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Memoirs of a Spacewoman
Mary is a communications expert, passionate and compassionate about the strange and often unnerving life forms she encounters on her travels to distant galaxies. Non-interference is the code, but her emotional and erotic entanglements cannot always be avoided, and scientific detachment is not always easy to maintain. Mary explores her own sexuality with colleagues and with friends such as the hermaphroditic Martian, Vly.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1962
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1985 people want to read
About the author
Naomi Mitchison
162 books136 followersNaomi Mitchison, author of over 70 books, died in 1999 at the age of 101. She was born in and lived in Scotland and traveled widely throughout the world. In the 1960s she was adopted as adviser and mother of the Bakgatla tribe in Botswana. Her books include historical fiction, science fiction, poetry, autobiography, and nonfiction, the most popular of which are The Corn King and the Spring Queen, The Conquered, and Memoirs of a Spacewoman.
Mitchison lived in Kintyre for many years and was an active small farmer. She served on Argyll County Council and was a member of the Highlands and Islands Advisory Panel from 1947 to 1965, and the Highlands and Islands Advisory Consultative Council from 1966 to 1974.
Praise for Naomi Mitchison:
"No one knows better how to spin a fairy tale than Naomi Mitchison."
-- The Observer
"Mitchison breathes life into such perennial themes as courage, forgiveness, the search for meaning, and self-sacrifice."
-- Publishers Weekly
"She writes enviably, with the kind of casual precision which ... comes by grace."
-- Times Literary Supplement
"One of the great subversive thinkers and peaceable transgressors of the twentieth century.... We are just catching up to this wise, complex, lucid mind that has for ninety-seven years been a generation or two ahead of her time."
-- Ursula K. Le Guin, author of Gifts
"Her descriptions of ritual and magic are superb; no less lovely are her accounts of simple, natural things -- water-crowfoot flowers, marigolds, and bright-spotted fish. To read her is like looking down into deep warm water, through which the smallest pebble and the most radiant weed shine and are seen most clearly; for her writing is very intimate, almost as a diary, or an autobiography is intimate, and yet it is free from all pose, all straining after effect; she is telling a story so that all may understand, yet it has the still profundity of a nursery rhyme.
-- Hugh Gordon Proteus, New Statesman and Nation
Mitchison lived in Kintyre for many years and was an active small farmer. She served on Argyll County Council and was a member of the Highlands and Islands Advisory Panel from 1947 to 1965, and the Highlands and Islands Advisory Consultative Council from 1966 to 1974.
Praise for Naomi Mitchison:
"No one knows better how to spin a fairy tale than Naomi Mitchison."
-- The Observer
"Mitchison breathes life into such perennial themes as courage, forgiveness, the search for meaning, and self-sacrifice."
-- Publishers Weekly
"She writes enviably, with the kind of casual precision which ... comes by grace."
-- Times Literary Supplement
"One of the great subversive thinkers and peaceable transgressors of the twentieth century.... We are just catching up to this wise, complex, lucid mind that has for ninety-seven years been a generation or two ahead of her time."
-- Ursula K. Le Guin, author of Gifts
"Her descriptions of ritual and magic are superb; no less lovely are her accounts of simple, natural things -- water-crowfoot flowers, marigolds, and bright-spotted fish. To read her is like looking down into deep warm water, through which the smallest pebble and the most radiant weed shine and are seen most clearly; for her writing is very intimate, almost as a diary, or an autobiography is intimate, and yet it is free from all pose, all straining after effect; she is telling a story so that all may understand, yet it has the still profundity of a nursery rhyme.
-- Hugh Gordon Proteus, New Statesman and Nation
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April 15, 2013
I thought this was amazing. I didn't want it to end -- and indeed, it more stopped than ended -- because Mitchison's narrator is so fascinating in her own right, and the perspective she offers on the experiences of her life, the communication lens through which she sees everything, feels so very much like an antidote to the kind of space exploration SF enshrined in canon. The one thing that surprised me was how conservative it was in terms of gender politics, given how progressive everything else about it was (especially in terms of family construction and a multiplicity of partners).
Basically I just want to read everything Mitchison's ever written. She's fantastic, and it's appalling to me that this book isn't considered a standard of the genre.
Basically I just want to read everything Mitchison's ever written. She's fantastic, and it's appalling to me that this book isn't considered a standard of the genre.
