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With an introduction by J. J. Pierce, this volume features the twelve most important stories by Cordwainer Smith, a unique writer who has fused wonder and poetry into imaginative tales that transcend both science and fiction. Scanners Live in VainAdam Stone has found a way for men to cross deep space alive-a discovery that might kill him. The Lady Who Sailed the SoulHelen America voyages to the stars-and into a timeless legend of romance. Alpha Ralpha BoulevardThey thought it was a road to a show more dream that lasts forever-but dreams are made to be broken. The Ballad of Lost C'MellNever has there been a girl quite like C'mell. She's not even human-but she's all woman. And eight more stunning stories by a man who dreamed the future show lessTags
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Cordwainer Smith/Dr. Paul Linebarger was an undoubted genius of science fiction, a visionary writer who plotted out over 15,000 years of radical history under the rule of the Instrumentality, by turns technocratic elites, corrupt and decadent overlords, and deeply moral saviors. His stories touch on love, pain, and the almost-human lives of the underpeople, animals turned into slaves so that true humans may live of life of leisure and near immortality.
Some of the stories are breathtaking masterpieces: "Scanners Live in Vain", "The Game of Rat and Dragon", The Crime and Glory of Commander Suzdal", and "Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons" are all first-rank pieces of short fiction. The thing is that the rest of the stories, many of them show more longer, leave me rather cold, as they wander through Smith's meditations on morality and the human condition and experimentation with non-Western styles. But the four stories I mentioned are brilliant torches. Read them. show less
Some of the stories are breathtaking masterpieces: "Scanners Live in Vain", "The Game of Rat and Dragon", The Crime and Glory of Commander Suzdal", and "Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons" are all first-rank pieces of short fiction. The thing is that the rest of the stories, many of them show more longer, leave me rather cold, as they wander through Smith's meditations on morality and the human condition and experimentation with non-Western styles. But the four stories I mentioned are brilliant torches. Read them. show less
I liked some of the stories especially the ideas presented in a lot of them however, Cordwainer’s style kept fighting to kick me out of the stories. It took extra effort to get into a story and stay there. Despite that, I enjoyed the stories Scanners Live in Vain, The Lady Who Sailed The Soul, and The Game of Rat and Dragon the most (the mutant cat thing got old quickly though). Frankly, I can’t remember much about the other stories in the book.
Would I recommend this one? Not really. Although, if you’re in the mood for something strange and somewhat outdated then maybe. However, I am glad that I read it but I probably will not seek anything more from Cordwainer Smith.
In the fraction of a second between the telepaths’ awareness show more of a hostile something out in the black, hollow nothingness of space and the impact of a ferocious, ruinous psychic blow against all living things within the ship, the telepaths had sensed entities something like the dragons of ancient human lore, beasts more clever than beasts, demons more tangible than demons, hungry vortices of aliveness and hate compounded by unknown means out of the thin, tenuous matter between the stars. [pg.70] show less
Would I recommend this one? Not really. Although, if you’re in the mood for something strange and somewhat outdated then maybe. However, I am glad that I read it but I probably will not seek anything more from Cordwainer Smith.
In the fraction of a second between the telepaths’ awareness show more of a hostile something out in the black, hollow nothingness of space and the impact of a ferocious, ruinous psychic blow against all living things within the ship, the telepaths had sensed entities something like the dragons of ancient human lore, beasts more clever than beasts, demons more tangible than demons, hungry vortices of aliveness and hate compounded by unknown means out of the thin, tenuous matter between the stars. [pg.70] show less
I'm gonna hit my bongo drum, Sun-man. Anyone up for a laminated mouse brain? I love it. So many great ideas packed into these short stories, I feel as giddy as if I sent my frozen cat people back two million years in the past to fight off the tragic planet of men, men, and nothing but men.
Really, people, this is some classic stuff. :)
Really, people, this is some classic stuff. :)
It's difficult for me to do justice to the richness of Linebarger's unique mythos. It's even more difficult for me to get across just how much some of these stories meant to me (some of them with Chinese narrative techniques!); they are eschatological fiction of the highest water. (Heck, the cover of the Ballantine edition is one of the great science fiction mass market paperback covers -kudos to the illustrator!) Forest of Incandescent Bliss, was unique; it would take a Hayao Miyazaki to bring the likes of "The Dead Lady of Clown Town," "Under Old Earth," "Alpha Ralpha Boulevard" or "The Ballad of Lost C'mell" to the big screen. A unique treasure. Science fiction used to have a positivistic click -and to think that the man died in 1966!
