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They
There has been a totalitarian takeover by the young. The journal, addressed to the You who will become They, is kept by Kate, one of five middle-aged men and women who are isolated from the rest of the world and out of contact with it except for their computerized check-ups. Sixty-five is the final cut-off. Kate tells their story which is actually a series of exchanges between this small group of artists, writers, musicians-on aesthetics, on race, sex, God, ethics, liberalism, etc., etc.
- GenresScience Fiction
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1968
3 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
About the author
Marya Mannes
15 books3 followersMannes lived most of her life in New York City, where she was born.[1] Her brother was musician Leopold Mannes. Her parents, Clara (Damrosch) Mannes and David Mannes, founded the Mannes College of Music in New York. Her maternal grandfather was conductor Leopold Damrosch, and her maternal uncles were conductors Walter Damrosch and Frank Damrosch. Her father was Jewish; her mother was from a mostly Lutheran German family (and was of part Jewish descent through her own grandfather).[2]
Mannes was an editor at Vogue and later wrote prolifically for the magazines The Reporter and The New Yorker. Mannes published a number of books of essays, sharply and wittily critical of American society, including More in Anger: Some Opinions, Uncensored and Unteleprompted. She was a much-sought-after social commentator on radio and television.She hosted her own television show in 1959, "I speak for myself".[citation needed]
Other books by Mannes included Subverse (1959), a satirical verse, Out of My Time (1971), an autobiography, and two novels, Message From a Stranger (1948), and They (1968).
Married three times, Mannes had one child (David R. J. Blow) who survived her.
She died in San Francisco, California. (Wiki)
Mannes was an editor at Vogue and later wrote prolifically for the magazines The Reporter and The New Yorker. Mannes published a number of books of essays, sharply and wittily critical of American society, including More in Anger: Some Opinions, Uncensored and Unteleprompted. She was a much-sought-after social commentator on radio and television.She hosted her own television show in 1959, "I speak for myself".[citation needed]
Other books by Mannes included Subverse (1959), a satirical verse, Out of My Time (1971), an autobiography, and two novels, Message From a Stranger (1948), and They (1968).
Married three times, Mannes had one child (David R. J. Blow) who survived her.
She died in San Francisco, California. (Wiki)
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 7, 2012
Believe it or not, I read this book around the time it came out, when I was eight. Shockingly, it was on of those paperback remainders you could get for 1/- at Woolworths. It's one book that should never have been remaindered. The author of this marvellous novel was editor of Vogue in the fifties but buy the time this book was written, she was 64 years old and beginning to feel some of the subject matter pressing down hard on her life.
Remember, it was published in 1968 so it was well before Logan's Run. The book tells the story of a bunch of old people put away by society because at the age of fifty they are too old to live with the bright young things for whom society exists (and then at seventy, or earlier should they fall sick, they are killed. Their lives have no purpose because society has no reason for them. All they can do is eat, sleep, drink, fuck, shit, piss and generally exist without doing anything that could be considered living.
Sadly, the book seemes to be well out of print. I'd like to read it again with an adult mind now that I'm over fifty myself. I'm working from forty-five year old memories and the only character I can really remember is the irascible genius, Barney but I remember enough to say, if you see it in an antiquarian bookshop or something, buy it and read it... or better yet, don't buy it, just tell me where it is so I can buy it.
Remember, it was published in 1968 so it was well before Logan's Run. The book tells the story of a bunch of old people put away by society because at the age of fifty they are too old to live with the bright young things for whom society exists (and then at seventy, or earlier should they fall sick, they are killed. Their lives have no purpose because society has no reason for them. All they can do is eat, sleep, drink, fuck, shit, piss and generally exist without doing anything that could be considered living.
Sadly, the book seemes to be well out of print. I'd like to read it again with an adult mind now that I'm over fifty myself. I'm working from forty-five year old memories and the only character I can really remember is the irascible genius, Barney but I remember enough to say, if you see it in an antiquarian bookshop or something, buy it and read it... or better yet, don't buy it, just tell me where it is so I can buy it.
July 17, 2016
This is a really interesting and thought provoking book. In a lot of ways it has been eerily prophetic. The story is told as a bleak, futuristic world where older people are forced into isolation and made to rely on government assistance for health care and supplies. Essentially, it's only a slightly exaggerated parable outlining the widening gulf between generations. So, while it is placed in the future (it was written in 1968), it was VERY relevant to her present time and it has only become MORE relevant to ours.
The second layer of the story is a group of artists who are experts in their field (a writer, a conductor, etc.) sit around and discuss what culture is, what it should be, how/if it can exist without a connection to the generation that came before it, etc. It is easy to imagine this conversations happening between Mannes and her associates or at small gatherings of any group of graduate students.
Many essays could be written about the themes suggested in this book about the aging process in society, the place of culture in society and the politics and nationalism that are also at play in the book.
My only "criticism" is that the journalistic style (the writer, K., transcribes their conversations as a record of the group's renegade existence) prevents the book from having a real sense of immediacy. BUT this is also a positive because like the prologue and epilogue, which explain that the work was discovered, the modern reader gets to feel as if they also discovered this relic...and they can make of it what they will.
The second layer of the story is a group of artists who are experts in their field (a writer, a conductor, etc.) sit around and discuss what culture is, what it should be, how/if it can exist without a connection to the generation that came before it, etc. It is easy to imagine this conversations happening between Mannes and her associates or at small gatherings of any group of graduate students.
Many essays could be written about the themes suggested in this book about the aging process in society, the place of culture in society and the politics and nationalism that are also at play in the book.
