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The Best of Cordwainer Smith, by Cordwainer Smith (collection pub. 1975, edited by J.J. Pierce; stories pub. 1950-66)
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Cordwainer Smith is an author whose work I've vaguely wanted to read for some time. So, when I saw a used copy of this collection of some of his short stories, I picked it up. When I read the the introduction (by J.J. Pierce), it sounded pretty interesting, if confusing. And that's pretty much the impression I'm left with after reading the whole book: interesting, but confusing. These stories are all set in the same fictional universe, but there are a number of other stories, as well as a novel, set in that universe but not included in this collection. The whole series is set over a period of at least fourteen thousand years, so you can well imagine that there are lots of changes from story to story. The stories all definitely feel like they're written by the same author, but aside from Smith's writing style, and the fact that they're all science fiction, I don't see a lot of clear connections. There are some things that are mentioned in different stories, mainly the "Instrumentality of Mankind," which is like the governing body. But not much is known about them. Also, "Underpeople" are sometimes mentioned- they're animals who have been engineered into roughly human form, and given human intelligence, but are still treated like slaves.

Anyway... technology changes over time, of course, but some of it seems to stay the same for quite awhile. But also I feel like some of the things in some stories contradict things in other stories. And there's a vague timeline at the start of the book, which is basically the best guess of Pierce, I think. Some stories which are farther along the timeline almost seem to me as if they happened earlier than some stories. And... well, there are any number of things that just don't make sense to me. It all might make a bit more sense if I'd read all Cordwainer wrote of that universe, but even if I did, I'm sure I'd still be left with the same sense I have now: interesting, but confusing. I would like to read his other stuff, even if I think it would do very little to alleviate my confusion.

As much as I want to see the stories as part of a cohesive whole, I think it's easier, more often than not, to just take each one individually, without worrying too much about how it fits into the whole. The stories are all a bit odd, and some I found more interesting than others. I'm not sure it would be quite accurate to say I enjoyed even the ones I found the most interesting, but I worry that saying that is somewhat misleading. I certainly appreciated the stories, just more in a sort of academic way than a pleasurable one. Which is not to say the stories don't have a certain esoteric charm. I don't really know what to say, except the book just didn't really move me. I liked it, but... not as much as I felt like I should like it. But, again, at least it was enough to make me want to read more of Smith's writing, at some point. Maybe.

Oh yeah, I should probably try to give an idea of what the stories are about. Well, most of them are more or less about space travel, and the different ways (as technology progresses over time) that the difficulties of that travel are overcome. Each story is from the perspective of a different protagonist, each in a different era, and each with his own more immediate circumstances making up the more personal aspect of the story, but sometimes it almost seems like that's just an excuse to give us an idea of how space travel is accomplished in each era. Then again, sometimes the personal aspects are definitely the more significant bit. Sometimes there may even be little or no space travel at all; though the story is as likely to be set on one of Earth's colonies as on Earth itself. And particularly in the later stories, the central theme is more about how society has changed, than about how technology has changed (even if technology is the cause of the change in human beings themselves). Eventually there's something called the "Rediscovery of Man," which happens probably in the last one or two thousand years of the series... even if it has its roots somewhat earlier than that. Basically, it seems to be about an attempt to get back to the way humanity used to be, before life was so completely controlled and ordered and safe and predictable. Although even once they return to the old ways... it still seems fairly controlled. Meh, I dunno what to say. It's all just weird. I will say that probably my favorite story in the collection was "The Dead Lady of Clown Town." (It's not nearly as funny as the title might suggest.) And... yeah, I'm done talking about the book, now.


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(Image is a scan of my own copy.)