The Rediscovery of Man
By Cordwainer Smith
Reviewed by Ted Gioia
Few science fiction writers present us with a bigger puzzle than
Cordwainer Smith (1913-1966), an eccentric figure from the golden
age of sci-fi who retains a small but devoted cult following today. Was
Smith a brilliant thinker or mentally ill?
Was he an artist or an ideologue? Was his
body of work a unified vision or a disparate
jumble? Above all, did he see himself as
a writer of fictional stories or could it be
that he believed that his fanciful narratives
were, in some sense, true accounts based
on his personal experiences?
The strangest piece of information about
Cordwainer Smith—a pseudonym, one of
many employed by Paul Linebarger—comes
from a psychological case study published
in 1955, which described the “psychosis”
of a patient who experienced vivid visions
of life in outer space, incidents that the
individual believed were real, not imaginary.
The preponderance of evidence suggests
that our sci-fi author served as the basis for this case study, which was
included by Dr. Robert Lindner in his book The Fifty-Minute Hour.
Although final confirmation eludes us, the idea that Smith believed
himself capable of out-of-body experience beyond the Earth may
provide us with insights into the peculiarly intense nature of this writer’
s fictional works.
Indeed, many of the stories in The Rediscovery of Man—which
collects virtually all of Smith’s shorter science fiction in a volume of
almost 700 pages—are pushed ahead by events that happen inside
people’s heads. In several stories, he develops the concept of
characters who don’t exist in their own right, but are the projection of
other characters' minds. In the tale “Nancy” he even holds nuptials
between a spaceship captain and a woman who is merely an
embodiment of his ideas about the opposite sex—and, yes, it is a very
happy union…at least until the spaceship gets back home. In a series
of novellas about Casher O’Neill, who
plots a revolution on his home planet,
the hero learns how to project different
facets of his inner life as individual allies
who can assist him in battle. In other
cases, the mental leaps do not result in
concrete manifestations—as in the many
stories here in which telepathy and mind-
reading play a key role—but the locus of
action still remains in the mental sphere.
At this point, I should probably mention
that Linebarger’s most influential work
was not necessarily any he wrote under
the name Cordwainer Smith, but may have been his study
Psychological Warfare—a book that boasts its own cult following.
Even a used paperback copy of this work can bring in hundreds of
dollars on the web. And for good reason. Linebarger’s career involved
him in behind-the-scenes Cold War operations; by one account, his
efforts in Korea led to the surrender of thousands of enemy
combatants—seasoned troops whose training and values made them
unlikely to wave the white flag. In his book, Linebarger suggested that
famous short story, “Scanners Live in Vain,” Smith describes a guild of
space pilots who are required to cut off much of their neural
hardwiring—rendering them deaf-mutes—in order to withstand the
“Great Pain of Space.” The story is strange and deeply unsettling on
many levels, yet clearly demonstrates the extravagant inventiveness
of Smith’s conceptual fictions. Even so, I am not surprised that, when
Smith submitted it to John W. Campbell, Jr., who presided over the
magazine Astounding Science Fiction, the editor replied that is was
“too extreme” to publish.
But the imaginative excesses of the plots cannot hide the deep
metaphysical constructs at the heart of Cordwainer Smith’s work. A
recurring philosophical and moral issue constantly takes center stage
here: namely, what it means to be a person. In Smith’s universe—a
sociopolitical construct that he describes as the Instrumentality of
Mankind—this concept of personhood cannot be taken for granted.
The main characters are sometimes “real persons,” with similar DNA
to you and me. But just as often, they are “underpersons”—a generic
term for modified animals. Many of these have become almost
indistinguishable from humans, and in some instances they
demonstrate superior intellectual, moral and physical qualities to the
human characters; yet they are denied the basic rights and respect
accorded to people. In still other instances, we encounter humans who
have been genetically altered to meet the exigencies of different
planets…or robots of humanoid appearance…or mixtures of animal
parts with mechanical and electronic technology.
