We the Underpeople

Instrumentality of Mankind

by Cordwainer Smith

In a far-flung future, planoforming ships knit together a galaxy ruled from Earth by the ruthless benevolence of the mysterious Lords of the Instrumentality, who presided over a utopia without death, danger—or freedom. The Underpeople, humanlike beings created from animals to do the work of utopia, had no rights, and could be disposed of at the whim of a human. But they had become more humanlike than their creators, and their leader, the cat woman C’Mell, had a plan for gaining their freedom—which made her much too dangerous a person to be permitted to live. Elsewhere in the galaxy, the planet Norstrilia had power of its own, for it was the only source of stroon, the drug which arrested aging and made humans immortal. Its inhabitants were wealthy beyond comprehension, and one of them, a boy named Rod McBan, with the help of his computer, had manipulated the galactic economy until he completely owned the planet Earth—which made him much too dangerous a person to be permitted to live. But when Rod came to Earth and joined forces with C’Mell and the Underpeople, the petrified utopia of the Instrumentality began to crack and fall apart as freedom was reborn in the galaxy. . . .

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Anthologies, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fantasy, Short Stories

623 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Pseudonym of:
Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger

Linebarger also employed the literary pseudonyms "Carmichael Smith" (for his political thriller Atomsk), "Anthony Bearden" (for his poetry) and "Felix C. Forrest" (for the novels Ria and Carola).

Linebarger was also a noted East Asia scholar and expert in psychological warfare.

Reviews

[Ed Erwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book contains five short stories and one novella. After only one story I decided I want to read everything this guy ever wrote. (Well, all his SF, anyway.)

After reading all five short stories, I returned the book to the library. I still want to read everything he wrote, but he wrote so little that I need to save it for later.

[Max Nemtsov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Вот все нам рассказывают о поэтичности Кордуэйнера Смита, но это просто литература (а фантастики столько лет тщатся доказать принадлежность своих излюбленных субжанров к большой литературе — с УДЛП, — что поневоле заподозришь их в том, что они сами в это не верят: вот и тут тот же случай), потому что поэзия — в самом охвате будущей истории, от 1900 до примерно 16 000 года (хоть и отрывочно). Человечество, конечно, столько не проживет, поэтому его сказания из будущего давно прошедшего времени, которого все равно не будет, и трогают нас так сильно, потому они так и пронзительны, среди прочего. Это легенды несбывшихся времен.

«Научной фантастикой» звать это довольно затруднительно еще и потому, что если это и фантастика, то она скорее социально психологическая (что там «научного», убейте меня не понимаю). КС подробно (хоть, опять же, и отрывочно) пытается спроектировать, что будет происходить с человечеством и нашим биологическим видом, проживи оно (он) и впрямь так долго, что у него отомрет, например, не только возможность религии, но и потребность в ней (при этом оставаясь человеком, судя по всему, верующим и возвращаясь к религиозным притчам и сюжетам). Фантастика у него, пожалуй, лишь в набросках различных форм эволюции человека — от вполне наглядных и графичных до непредставимых вообще, а остальное (эти планоформы, космосы в кубе и прочее) — шелуха, на которую так любят обращать внимания критики. Вишенками на тортиках повсюду разбросаны отсылки к мировой литературе и фокусы с разными языками, чтобы читателям занимательнее было играть в простые угадайки.

Для меня гораздо любопытнее было разглядывать — по крайней мере, в этой части эпоса — антиутопию похлеще, чем у Замятина, Оруэлла и Хаксли. Недаром все же специалист по ведению психологической войны ездил в совсоюз. Инструментальность (или как ее там) — кошмар с человеческим лицом: в нем все для людей, это режим не людоедский (в отличие от, допустим, третьего райха или советского гулага), он не против индивидуального человека (даже не сильно против недолюдей). В нем все для счастья человека, лишь бы не было войны. В частности, одна основа идеального будущего вот: «Никаких массовых коммуникаций, только в рамках правительства. Новости порождают мнения, мнения — причина массовых заблуждений, заблуждение — источник войны». Или 12 правило «бытия человеком»: «Любые мужчина или женщина, обнаруживающие, что он или она формируют или разделяют неавторизованное мнение с большим количеством других людей, обязаны незамедлительно доложить об этом ближайшему подначальнику и явиться на лечение». Шутки шутками, но посмотрите вокруг, ага. "Период террора и добродетели".