Pretty odd stuff, a lot of it downright silly - like the existence of mind-destroying monsters in the space between stars, and mankind's use of cats to combat them.
So much of it is so dated or so innocent that one gets caught off-guard by the occasional critique of modern life:
The highlight of the collection is the final story, A Planet Named Shayol. Putting aside for the moment some amusement about a member of the Mercer family being sent to eternal show more punishment for treasonous crimes, this is an excellent examination of the notion of retribution, and of the cruelty and humanity that organically arise within any system of justice.
Quite a departure from the fixation on cats that appeared in most of the previous stories. show less
So much of it is so dated or so innocent that one gets caught off-guard by the occasional critique of modern life:
Don't think about the roads. Think of the millions of vehicles that ran on those roads, the people filled with greed and rage and hate, rushing past each other with their engines on fire. They say that fifty thousand a year were killed on the roads alone. We would call that a war.
The highlight of the collection is the final story, A Planet Named Shayol. Putting aside for the moment some amusement about a member of the Mercer family being sent to eternal show more punishment for treasonous crimes, this is an excellent examination of the notion of retribution, and of the cruelty and humanity that organically arise within any system of justice.
Don't think that I am punished any more. This place is not a punishment. It is something else.
Quite a departure from the fixation on cats that appeared in most of the previous stories. show less
An absolutely fascinating collection of short stories set in the far future, when humankind, stifled by ennui, learns to stretch and re-define what it means to be human. Not an easy read, but surely a rewarding one. By turns lyrical, bizarre, creepy, moving and compelling, this has been one of the real stand-outs of the Science Fiction Masterworks series for me.
I find it remarkably difficult to explain why I love a book, but I'm going to have a try because Cordwainer Smith's Instrumentality of Mankind is such a wonderful and overlooked (outside of fandom) work of science fiction.
The stories contained here are related to his Instrumentality of Mankind universe, and contain almost all of them, with the notable exception of the novella Norstrilia.
While some of the stories have not aged as well as the others, overall they are remarkably timeless and there is a sense of alienness and wonder to the stories that few of his contemporaries managed to create. And the stories are extremely readable and draw you right into the worlds Smith created.
The Instrumentality itself is a remarkable strange, show more alien, perhaps mystical yet essentially human and immensely believable universe. You think "Yes, this is a direction humanity could take".
Anyway, read this book, you will see why I love it. show less
The stories contained here are related to his Instrumentality of Mankind universe, and contain almost all of them, with the notable exception of the novella Norstrilia.
While some of the stories have not aged as well as the others, overall they are remarkably timeless and there is a sense of alienness and wonder to the stories that few of his contemporaries managed to create. And the stories are extremely readable and draw you right into the worlds Smith created.
The Instrumentality itself is a remarkable strange, show more alien, perhaps mystical yet essentially human and immensely believable universe. You think "Yes, this is a direction humanity could take".
Anyway, read this book, you will see why I love it. show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Rediscovery of Man
- Original title
- The Best of Cordwainer Smith
- Original publication date
- 1975-07 (collection) (collection)
- People/Characters
- C'mell; Underhill; Woodley; Captain Wow; Lady May; Lord Jestocost
- First words
- In an obscure and short-lived magazine called Fantasy Book, there appeared in 1950 a story called "Scanners Live in Vain."
- Introduction
Martel was angry. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)In reading his stories, we are caught up in experiences as real as life itself - and just as mysterious.
- Introduction
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)B'dikkat, leaving everyone else, jogged with his bottle across the plain to give the mountain-man Alvarez an especially large gift of delight. - Original language
- English
- Disambiguation notice
- "Rediscovery of Man" is both a 12-story "best of" collection (originally published in 1975 as "The Best of Cordwainer Smith") and a much longer complete short stories collection, originally published in 1993. Please be caref... (show all)ul with combining and separating. This work is the 12-story collection. / Locus All Time Poll Novelette (34) for Alpha Ralpha Boulevard / Seiun Award (Foreign Short Story 1995) for A planet Names Shayol (un planeta llamado Shayol) / Locus All Time Poll Novelette (29) for A planet Names Shayol (un planeta llamado Shayol) / Locus Award Nominee (Novelette 1976) for Down to a Sunless Sea (Hacia un mar sin sol)
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