July 19, 2025
Bu kitabı uzun süre sevgiyle anacağım.
Bilimkurgunun altın çağı gerçekten çok başka bir dönem. Zaman zaman durup bu zaman dilimine ait eserleri özlüyor ve onlara her geri döndüğümde asla pişman olmuyorum.
Aynılıklar dünyasında bir vaha gibiler. Kana kana içiyorum.
Bir Kadın Astronotun Anıları bitmesini istemeyerek okuduğum bir şaheser oldu (benim için). Kitabın en başında yer alan Naomi Mitchison'ı anlatan Önsöz'ü okuduktan sonra geri dönülmez yola girmiştim. Bilim insanlarıyla dolu bir aileden gelip, bir Afrika kabilesinin koruyucu annesi unvanına erişecek kadar çılgınlıkta bir hayat hikayesi bu. Açıkçası okurken kendisinin kurgu karakter olduğundan bile şüphe ettim. Ama hayatı dolu dolu yaşamak bu demek sanırım. Kendisini hem kıskandım hem de büyük hayranlık duydum.
Gelelim esere.
Naomi Mitchison'ın kendine has bir büyüsü var. Kitap adını hak eder şekilde kadın bir uzay kaşifinin anılarını anlatıyor. Dolayısıyla tek bir olaydan bahsedemeyiz.
Peki neler var?
Dilbilimci diyebileceğimiz kaşifimiz Dünya zamanıyla pek de hareket etmiyor. Yeri geliyor yeni keşfedilen canlılarla kendi üzerinde deney yapıyor. Tüm bunlar olurken birden fazla çocuk sahibi oluyor. Bu noktada anneliğe bakışı bence devrimsel.
Kaşifler çocuklarıyla yaklaşık 1-2 sene geçiriyor ki buna da "karakter gelişimi" dönemi diyorlar. Evet, anne için "karakter gelişimi" dönemi diye bahsediliyor. Sonrasında anneler ve babalar kaşifliğe geri dönüyorlar. Uzayda çocuklarından ayrı, ama onları asla unutmadan, kısa süre içinde onlarla aynı yaşta görünecekleri farklı zaman akışlarında iletişimlerini de koparmıyorlar. Yani ortada bir görev yok, rol yok. Anneliğin kutsallığı yok. Saf sevgi, bolca merak ve bu sürecin de kişinin gelişimine olan katkısı var.
Çocuklar mı? Asla detaya girilmese de bazılarına bazen babaları bakıyor, bazılarıysa Dünya hükümetinin mevcut politikalarında yetişmeye devam ediyorlar.
Ana karakter baba adaylarını hep kendisi seçti. Onlarla bilinen anlamda bir evlilik hayatı yaşamadığı gibi hepsini babalığa uygunluklarına göre tercih etti.
Farklı ırklarla olan temaslar da kendi içinde cüretkar. Kah acımasız, kah anaç duygularla bezeli. Ama bir tanesi var ki ona özellikle değinmek istiyorum.
Marslılar'ın iletişim şekli sözcüklere dayanmıyor kitapta. Karşısındakinin bedenine, özellikle de cinsel organına dokunarak iletişim kuruyorlar. Erotik mi? Hayır. En çok sinir ucunun toplandığı bölgeye yöneliyorlar aslında. Kitaptaki insanların büyük kısmı bundan tiksiniyor tabii; peki dikkatli okurlar ne görüyor? iletişim zaman zaman oral seksik (evet) çağrıştıran bir hal alıyor. Ve içerisinde en ufak müstehcenlik yok.
Yazar bunu harika aktarmış. Tamamen okurlarının dikkatine bırakıp, seksi de bir iletişim yolu olarak bir tanecik ırk üzerinden bize sunmuş.
Kitabın tamamı başkarakterimiz Mary'nin gözünden anlatılıyor ki, bu da bir kaşifin anı defterini okuduğumuza bizi iyice inandırıyor.
Şahsen Mary ile çıktığım her keşif yolculuğu, hayatlarına müdahale edilmeden iletişim kurulması gerek her yeni ırk ve ahlakli ikilemleri, doğurduğu her çocuk ve yaptığı tüm seçimleri büyük keyifle okudum. Çeviri ve editörlük de tertemizdi.
Bu kitabın dilimize kazandırılmasından dolayı mutluyum. Naomi Mitchison'ın diğer eserlerinin de çevrilmesini sabırsızlıkla bekliyorum.