This may sound like the bar scene in Star Wars, but in fact Smith is
acutely sensitive to the ethical and sociological issues presented by a
blurring of the concept of personhood. Time and time again in his
stories, he focuses on the struggle of one or another group to achieve
the perks and prerogatives that are denied them because of how
society classifies their state of being. Sometimes these accounts
reflect political issues of Smith’s time (and our own)—and one can
interpret these tales in terms of civil rights movements, apartheid and
other headline stories of the day. In other instances, he reaches for
religious symbolism in describing these social movements, and many
have noted the Christian overtones of some of his work—yet this is not
the Christianity of the modern-day, but more the underground
movement of the early Roman empire, hidden in catacombs and
potentially subversive.
In a wildly inventive short novel from 1964, “The Dead Lady of Clown
Town,” the catacomb metaphor is powerfully realized. Smith amplifies
on his key philosophical themes, and here again the author stands out
for his extreme effects. He takes more than sixty pages to tell the
story of a revolution that “lasted six minutes and covered one hundred
and twelve meters.” From one angle, Smith—who in his day-to-day
life was an expert on Chinese affairs, and had Sun Yat-Sen as a
godfather—seemed to be anticipating the Tiananmen Square protests
of 1989 in this story. Yet the symbolic resonance of this story, one of
the finest science fiction works of the 20th century, goes beyond any
purely political interpretation.
Unlike the vast majority of science fiction stories, “The Dead Lady of
Clown Town” is not just filled with provocative concepts, but is
daringly experimental in its appropriation of unconventional narrative
techniques. Some of the action is told in a straightforward manner, yet
key scenes might be relayed in the lyrics of a song, the description of a
snippet of film, testimonies taken down years after the events, and
other indirect ways. Here, as elsewhere in his oeuvre, Smith is
especially fond of starting his stories at the end and working
backward—he is even willing to slip in “spoiler” details in his opening
pages, trusting in his ability to maintain suspense in other ways.
Needless to say, this focus on the metaphysical and psychological
made Smith an atypical personality in the world of science fiction. In a
surviving letter, from 1948, which accompanied his submission of
“Scanners Live in Vain” to Fantasy Book, he felt compelled to
apologize for the story: “This is more ‘literary’ fiction than pulp fiction
but I have hopes that your magazine, being off-trail, might be
interested in using it.” To sweeten his submission, Smith included a
check for $3.00 for a subscription and a stamped, self-addressed
envelope for response, before closing with a request that the magazine
publish more works by A.E. van Vogt.
But the real issue here is not that Smith’s story is ‘literary.’ That is
hardly the word that comes to mind upon reading his work. Rather his
imaginative universe is so unconventional, and at times so austere—his
fascination with the coldness and emptiness of remote space almost
borders on an obsession—that it seems like a realization of some quasi-
monastic worldview rather than a springboard for fiction of any kind.
Other authors have dealt with the conquest of space, perhaps as well or
better than Smith; but none has done a better job of conveying the
psychic aspects of the renunciation of the home planet that is the flip
of side of this same story. After you strip away the action and
conflicts on the surface level of these tales, an ascetic tendency can be
seen to run through this author’s entire oeuvre.
After reading through this lengthy collection of stories, you will be
struck by the apparent unity of vision in Smith’s work. Even an early
story, such as “Scanners” seems to anticipate elements that would
appear in other stories written fifteen years later. By the same token,
any reader trying to come to grips with Smith’s one full-length novel,
Norstrilia—the only major sci-fi work of his not included in this
volume—will hardly understand its nuances without having spent time
with these shorter fictions. One can’t help wondering on the overall
connections between these stories. Did Smith work out all of the
details of his imaginary universe at the start of his writing career? Or,
even stranger to consider, did he experience them in some out-of-body
way?
On the other hand, very little repetition takes place in these stories.
Very rarely does a key character from one story play a major role in
another one—although minor characters do reappear with regularity.
