Muslim characters on the Indian side of the tale. Hindus play only a small role. This detail marks the book as predating the Partition of India that accompanied Indian independence and the establishment of India and Pakistan on the basis of religion. The Partition created millions of refugees flowing to their new country based on their religion and fostered tremendous violence and division. Hindus reasserted authority in India after the partition in place of the Muslims.
If you have an interest in British colonialism, India, or English Literature or all three, by all means read the book. Don't expect a sparkling story to go along with the fine characterizations and be ready for a dated view.
Hard to Believe this Was Written 80+ Years Ago [24][58][T].......2007-06-29
The love-hate relationships weave throughout this book to an extent unlike any other that I have ever read.
Major characters and young lovers, Adela Quested and Ronny Heaslop, love and hate and love and finally part from one another. Their engagement sizzles out in the heat of the Indian summer. Other major characters, Dr. Aziz and Professor Fielding, are great friends, to the point where Fielding severs relations with his separatist British friends in honor of his wrongly arrested Indian friend. But, through strange facts and circumstances, Aziz begins to hate, then detest and ultimately love him again.
Perhaps the greatest love, with no hate, is Mrs. Moore. She loves Indians - not just India. Indians respond with a loving chant of her name - Esmiss Esmoor. She rises to the divine. But, alas even she must demure to the almighty British imperialistic state - this is a 1924 novel when India and Britain were in a love-hate relationship of their own.
This novel is Forster's great rebound. Thought to be a severely suffering writer-blocked novelist, he could reach no more for Italy to spur him to the typewriter ("A Room with a View" and "Where Angels Fear to Tread"). Unlike "Room" or "Angels", he does not deliver an ethical question to the reader as handled by British aristocracy. The moral or ethical question here is directed to all Brits -- rich or poor, new to India or born to India -- and asks if what they do to others is devastingly harmful, let alone inappropriate.
Divided in the three parts, the book sets you up [Part I: Mosque], slams the British [Part II: Caves] and sums it up [Part III: Temple]. To his credit, Forster's delivery of this book may have been as recklessly brave as Fielding's protection of Dr. Aziz - the British with whom each associates would not kindly take to each's allegiance to the "other" side.
Much akin to America's great "To Kill a Mockingbird", this novel deals with the classic trial of a great citizen of the oppressed who allegedly acted wrongly to one of the young white women. Unlike "Mockingbird", this book concentrates more on the victim of the allegations and allows him to receive true justice - the white woman in this trial has a great deal more character and saves his day.
I can only wonder how this book affected Britain. Like Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle", people were probably enlightened by this book's revelations. British people would have had to discuss the atrocities contained within the pages of this novel and social change would inevitably follow. Written strongly with great drama, this book unfortunately remains applicable to today's world and probably still would be discussed if delivered to themainstream reading masses.
A Must Read, But It's No Ulysses.......2007-06-29
Forster's novel is a classic. It appears on all "Top 100" lists, for list maniacs, but it is not really all that great. I can certainly think of a good many novels I'd rather read or reread. In the film version the novel's exotic setting springs to life, of course, and that is 99% of the novel's appeal. Otherwise it is a rather dull social drama, which bears remarkable resemblance to the inter-sex squabbles D.H. Lawrence was so good at creating. Americans have a need to be liked that prevents them from going for the jugular in quite the same lacerating way the English can. This novel is really about the disappointment women feel for their hypocritical men: husbands, brothers, and fathers. The ladies saw through the facade of English decency and authors like Lawrence (a woman-hater) and Forster (gay) were on to it. Their men promised to treat the Indians as though they were Englishmen but, of course, they didn't. Nor did they treat their women as ladies. Everybody except white Englishmen were ordered around senselessly and the women recognized the stupidity of it all and the mindless inhumanity of it. This is Forster's subject really, and when they go at it, the men and women sound astonishingly like the characters in "Women In Love." They could be anywhere, nowhere. By putting them in India, Forster created a classic.
