Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Edhasa (1979), Edición: En La Cima Del Mundo
Description
The first novel from the award-winning author of Brightness Falls from the Air, a writer "known for gender-bending, boundary-pushing work" (Tor.com). Up the Walls of the World is the 1978 debut novel of Alice Sheldon, who had built her reputation with the acclaimed short stories she published under the name James Tiptree Jr. A singular representation of American science fiction in its prime, Tiptree's first novel expanded on the themes she addressed in her short fiction. "From telepathy to cosmology, from densely conceived psychological narrative to the broadest of sense-of-wonder revelations, the novel is something of a tour de force" (The Science Fiction Encyclopedia). Known as the Destroyer, a self-aware leviathan roams through space gobbling up star systems. In its path is the planet Tyree, populated by telepathic wind-dwelling aliens who are facing extinction. Meanwhile on Earth, people burdened with psi powers are part of a secret military experiment run by a drug-addicted doctor struggling with his own grief. These vulnerable humans soon become the target of the Tyrenni, whose only hope of survival is to take over their bodies and minds--an unspeakable crime in any other period of the aliens' history . . . Praise for James Tiptree Jr. "[Tiptree] can show you the human in the alien and the alien in the human and make both utterly real." --The Washington Post "Novels that deal with the mental gymnastics of superminds, or with concepts like eternity and infinity, are doomed to fall short of the mark. But Tiptree's misses are more exciting than the bulls‐eyes of less ambitious authors." --The New York Times… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member figre
If you know anything about James Tiptree, Jr. (in particular, if you have read the wonderful biography by Julie Phillips) it is almost impossible to read this book without some baggage. If you come from just reading Tiptree, it may be the baggage of high expectations. If you come from knowing the
My challenge to you is to try and approach this book wide open, trying not to let any of your previous knowledge hinder your approach. Because, no matter what you may have heard (there I go referencing that baggage) this is an entertaining and interesting book. It starts pretentiously – all caps and in italics – and there is the fear that you have wondered into typical 70’s “oh, look what I can do” writing. It takes a bit to get past this. The second chapter is on the world Tiptree is creating; a world that is made up of gaseous sentient beings who live on the winds. Again, this takes a while, but you begin to get a grasp of these creatures and the world they live in. The third part of the telling is based on earth, and this section comes just in time to help ground the reader who is beginning to wonder if there will be anything to hold on to here. But that is when it all starts coming together. And the stylized writing begins to make sense as the stories and the viewpoints combine. This story could have gotten lost in itself, but Tiptree skillfully weaves the parts to reasonable conclusion.
The thing that is a little transparent is the themes that she takes on. Women wanting the power of men, people questioning their sexuality, loners who can’t find their validation. These are themes that Tiptree has explored before and, if the biography is to be believed (and there is no reason to think it shouldn’t be), themes that Tiptree struggled with herself. This isn’t to say that they aren’t explored well in this book; it is just to say that they seem a little more transparent here. They are explored well and deeply, but it is a little obvious that they are being explored.
Accordingly, this is not the world’s greatest novel. Yet, it is not as bad as people have often indicated. It is a novel that will stretch the reader - not giving quick answers, but still satisfying in the end.
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history of Tiptree, the history of this book, or the responses to it, you may have the baggage of low expectations. But, shy of someone with no sense of the history of Tiptree or science fiction in general, there will be baggage. (Side note – I guess there is such baggage no matter what you are reading – this book just seems to have walked in from the airport with a larger valise than most.)My challenge to you is to try and approach this book wide open, trying not to let any of your previous knowledge hinder your approach. Because, no matter what you may have heard (there I go referencing that baggage) this is an entertaining and interesting book. It starts pretentiously – all caps and in italics – and there is the fear that you have wondered into typical 70’s “oh, look what I can do” writing. It takes a bit to get past this. The second chapter is on the world Tiptree is creating; a world that is made up of gaseous sentient beings who live on the winds. Again, this takes a while, but you begin to get a grasp of these creatures and the world they live in. The third part of the telling is based on earth, and this section comes just in time to help ground the reader who is beginning to wonder if there will be anything to hold on to here. But that is when it all starts coming together. And the stylized writing begins to make sense as the stories and the viewpoints combine. This story could have gotten lost in itself, but Tiptree skillfully weaves the parts to reasonable conclusion.