Even the recurring themes take on new dimensions as Smith’s work
evolved from the 1940s to the 1960s. And the unity of Smith’s vision
seemed to coexist comfortably with the abundance of creative
ingredients, fresh new angles, and surprising shifts of scene, century
and galaxy—each calling cards of his style. It is that very quality—the
endless ingenuity of our author as he piles up strange element upon
strange element—that stands out as the most salient trademark of this
author. If in fact, he did feel as if he had lived these stories, at second-
hand or even first-hand, then one can only marvel at the richness of
such an interior life—and be thankful that these stories survive as
testimony.
By Cordwainer Smith
Reviewed by Ted Gioia
Few science fiction writers present us with a bigger puzzle than
Cordwainer Smith (1913-1966), an eccentric figure from the golden
age of sci-fi who retains a small but devoted cult following today. Was
Smith a brilliant thinker or mentally ill?
Was he an artist or an ideologue? Was his
body of work a unified vision or a disparate
jumble? Above all, did he see himself as
a writer of fictional stories or could it be
that he believed that his fanciful narratives
were, in some sense, true accounts based
on his personal experiences?
The strangest piece of information about
Cordwainer Smith—a pseudonym, one of
many employed by Paul Linebarger—comes
from a psychological case study published
in 1955, which described the “psychosis”
of a patient who experienced vivid visions
of life in outer space, incidents that the
individual believed were real, not imaginary.
The preponderance of evidence suggests
that our sci-fi author served as the basis for this case study, which was
included by Dr. Robert Lindner in his book The Fifty-Minute Hour.
Although final confirmation eludes us, the idea that Smith believed
himself capable of out-of-body experience beyond the Earth may
provide us with insights into the peculiarly intense nature of this writer’
s fictional works.
Indeed, many of the stories in The Rediscovery of Man—which
collects virtually all of Smith’s shorter science fiction in a volume of
almost 700 pages—are pushed ahead by events that happen inside
people’s heads. In several stories, he develops the concept of
characters who don’t exist in their own right, but are the projection of
other characters' minds. In the tale “Nancy” he even holds nuptials
between a spaceship captain and a woman who is merely an
embodiment of his ideas about the opposite sex—and, yes, it is a very
happy union…at least until the spaceship gets back home. In a series
of novellas about Casher O’Neill, who
plots a revolution on his home planet,
the hero learns how to project different
facets of his inner life as individual allies
who can assist him in battle. In other
cases, the mental leaps do not result in
concrete manifestations—as in the many
stories here in which telepathy and mind-
reading play a key role—but the locus of
action still remains in the mental sphere.
At this point, I should probably mention
that Linebarger’s most influential work
was not necessarily any he wrote under
the name Cordwainer Smith, but may have been his study
Psychological Warfare—a book that boasts its own cult following.
Even a used paperback copy of this work can bring in hundreds of
dollars on the web. And for good reason. Linebarger’s career involved
him in behind-the-scenes Cold War operations; by one account, his
efforts in Korea led to the surrender of thousands of enemy
combatants—seasoned troops whose training and values made them
unlikely to wave the white flag. In his book, Linebarger suggested that
famous short story, “Scanners Live in Vain,” Smith describes a guild of
space pilots who are required to cut off much of their neural
hardwiring—rendering them deaf-mutes—in order to withstand the
“Great Pain of Space.” The story is strange and deeply unsettling on
many levels, yet clearly demonstrates the extravagant inventiveness
of Smith’s conceptual fictions. Even so, I am not surprised that, when
Smith submitted it to John W. Campbell, Jr., who presided over the
magazine Astounding Science Fiction, the editor replied that is was
“too extreme” to publish.
But the imaginative excesses of the plots cannot hide the deep
metaphysical constructs at the heart of Cordwainer Smith’s work. A
recurring philosophical and moral issue constantly takes center stage
here: namely, what it means to be a person. In Smith’s universe—a
sociopolitical construct that he describes as the Instrumentality of
Mankind—this concept of personhood cannot be taken for granted.
The main characters are sometimes “real persons,” with similar DNA
to you and me. But just as often, they are “underpersons”—a generic
term for modified animals. Many of these have become almost
indistinguishable from humans, and in some instances they
demonstrate superior intellectual, moral and physical qualities to the
human characters; yet they are denied the basic rights and respect
accorded to people. In still other instances, we encounter humans who
have been genetically altered to meet the exigencies of different
planets…or robots of humanoid appearance…or mixtures of animal
parts with mechanical and electronic technology.