Customer Reviews:
A Must Read, But It's No Ulysses.......2007-06-29
Forster's novel is a classic. it appears on all "Top 100" lists, for list maniacs, but it is not really all that great. I can certainly think of a good many novels I'd rather read or reread. In the film version, the novel's exotic setting springs to life, of course, and that is 99% of the novel's appeal. Otherwise it is a rather dull social drama, which bears remarkable resemblance to the inter-sex squabbles D.H.Lawrence was so good at. Americans have a need to be liked that prevents them from going for the jugular in quite the same lacerating way the English can, unless, of course, it is with a knife. This novel is really about the disappointment women feel for their hypocritical men: husbands, brothers, and fathers. The ladies saw through the facade of English decency and authors like Lawrence (a woman-hater) and Forster (a man-lover) were on to it. Their men promised to treat Indians as though they were Englishmen but, of course, never did. Nor did they treat their women as ladies. Everybody except white Englishmen got ordered about senselessly and the women recognized the stupidity of it all and the mindless inhumanity of it. This is Forster's subject really, and when they go at it, his men and women sound astonishingly like the characters in "Women in Love." They could be anywhere, no where. By putting them in India, Forster created a classic.
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Passage from India to El Dorado: Guyana and the Great Migration
David Hollett
Manufacturer: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
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ASIN: 0838638198 |
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Eager to know the "real" India, a group of English tourists develops a friendship with the cultivated Dr. Aziz. The veneer of trust and mutual affection is shattered during a trip to the Marabar caves, when one of the women accuses Dr. Aziz of assault. Arguably Forster's greatest novel, A Passage to India paints a troubling portrait of colonialism at its worst and, in the breach between Aziz and his English "friends," foreshadows the end of British rule in India.
Customer Reviews:
the fruits of colonialism.......2007-07-14
Set in India during the British colonial era (and published twenty-some years before Indian independence), Forster tells the story of an Indian surgeon, Dr. Aziz, and his sometime gratifying, sometimes harrowing, and always complicated interactions with the British. He also gives the perspective of several of the British residents and guests, and through this ensemble assembles a compelling picture of how colonialism affects the colonialized, the colonializers, and the relationships between the two. Some of the ideas remind me of Paolo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, in which he explains the dehumanizing impact of an oppressor relationship on both the oppressor and the oppressed.
The prose is beautiful, and Forster contextualizes his message with lively dialogue, beautiful images of rural India, demonstrations of the difficult relations between Hindus and Muslims, and other elements of conflict within Indian society as well as between the Indians and the British. The story isn't fast-paced, but with a little patience it draws you in. And the language is delicious. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Sam Dastor, and he does a very good job with distinctive voices and accents in a book filled with essential dialogue (except in the one paragraph when an American missionary makes an appearance; his accent was unlike that of any American I've ever met).
A reviewer for The Guardian wrote when the book was first published in 1924 to "congratulate him [Forster] upon the tone and temper of his new novel. To speak of its `fairness' would convey the wrong impression, because that suggests a conscious virtue. This is the involuntary fairness of the man who sees." Forster's vision is well worth reading.
[The Guardian review is available online: C.M., "A Passage to India," Guardian Unlimited, June 20, 1924.]
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Vegetarian Nirvana: A Passage to North Indian Cuisine
Santosh Jain
Manufacturer: 1st Books Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 141400916X |
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Heavenly food.......2003-11-09
An excellent book! Having personally sampled the cooks efforts, I can vouch for the the receipes and the end results of following the instructions. A very useful part of the book is the different menus that allow the cook to complement the different food and flavours
This book should be an essential part of any cooking library and is for the novice as well as the advanced cook
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- From Khyber Pass to Calcutta
- Fron Khyber Pass to Calcutta
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The Grand Trunk Road: A Passage Through India
Raghubir Singh
Manufacturer: Aperture Book
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ASIN: 0893816442 |
Customer Reviews:
From Khyber Pass to Calcutta.......2001-05-21
A gorgeous slice of life photographed by Raghubir Singh in his eleventh book of photographs. These pictures are sumptuous to look at while stimulating one's curiosity about the enormous melange of peoples and cultures that make up India.
There are camels and carpets, a medieval milestone, scooter riders and monsoon floods. There is a museum watchman who could easily be the model for one of the ancient statues he guards. There are pilgrims and festivals. Everywhere there are people living. Some are aware of the cameraman others go about their business with out acknowledging his presence.