The thing that is a little transparent is the themes that she takes on. Women wanting the power of men, people questioning their sexuality, loners who can’t find their validation. These are themes that Tiptree has explored before and, if the biography is to be believed (and there is no reason to think it shouldn’t be), themes that Tiptree struggled with herself. This isn’t to say that they aren’t explored well in this book; it is just to say that they seem a little more transparent here. They are explored well and deeply, but it is a little obvious that they are being explored.
Accordingly, this is not the world’s greatest novel. Yet, it is not as bad as people have often indicated. It is a novel that will stretch the reader - not giving quick answers, but still satisfying in the end.
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LibraryThing member imyril
I am entirely blown away by Tiptree.
I have low expectations of classic SF, but Tiptree has taught me a sharp lesson in how much more interesting things became in the 70s. A traditional Cold War military story - in which the Navy try to use telepathy to communicate with submarines - is subverted by
Expect much musing on gender roles, morality and the nature of the individual. Surprisingly modern in its outlook, and unexpectedly optimistic.
Full review
I have low expectations of classic SF, but Tiptree has taught me a sharp lesson in how much more interesting things became in the 70s. A traditional Cold War military story - in which the Navy try to use telepathy to communicate with submarines - is subverted by
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the non-traditional characters long before you begin to appreciate the dilemma and politics of the desperate aliens trying to reach out across the ether. Expect much musing on gender roles, morality and the nature of the individual. Surprisingly modern in its outlook, and unexpectedly optimistic.
Full review
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LibraryThing member clong
This is really quite an imaginative book, with much to like, but a little bit of a disappointing conclusion. A group of humans, all of whom have suffered some sort of emotional trauma, have started to develop psionic capabilities—hey, wait a minute, doesn’t sound a bit like More than Human??? I
The conception of the planet Tyree and the aliens who live there are the real strengths of the book. The Tyrenni are much more compelling than your average scifi alien, profoundly non-human in physiology, psychology, and sociology. On the other hand, I found the ultimate fate of the “life-thieving” body snatchers to be overly generous, and the final destiny of the good guys to be a bit facile. Nonetheless, definitely worth the time for any science fiction fan.
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guess you could say that this story is part More than Human, and part Invasion of the Body Snatchers, with a smattering of some of the few good ideas that would later be used in Star Trek the Motion Picture . . . all underlined with a great sense of optimism (this was my first Tiptree reading experience--I didn't realize how unusual the optimistism of this book is amongst her truly amazing body of work until later). The conception of the planet Tyree and the aliens who live there are the real strengths of the book. The Tyrenni are much more compelling than your average scifi alien, profoundly non-human in physiology, psychology, and sociology. On the other hand, I found the ultimate fate of the “life-thieving” body snatchers to be overly generous, and the final destiny of the good guys to be a bit facile. Nonetheless, definitely worth the time for any science fiction fan.
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LibraryThing member FKarr
amateur mind readers brought together by the CIA accidentally communicate with and provide aid to an alien society; said alien society is atmospheric and has never contacted their planets surface, very attuned to electromagnetic spectra
LibraryThing member Tyrshundr
Unlike many stories of first contact this book does neither rushes the development of a basic comprehension of language and motivation nor makes the possibility of confusion the sole plot.
The story is built from three narratives: a being journeys from star to star, knowing that it has been
The creation of the alien races is well handled. The Tyree have different senses from humans, which – rejecting the temptation to invent new words – Tiptree describes using synaesthesia; this prevents the reader from carrying out a simple mental substitution of human terms for alien, producing a tension between confusion and familiarity which captures how perception can make a common reality uncertain. Lacking the examples of social interaction a similar unravelling of the conceptual framework of the lonely traveller is left for later in the book.
A second difference between races is their culture. The children of the Tyree are raised by the males, who are both mentally and physically more powerful so are, to the Tyree, better suited to the vital task of rearing the next generation. When they first encounter humans they naturally assume that human women are larger and stronger because they raise children. However – despite the obvious commentary on human society – the Tyree are not portrayed as more advanced for having this concept. There are female Tyree who want to raise children but their motives are not completely pure; as well as some who believe the ability is not sex specific, some are seeking it not for the act but for the status it brings. The reader is left to decide whether the arguments for equality can be transferred between races, or whether biology has made some tasks the province of specific sexes.