This may sound like the bar scene in Star Wars, but in fact Smith is
acutely sensitive to the ethical and sociological issues presented by a
blurring of the concept of personhood. Time and time again in his
stories, he focuses on the struggle of one or another group to achieve
the perks and prerogatives that are denied them because of how
society classifies their state of being. Sometimes these accounts
reflect political issues of Smith’s time (and our own)—and one can
interpret these tales in terms of civil rights movements, apartheid and
other headline stories of the day. In other instances, he reaches for
religious symbolism in describing these social movements, and many
have noted the Christian overtones of some of his work—yet this is not
the Christianity of the modern-day, but more the underground
movement of the early Roman empire, hidden in catacombs and
potentially subversive.
In a wildly inventive short novel from 1964, “The Dead Lady of Clown
Town,” the catacomb metaphor is powerfully realized. Smith amplifies
on his key philosophical themes, and here again the author stands out
for his extreme effects. He takes more than sixty pages to tell the
story of a revolution that “lasted six minutes and covered one hundred
and twelve meters.” From one angle, Smith—who in his day-to-day
life was an expert on Chinese affairs, and had Sun Yat-Sen as a
godfather—seemed to be anticipating the Tiananmen Square protests
of 1989 in this story. Yet the symbolic resonance of this story, one of
the finest science fiction works of the 20th century, goes beyond any
purely political interpretation.
Unlike the vast majority of science fiction stories, “The Dead Lady of
Clown Town” is not just filled with provocative concepts, but is
daringly experimental in its appropriation of unconventional narrative
techniques. Some of the action is told in a straightforward manner, yet
key scenes might be relayed in the lyrics of a song, the description of a
snippet of film, testimonies taken down years after the events, and
other indirect ways. Here, as elsewhere in his oeuvre, Smith is
especially fond of starting his stories at the end and working
backward—he is even willing to slip in “spoiler” details in his opening
pages, trusting in his ability to maintain suspense in other ways.
Needless to say, this focus on the metaphysical and psychological
made Smith an atypical personality in the world of science fiction. In a
surviving letter, from 1948, which accompanied his submission of
“Scanners Live in Vain” to Fantasy Book, he felt compelled to
apologize for the story: “This is more ‘literary’ fiction than pulp fiction
but I have hopes that your magazine, being off-trail, might be
interested in using it.” To sweeten his submission, Smith included a
check for $3.00 for a subscription and a stamped, self-addressed
envelope for response, before closing with a request that the magazine
publish more works by A.E. van Vogt.
But the real issue here is not that Smith’s story is ‘literary.’ That is
hardly the word that comes to mind upon reading his work. Rather his
imaginative universe is so unconventional, and at times so austere—his
fascination with the coldness and emptiness of remote space almost
borders on an obsession—that it seems like a realization of some quasi-
monastic worldview rather than a springboard for fiction of any kind.
Other authors have dealt with the conquest of space, perhaps as well or
better than Smith; but none has done a better job of conveying the
psychic aspects of the renunciation of the home planet that is the flip
of side of this same story. After you strip away the action and
conflicts on the surface level of these tales, an ascetic tendency can be
seen to run through this author’s entire oeuvre.
After reading through this lengthy collection of stories, you will be
struck by the apparent unity of vision in Smith’s work. Even an early
story, such as “Scanners” seems to anticipate elements that would
appear in other stories written fifteen years later. By the same token,
any reader trying to come to grips with Smith’s one full-length novel,
Norstrilia—the only major sci-fi work of his not included in this
volume—will hardly understand its nuances without having spent time
with these shorter fictions. One can’t help wondering on the overall
connections between these stories. Did Smith work out all of the
details of his imaginary universe at the start of his writing career? Or,
even stranger to consider, did he experience them in some out-of-body
way?
On the other hand, very little repetition takes place in these stories.