This book is enjoyable on so many levels. Singh's feeling for his subject matter and his exceptional sense of composition and color create a satisfying work of art.
Fron Khyber Pass to Calcutta.......2001-05-21
A gorgeous slice of life photographed by Raghubir Singh in his eleventh book of photographs. These pictures are sumptuous to look at while stimulating one's curiosity about the enormous melange of peoples and cultures that make up India.
There are camels and carpets, a medieval milestone, scooter riders and monsoon floods. There is a museum watchman who could easily be the model for one of the ancient statues he guards. There are pilgrims and festivals. Everywhere there are people living. Some are aware of the cameraman others go about their business with out acknowledging his presence.
This book is enjoyable on so many levels. Singh's feeling for his subject matter and his exceptional sense of composition and color create a satisfying work of art.
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- More than just a Collection of Critical Approaches
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E.M. Forster's A Passage to India: A Sourcebook (Routledge Literary Sourcebooks)
Peter Childs
Manufacturer: Routledge
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A Passage to India
ASIN: 0415238234 |
Book Description
An invaluable sourcebook to E. M. Forster's easily most challenging and provocative work, A Passage to India has stirred up debate on such topics as imperialism, modernism, ethnicity, sexuality and symbolism. This Routledge Literary Sourcebook introduces not only the novel but also the key issues which surround it. It offers a contextual and biographical overview, with a chronology, contemporary reviews, key extracts from Forster's relevant essays, books and articles, a summary of the work's critical history, a consideration of film and television adaptations, including the 1984 Oscar-winning film and a guide to further reading.
Customer Reviews:
More than just a Collection of Critical Approaches.......2003-01-20
A Passage to India is Forster's most celebrated and most frequently read novel. Published in 1924, the novel has given rise to critical discussion about imperialism, liberalism, modernism, ethnicity, sexuality and the relation of the personal and political. With Forster being one of the chief authors of early twentieth-century English literature, this text is a key text to the modern novel. Therefore, Routledge has decided to publish a sourcebook on the novel in their series of literary sourcebooks, edited by Duncan Wu (Oxford). Peter Childs, the editor of the book, is Principal Lecturer in English at the University of Gloucestershire and well known due to his publications on twentieth-century prose.
The approach of this book is very different to other critical works. It has been designed to provide students with the materials required to begin serious studies of their own. This is reflected in the structure of the book. Section 1, 'Contexts,' provides biographical data in form of an author chronology and contemporary documents relating to the author and his work-every single one of them by Forster himself. The texts are structured in four major groups: 'The English and the British Empire', 'On A Passage to India', 'India' and 'On the Rhythm in Fiction.' Section 2, 'Interpretations,' contains what the most critical books contain: critical approaches to the text. In Childs's book, they are sorted as a history of criticism. This part is divided into three main chapters. The first gives an overview over the critical reception of Forster's novel whereas the second as well as the third are selections of extracts from the most important and influential early and modern criticism. The last part of the second section is dedicated to the stage and film adaptations, but does-alas!-not tell about all and the most recent adaptations. Section 3 is called 'Key Passages.' This is clearly a euphemism for a chapter summary with snippets of the original text. The reason to have these forty-eight pages in the book is simple: They are for the lazy students. They summarize the plot, they give examples for brief presentations; they tell the reader the setting, the point of view-everything which would take the student five minutes having the novel in hand. Furthermore, they tell the reader how to interpret the text. The rest of the book is a short list of recommended editions and further texts, followed by an index.
One can ask for the perfect reader of this book, and one will find none. For the student who really wants to do research on Forster, the references are too few and the critical extracts to short and to various. There is a general lack of in-depth analysis. The editor, so it seems, did neither want to focus on a specific aspect of the novel nor put an emphasis on a specific type of criticism, whether feminist, postcolonial, biographical or structuralist criticism. The idea to provide a book of sources as a basis for discussion is laudable, but it is disavowed by the I-tell-you-how-to-read-this-novel part of the sourcebook. What this sourcebook can do is to give you a general overview over the history and the types of criticism, a timeline of Forster's life and a selection of letters and essays, which can form a contextual frame for the novel. One can recommend Peter Childs's book to teachers who either really want to discuss the novel or have no idea and want to deliver the usual interpretational phrases, and the book is recommendable to people who do not want to read the novel by themselves and have no internet account to find the freely available chapter summaries. Still, the book is well done, very clearly arranged and of a certain academic standard. As first overview for a subsequent authentic research, this well-written book is good choice.
