Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Panther (1980), Paperback, 304 pages
Description
The discovery of another habitable world might spell salvation to the three bitterly competing power blocs of the resource-starved 21st century; but when their representatives arrive on Jem, with its multiple intelligent species, they discover instead the perfect situation into which to export their rivalries. Subtitled, with savage irony, 'The Making of a Utopia', Jem is one of Frederik Pohl's most powerful novels.
Media reviews
where Jem works as a novel, it works in ways that would be very satisfying even to people who say they don't like science fiction.
User reviews
LibraryThing member salimbol
A book steeped in the politics of the time in which it was written (1980, which had seen decades of cold war wearing down the major world powers, and an increasingly resource-hungry world, etc). Here, all too believably, humankind transplants its unreflective self interest and greed into a new
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world, with tragic consequences. There are definite elements of satire here, but it won't provoke any smiles in the reader; at times it's chillingly bleak, and its ironic subtitle of 'the making of a utopia' is well-earned. Interestingly, the female characters are more deeply characterised than the male ones (though, they're also much more *problematically* characterised), but none of them are particularly likeable, when it all comes down to it (except perhaps Charlie, one of the alien characters). Like its characters, it's an interesting book with some important things to say, but it wasn't a particularly enjoyable reading experience. Show Less
LibraryThing member RandyStafford
My reactions to reading this novel in 2004.
This is an interesting book for four levels.
It has a rather dated flavor, specifically of the ‘70s with its division of the earth into three power blocs based on the resource they export -- fuel, food, and people. The inspiration for this is obviously
The second interesting thing is, despite this ‘70s flavor, the novel has a very 19th century and early 20th century feeling -- specifically, as nuclear war gets closer and closer on Earth, of World War One. The three power blocs try to compete to exploit and colonize Jem to gain greater power relative to their competitors in a manner reminiscent of the colonization of the world by Europeans.
The third interesting thing is the gaps in the story that Pohl chooses not to dwell on. While he gives us three fairly worked out sentient, non-technological alien races, he doesn’t dwell a lot on their cultures, (though all get at least one viewpoint scene or chapter) or the development of human and alien communication. Nor does he spend a lot of time on the technology of space travel or the ecological details of growing human crops on an alien world. Rather Pohl’s concern is political. The science is good, at least what we see in passing (with the puzzling exception of drilling for oil on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. I can think of no biogenic or abiogenic theory of petroleum production which would cause you to drill there), but Pohl dwells on political struggles and machinations.
This novel is Pohl the political writer and not the science writer -- the Pohl the political writer is almost always present. Thus the most interesting and complex character is Colonel Marge Menninger.Supremely manipulative, deceitful, aggressive, nationalistic for America, grasping of Jem, smart and quick on the uptake, decisive, precipitator of a war on Jem and, unknowingly, savior of mankind on Jem. It is her motives that touch on the other interesting part of this novel. Menninger, despite her nationalism and violence, is not a simple, hackneyed portrait of a stupid military man. Menninger sees the problems of Earth and wants to build a decent civilization on Jem from the ground up -- though it will be done with American values and loyalty to her home country. (In this world, the nuclear proliferation has made war untenable. Granted, as recent events have shown, even a superpower like America would think twice about starting a war even if it meant only one of its cities being nuked, but nuclear weapons still require money and expertise and to that add you must add delivery systems. Pohl, as you expect given his politics -- and real world statements I’ve heard him give about the matter -- explicitly rejects the notion of a missile defense, an idea which must have been in the air in the late 70s.).
It is that utopian urge which comes to the front in the novel’s last chapter. All throughout the novel, Pohl has addressed the reader directly, making him aware with foreshadowing and comments, that they are reading a story. The last chapter takes place generations after the rest of the book with descendants of the main characters. At first you think they have built what Pohl sees as a desirable society. Than you find out that this world has dissidents who don’t agree with its rejection of technology, see it as dying on the vine while the human family, on other planets, resumes its exploration. The final lines show Pohl’s ambivalent view of the issues, that utopic striving is naive but inevitable, a foolishness of youth but necessary to life and growth: “Why fight Utopia? ... And so in that moment he completes the process of growing up. And begins the process of dying. Which is much the same thing.” Of his characters, at the beginning he humanely and truthfully notes: “They did what they could. More often than not, they did what they thought they should.”