Bilimkurgunun altın çağı gerçekten çok başka bir dönem. Zaman zaman durup bu zaman dilimine ait eserleri özlüyor ve onlara her geri döndüğümde asla pişman olmuyorum.
Aynılıklar dünyasında bir vaha gibiler. Kana kana içiyorum.
Bir Kadın Astronotun Anıları bitmesini istemeyerek okuduğum bir şaheser oldu (benim için). Kitabın en başında yer alan Naomi Mitchison'ı anlatan Önsöz'ü okuduktan sonra geri dönülmez yola girmiştim. Bilim insanlarıyla dolu bir aileden gelip, bir Afrika kabilesinin koruyucu annesi unvanına erişecek kadar çılgınlıkta bir hayat hikayesi bu. Açıkçası okurken kendisinin kurgu karakter olduğundan bile şüphe ettim. Ama hayatı dolu dolu yaşamak bu demek sanırım. Kendisini hem kıskandım hem de büyük hayranlık duydum.
Gelelim esere.
Naomi Mitchison'ın kendine has bir büyüsü var. Kitap adını hak eder şekilde kadın bir uzay kaşifinin anılarını anlatıyor. Dolayısıyla tek bir olaydan bahsedemeyiz.
Peki neler var?
Dilbilimci diyebileceğimiz kaşifimiz Dünya zamanıyla pek de hareket etmiyor. Yeri geliyor yeni keşfedilen canlılarla kendi üzerinde deney yapıyor. Tüm bunlar olurken birden fazla çocuk sahibi oluyor. Bu noktada anneliğe bakışı bence devrimsel.
Kaşifler çocuklarıyla yaklaşık 1-2 sene geçiriyor ki buna da "karakter gelişimi" dönemi diyorlar. Evet, anne için "karakter gelişimi" dönemi diye bahsediliyor. Sonrasında anneler ve babalar kaşifliğe geri dönüyorlar. Uzayda çocuklarından ayrı, ama onları asla unutmadan, kısa süre içinde onlarla aynı yaşta görünecekleri farklı zaman akışlarında iletişimlerini de koparmıyorlar. Yani ortada bir görev yok, rol yok. Anneliğin kutsallığı yok. Saf sevgi, bolca merak ve bu sürecin de kişinin gelişimine olan katkısı var.
Çocuklar mı? Asla detaya girilmese de bazılarına bazen babaları bakıyor, bazılarıysa Dünya hükümetinin mevcut politikalarında yetişmeye devam ediyorlar.
Ana karakter baba adaylarını hep kendisi seçti. Onlarla bilinen anlamda bir evlilik hayatı yaşamadığı gibi hepsini babalığa uygunluklarına göre tercih etti.
Farklı ırklarla olan temaslar da kendi içinde cüretkar. Kah acımasız, kah anaç duygularla bezeli. Ama bir tanesi var ki ona özellikle değinmek istiyorum.
Marslılar'ın iletişim şekli sözcüklere dayanmıyor kitapta. Karşısındakinin bedenine, özellikle de cinsel organına dokunarak iletişim kuruyorlar. Erotik mi? Hayır. En çok sinir ucunun toplandığı bölgeye yöneliyorlar aslında. Kitaptaki insanların büyük kısmı bundan tiksiniyor tabii; peki dikkatli okurlar ne görüyor? iletişim zaman zaman oral seksik (evet) çağrıştıran bir hal alıyor. Ve içerisinde en ufak müstehcenlik yok.
Yazar bunu harika aktarmış. Tamamen okurlarının dikkatine bırakıp, seksi de bir iletişim yolu olarak bir tanecik ırk üzerinden bize sunmuş.
Kitabın tamamı başkarakterimiz Mary'nin gözünden anlatılıyor ki, bu da bir kaşifin anı defterini okuduğumuza bizi iyice inandırıyor.
Şahsen Mary ile çıktığım her keşif yolculuğu, hayatlarına müdahale edilmeden iletişim kurulması gerek her yeni ırk ve ahlakli ikilemleri, doğurduğu her çocuk ve yaptığı tüm seçimleri büyük keyifle okudum. Çeviri ve editörlük de tertemizdi.