Ну и да — КС не идиот-оптимист и прекрасно отдает себе отчет, что для преодоления тоталитарной Инструментальности даже в такой «мягкой» или «благотворной» форме понадобится не одно тысячелетие. За десяток, даже за несколько десятков или сотен лет перевороты в людских мозгах не совершаются. Поэтому-то он и увеличивает среднюю продолжительность жизни людей — за нынешнюю сколько-то поумнеть ни отдельному человеку, ни всему человечеству невозможно. А мы продолжаем наблюдения за окружающей нас Инструментальностью.

[Stefan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm having trouble writing something coherent and meaningful about this book. (Although, to be fair, I usually have trouble writing anything coherent and meaningful.) The books is a collection of some of Cordwainer Smith's short stories and his only complete novel, "Norstrilia". I was unfamiliar with the author before this, aside from the famous short "Scanners Live in Vain". I was also unaware of the fact that all of his works fit into the same future history, spanning thousands of years. Now, having read up on the author's life and works, I do feel admiration for his body of work, but I can't say I completely enjoyed this book.
I make an effort to read a "classic" of the genre once in a while. Invariably, I come away disappointed. I'm sure part of this is due to overly high expectations. On the other hand, I also think that in the golden age of SF, ideas were considered more important than little things like character development and narrative flow. Unfortunately, the ideas that were so revolutionary and innovative at the time have often become mainstays by now. I often find that I can only enjoy some of these novels by trying to place myself in the shoes of a contemporary reader who isn't familiar with modern SF, sort of a meta-suspension of disbelief. I'm just not that good at it. In the end, I feel like I've read a novel that would be considered so-so by today's standards, filled with ideas that used to be spectacular but are now commonplace.
Now, to be fair, Cordwainer Smith was a good writer. He had this odd and very interesting tendency to switch from high-flying, almost poetic prose to very dry, matter-of-fact descriptions - the odd thing being that the dry descriptions were often used for the most outlandish SF concepts. It must have been very odd, reading this in the sixties.
This collection is structured according to internal chronology. Unfortunately, this means that the first story "The Dead Lady of Clown Town", which depicts what is almost a messianic event in the over-all story arc, doesn't really have much of an impact on the first-time reader --- you need to be familiar with the story to understand how meaningful the story of d'Joan is. Likewise, the climax of the story "Alpha Ralpha Boulevard" doesn't really make much sense if you're not familiar with the surrounding events. As a result, I was vaguely annoyed reading the short stories at first, although now, looking back after having read the entire collection, I can see the impact they would have had on someone more familiar with the author. It's almost like reading a prequel first --- yes, this happened first in the internal chronology, but that doesn't mean you should read it first.
So. I'm giving this collection three stars. If I were to judge the overall body of work of the author and its position in the history of SF, I'd rate it higher, but I'm not --- I'm judging this oddly structured collection of stories Baen released. I hate to say it, but I don't think they did the legacy of Cordwainer Smith much good.

[David Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

We the Underpeople and associated anthology When the People Fell collect Cordwainer Smith's stories and his single novel dealing with the dystopic Instrumentality of Mankind. This is compelling, thought-provoking science-fiction at it's best. Humanity has overcome poverty and suffering through it's reliance on an underclass of workers, the underpeople. Because these underpeople are derived from animal stock, their exploitation need not be recognized as such, and thus they form the perfect permanently impoverished pool of surplus labor that capital requires. "People never loved the underpeople. They used them like chairs or doorhandles. Since when did a doorhandle demand the Charter of Ancient Rights?" ("The Dead Lady of Clown Town") The thematic core of this series of stories is aptly summarized by the bird-man E'duard in the story "Down to a Sunless Sea" as "the right of an entity to exist, to exist on its own terms provided they do not violate the rights of others, to come to its own terms with life, and to make its own decisions." While the best work is in We the Underpeople (including the stories "The Dead Lady of Clown Town" and "The Ballad of Lost C'Mell", as well as the novel Norstrilia), there are many fine stories in When the People Fell as well, such as "Scanners Love in Vain" and the story of the punishment planet, "A Planet Named Shayol", as well as the previously mentioned "Down to a Sunless Sea." When the People Fell also includes the few stories Cordwainer Smith wrote that were not part of the Instrumentality of Mankind cycle. In the best of these, "Angerhelm", a man receives a message from beyond the grave from his dead son which was somehow captured by recording device on a Soviet space satellite. This eerie tale would have made a great Twilight Zone episode, while also being a great satire on the intelligence agencies on both sides during the Cold War. Both books are highly recommended.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's unique. There's some interesting concepts and poetic parts that are easy to read, but then there are terribly weak, two-dimensional female characters and lines that should only come out of Will Shatner's mouth. Overall, the book's OK. It gets better as you move along through it.