Very rarely does a key character from one story play a major role in
another one—although minor characters do reappear with regularity.
Even the recurring themes take on new dimensions as Smith’s work
evolved from the 1940s to the 1960s. And the unity of Smith’s vision
seemed to coexist comfortably with the abundance of creative
ingredients, fresh new angles, and surprising shifts of scene, century
and galaxy—each calling cards of his style. It is that very quality—the
endless ingenuity of our author as he piles up strange element upon
strange element—that stands out as the most salient trademark of this
author. If in fact, he did feel as if he had lived these stories, at second-
hand or even first-hand, then one can only marvel at the richness of
such an interior life—and be thankful that these stories survive as
testimony.
| conceptual fiction |
a country’s superiority versus hostile parties
could be based on an ability to “out-trick them,
out-talk them, and out-maneuver them.” Can
we be surprised, then, that Smith’s sci-fi work
espouses a similar belief that the most significant
battlefront is often one drawn inside our psyches?
By the same token, Smith employs a range of
writing techniques—sometimes arcane narrative
structures or, at other points, peculiar plot devices—
that similarly aim at restricting or eliminating the
flow of empirical data that serves as the constitu-
tive element for most works of fiction. In his most
could be based on an ability to “out-trick them,
out-talk them, and out-maneuver them.” Can
we be surprised, then, that Smith’s sci-fi work
espouses a similar belief that the most significant
battlefront is often one drawn inside our psyches?
By the same token, Smith employs a range of
writing techniques—sometimes arcane narrative
structures or, at other points, peculiar plot devices—
that similarly aim at restricting or eliminating the
flow of empirical data that serves as the constitu-
tive element for most works of fiction. In his most
Follow Ted Gioia on Twitter at
www.twitter.com/tedgioia
Conceptual Fiction:
A Reading List
(with links to essays on each work)
Home Page
Abbott, Edwin A.
Flatland
Adams, Douglas
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Allende, Isabel
The House of the Spirits
Amado, Jorge
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
Amis, Martin
Time's Arrow
Apuleius
The Golden Ass
Asimov, Isaac
The Foundation Trilogy
Asimov, Isaac
I, Robot
Atwood, Margaret
The Handmaid's Tale
Banks, Iain M.
The State of the Art
Ballard, J.G.
The Atrocity Exhibition
Ballard, J.G.
Crash
Ballard, J.G.
The Crystal World
Ballard, J.G.
The Drowned World
Barth, John
Giles Goat-Boy
Bester, Alfred
The Demolished Man
Borges, Jorge Luis
Ficciones
Bradbury, Ray
Dandelion Wine
Bradbury, Ray
Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray
The Illustrated Man
Bradbury, Ray
The Martian Chronicles
Bradbury, Ray
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Brockmeier, Kevin
The View from the Seventh Layer
Bulgakov, Mikhail
The Master and Margarita
Burgess, Anthony
A Clockwork Orange
Card, Orson Scott
Ender's Game
Carpentier, Alejo
The Kingdom of This World
Carroll, Lewis
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chabon, Michael
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Chiang, Ted
Stories of Your Life and Others
Clarke, Arthur C.
Childhood's End
Clarke, Arthur C.
A Fall of Moondust
Clarke, Arthur C.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Clarke, Susanna
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Crowley, John
Little, Big
Danielewski, Mark Z.
The Fifty Year Sword
Danielewski, Mark Z.
House of Leaves
Davies, Robertson
Fifth Business
Delany, Samuel R.
Babel-17
Delany, Samuel R.
Dhalgren
Delany, Samuel R.
The Einstein Intersection
Dick, Philip K.
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Dick, Philip K.
The Man in the High Castle
Dick, Philip K.
Ubik
Dick, Philip K.
VALIS
Disch, Thomas M.
Camp Concentration
Disch, Thomas M.