Bu kitabın dilimize kazandırılmasından dolayı mutluyum. Naomi Mitchison'ın diğer eserlerinin de çevrilmesini sabırsızlıkla bekliyorum.
June 20, 2015
Imaginative, inventive, contemplative. Come for the cool alien lifeforms, stay for the dissection of communication at personal and galactic levels. This is a sci-fi book that should please everyone. Should be on every important classic SF list. Don't fear, anti-feminist crowd, Mitchison isn't angry and she won't inconvenience you with female outrage.
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April 27, 2024Možda ne treba da me iznenađuje što je gospođa koja je s pedesetak godina bila prva lektorka Tolkinovog Gospodara prstenova sa šezdesetak godina objavila SF roman koji su na sve strane reklamirali kao "hrabra naučnica se seksa s vanzemaljcima"; ali SVAKAKO ne treba da me iznenađuje što je blurb senzacionalistički i netačan.
Naomi Mičison je u ovom kratkom romanu od prve do poslednje strane zadržala ton i stil memoara ili čak duže usmene ispovesti. To znači da sve što nam o svom životnom putu pripoveda Meri, naučnica specijalizovana za uspostavljanje komunikacije s inteligentnim vanzemaljskim oblicima života, deluje upravo tako - ispričano: sažeto, retrospektivno, s njenim komentarima, bez razrađenog upravnog govora ili tuđih stanovišta. Ne postoji zaplet kao takav već samo nizanje epizoda kao u pikarskom romanu; završetak je jednako nagao i proizvoljan.
Ponekad taj stil ima zaista urnebesan komički efekat, kao kad nas izveštava o različitim životnim odlukama i događajima: "Možda sam izboru oca za svoje drugo dete pristupila previše racionalno i zdravorazumski, on je divna osoba i moj sin s njim je divna osoba i u lepim smo odnosima svi zajedno ali nikad ne bih ponovo imala dete s njim" ili o brojnim načinima da se uspostavi kontakt s Marsovcima od kojih neki slučajno vode i do partenogeneze. Brojne vrste vanzemaljaca s kojima se Meri susreće opisane su srećno i maštovito, i svaka pred nas postavlja barem jedan misaoni i etički eksperiment; gotovo kao jedan za nijansu topliji Stanislav Lem iz Zvezdanih dnevnika Ijona Tihog.
Sve u svemu, ovo nije klasični roman već niz ulančanih SF epizoda i dragoceniji je kao inspiracija za razmišljanje nego kao zaokruženo delo.
E da, seks sa vanzemaljcima. Predgovor nemačkom izdanju, pisan sedamdesetih, srećno nam saopštava da sem ovog romana ne postoji ženski SF u kome se autorke ozbiljno bave seksom. Postoji Leva ruka tame, kaže nam predgovorac, ali Ursula Legvin u njemu piše o seksu hladno i klinički kao da je muškarac, a ne kao Naomi ovde, ženstveno i delikatno. (...Mnogo sam se tu zamislila...)
Srećom, predgovor nema pojma. Naomi o seksu, vezama i reprodukciji piše pre svega, pa, neopterećeno i bez ikakvih ideja da bi u jednom razumnom društvu budućnosti oni nekom mogli predstavljati problem u životu: "ljudi smo, dogovorićemo se" je neiskazani moto za sve takve interakcije u ovom romanu, strasti ima ali je nekako sve vreme u jasno ocrtanim granicama i stoga nimalo erotična. "Ne mogu da zamislim prijatniji način da se provede slobodnih pola sata" jeste iskren iskaz ali ne baš na visini Bore Stankovića.
Nasuprot tome, materinstvo neočekivano (za SF iz ranih šezdesetih) dobija na emotivnom značaju. Sama Naomi Mičison je imala sedmoro dece a izgubila dvoje i ovaj roman, zapravo, na jednom nivou vrlo nežno i precizno ocrtava i radost i bol dobijanja i gubitka dece. i u tome je možda i najuspeliji. (Pri tome mislim baš na tu najraniju fazu materinstva. U društvu budućnosti majke se decom intenzivno bave prvih godinu-dve, "dok ih ne stabilizuju kao ličnosti", a onda srećno odu dalje, nadam se i verujem da su SF vrtići dobro organizovani jer o tome ništa ne saznajemo. Kasnija interakcija s oba roditelja je čisto stvar dobre volje i druženja.)