This is an interesting book for four levels.
It has a rather dated flavor, specifically of the ‘70s with its division of the earth into three power blocs based on the resource they export -- fuel, food, and people. The inspiration for this is obviously
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the real world OPEC, and the book also bears a characteristic Pohl concern: overpopulation and/or resource exhaustion and/or pollution. The first two were popular sf themes at least through the mid-1980s. These days the greenhouse effect is the environmental apocalypse of the day. Pohl’s world has traditional enmities and alliances reshuffled. America, a food exporter (the food bloc is Earth’s second richest power bloc), is now allied with some former Soviet countries and has cool relations with Britain. The second interesting thing is, despite this ‘70s flavor, the novel has a very 19th century and early 20th century feeling -- specifically, as nuclear war gets closer and closer on Earth, of World War One. The three power blocs try to compete to exploit and colonize Jem to gain greater power relative to their competitors in a manner reminiscent of the colonization of the world by Europeans.
The third interesting thing is the gaps in the story that Pohl chooses not to dwell on. While he gives us three fairly worked out sentient, non-technological alien races, he doesn’t dwell a lot on their cultures, (though all get at least one viewpoint scene or chapter) or the development of human and alien communication. Nor does he spend a lot of time on the technology of space travel or the ecological details of growing human crops on an alien world. Rather Pohl’s concern is political. The science is good, at least what we see in passing (with the puzzling exception of drilling for oil on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. I can think of no biogenic or abiogenic theory of petroleum production which would cause you to drill there), but Pohl dwells on political struggles and machinations.
This novel is Pohl the political writer and not the science writer -- the Pohl the political writer is almost always present. Thus the most interesting and complex character is Colonel Marge Menninger.
It is that utopian urge which comes to the front in the novel’s last chapter. All throughout the novel, Pohl has addressed the reader directly, making him aware with foreshadowing and comments, that they are reading a story. The last chapter takes place generations after the rest of the book with descendants of the main characters. At first you think they have built what Pohl sees as a desirable society. Than you find out that this world has dissidents who don’t agree with its rejection of technology, see it as dying on the vine while the human family, on other planets, resumes its exploration. The final lines show Pohl’s ambivalent view of the issues, that utopic striving is naive but inevitable, a foolishness of youth but necessary to life and growth: “Why fight Utopia? ... And so in that moment he completes the process of growing up. And begins the process of dying. Which is much the same thing.” Of his characters, at the beginning he humanely and truthfully notes: “They did what they could. More often than not, they did what they thought they should.”
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LibraryThing member AltheaAnn
Rarely have I read such an apallingly negative view of humanity... that's not a bad thing, but nevertheless, I didn't love the book. It's probably the most interesting work by Pohl I've yet read, however.
LibraryThing member librisissimo
An imaginative world (conveniently with a breathable atmosphere and edible plants), with a typically Seventies message about how people ruin paradise. Not deadly dull, but not too engaging either. Despite the cover blurb, it did not "take its place among such classics as 1984, Brave New World, On
No deep philosophical or psychological insights, no depth in the societal critique, just normal people doing dumb things.
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the Beach, and Stanger in a Strange Land. If you've read the other four, you will see why.No deep philosophical or psychological insights, no depth in the societal critique, just normal people doing dumb things.
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LibraryThing member quondame
Not to my taste with the main plot going up in mushroom clouds and the survivors 6 generations on having a subdued native population to do the dirty work.
Subjects
Awards
National Book Award (Finalist — 1980)
Hugo Award (Nominee — Novel — 1980)
Nebula Award (Nominee — Novel — 1979)
Locus Award (Nominee — Science Fiction Novel — 1980)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1979
Physical description
304 p.; 17 cm
ISBN
0586050787 / 9780586050781
Local notes
Omslag: Ikke angivet
Omslaget viser en klode dækket af vand og en rød stjerne tæt ved
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Omslaget viser en klode dækket af vand og en rød stjerne tæt ved
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
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Pages
304
DDC/MDS
| 813 |