The Genocides
Doctorow, Cory
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Donoso, José
The Obscene Bird of Night
Ellison, Harlan (editor)
Dangerous Visions
Ellison, Harlan
I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream
Esquivel, Laura
Like Water for Chocolate
Fuentes, Carlos
Aura
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Gaiman, Neil
Neverwhere
Gibson, William
Burning Chrome
Gibson, William
Neuromancer
Grass, Günter
The Tin Drum
Greene, Graham
The End of the Affair
Grossman, Lev
The Magicians
Haldeman, Joe
The Forever War
Hall, Steven
The Raw Shark Texts
Harrison, M. John
Light
Heinlein, Robert
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Heinlein, Robert:
Stranger in a Strange Land
Heinlein, Robert
Time Enough for Love
Helprin, Mark
Winter's Tale
Herbert, Frank
Dune
Hoffman, Alice
Practical Magic
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Keret, Etgar
Suddenly, A Knock at the Door
Kundera, Milan
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Kunzru, Hari
Gods Without Men
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Dispossessed
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Lathe of Heaven
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Left Hand of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz
The Big Time
Leiber, Fritz
Conjure Wife
Leiber, Fritz
Swords & Deviltry
Leiber, Fritz
The Wanderer
Lem, Stanislaw
His Master's Voice
Lem, Stanislaw
Solaris
Lethem, Jonathan
The Fortress of Solitude
Lewis, C. S.
The Chronicles of Narnia
Link, Kelly
Magic for Beginners
Mann, Thomas
Doctor Faustus
Márquez, Gabriel García
100 Years of Solitude
Markson, David
Wittgenstein's Mistress
Matheson, Richard
Hell House
Matheson, Richard
What Dreams May Come
McCarthy, Cormac
The Road
Miéville, China
Perdido Street Station
Miller, Jr., Walter M.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Millhauser, Steven
Dangerous Laughter
Mitchell, David
Cloud Atlas
Morrison, Toni
Beloved
Murakami, Haruki
1Q84
Murakami, Haruki
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the
End of the World
Nabokov, Vladimir
Ada, or Ardor
Niffenegger, Audrey
The Time Traveler's Wife
Niven, Larry
Ringworld
Noon, Jeff
Vurt
Obreht, Téa
The Tiger's Wife
O'Brien, Flann
At Swim-Two-Birds
Okri, Ben
The Famished Road
Pohl, Frederik
Gateway
Pratchett, Terry
The Color of Magic
Pynchon, Thomas
Gravity's Rainbow
Rabelais, François
Gargantua and Pantagruel
Robinson, Kim Stanley
Red Mars
Rowling, J.K.
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone
Rushdie, Salman
Midnight's Children
Russ, Joanna
The Female Man
Saramago, José
Blindness
Sheckley, Robert
Dimension of Miracles
Sheckley, Robert
Mindswap
Sheckley, Robert
Store of the Worlds
Shelley, Mary
Frankenstein
Silverberg, Robert
Dying Inside
Silverberg, Robert
Nightwings
Simak, Clifford
City
Simak, Clifford
The Trouble with Tycho
Smith, Cordwainer
Norstrilia
Smith, Cordwainer
The Rediscovery of Man
Stephenson, Neal
Snow Crash
Stross, Charles
Glasshouse
Sturgeon, Theodore
More Than Human
Sturgeon, Theodore
Some of Your Blood
Swift, Jonathan
Gulliver's Travels
Thomas, D.M.
The White Hotel
Tiptree, Jr., James
Warm Worlds and Otherwise
Tolkien, J.R.R.
The Hobbit
Updike, John
The Witches of Eastwick
Van Vogt, A.E.
The Mixed Men
Van Vogt, A.E.
Slan
Van Vogt, A.E.
The Voyage of the Space Beagle
Van Vogt, A.E.
The World of Null A
Verne, Jules
Around the Moon
Verne, Jules
From the Earth to the Moon
Verne, Jules:
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Vonnegut, Kurt
Cat's Cradle
Vonnegut, Kurt
The Sirens of Titan
Vonnegut, Kurt
Slaughterhouse-Five
Wallace, David Foster
Infinite Jest
Walpole, Horace
Hieroglyphic Tales
Wells, H.G.
The First Men in the Moon
Wells, H.G.
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Wells, H.G.