Naomi Mičison je u ovom kratkom romanu od prve do poslednje strane zadržala ton i stil memoara ili čak duže usmene ispovesti. To znači da sve što nam o svom životnom putu pripoveda Meri, naučnica specijalizovana za uspostavljanje komunikacije s inteligentnim vanzemaljskim oblicima života, deluje upravo tako - ispričano: sažeto, retrospektivno, s njenim komentarima, bez razrađenog upravnog govora ili tuđih stanovišta. Ne postoji zaplet kao takav već samo nizanje epizoda kao u pikarskom romanu; završetak je jednako nagao i proizvoljan.
Ponekad taj stil ima zaista urnebesan komički efekat, kao kad nas izveštava o različitim životnim odlukama i događajima: "Možda sam izboru oca za svoje drugo dete pristupila previše racionalno i zdravorazumski, on je divna osoba i moj sin s njim je divna osoba i u lepim smo odnosima svi zajedno ali nikad ne bih ponovo imala dete s njim" ili o brojnim načinima da se uspostavi kontakt s Marsovcima od kojih neki slučajno vode i do partenogeneze. Brojne vrste vanzemaljaca s kojima se Meri susreće opisane su srećno i maštovito, i svaka pred nas postavlja barem jedan misaoni i etički eksperiment; gotovo kao jedan za nijansu topliji Stanislav Lem iz Zvezdanih dnevnika Ijona Tihog.
Sve u svemu, ovo nije klasični roman već niz ulančanih SF epizoda i dragoceniji je kao inspiracija za razmišljanje nego kao zaokruženo delo.
E da, seks sa vanzemaljcima. Predgovor nemačkom izdanju, pisan sedamdesetih, srećno nam saopštava da sem ovog romana ne postoji ženski SF u kome se autorke ozbiljno bave seksom. Postoji Leva ruka tame, kaže nam predgovorac, ali Ursula Legvin u njemu piše o seksu hladno i klinički kao da je muškarac, a ne kao Naomi ovde, ženstveno i delikatno. (...Mnogo sam se tu zamislila...)
Srećom, predgovor nema pojma. Naomi o seksu, vezama i reprodukciji piše pre svega, pa, neopterećeno i bez ikakvih ideja da bi u jednom razumnom društvu budućnosti oni nekom mogli predstavljati problem u životu: "ljudi smo, dogovorićemo se" je neiskazani moto za sve takve interakcije u ovom romanu, strasti ima ali je nekako sve vreme u jasno ocrtanim granicama i stoga nimalo erotična. "Ne mogu da zamislim prijatniji način da se provede slobodnih pola sata" jeste iskren iskaz ali ne baš na visini Bore Stankovića.
Nasuprot tome, materinstvo neočekivano (za SF iz ranih šezdesetih) dobija na emotivnom značaju. Sama Naomi Mičison je imala sedmoro dece a izgubila dvoje i ovaj roman, zapravo, na jednom nivou vrlo nežno i precizno ocrtava i radost i bol dobijanja i gubitka dece. i u tome je možda i najuspeliji. (Pri tome mislim baš na tu najraniju fazu materinstva. U društvu budućnosti majke se decom intenzivno bave prvih godinu-dve, "dok ih ne stabilizuju kao ličnosti", a onda srećno odu dalje, nadam se i verujem da su SF vrtići dobro organizovani jer o tome ništa ne saznajemo. Kasnija interakcija s oba roditelja je čisto stvar dobre volje i druženja.)
October 13, 2020
A woman reflects on episodes of her life as an communications specialist on various first-contact missions. I loved this, although perhaps not for the reason it's best loved: like Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness, the elements which were progressive then feel dated now, so there's a regressive, unproductive gender essentialism in the idea that women are naturally better at communication and that the beats in their life are tied to childbirth. It's interesting that this has aged more poorly than Travel Light; that the same feminist lens feels progressive when looking back at myth and fairytales, but dated when looking forward to science fiction.
But the emphasis on communication and internalization has a delightful effect. Each alien people is a high-concept puzzle with inventive worldbuilding and thorny ethical/social conundrums, and the protagonist's engagement is professional but also personal, emotional, romantic, sexual, dynamic, lived. It reminds me, unexpectedly, of what I want Star Trek spinoff novels to be: the zany, high-concept creativity of golden age SF rooted in the individual and the way that identity, thought, and social role are informed--transformed--by experience; and these are uniquely transformative experiences. It makes for superbly satisfying little book; this has been on my TBR for an absolute age, and it lives up to all that anticipation.