My only "criticism" is that the journalistic style (the writer, K., transcribes their conversations as a record of the group's renegade existence) prevents the book from having a real sense of immediacy. BUT this is also a positive because like the prologue and epilogue, which explain that the work was discovered, the modern reader gets to feel as if they also discovered this relic...and they can make of it what they will.
February 14, 2026
This was one of the strangest books I’ve read in a long while.
It unfolds like an extended dinner party with long conversations of music , politics, philosophy, love, religion, existentialism, intelligent people circling the question of what gives life meaning, yet never arriving at consensus. Pages and pages of reflection, debate, and observation, with very little conventional “action.” At times it feels almost theatrical, as though the characters exist primarily as vessels for ideas rather than fully embodied individuals.
And then the ending arrives like a slamming door in an empty house after the inhabitants have been evicted without cause, abrupt, echoing, and unsettling. The revelation that their final act was predicated on incomplete knowledge lends the whole narrative a quietly devastating irony. It is less a tragedy of passion and more a tragedy of information.
This is not a novel of plot but of ideas and argument. It feels suspended, contemplative and perhaps intentionally unresolved. Whether that leaves the reader enriched or unsettled may depend on what one seeks from fiction.
What lingers is not the characters themselves, but the uneasy reminder that life is fragile, decisions irreversible, and meaning intensely personal. it is definitely a work of its time but has definite relevant features today, some almost precient.
It unfolds like an extended dinner party with long conversations of music , politics, philosophy, love, religion, existentialism, intelligent people circling the question of what gives life meaning, yet never arriving at consensus. Pages and pages of reflection, debate, and observation, with very little conventional “action.” At times it feels almost theatrical, as though the characters exist primarily as vessels for ideas rather than fully embodied individuals.
And then the ending arrives like a slamming door in an empty house after the inhabitants have been evicted without cause, abrupt, echoing, and unsettling. The revelation that their final act was predicated on incomplete knowledge lends the whole narrative a quietly devastating irony. It is less a tragedy of passion and more a tragedy of information.
This is not a novel of plot but of ideas and argument. It feels suspended, contemplative and perhaps intentionally unresolved. Whether that leaves the reader enriched or unsettled may depend on what one seeks from fiction.
What lingers is not the characters themselves, but the uneasy reminder that life is fragile, decisions irreversible, and meaning intensely personal. it is definitely a work of its time but has definite relevant features today, some almost precient.
February 4, 2019
Following a devastating series of wars, and associated environmental fallout, the young (the titular "They”) have finally had enough of the old! Because of their mis-management of the world's affairs, everyone over 50 is sent to live in retirement homes and prevented from any contact of the youthful world. No news, no influence, etc. From then you have a regular checkup, and if you show any kind of illness, you are euthanised. Until 65, when you are put down anyway. They focuses on one bubble of five over-50s isolated people waiting for the end.
And it starts really well, the five complain about how music today isn't as good, about how modern art is terrible, and about how nobody who isn't middle aged at least can possibly make any kind of worthwhile contribution to the world. Reading it as satire, it reminded me of a geriatric Generation X. There are some neat (and accurate) observations about how the world has progressed. My favourite being that the young never use physical media, being obsessed instead with electronic communications. The old obviously complain about this because it's not as genuine as a paper book etc. (Sound familiar?)
But the ending is not as successful, as the book goes on, the characters are made more sympathetic, and makes me question at points if it is a satire at all. Particularly there are some insane views on racial politics, which are made late on. I guess these are supposed to be reactionary, but are not framed well. It becomes less of a satire and more of a journey for the characters, and I don't think this type of ending works in the satirical context that so much of the book is set.
So overall, interesting dystopian curio, but not one that I think needs to be re-discovered.
And it starts really well, the five complain about how music today isn't as good, about how modern art is terrible, and about how nobody who isn't middle aged at least can possibly make any kind of worthwhile contribution to the world. Reading it as satire, it reminded me of a geriatric Generation X. There are some neat (and accurate) observations about how the world has progressed. My favourite being that the young never use physical media, being obsessed instead with electronic communications. The old obviously complain about this because it's not as genuine as a paper book etc. (Sound familiar?)
But the ending is not as successful, as the book goes on, the characters are made more sympathetic, and makes me question at points if it is a satire at all. Particularly there are some insane views on racial politics, which are made late on. I guess these are supposed to be reactionary, but are not framed well. It becomes less of a satire and more of a journey for the characters, and I don't think this type of ending works in the satirical context that so much of the book is set.
So overall, interesting dystopian curio, but not one that I think needs to be re-discovered.
June 8, 2023
I read this book to provide background regarding the 1970 NET Playhouse adaptation of They, co-written by Mannes herself. It's a disturbing story, made all the moreso because of the similarities to today's culture. It is didactic at times, but Mannes has something to say, and she most definitely says it. A good book for readers on all sides of the political spectrum; Mannes, a classical liberal, is very hard to pigeonhole when it comes to her cultural critiques. A book that should not be forgotten.
July 8, 2019
I found a very beautiful copy in Afterwords Books on 23 Illinois St, Chicago IL. the uncompromising youth are taking over and putting the fifty year old plus artists out to pasture. the lineage of art and its old masters of craft are being eliminated in favor of brutal, ignorant, masturbatory art and artists. "They" is written with enormous talent; a twinkle in the eye gleeful rage. the book never mentions that Mannes was a Vogue editor in the 50s, which makes it all the more captivating, and its prologue makes the book seem like it was an important manifesto at the time, but it is long out of print now.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews