look to windward is the best, don't @ me
March 26, 2018 1:06 PM   Subscribe

A Political History of the Future: Iain M. Banks, Abigail Nussbaum at Lawyers, Guns and Money

Iain M. Banks (Modern Masters of Science Fiction), by Paul Kincaid and at Project MUSE
reviewed by Nick Hubble at Strange Horizons
One of the principal difficulties in trying to assess the literary and sfnal significance of Iain Banks’s three decades as a published writer is that the beginning and end of his career were both extremely abrupt. As Paul Kincaid points out in this new book, Banks’s debut novel, The Wasp Factory (1984), “was probably the most controversial literary debut of the 1980s” (p. 2) and immediately became a bestseller, in part due to that controversy. Whereas, his death in 2013 followed barely two months after his diagnosis of cancer was made public and only days before the publication of his final novel, The Quarry. From first to last, he was a prominent and important novelist. Therefore, we can neither study the trials and travails by which he became established in the literary firmament nor, as in the more usual circumstances of a writer passing away a number of years after the main body of his work has been published, can we look back to see how well that body of work has worn on the whole. Against this, the vitality of both his work and personality still seems to retain an immediacy that resists the cold grasp of measured retrospective judgement. To adapt a cover quote from William Gibson, Banks remains a phenomenon.
Russel Letson, Locus
Nevertheless, it is Banks’s science fiction that we came here for, and Kincaid does not disappoint. The clearest through-line is his treatment of the Culture – how and for what purpose the milieu was devised, how its significance shifted across the years, how its themes and motifs are echoed in the other novels, regardless of genre. Kincaid outlines how the Culture was devised as a deliberate counter to earlier (particularly American) space-adventure conventions that Banks saw as militarist and imperialist and infected with “grandiose superhero thinking that has no place in the communal, socialistic approach that Banks takes in his fiction.” He also argues for a break in that group of books – that the Culture sequence was essentially finished before the last three books (Matter, Surface Detail, and The Hydrogen Sonata, 2008-2012) were written – that the project was complete and that the later books represent a kind of retreading of old ground.

The job of the first set of Culture novels would seem to be to deconstruct not only the political notions behind traditional space opera, but also notions of utopia – to push at the contradictions in the Culture’s own view of itself.
Nussbaum has more at her site Asking the Wrong Questions: The Iain M. Banks Master List

see also: The Revolutionary Optimism of Iain M. Banks’ Culture Novels, Outside of Context: Iain M. Banks, 1954-2013, The Ambiguous Utopia of Iain M. Banks , Interview with Ken MacLeod about Iain M. Banks, Think Culture Is a Space Opera? Nah, It’s a Trojan Horse - “It was kind of like a magician’s trick,” Caroti says. “He just gave us these books and said, ‘Read, have fun, it’s only space opera.’ But inside there were these deadly serious messages, there were these deadly serious reflections on empire and civilization.”
posted by the man of twists and turns (28 comments total) 52 users marked this as a favorite
 
Wot?

Three Iain M. Banks non-culture books that I'd not heard of?

Heading for a darkened room far from real world commitments. (Which I hereby propose as a Culture ship name)
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:47 PM on March 26, 2018 [1 favorite]


Look to Windward is always the one I recommend people as a point of entry to the series. I know Player of Games is the canonical choice, but I think Look to Windward does a much better job of telling the reader what the Culture is all about, and of making a case for it as a model (if imperfect) society. It's told mostly from the perspectives of non-Culture aliens, one of which is sort of a stand-in for humans and the other of which serves as sort of a detached observer, so you get an outsider's perspective for much of the book.

Also, unlike Player of Games, it mostly takes place within the heart of the Culture itself rather than way off in one of the Magellanic Clouds among a bunch of barbarians. It's also a damn good story, better than Player which I personally feel is a little weak at the end. Player's portrayal of the Culture is still a little rough around the edges, I think (although not nearly as rough as Consider Phlebas). Banks' vision wasn't quite fully formed until Use of Weapons, if you ask me.