[Alexis Neal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection includes five short stories and one full-length novel by Cordwainer Smith, all of which take place in his Instrumentality of Mankind universe and involve 'underpeople'--humanoid creatures derived from animals for the purpose of completing various menial and/or skilled tasks. These underpeople look like human beings, more or less (some retain certain animalian features--noses, whiskers, unusual size, etc.) and have enhanced mental abilities, but at root they are still dogs, cats, bulls, birds, and so on and think accordingly. They are also treated accordingly--that is, treated like animals. And in many cases, worse than animals, for there are rules against caring for sick or injured underpeople; it is easier--and more economically sensible--to just destroy them.

This universe, then, is peopled by true humans, who now have pretty much nothing to do other than run the political worlds (and even that is done only by a few powerful individuals). The underpeople (and robots--there must always be robots) handle almost all the tasks, chores, and other jobs that need doing. Coupled with the complete victory of medical science over illness and the discovery of the life-lengthening drug 'stroon', this means that people live a standard 400 years completely free from danger, hardship, illness, or anything else that might impede their happiness. In fact, they're so consistently happy that they're dying of boredom and misery. Meanwhile, the underpeople are becoming increasingly self-aware and are uniting in an effort to establish their rights.

This is the world Cordwainer Smith has created. He has also created the name Cordwainer Smith, which is a pseudonym. His real name was Paul Linebarger, and he had a variety of day jobs (professor of Asian studies, military strategist, psychological warfare specialist, foreign policy expert, etc.) that limited his ability to produce much in the way of science fiction. What he did produce has been lauded as both excellent and unique. His best-known work--a short story entitled 'Scanners Live in Vain'--is not included in this particular collection, but the stories here are still well worth reading. The stories include:

--'The Dead Lady of Clown Town', in which we learn of the underperson D'joan (derived from a dog, hence the 'D' prefix) who first preached to the underpeople that love makes us human, and if they love, they can be--and are--human themselves.
--'Under Old Earth', in which one of the Lords of the Instrumentality (aka a Big Kahuna) chooses death and adventure over continued long life and thereby saves the world from destruction.
--'Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons', in which we witness the extremely effective defense system of Old North Australia (or 'Nostrilia'), whereby the planet preserves itself (and the life-giving stroon it produces) from would-be plunderers and attackers.
--'Alpha Ralpha Boulevard', in which the Instrumentality has begun the 'Rediscovery of Man', wherein they re-inject danger into society, along with disparate languages, cultures, and other such old-fashioned practices in an effort to combat humanity's increasing listlessness and apathy. Also, there is a computer that tells your fortune.
--'The Battle of Lost C'mell', in which a cat-girl (C'mell) and a Lord of the Instrumentality agree to join forces to seek the welfare of the underpeople--and, by extension, all of mankind--and an underperson discovers she can fall in love with a human.

The novel that follows these stories, Nostrilia, tells the story of Rod McBan, the telepathically-disabled-yet-also-telepathically-gifted resident of Old North Australia who bought the planet Earth (following a night of risky and, as it turned out, extremely lucrative, purchases and trades of stroon futures). He soon finds himself the target of an assassination attempt, and is forced to flee to his newly-acquired planet, where he encounters the lovely C'mell, various Lords (and Ladies) of the Instrumentality, and a tremendously powerful underperson who wants Rod's help with the underpeople's cause.

Cordwainer Smith is an extremely competent--albeit unusual--writer. People who know much more about it than I do say that his narrative style is more similar to traditional Chinese stories than it is to most English language fiction. And it makes sense--his father was closely connected to the Chinese revolution of 1911, and Linebarger knew a heckuva lot about Asia (or, at any rate, enough to teach about it at both Duke and Johns Hopkins). My familiarity with traditional Chinese literature is precisely nil, but there is a spartan-yet-aesthetic quality to his prose that reminds me of much of the Japanese style.

I was also reminded, on more than one occasion, of sci-fi author/humorist Douglas Adams. I can't pinpoint the precise reason for this feeling--Cordwainer Smith's work is far from comedic. It can be humorous, but it is never broad. Yet there is a flavor there that is reminiscent of Adams. Perhaps it is the abrupt changes of scene with their almost ridiculous sense of contrast, or perhaps it is the blunt, almost disconnected feel of the various sets of characters and unresolved plot threads, or perhaps it's the deus ex machina plotlines that somehow ensure that the actions taken by those characters inexorably move the story forward toward a predetermined (yet also rather arbitrary) end point. Or maybe the clueless-yet-central Rod McBan reminded me of Arthur Dent. Whatever the reason, there was a quality of Adams lurking behind the story that makes me wonder if Adams read much Cordwainer Smith as a boy.

But enough about the style and flavor and potential influence of Cordwainer Smith. You want to know if his work is worth reading. It is. The short stories have a folk quality about them, which contrasts nicely with the science fiction content--they feel like the written documentation of a slightly incomplete oral history of a future political/social movement, which is in fact precisely what they are intended to be. Each short story leaves the reader feeling vaguely unsettled or even disturbed (the sure sign of effective short form literature)--they capture an unusual idea or event and then end, leaving the reader to decide how he or she feels about that idea or event. The novel provides a more satisfactory conclusion (as a novel should), but was still bizarre and slightly confusing without being annoying. By which I mean I never quite got the feeling that I'd wrapped my head around the whole of the plot, but I still had enough of the gist of it to follow along. Which works well, since this is supposed to be a future history, and as such would take for granted a certain amount of knowledge that I, as a resident of the current past, would simply not have.

And that's not even scratching the substantive surface--the ideas Cordwainer Smith sets forth merit a lengthy discussion. (For an analysis of some of those issues, see Dr. Coyle Neal's review on Schaeffer's Ghost.)

All in all, this is an excellent book, and I wholeheartedly recommend it. I can't remember the last time 600 pages breezed by so fast.

[Robert Hudder · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have just ripped through all of this material. It is one of the older classic types of science fiction where very little is exposition and so much is just going along with the characters. While the world setting is important, you feel as if you are a confused visitor and that clarifies the more stories that you read of this universe.

There are strong religious, largely Christian elements, in many of the underpeople story. There are so many ways of analyzing this in terms of race, classism, and what it means to be human. Like most sci-fi, this is more a critique of society as it is rather than a future frames.

I believe that one of the reasons that this is set in the so far future is so that the author can get away from the tech and science descriptions and settle into societal critique. I enjoy these stories and they seem entirely consistent. That's impressive.

[Mark Isaak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although these are six separate stories, originally published separately over a span of eight years, the stories share a common universe, weave together a common history, and sometimes share the same characters; in the end, they all fit together like chapters in a larger epic novel. Most of the stories deal, in some way or another, with the problems of extreme prosperity. The characters are not the most interesting I have seen, but the society, technology, and government show a great deal of creativity, making for a rich world.

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories really opened up my mind to the possibilities not only of our distant future but of our distant past as well. When I first read them the high-tech boom was just beginning. Now these stories seem very prophetic in many ways. I highly recommend anything by Cordwainer Smith.

[Benjamin Kahn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read the first two stories of this book before I gave up on it. I didn't like Smith's writing style and didn't find the stories that interesting. I contemplated trying to push through it and then decided why bother? I think you either like his style or you don't. I didn't.

[Elda Pianezzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very imaginative book, full of interesting ideas. A social critique on the scientific level, which takes very original twists and turns. The underpeople are fabulous characters: very versatile and very amusing.

