This book is a
collection of science fiction short stories by an
enigmatic author whose pseudonym was Cordwainer Smith. They are
written in an unforgettable, lyrical style, half ballad, half prose;
they chronicle a future world where animal-derived 'underpeople' form
an oppressed and mistreated population, where telepathically-enhanced
cats help people navigate through space, where the Lords of the
Instrumentality keep the human population in a state of blissful, and
idle, happiness - and how unhappy and discontented the people become as
a result. It is a richly imagined world, and it is described
beautifully. The most famous Cordwainer Smith story, 'Scanners
Live in Vain', is included in the collection; it
describes a future
where spaceship pilots - Scanners - are disconnected from all their
senses except sight, to enable them to survive the 'pain of space';
they only get to enjoy their other senses for brief, poignant moments through a
process called 'cranching'. The
story describes what happens when
an inventor creates a process that makes this sensory disconnect
unnecessary, and how it affects the Scanners - at the end, they
decide to kill the inventor, but one of the Scanners foils this
plot.
Another well-known story, 'The Ballad of Lost C'Mell', describes the
plight of the 'underpeople' and one underperson, a cat-derived woman,
who fights for their civil rights with the help of a Lord of the
Instrumentality, Lord Jestocost (which means "cruelty" in Russian - but
he's anything but cruel).
Many of the stories
show a Chinese influence - Cordwainer Smith spent a
great deal of time
in China, and picked up some of the story-telling techniques (as well
as some Chinese words and cultural references). In all, this is a
great collection, and every story in it is well worth reading.
More reviews about the The Rediscovery of Man - the Complete Short Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith