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50th out of 100 books
—
16 voters
On Wings of Song
In his seventh novel, Disch reaches a literary high point in the field of science fiction. At once hilarious and frightening, it follows Daniel Weinreb as he attempts to escape the repressive laws and atmosphere of the isolationist State of Iowa. A rich black comedy of bizarre sexual ambiguity and adventurism.
Paperback, 359 pages
Published
December 1st 1988
by Carroll & Graf Publishers
(first published 1979)
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I first read this when I was in Junior High (probably too young for some of the subject matter.) I identified with the main character -after all, I was also a paperboy who delivered the Minneapolis Tribune. As my life has developed, more coincidences have developed - for instance, the main character became the kept boy of an African-American castrato opera singer, while I became the piano accompanist of an African-American countertenor singer. I figure I probably should re-read the book and see...more
No clue how many stars to give this, even though pieces of this are shockingly brilliant. Others are total mess. I've read other Disch, but this is more like PKD trying to write a near-future Delany novel. OR SOMETHING. I will later toss in a fair-use-sized quotation to give you a flavor. But till then, look at my earlier update, or consider that it didn't mention the kooky parody of liberal Christian theology where the whole planet is pretending the Resurrection is real as a form of morally val...more
No es ciencia ficción hard, ni soft, ni distópica... Es un producto personalísimo de la mente de Thomas M. Disch, una ciencia ficción (por que no deja de serlo) que sólo podría ocurrírsele a él. Una historia situada en un futuro cercano, en el cual los cambios más apreciables están vinculados a la cultura y costumbres humanas antes que a otros fenómenos. Hay una máquina, si, que permite "volar", alcanzar un estado superior de conciencia mediante el canto; y buena parte de la novela consiste en e...more
I was recently reminded of this book by a lyrical review at SF Signal. Disch is (or sadly, was) a prose master, and like his other work, this is challenging, dense, and incredibly rewarding. "Anti-escapist" is the perfect word for this. I read it more than a decade ago, and certain moods and feelings still remain with me very strongly. Read the review here: http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2012...
I read this book years ago and remember nothing about it except the intensity with which I hated it, especially given the title, which sounded like it would be a beautiful uplifting story! I was mad at Disch for years over this and never read anything else by him.
Niesamowita książka. Od dłuższego czasu nie mogłam znaleźć książki, która pochłonęłaby mnie w takim stopniu, że nie mogę przestać o niej myśleć. Disch stworzył arcydzieło, które na długo pozostanie w mojej pamięci. Polecam!
Not Disch's best, despite all the awards. The devilish imagination and brilliant prose from 334 and Camp Concentration haven't disappeared entirely, but they are diminished.
Disch manages to pack in completely thrilling experiences of adolescent friendships; and love; and also shows less intense, more distant, adult friendships and some sexual relationships. In the background there's always the tantalizing possibility that the main character can literally take off "on wings of song," following his own true heart. It's compelling stuff. It's all set in a backdrop of an America divided along conservative and liberal lines in an unexpected way--Disch's imagined America...more
A class war in the not so impossible future finds the US reverting to a feudal-based farming economy in which warring ideologies have an unlikely victim: music. Music is villified (especially in the Christian midwest) as it can lead to flight, literally, through the invention of fairy-making machines that allow one to escape the body during emotionally charged music, typically by singing. It is a lust for flight which consumes our protagionist, and his struggle to fulfill this dream that defines...more
another of those rare finds in literature that can be read and re-read throughout a lifetime
I've never looked at my dryer the same way since reading this book
This was Disch's first SF novel in a long time when it came out in '79. Some consider it to be his best work, but I don't know about that. It certainly deserved the 1980 John W. Campbell award for best novel of the year that it won, though. It's a shame it didn't win a Hugo or a Nebula, this is far superior to Arthur C. Clarke's "The Fountains of Paradise."
I don't know if I'd list is one of the 100 Best but it is a uniquely matter of fact dystopia. And the characters are a step above SciFi fare. Beutifully written, but a little heartless. I never got as attached to Daniel as I would have liked.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Wings...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Wings...
Weird, good. Disch themes in common with Camp Concentration: unjust imprisonment, the police state, drugs, dandies.
Despite some inherent corniness -- like how singing beautifully turns people into a magical flying fairies -- I find myself thinking about this book pretty often.
Despite some inherent corniness -- like how singing beautifully turns people into a magical flying fairies -- I find myself thinking about this book pretty often.
I know it's a sweeping statement, but I think this is the best science fiction novel ever written. Disch is a master stylist, and this story is sublime.
wonderful. shelved in sci-fi, but is among the best of all american novels published in the 70s. RIP, Tom Disch
I loved this book. Great sci fi.
May 18, 2013
Miki Vujkovic
marked it as to-read
May 13, 2013
Pierre A
marked it as to-read
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Poet and cynic, Thomas M. Disch brought to the sf of the New Wave a camp sensibility and a sardonicism that too much sf had lacked. His sf novels include Camp Concentration, with its colony of prisoners mutated into super-intelligence by the bacteria that will in due course kill them horribly, and On Wings of Song, in which many of the brightest and best have left their bodies for what may be genu...more
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“In short, Daniel was once again a member of a family. Viewed from without they were a strange enough family: a rattling, hunchbacked old woman, a spoiled senile cocker spaniel, and a eunuch with a punctured career (for though Rey didn’t live with them, his off-stage presence was as abiding and palpable as that of any paterfamilias away every day at the office). And Daniel himself. But better to be strange together than strange apart. He was glad to have found such a haven at last, and he hoped that most familial and doomed of hopes, that nothing would change. ”
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