But the emphasis on communication and internalization has a delightful effect. Each alien people is a high-concept puzzle with inventive worldbuilding and thorny ethical/social conundrums, and the protagonist's engagement is professional but also personal, emotional, romantic, sexual, dynamic, lived. It reminds me, unexpectedly, of what I want Star Trek spinoff novels to be: the zany, high-concept creativity of golden age SF rooted in the individual and the way that identity, thought, and social role are informed--transformed--by experience; and these are uniquely transformative experiences. It makes for superbly satisfying little book; this has been on my TBR for an absolute age, and it lives up to all that anticipation.
October 17, 2016
the description for this book is ridiculous. every chapter was about her learning a new, completely alien language with a different planetary species. the narrative comes from a scientific point of view and does not focus on the narrator's sexuality whatsoever
theres a couple mentions of her body
theres a huge problem in sci fi where if a woman experiences something, it is read as hyper sexual. this is an important issue to address
THIS BOOK IS ABOUT VISITING AND OBSERVING ALIEN WORLDS WITHOUT BREAKING THE PRIME DIRECTIVE
and unlike star trek the narrator actually TRIES not to break the prime directive
theres a couple mentions of her body
theres a huge problem in sci fi where if a woman experiences something, it is read as hyper sexual. this is an important issue to address
THIS BOOK IS ABOUT VISITING AND OBSERVING ALIEN WORLDS WITHOUT BREAKING THE PRIME DIRECTIVE
and unlike star trek the narrator actually TRIES not to break the prime directive
February 22, 2023
Naomi Mitchison dà vita a una società futuristica in cui l’attitudine degli esseri umani per la scoperta si spinge fin nelle galassie più remote, col proposito di ampliare conoscenze scientifiche e non, ma anche – e qui sta la novità – all’insegna di empatia e nel rispetto di un’etica interplanetaria.
“Memorie di un’astronauta donna” è uno space opera che per mezzo del resoconto di alcune delle missioni esplorative di Mary verso pianeti ignoti – che dà un taglio episodico all’esposto - intavola argomenti decisamente spinosi: la maternità e, di conseguenza, il parto; una genitorialità meno impegnata che non confina la donna all’ambiente domestico e che permette alla prole di godere del diritto di non appartenenza al genitore, ma di essere solo e unicamente di se stessi; il rapporto col diverso vissuto senza alcun pregiudizio; le relazioni (anche con alieni), poliamore e tanto altro ancora. L’autrice per queste sue larghe vedute si dimostra decisamente avanguardista, considerato che il romanzo è stato pubblicato per la prima volta nel 1962.
Pur essendo narrato dal punto di vista di un unico personaggio, abbiamo sì una prospettiva unilaterale, eppure, ugualmente affidabile visto che, nello specifico, il ruolo di Mary è quello di esperta nelle comunicazioni ossia è lei a occuparsi di aprire un canale di contatto con le forme di vita presenti su quel determinato pianeta e permettere agli altri studiosi dell’equipe di analizzare da vicino il loro ecosistema.
È altresì interessante assistere a questo processo, Mary mette a frutto non solo le conoscenze teoriche, ma soprattutto quelle acquisite dall’esperienza. C’è un momento in cui arriva a interrogarsi sul se sia sbagliato o meno interferire con queste altre culture, visto che altrettanta disponibilità ci si aspetta dai Terreni quando sono loro a essere oggetto di osservazione.
“Memorie di un’astronauta donna” è uno space opera che per mezzo del resoconto di alcune delle missioni esplorative di Mary verso pianeti ignoti – che dà un taglio episodico all’esposto - intavola argomenti decisamente spinosi: la maternità e, di conseguenza, il parto; una genitorialità meno impegnata che non confina la donna all’ambiente domestico e che permette alla prole di godere del diritto di non appartenenza al genitore, ma di essere solo e unicamente di se stessi; il rapporto col diverso vissuto senza alcun pregiudizio; le relazioni (anche con alieni), poliamore e tanto altro ancora. L’autrice per queste sue larghe vedute si dimostra decisamente avanguardista, considerato che il romanzo è stato pubblicato per la prima volta nel 1962.
