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4.0étoiles sur 5
Somewhat sanguinary but mostly enjoyable collection, Mars 18 2002
Card's short stories frequently differ thematically from his longer work. While his longer work revolves around free will and human interaction, his short stories are often written for one main point. It's fair, I think, to judge his short stories by how well and interestingly he gets that point across. This group of stories is tied together by their speculation on what the future holds for us (hence, "Flux," or a fluid future). Let me run down the plots of each of the stories and give you my rating of them. "A Thousand Deaths." The point: Some people, at least, no matter what you do to them, cannot change their view of what is right or wrong. This story is an excellent counterpoint to "1984," which posited that people can be completely degraded and crushed. Despite the horrific murders in the story, I liked its humanism. The Ruskies as bad guys was a departure from the usual science fiction fare, and was also appreciated. Rating: Excellent. "Clap Hands and Sing." The point: everyone, even those we least suspect, has the desire to redo some important aspect of their lives. This story resonates with me, since I too have a Rachel Carpenter in my past, and I wish I had a THIEF to make that one decision differently. Not that I made the wrong decision the first time, but like all human beings, I would love to have it both ways. Rating: Outstanding. "Dogwalker." The point: A clever adversary overcomes even genius and well-made plans. I don't know whether the purpose of this story was for Card to prove to himself that he could write a good cyberpunk story, or to make a moral point -- something tells me it's the former. Card himself even admits as much in his "Afterword." But there's no need for atonement. The story is very enjoyable either way, and Card can, indeed, write good cyberpunk. Rating: Excellent. "But We Try Not to Act Like It." The point: a person is dehumanized and destroyed by a society that treats the person paternalistically and as a member of a class as opposed to an individual. This story reminded me of many other (and better) works, from Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" to Jack Williamson's "With Folded Hands" to Huxley's "Brave New World." This would be a good story to read if the person has not read any other stories in this genre, but for anyone else it's unsatisfying. Rating: Unsatisfactory. "I Put My Blue Jeans On." The point: attempts to destroy your enemy will destroy you instead, even to the point of robbing you of your humanity if not your life. The story about biological warfare gone amuck is superficial and a little silly, and the point has been made numerous other times. Still, as a Brazophile the Brazilian references were appreciated. Rating: Satisfactory. "In the Doghouse." The point: intelligence is overlooked because of bias. Card originally planned to use an American ethnic group instead of dogs as the beings to receive superhuman intelligence, but I have to agree with him that had he done so, he probably would have been tarred and feathered, and ridden out of town on a rail. Oh well, even though it ducks a political fastball, it still deserves a Good rating. "The Originist." The point: human beings are defined by their relationships -- and ability to form relationships -- with each other; those relationships are evidenced by emotional ties, private language and common myths. Card's bites off more than he can chew here, because an ontological examination of human beings is a topic that invites a book or a series of books, and really cannot be adequately addressed in a short story or novella. Card has consistently explored this idea throughout his books, frankly without too much success. He actually does his best on this subject when he briefly mentions it in "Ender's Game," where Graff explains to Valentine that the emotional connections between humans are real, and proof of their reality is found in the fact that they can cause Valentine and Ender to act in ways they otherwise would not. As you read through this story, don't get too bogged down in the idea of humanity's planet of origin. Card uses the question of planet origin as a MacGuffin; the story never resolves it (actually, we learn terra's fate only in Asimov's "Foundation and Earth" and "Robots and Empire"). Rating: Good.
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