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A Passage to India (Everyman's Library Classics)
E.M. Forster
Manufacturer: Everyman's Library
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1857150295 |
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In 1962 Gary Snyder, with his wife, the poet Joanne Kyger, joined Allen Ginsberg and his companion Peter Orlovsky for a long trip to India and surrounding countries. As always, Snyder kept extensive journals of his travels and, in this particular case, also wrote the whole account in one long letter to his sister. It was an amazing trip, and one that eventually took on legendary status as an iconic Beat Voyage. Complete with slides and photographs, Passage Through India takes us on a journey that transcends time.
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- brilliant
- So disappointing
- A stew of greatness
- A story in three parts
- Intricate plot, excellent book. How does Simmons think this stuff up?
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Ilium
Dan Simmons
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Olympos
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Rise of Endymion
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Hyperion
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Endymion
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The Fall of Hyperion
ASIN: 0380817926
Release Date: 2005-06-28 |
Amazon.com
Genre-hopping Dan Simmons returns to science fiction with the vast and intricate masterpiece Ilium. Within, Simmons weaves three astounding story lines into one Earth-, Mars-, and Jupiter-shattering cliffhanger that will leave readers aching for the sequel.
On Earth, a post-technological group of humans, pampered by servant machines and easy travel via "faxing," begins to question its beginnings. Meanwhile, a team of sentient and Shakespeare-quoting robots from Jupiter's lunar system embark on a mission to Mars to investigate an increase in dangerous quantum fluctuations. On the Red Planet, they'll find a race of metahumans living out existence as the pantheon of classic Greek gods. These "gods" have recreated the Trojan War with reconstituted Greeks and Trojans and staffed it with scholars from throughout Earth's history who observe the events and report on the accuracy of Homer's Iliad. One of these scholars, Thomas Hockenberry, finds himself tangled in the midst of interplay between the gods and their playthings and sends the war reeling in a direction the blind poet could have never imagined.
Simmons creates an exciting and thrilling tale set in the thick of the Trojan War as seen through Hockenberry's 20th-century eyes. At the same time, Simmons's robots study Shakespeare and Proust and the origin-seeking Earthlings find themselves caught in a murderous retelling of The Tempest. Reading this highly literate novel does take more than a passing familiarity with at least The Iliad but readers who can dive into these heady waters and swim with the current will be amply rewarded. --Jeremy Pugh
Book Description
The Trojan War rages at the foot of Olympos Mons on Mars -- observed and influenced from on high by Zeus and his immortal family -- and twenty-first-century professor Thomas Hockenberry is there to play a role in the insidious private wars of vengeful gods and goddesses. On Earth, a small band of the few remaining humans pursues a lost past and devastating truth -- as four sentient machines depart from Jovian space to investigate, perhaps terminate, the potentially catastrophic emissions emanating from a mountaintop miles above the terraformed surface of the Red Planet.
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From the author of the Hyperion Cantos -- one of the most acclaimed popular series in contemporary science fiction -- comes a powerful epic of high-tech gods, human heroes, total war, and the extraordinary transcendence of ordinary beings. The first book in a two-part epic. ""I am in awe of Dan Simmons."" -- Stephen King
From the towering heights of Olympos Mons on Mars, the mighty Zeus and his immortal family of gods, goddesses, and demigods look down upon a momentous battle, observing -- and often influencing -- the legendary exploits of Paris, Achilles, Hector, Odysseus, and the clashing armies of Greece and Troy.