But then, while it's a terrible starting place for those just getting into the series, my very favorite has always been Excession.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 2:02 PM on March 26, 2018 [11 favorites]


Also, I'll always be sad that Banks died while I was off having one of the shittiest summers of my life in Africa. His books (on a Kindle) helped get me through three months of absolutely toxic fieldwork (thank you Kurt Vonnegut and Terry Pratchett, as well) and then I came home and he was dead. Fucking shit cherry on top of a shit sundae.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 2:05 PM on March 26, 2018 [6 favorites]


Huh. Windward one of the ones I’d absolutely peg as a later recommend since it’s one of the few that explicitly follows the events of another book.
posted by Artw at 2:08 PM on March 26, 2018


How so, Artw? It takes place under the long shadow of the Idiran War, sure, but then most of the books reference the War in one way or another. Have I read this book a dozen times and missed a huge in-universe reference?
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 2:10 PM on March 26, 2018


Sorry, answered my own question with a quick Google search. It never occured to me (despite the title, which I did notice) that Windward is considered a sequel to Phlebas. They take place hundreds of years apart and share no characters (unless I missed something). The plot of one is in no way dependent on the plot of the other. Windward has the Idiran War as a larger part of its background than the other novels, and Phlebas takes place during the Idiran War, but that's about it as far as I can tell?

Sorry for all the comments, will let others talk now.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 2:15 PM on March 26, 2018 [1 favorite]


I would absolutely recommend Look to Windward as a starting point. Player of Games fantastically constructed, but Gurgeh is so unappealing as a protagonist, it put me off somewhat.

Then again, I started with Use of Weapons, so maybe I'm the weirdo.


I think Use of Weapons is probably his best novel about the realities of SC.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 2:18 PM on March 26, 2018 [3 favorites]


Look to Windward is the one I’ve returned to over and over. It’s melancholy, expansive, with a tiny sliver of terrifying Special Circumstances badassery right at the end. I’d love to see it adapted into a miniseries. Excession was my introduction and probably still my favorite. With the mind chapters printed in a distinctive monospace typeface, I think it works best as a printed novel.
posted by migurski at 2:27 PM on March 26, 2018 [2 favorites]


Player of Games fantastically constructed, but Gurgeh is so unappealing as a protagonist, it put me off somewhat.

Then again, I started with Use of Weapons, so maybe I'm the weirdo.


Uh.
posted by leotrotsky at 2:29 PM on March 26, 2018 [2 favorites]


I might suggest The Algebraist as an introduction to Banks. It's not a Culture novel, but it's an outsize science fiction adventure with some very odd and interesting aliens and a truly horrific villain.
posted by SPrintF at 2:43 PM on March 26, 2018 [3 favorites]


I like Nussbaum, even when I disagree with her it's always in a thoughtful chin tapping kind of way (though my chin remains untapped for that piece).

I think you could call the Culture books an elaborate gloss on The Ones who Walk Away from Omelas.

E.g. If you have infinite power and resources could say with absolute certainty that intervention X would have an 75% chance of improving the wellbeing of population Y, that all other interventions are worse and inaction is worse still, should you do it?

Are you obligated to do it?

Are you complicit in the existing evil if you don't do it?

Are you complicit in the residual evil when you do do it?
posted by Sebmojo at 2:46 PM on March 26, 2018 [4 favorites]


I actually have a hard time reading The Algebraist because the villain is so horrible. Banks puts a healthy dollop of body horror into pretty much everything he writes, but ugh.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 2:49 PM on March 26, 2018 [1 favorite]


I would have to support Use of Weapons as the Culture masterpiece. It has a remarkable protagonist, shows the Culture from within and without from an outsider's perspective, and is skilfully constructed—also on later reads.

As for his non-Culture works, I'll have to go with Against a Dark Background. Apart from the best SF weapon evar it is so delightfully darkly humorous.

While The Algebraist probably has Banks' second best aliens (because nothing and no one can top The Affront), I thought the villain too operatic for my taste, and I couldn't really engage with the human drama.
posted by bouvin at 2:56 PM on March 26, 2018 [3 favorites]


I started with (and enjoyed) The Algebraist because I didn't know what was Culture and what wasn't when I first started with Iain M. Banks. And then, having learned a bit more about his work, I decided the proper way to go about reading about the Culture was to read the first one, Consider Phelbas, which was a hard go. So I turned to the sequel, Look to Windward and I think I finally got why these books got such good recommendations from Metafilter.

At that point, I realized there was no point in trying for any "order", and just went for them in the order I found them. Use of Weapons left a big impression. Matter and Excession were really interesting to me. I don't recall much of Surface Detail and what I do recall makes me think I'll never read it again. However, and this may make me an outlier, I think my favorite one is the last: The Hydrogen Sonata, for reasons I have to say I'm not really clear on yet. But something in there works for me.