The Time Machine
Wilson, Robert Anton & Robert Shea
The Illuminatus! Trilogy
Winton, Tim
Cloudstreet
Woolf, Virginia
Orlando
Zabor, Rafi
The Bear Comes Home
Zelazny, Roger
Lord of Light
Special Features
Notes on Conceptual Fiction
Ray Bradbury: A Tribute
The Year of Magical Reading
Remembering Fritz Leiber
A Tribute to Richard Matheson
Samuel Delany's 70th birthday
The Sci-Fi of Kurt Vonnegut
Curse You, Neil Armstrong!
Robert Heinlein at 100
A.E, van Vogt Tribute
Robert Sheckley
Links to related sites
The New Canon
Great Books Guide
Postmodern Mystery
Fractious Fiction
Ted Gioia's web site
Ted Gioia on Twitter
SF Site
io9
Graeme's Fantasy Book Review
Los Angeles Review of Books
The Millions
Big Dumb Object
SF Novelists
More Words, Deeper Hole
The Misread City
Reviews and Responses
SF Signal
True Science Fiction
Disclosure: Conceptual Fiction and
its sister sites may receive review
copies and promotional materials
from publishers, authors, publicists
or other parties.
www.twitter.com/tedgioia
Conceptual Fiction:
A Reading List
(with links to essays on each work)
Home Page
Abbott, Edwin A.
Flatland
Adams, Douglas
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Allende, Isabel
The House of the Spirits
Amado, Jorge
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands
Amis, Martin
Time's Arrow
Apuleius
The Golden Ass
Asimov, Isaac
The Foundation Trilogy
Asimov, Isaac
I, Robot
Atwood, Margaret
The Handmaid's Tale
Banks, Iain M.
The State of the Art
Ballard, J.G.
The Atrocity Exhibition
Ballard, J.G.
Crash
Ballard, J.G.
The Crystal World
Ballard, J.G.
The Drowned World
Barth, John
Giles Goat-Boy
Bester, Alfred
The Demolished Man
Borges, Jorge Luis
Ficciones
Bradbury, Ray
Dandelion Wine
Bradbury, Ray
Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury, Ray
The Illustrated Man
Bradbury, Ray
The Martian Chronicles
Bradbury, Ray
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Brockmeier, Kevin
The View from the Seventh Layer
Bulgakov, Mikhail
The Master and Margarita
Burgess, Anthony
A Clockwork Orange
Card, Orson Scott
Ender's Game
Carpentier, Alejo
The Kingdom of This World
Carroll, Lewis
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chabon, Michael
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Chiang, Ted
Stories of Your Life and Others
Clarke, Arthur C.
Childhood's End
Clarke, Arthur C.
A Fall of Moondust
Clarke, Arthur C.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Clarke, Susanna
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Crowley, John
Little, Big
Danielewski, Mark Z.
The Fifty Year Sword
Danielewski, Mark Z.
House of Leaves
Davies, Robertson
Fifth Business
Delany, Samuel R.
Babel-17
Delany, Samuel R.
Dhalgren
Delany, Samuel R.
The Einstein Intersection
Dick, Philip K.
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
Dick, Philip K.
The Man in the High Castle
Dick, Philip K.
Ubik
Dick, Philip K.
VALIS
Disch, Thomas M.
Camp Concentration
Disch, Thomas M.
The Genocides
Doctorow, Cory
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
Donoso, José
The Obscene Bird of Night
Ellison, Harlan (editor)
Dangerous Visions
Ellison, Harlan
I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream
Esquivel, Laura
Like Water for Chocolate
Fuentes, Carlos
Aura
Gaiman, Neil
American Gods
Gaiman, Neil
Neverwhere
Gibson, William
Burning Chrome
Gibson, William
Neuromancer
Grass, Günter
The Tin Drum
Greene, Graham
The End of the Affair
Grossman, Lev
The Magicians
Haldeman, Joe
The Forever War
Hall, Steven
The Raw Shark Texts
Harrison, M. John
Light
Heinlein, Robert
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Heinlein, Robert:
Stranger in a Strange Land
Heinlein, Robert
Time Enough for Love
Helprin, Mark
Winter's Tale
Herbert, Frank
Dune
Hoffman, Alice
Practical Magic
Huxley, Aldous
Brave New World
Keret, Etgar
Suddenly, A Knock at the Door
Kundera, Milan
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Kunzru, Hari
Gods Without Men
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Dispossessed
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Lathe of Heaven
Le Guin, Ursula K.
