Tag Archives: science fiction

From the Keeper Shelf – 7

Posted on by under Reading

When I was a teenager in suburban Toronto, we used to take the bus and subway to go downtown. When I went with my friends, we went to the Eaton Centre, tried on clothes, window-shopped, and often went up to Sam the Record Man to buy an LP. When I went alone, I went to Bakka Books, an SFF new/used bookstore on Queen Street W. I spent hours there and routinely traded in my paperbacks to get new ones. I bought Marian Zimmer Bradley’s Mists of Avalon there when it was a new release (yup, it was the cover that made the sale) as well as many MANY other books. They were great at finding older titles that were no longer available new – at one point, I had a complete Michael Moorcock collection. I used to have a keeper bookcase of SFF classics in well-loved paperbacks, but when I moved one time, I just couldn’t bear another box of books and off they went. I’ve regretted that decision ever since.

Bakka Books still exists. It’s been sold a couple of times and moved a couple of times. Now it’s called Bakka-Phoenix Books and is near the U of T downtown campus, on Harbord Street. It’s owned by my friend Kate’s son, Ben, which I think is pretty cool.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le GuinToday I’ll talk about one book that’s still here from that collection, because I couldn’t bear to let it go. Ursula K. LeGuin’s The Left Hand of Darkness is an amazing book. The premise is that an envoy (Genly Ai) goes to a planet (Winter), in order to convince them to join an intergalactic union. He’s a diplomat and an alien to this culture, and the book takes the form of his reports. The book is beautifully written. The world-building is intricate and vivid, perhaps particularly because Genly Ai is confused by the culture he visits and documents it with precision.

“Our entire pattern of socio-sexual interaction is non-existent here. The Gethenians do not see one another as men or women. This is almost impossible for our imaginations to accept….Yet you cannot think of a Gethenian as “it”. They are not neuters. They are potentials; during each sexual cycle they may develop in either direction for the duration of that cycle. No physiological habit is established, and the mother of several children may be the father of several more.

There is no division of humanity into strong and weak halves; protected/protective. One is respected and judged only as a human being. You cannot cast a Gethenian in the role of Man or Woman, while adopting towards “him” a corresponding role dependent upon your expectations of the interactions between persons of the same or opposite sex. It is an appalling experience for a Terran…”

This book was first published in 1967, but it raises enduring questions about gender assignments, roles and expectations. Genly Ai’s are shattered by his time on Winter and I enjoy watching his perspective change.

The other thing I love about this book is that Genly Ai believes it is his responsibility to give advice to the Gethenians. This doesn’t seem to go well, but he can’t understand why—until it’s explained to him that the Gethenians think it’s rude to give advice to others, that to do so is to imply that the recipient isn’t sufficiently bright or competent to figure things out on his/her own.

You can find the book on Goodreads, right here.

The 50th anniversary edition of The Left Hand of Darkness is on Amazon.com right here.

Ursula K. Le Guin’s website is here.

 

 

Metropolis

Posted on by under Miscellaneous Musing

It’s funny how certain ideas recur in little clusters. When I was in Atlanta last week, we went to the Margaret Mitchell Museum and somewhere along the way, someone talked about the disintegration of film masters like Gone with the Wind. I came home to discover that Mr. Math had picked up a copy of Metropolis. This movie is a favorite of mine. It’s a silent film made by Fritz Lang. According to the Wiki, it’s the first full length science fiction film, and, at the time it was filmed in 1925, it was the most expensive movie ever made. It’s also a love story set in a dystopian future (2026), and one in which love heals all wounds. (What’s not to love about that?) The eye candy is interesting too – it’s always intriguing to see how people envision the future. I like also that Fritz Lang and his wife, Thea Von Harbou, wrote the screenplay together. She actually wrote a book first, and the screenplay was derived from it. (Wiki says the magic and occult segments of her book were left out of the film. I’d really love to read that book!)

Metropolis was heavily edited after its initial release because it was long, then suffered disintegration of the film masters. The films and records were scattered during the Second World War, so bits and ends were even harder to locate than is usual with old films. The end result was that a number of scenes seemed to be lost forever and the plot progression was jumpy.

The interesting thing about these old movies is that different versions were cut from the master for different countries and territories. And over the years, some of those regional masters and films for Metropolis have been discovered. Restorations have been done over the years, incorporating found pieces, and digitizations have also been done to preserve what exists.

The version of Metropolis that Mr. Math brought home was the 1984 restoration by George Morodis, which featured a pop soundtrack. (I doubt that the release date was a coincidence.) This version also added scenes (discovered in far-flung collections) and straightened out the chronology of the story, some of which was conjecture without having either Mr. Lang or the script at hand. The film was tinted, as well. There’s more content, but the film speed is faster. I remember seeing this movie when it was in general release, at the Carleton Theatre in Toronto (which was where one went to see arty stuff, back in the day).

Recently, longer versions of Metropolis were discovered in New Zealand and Argentina. There’s a newer restoration from 2010 which adds 25 minutes to the running time, courtesy of these discoveries. We’ve ordered a copy to watch it, too, and I’m excited about more Metropolis.

If you want to read more about the history of this film, here’s the Wiki.

If you want to see more about the 2010 restoration, here’s the website for it.

What’s your favourite old movie? What’s your favourite dystopian-set love story? Are there different versions of your fave old movie available?