[Bishop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection of 60s far future post scarcity space opera stories and novella generally focused on the long centuries of civil rights struggle of the "underpeople", a caste of uplifted animals forced into slavery by the "men" and the "instrumentality", a ruling class of powerfully psychic and long-living oligarchs, who do things like engineer out all doubt and unhappiness from people's minds and remove money from the economy to make a smooth-running, bland utopia (minus the ignored suffering of the underpeople). So far, so standard, but it's not standard at all because Smith has a voice unlike anything I've read in SF, sort of religiony-sounding and yet funny with an odd sense of humor, and a bizarre ear for names and poetry kind of like nursery rhymes but with more sex and violence. Characters frequently bust out folk songs or start singing songs of their own and we get the full lyrics, like this one remembered by Rod about other children on his home planet who fail to pass the citizenship examination he is going to and must be euthanized instead of receiving the life extending drug they harvest from their giant, sick sheep and joining the ranks of the centuries-old tradition obsessed sheep farming families:

This is the house of the long ago,
Where the old ones murmur an endless woe,
Where the pain of time is an actual pain,
And things once known always come again.
Out in the Garden of Death, our young
Have tasted the valiant taste of fear.
With muscular arm and reckless tongue,
They have won, and lost, and escaped us here.
This is the house of the long ago,
Those who die young do not enter here.
Those living on know that hell is near.
The old ones who suffer have willed it so.
Out in the Garden of Death, the old
Look with awe on the young and bold.

Apparently all Smith's fiction writing was based in this same future universe and the stories benefit from the deep and detailed future history undergirding them. I'm surprised Dune got long-term famous for its world building and this didn't but I guess I can kind of see why because this universe is so much weirder. Or maybe it was because of that goddamn cover illustration. Anyway, this was more vivid for me than Dune was.

I actually want to five-star this but the 60s sexual politics and sexism kill the buzz too decisively in too many places and sour basically every interaction C'Mell has with every other character, especially her thing with Rod ugh what a grossly written romance. There's absolutely no reason outside the underdeveloped masturbatory fantasies of the author that a 30 year old celebrity sex icon and underground resistance leader would go for an undistinguished 16 year old boy who happened to get rich through a ploy dreamed up and executed 100% by his computer rather than himself. And the reasons Smith puts in her mouth sound fake and make no sense.

Still, I will definitely be reading the rest of Smith's published stuff.

[Jenny T · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my first major forays into classic science fiction (1960s in this case) turned out to be quite an exhilarating, poetic, *strange* adventure.

We the Underpeople is comprised of several long short stories and a novel, Norstrilia, which, combined, tell the tale of an Earth in the far future, inhabited by true humans (kept stagnantly and oppressively happy by a totalitarian government called the Instrumentality) and the underpeople, humanlike beings bred from animals to serve as slaves to mankind.

The first stories in the collection provide the history of the underpeople's struggle for freedom and those who rebel against the Instrumentality, a history which later becomes myth and inspires the events in the later stories, culminating in the novel Norstrilia, in which one man meddles with the economies of multiple planets to such a degree that he ends up owning the planet Earth. Allied with C'Mell, a cat-woman, he may be able to bring the establishment down to its knees...

This is some heady stuff, and Cordwainer Smith's writing style is... unusual. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few of the stories of the Underpeople, ie., humaniform people raised from animal stock, were fantastic. Others had the true horror hidden in quick passages, such as how an underperson would be put to death if they weren't able to be trained for some gainful employment. They're treated almost as if they were of sub-par intelligence, but as far as I could see, they were just as smart or smarter than true humans. The stories generally held to a class of stories about oppressed peoples, but only a few of them were able to grab and shake me senseless. Some did. Others, not so much.
The true gift of the collection is in the worldbuilding and cohesiveness of the extended future history. With that, I can find no fault at all. It's the main reason I bumped this collection up to four stars.

[theDormouse]

Second time getting this from the library, so far I've read all of the short stories, with only the novel to go. I really hope the worldbuilding is more prominently featured in it -- the stories are fabulous, but I'm craving something longer and meatier in the setting.

[Terry Grignon · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the clear classics of Science Fiction even though this is not a novel but a collection of short stories and a novella. The Dead Lady Of Clown Town, one of the former, would be my vote for the best short story in or out of the genre.

[Lynn Calvin]

baen ebook

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting ideas - a classic SF book

[Rich · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm sure it's a good book; it just wasn't my bag.

[Vitaliy Hristyuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book will always have a place in my heart... Sad, sad story of d'Joan... beautiful and fantastic Norstrilia.

How sad that we had only a decade or so of Cordweiner Smith before his death...

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dead Lady of Clown Town (1964)
Under Old Earth (1966)
Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons (1961)
Alpha Ralpha Boulevard (1961)
The Ballad of Lost C'mell (1962)
Norstrilia (1975)

[bluetyson]

We the Underpeople by Cordwainer Smith (2008)