The Left Hand of Darkness
Leiber, Fritz
The Big Time
Leiber, Fritz
Conjure Wife
Leiber, Fritz
Swords & Deviltry
Leiber, Fritz
The Wanderer
Lem, Stanislaw
His Master's Voice
Lem, Stanislaw
Solaris
Lethem, Jonathan
The Fortress of Solitude
Lewis, C. S.
The Chronicles of Narnia
Link, Kelly
Magic for Beginners
Mann, Thomas
Doctor Faustus
Márquez, Gabriel García
100 Years of Solitude
Markson, David
Wittgenstein's Mistress
Matheson, Richard
Hell House
Matheson, Richard
What Dreams May Come
McCarthy, Cormac
The Road
Miéville, China
Perdido Street Station
Miller, Jr., Walter M.
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Millhauser, Steven
Dangerous Laughter
Mitchell, David
Cloud Atlas
Morrison, Toni
Beloved
Murakami, Haruki
1Q84
Murakami, Haruki
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the
End of the World
Nabokov, Vladimir
Ada, or Ardor
Niffenegger, Audrey
The Time Traveler's Wife
Niven, Larry
Ringworld
Noon, Jeff
Vurt
Obreht, Téa
The Tiger's Wife
O'Brien, Flann
At Swim-Two-Birds
Okri, Ben
The Famished Road
Pohl, Frederik
Gateway
Pratchett, Terry
The Color of Magic
Pynchon, Thomas
Gravity's Rainbow
Rabelais, François
Gargantua and Pantagruel
Robinson, Kim Stanley
Red Mars
Rowling, J.K.
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone
Rushdie, Salman
Midnight's Children
Russ, Joanna
The Female Man
Saramago, José
Blindness
Sheckley, Robert
Dimension of Miracles
Sheckley, Robert
Mindswap
Sheckley, Robert
Store of the Worlds
Shelley, Mary
Frankenstein
Silverberg, Robert
Dying Inside
Silverberg, Robert
Nightwings
Simak, Clifford
City
Simak, Clifford
The Trouble with Tycho
Smith, Cordwainer
Norstrilia
Smith, Cordwainer
The Rediscovery of Man
Stephenson, Neal
Snow Crash
Stross, Charles
Glasshouse
Sturgeon, Theodore
More Than Human
Sturgeon, Theodore
Some of Your Blood
Swift, Jonathan
Gulliver's Travels
Thomas, D.M.
The White Hotel
Tiptree, Jr., James
Warm Worlds and Otherwise
Tolkien, J.R.R.
The Hobbit
Updike, John
The Witches of Eastwick
Van Vogt, A.E.
The Mixed Men
Van Vogt, A.E.
Slan
Van Vogt, A.E.
The Voyage of the Space Beagle
Van Vogt, A.E.
The World of Null A
Verne, Jules
Around the Moon
Verne, Jules
From the Earth to the Moon
Verne, Jules:
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Vonnegut, Kurt
Cat's Cradle
Vonnegut, Kurt
The Sirens of Titan
Vonnegut, Kurt
Slaughterhouse-Five
Wallace, David Foster
Infinite Jest
Walpole, Horace
Hieroglyphic Tales
Wells, H.G.
The First Men in the Moon
Wells, H.G.
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Wells, H.G.
The Time Machine
Wilson, Robert Anton & Robert Shea
The Illuminatus! Trilogy
Winton, Tim
Cloudstreet
Woolf, Virginia
Orlando
Zabor, Rafi
The Bear Comes Home
Zelazny, Roger
Lord of Light
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Robert Heinlein at 100
A.E, van Vogt Tribute
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