The culture clash from the human perspective is similarly nuanced. The rigid military minds have the greatest difficulty adapting to the Tyree’s communication through electromagnetic energy extended from minds loosely centred on rather than held within their physical bodies, whereas the ESP subjects adapt more rapidly to the concept. However, their comprehension of the immediate experience does not bring understanding of context: one subject initially parses the experience as entry into the spirit realm, while another falls into paranoia that their every thought and desire will be read from a distance.
Although the book raises interesting concepts of social structure and perception it is written in the style of a unexceptional pulp action-adventure. This does make some of the descriptions of mutual confusion veer into tedium and lead to some passages where the reader is drawn forward by the desire to read the answer to a question instead of carried forward by the quality of the prose.
Overall I enjoyed this book, more for the concepts than for the prose. I would recommend it to readers seeking a feeling of “what if” or a does of Golden Age Sci-Fi, but not to those seeking a rollicking adventure.
The story is built from three narratives: a being journeys from star to star, knowing that it has been
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separated from its fellows but able to remember neither what happened nor its purpose, seeking contact in a galaxy apparently lacking in intelligent life; on Tyree airborne mantas discover a being, the Destroyer, bent on destroying their world, and desperately seek a means of escape; on Earth US Army experiments in ESP are suddenly disrupted by mysterious interference and bouts of madness.The creation of the alien races is well handled. The Tyree have different senses from humans, which – rejecting the temptation to invent new words – Tiptree describes using synaesthesia; this prevents the reader from carrying out a simple mental substitution of human terms for alien, producing a tension between confusion and familiarity which captures how perception can make a common reality uncertain. Lacking the examples of social interaction a similar unravelling of the conceptual framework of the lonely traveller is left for later in the book.
A second difference between races is their culture. The children of the Tyree are raised by the males, who are both mentally and physically more powerful so are, to the Tyree, better suited to the vital task of rearing the next generation. When they first encounter humans they naturally assume that human women are larger and stronger because they raise children. However – despite the obvious commentary on human society – the Tyree are not portrayed as more advanced for having this concept. There are female Tyree who want to raise children but their motives are not completely pure; as well as some who believe the ability is not sex specific, some are seeking it not for the act but for the status it brings. The reader is left to decide whether the arguments for equality can be transferred between races, or whether biology has made some tasks the province of specific sexes.
The culture clash from the human perspective is similarly nuanced. The rigid military minds have the greatest difficulty adapting to the Tyree’s communication through electromagnetic energy extended from minds loosely centred on rather than held within their physical bodies, whereas the ESP subjects adapt more rapidly to the concept. However, their comprehension of the immediate experience does not bring understanding of context: one subject initially parses the experience as entry into the spirit realm, while another falls into paranoia that their every thought and desire will be read from a distance.
Although the book raises interesting concepts of social structure and perception it is written in the style of a unexceptional pulp action-adventure. This does make some of the descriptions of mutual confusion veer into tedium and lead to some passages where the reader is drawn forward by the desire to read the answer to a question instead of carried forward by the quality of the prose.
Overall I enjoyed this book, more for the concepts than for the prose. I would recommend it to readers seeking a feeling of “what if” or a does of Golden Age Sci-Fi, but not to those seeking a rollicking adventure.
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LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
The science here deals with psychic phenomena, and the prospect of instant communication over interstellar distances. There's a very creepy villain, and lab-rats have a moment of glory.. Not bad entertainment. And the aliens are good and alien!
LibraryThing member Lyndatrue
This is Alice Sheldon's only full-length novel. It's neither more, nor less strange than other things she wrote, although it does show the strain of leading the double life she'd led for so long. This was the turning point. She was exposed during the time this was headed into publication.
I'd like
The novel expresses various gender roles, and has us examine gender, race, and our roles within society, and looking outside ourselves while doing so. I admit that the creatures on Tyree are less complex than I'd have liked, but the merging of everything at the end was well done. Omali is my favorite character; strong, intellectual, and secretly flawed. What's not to like?
I'd like
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to think that Alice, and Hunt, were both off, floating eternally in the cosmos, joined in one vast hive mind, and questing for pure knowledge.The novel expresses various gender roles, and has us examine gender, race, and our roles within society, and looking outside ourselves while doing so. I admit that the creatures on Tyree are less complex than I'd have liked, but the merging of everything at the end was well done. Omali is my favorite character; strong, intellectual, and secretly flawed. What's not to like?
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Subjects
Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — 1979)
Language
Original publication date
1978
ISBN
8435002616 / 9788435002615