I think that Nussman's column sums up the complexity and compelling nature of these books the best:
The Culture is an engine for the reduction and elimination of suffering. That is its ultimate goal, that is its core tenet. As Gurgeh realizes in the climax of The Player of Games, the universe is a cruel, unjust place, and kindness and fairness are nothing but illusions. But as he says to his opposing player, “it [a fair universe] is something we can try to make it … A goal we can aim for”. The chief responsibility of any civilization worthy of the name, Banks is saying, is to work towards reducing the amount of suffering in the universe. There’s obviously quite a lot more to it than that, and it doesn’t follow that the Culture is always good or always right. But to my utilitarian point of view that has always seemed like a good starting point for any political discussion—will this idea reduce or increase the amount of suffering in the world? I have Banks to thank for putting that principle into words so strongly, and with such conviction.
posted by nubs at 3:22 PM on March 26, 2018 [5 favorites]


ZAKALWE!
posted by iamabot at 5:53 PM on March 26, 2018 [1 favorite]


I really think that what makes the Culture so enduring (and I do think it will stand the test of time) is verisimilitude. Despite all the extremely handwavey technology, the galaxy as portrayed in the Culture feels like a place that really could exist. Like Lord of the Rings (which I am currently re-reading in light of my third reading of The Silmarillion, so it's on my mind) you get a sense that the story you are reading is a slice of a much bigger, much more detailed world. The way Banks just drops you over and over again into new worlds, new cultures, new entire non-human interstellar civilizations, and manages to paint each of them as a living, breathing place with a much larger existence than is necessary just to support a plot, is breathtaking. Many writers attempt this trick, but few succeed. Off the top of my head, I can only think of Tolkien. (Tolkien did it better, albeit with just the one world.)

The Culture, and the galaxy (always implied to be the Milky Way; well, OK, confirmed in The State of the Art, but that's not part of my headcannon) it exists within, feels huge. Absolutely stupendous, and real. It feels like something you could be living in right now without ever knowing. I think that's a really important part of why the message embedded in it—that humans have it in us to create a truly benevolent society, one that is both sustainable and hedonistic, one where suffering is minimized, one where there is almost limitless potential for self-expression—is so compelling. Banks makes it feel as though it's already happened, as though it's been going on everywhere for ten thousand years.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 5:56 PM on March 26, 2018 [8 favorites]


The State of the Art, but that's not part of my headcannon

sutherland_bodysnatchers.jpg
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 6:06 PM on March 26, 2018 [2 favorites]


I guess I just liked it better when it was implied. I thought it was too heavy-handed. Also, I liked the story better when it was called They're Made out of Meat.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 6:16 PM on March 26, 2018


That’s a very different but also good but also VERY different story TBH.
posted by Artw at 6:21 PM on March 26, 2018


Hmm, maybe I need to give it another read then.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 6:23 PM on March 26, 2018


“Kincaid’s Iain M. Banks is a significant and authoritative addition to these books that is likely to become a benchmark for Banks studies in the years ahead[...]” - Russell Letson

Banks Studies.

BANKS STUDIES.

Goddamn.
posted by egypturnash at 7:08 PM on March 26, 2018 [5 favorites]


I guess I just liked it better when it was implied.

The appendix to CP is explicitly documents for Terrans after contact!
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:42 PM on March 26, 2018 [1 favorite]


Imagine the pleasure one month ago when I found I had NOT in fact read all the Culture novels upon discovering Excision. It's a bit meandery but getting right into the Ship Minds is so damn fun.
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 8:47 PM on March 26, 2018 [1 favorite]


PS thanks for the great links TMOTAT.
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 8:51 PM on March 26, 2018 [1 favorite]


Related question: Does anyone know why not all of his books ate available on Kindle? I want to re-read Excession, but read a borrowed copy the first time.
posted by tau_ceti at 10:27 PM on March 26, 2018


Related question: Does anyone know why not all of his books ate available on Kindle? I want to re-read Excession, but read a borrowed copy the first time.
It's geofenced: people in the UK have the full selection, but if you're in the US, you're out of luck. I have no idea why, but it was pretty frustrating to me.

Of course, Amazon lets you change your account locale a seemingly unlimited number of times per day. If you buy a digital item in one locale, you can keep it when you move. So...
posted by kdar at 2:32 AM on March 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


Read it again and, yep, I was remembering the story wrong. Think I was too invested in wanting Earth to be able to join the Culture that that was the main part of the story I remembered. It's better than I remembered, and very interesting to see Banks' SF and lit-fic writing styles collide.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 8:24 PM on April 1, 2018


I'm fairly sure that Transition was published as an Iain Banks rather than an M book in the UK. Not living with my collection now so I can't check, but I remember being surprised at the sf-ness of a non-M book.

(just checked on amazon.co.uk and yep, its a non-M book over here).
posted by couch at 3:44 PM on April 6, 2018


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