Thomas Hockenberry, former twenty-first-century professor and Iliad scholar, watches as well. It is Hockenberry's duty to observe and report on the Trojan War's progress to the so-called deities who saw fit to return him from the dead. But the muse he serves has a new assignment for the wary scholic, one dictated by Aphrodite herself. With the help of fortieth-century technology, Hockenberry is to infiltrate Olympos, spy on its divine inhabitants ... and ultimately destroy Aphrodite's sister and rival, the goddess Pallas Athena.
On an Earth profoundly changed since the departure of the Post-Humans centuries earlier, the great events on the bloody plains of Ilium serve as mere entertainment. Its scenes of unrivaled heroics and unequaled carnage add excitement to human lives devoid of courage, strife, labor, and purpose. But this eloi-like existence is not enough for Harman, a man in the last year of his last Twenty. That rarest of post-postmodern men -- an ""adventurer"" -- he intends to explore far beyond the boundaries of his world before his allotted time expires, in search of a lost past, a devastating truth, and an escape from his own inevitable ""final fax."" Meanwhile, from the radiation-swept reaches of Jovian space, four sentient machines race to investigate -- and, perhaps, terminate -- the potentially catastrophi
Customer Reviews:
brilliant.......2007-08-22
The way Simmons blends history and his own tale is a delight to read. As a fan of the Hyperion series, I wasn't sure what to expect. I wasn't disappointed at all, though I only rated Olympos a four because I think Hyperion is better. Ilium's future/alternate world doesn't seem as convincing to me and its characters weren't deeply compelling. The novelization of the Trojan war could stand alone though, and carries the volume.
So disappointing.......2007-08-10
I wanted to like this book. I'm a huge fan of Simmons' Hyperion/Endymion books, and the premise for this one sounded right up my alley. Unfortunately, it's a mess. There are three interwoven storylines and at least 2 of them don't make any sense. The characters are never fleshed out, so by the time anything happened to any of them, I found I just didn't care. I understand that the reason for the abrupt ending is that the story is finished in Olympos, but when I got to the end of this one I just had no desire to find out what happened.
I'll give it three stars because the Troy storyline is such a pleasure to read. Simmons's way with language shines through in those sections.
A stew of greatness.......2007-08-02
Simmons takes greek gods, robots, evolved humans, and a 20th century schlub and tells a masterful sci-fi tale. Can't be done? HAH!
This is a book that is hard to put down. There are three stories that alternate faithfully throughout the book. The first is the story of a 20th century professor brought back to life to observe the Trojan War, the second is a Jovian robot who is sent to investigate the energy emissions that are given off by this war, and the third is the story of a few of a one million surviving humans on earth.
The story was unpredictable and kept me guessing, but consistant in it's quality. The perspectives of each of the different viewpoints was very well done, and the universe was more imaginative than any I have read. I'm really impressed by this book, and Simmons has vaulted to the top of my favorite authors list.
A story in three parts.......2007-07-18
I liked it. It has been years since a book kept me up reading until 1:00 am night after night!!
It was a story in three parts:
Chapter 1 starts on another earth at Ilium (Troy) 3,000 years in the future where the Trojan War is being fought by Nanotech'ed pre-literate humans. All the major players are there including the gods and the story is repeated with some variance on the "Iliad" and told in the first person by a reconstructed classical scholar who died in 2006. The gods, who are obviously not really the Greek gods, act just like the gods of the Myths and the humans, although they all look like "they are all members of the greatest health club in history", are cruel barbarous killers, even the women.
Chapter 2 takes place at the same time on a post-literate earth where "old-style" humans are ignorant of just about everything. History, Geography, Reading, etc are all lost skills. The "old-style" humans are also Nanotech'ed but they a connected to various networks which they do not know about nor care but they can still interface with it through their palm screens. It is just a matter knowing the right symbols to visualize in order to activate the function. The humans of this time live in an idyllic play ground which not only guarantees them a hundred year of life, but relieves of all the responsibilities of providing for that life.
Chapter 3 starts on one of the moons of Jupiter where the still literate cyborgs, known as moravecs, spend their free time, that is when they are not mining the moons for resources, thinking and debating the relative values of Shakespeare, Proust and other "Lost Age" literary figures. It has always been my contention that good Science Fiction must an element of Philology in it and I find it absolutely hilarious that he chooses to put the Philosophical portion of the story into the hands of some very non-human character. That is and physical abilities, non-human in appearance but very human in thought.
Not wanting to give away anything: The book follows the chapter order until near the end when the timelines splits a bit too much, and will keep you guessing all the way through. He destroys the Iliad's story with a nice little war against the gods, allows the humans to see the error of their ways which way so much the understatement, and put a nice little twist on the moravecs story that I admit, I did not see coming. Damn good book and one hell of a writer.
Intricate plot, excellent book. How does Simmons think this stuff up?.......2007-04-04
Mr. Simmons is arguably one of the best genre-hopping authors around, having pulled down awards for SciFi, Horror, Fantasy, etc. But this massive book (700+ pages in the paperback) makes me wonder exactly how does he think this excellent stuff up?
Ilium mixes the Trojan War (is it the real Trojan War, or a setup re-creation?), future humans (who are so pampered that they have forgotten or have been forced to forget their history, basic skills like reading and cooking, etc.), post-humans (evolved in some fashion) and Jupiter/Asteroid Belt organic-plus-Artificially Intelligent miner/workers into a story that is part future, part past. Combining these characters with literary references to Shakespeare, Proust (the Jupiter miners have all of ancient Earth in their databases and a weakness for literature), Homer and others, would in the hands of a lesser writer, make for a slogfest of a read.
Simmons masterfully blends these characters, time-shifting settings and science fiction creations into a plot that is a page turner for the majority of it's bulk. The plot opens up, little by little, letting the reader slowly but surely put these pieces together, while keeping us engaged with what's happening. The science of the science fiction is added to make this complexity quite possible, which is what good science fiction is all about.
The only issue I have with this novel is that (without giving away any spoilers) one has to read the next novel, Olympos. But it is a small issue, and, given the quality of Ilium, I will happily dive into Olympos.
Highly reccommended!
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Ilium (Limited Edition)
Manufacturer: Subterranean Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Leather Bound
ASIN: 1931081883 |
Product Description
Ilium is Dan Simmons' first full-length science fiction novel since The Rise of Endymion in 1997. A work of epic scope, audacious intelligence, and imaginative grandeur, it is the opening movement of a projected two-volume sequence, and is an authentic masterpiece in its own right. The intertwined narratives that comprise the novel take place nearly 2,500 years from now, in the "post-human" universe of "The Ninth of Av." On Earth, the eloi-like remnants of the "old style" human race pursue painless, pointless existences, largely unaware of the history of their species, or of the nature and geography of the planet they inhabit. In Jupiter space, a pair of Moravecs -- partially organic robots with an affinity for Proust and Shakespeare -- agree to investigate a quantum anomaly recently discovered on the surface of Mars. And on the Plains of Ilium, a scholic named Thomas Hockenberry observes what appear to be the gods of the Greek pantheon -- Zeus, Ares, Apollo, Athena, and literally hundreds more -- as they preside over the bloody spectacle of the Trojan War, a once familiar conflict that will evolve -- and escalate -- in unexpected ways. Looking backward toward the epic glories of Homer's Greece and forward toward the marvels -- and terrors -- of the distant future, Ilium is a novel of heroic proportions that stands at the intersection of quantum physics and ancient myth. Funny, moving, startling, enlightening, and endlessly entertaining, it is the most astonishing accomplishment to date by one of the most gifted, ambitious, and unpredictable storytellers of the modern era.
Product Description
2 hardbacks
Product Description
From the Barron's Educational Series, this "Compact Homer" is abridged. Several sections of each book are omitted but these omitted sections are summarized by Mildred E. Marcett, the author of the introduction. There is a very nice pronouncing index that includes names of characters and places.
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Ilium
Dan Simmons
Manufacturer: Harper Collins Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NV99H6 |
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Ilium
Dan Simmons
Manufacturer: Heyne Verlag, München
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 3453878981 |
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Ilium (Russian Edition)
Dan Simmons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
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| Simmons, Dan
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Hardcover
| Simmons, Dan
| ( S )
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ASIN: 5170259484 |
Product Description
Text in Russian.
Book Description
This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.
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