Pur essendo narrato dal punto di vista di un unico personaggio, abbiamo sì una prospettiva unilaterale, eppure, ugualmente affidabile visto che, nello specifico, il ruolo di Mary è quello di esperta nelle comunicazioni ossia è lei a occuparsi di aprire un canale di contatto con le forme di vita presenti su quel determinato pianeta e permettere agli altri studiosi dell’equipe di analizzare da vicino il loro ecosistema.
È altresì interessante assistere a questo processo, Mary mette a frutto non solo le conoscenze teoriche, ma soprattutto quelle acquisite dall’esperienza. C’è un momento in cui arriva a interrogarsi sul se sia sbagliato o meno interferire con queste altre culture, visto che altrettanta disponibilità ci si aspetta dai Terreni quando sono loro a essere oggetto di osservazione.
Talvolta mi domando se la sua interferenza sia stata davvero peggiore delle interferenze che tutti commettiamo con il semplice fatto di andare su altri mondi, restando là a osservare e a raccogliere informazioni. Quando giunsero sulla Terra i primi osservatori dallo spazio provenienti da altri mondi più avanzati del nostro, noi vivemmo come un'interferenza la loro presenza e il loro sguardo su di noi. Lo sentimmo con tale violenza, se ricordate, che cercammo di liberarcene facendo ricorso persino alla forza e sempre in uno stato di grande disturbo psichico. Da allora abbiamo appreso molte cose, naturalmente, ma solo attraverso l'esperienza. Quello che comunemente si intende per noninterferenza è qualcosa di molto grossolano. Poiché di fatto interferiamo sempre […] Saremo forse in grado di renderci completamente impercettibili? Chissà, il nostro sguardo non riesce a veder così lontano e meno male, sarebbe noioso sapere tutto già da adesso.
Mitchison ha una spiccata immaginazione che riversa nel libro investendo il lettore di una sorta di sense of wonder, per tutta la durata della lettura è pregnante un quid di contemplativo, mi è piaciuto immaginare questa vasta gamma di entità extraterrestri dalle forme più disparate. Nonostante il tono si mantenga per certi versi un po’ monocorde, andando a intaccare ritmo e profondità, nel complesso è una lettura che ho apprezzato per la quantità di idee e spunti di riflessione che l’autrice è riuscita a condensare in così poche pagine.
April 21, 2022
This is an early (originally written 1962) feminist science fiction novel that takes issue with a lot of the macho assumptions of the Space Opera genre that was the default at the time. Mitchison constructs a future society in which exploration is done for the advancement of scientific knowledge and empathy. In this, it reminds me a lot of “Conscience Interplanetary,” even hinting at the planetary consciousness explicated in that book. Mitchison is more dedicated to hard science, however; her explorers are not “bound by time,” presumably they travel at or perhaps above the speed of light and leave behind people who age at an accelerated rate, relative to them. She doesn’t take this quite to its logical conclusion – in fact people who explore other galaxies would be returning not just decades, but thousands of centuries, after they left – but it is at least more of an attempt to grapple with the social aspects of space travel than is the norm.
Like that book and many others, this is largely a series of short vignettes, most of them only a chapter long, although a longer narrative begins early and takes about the last third of the book to complete. A lot of the message of these tales is in regard to a strong ethic of non-intervention (a pre-Star Trek prime directive) and the consequences of ignoring it. It turns out to be quite powerful – even talking to someone on another planet may be a form of intervention, although one has to make judgment calls when one’s specialty is Communications, as it is for the narrator. The communication techniques are never entirely specified, but it seems that a lot of it comes down to some form of telepathy, combined with a lot of physical contact.
The erotic sides of all of this are implicit in each story, though of course in a non-exploitive way. The narrator speaks of her attachments and feelings for various beings, human, near-human, and totally non-human alike, and she gives birth to several hybrids. The longest storyline follows her involvement with non-human tissue (in the form of a “graft”) that may or may not be sentient, but which profoundly affects her thinking and personality. Indeed, the ultimate question may be not only whether it is right or wrong to interfere with other cultures, but how open we should be to their interference with us.
Like that book and many others, this is largely a series of short vignettes, most of them only a chapter long, although a longer narrative begins early and takes about the last third of the book to complete. A lot of the message of these tales is in regard to a strong ethic of non-intervention (a pre-Star Trek prime directive) and the consequences of ignoring it. It turns out to be quite powerful – even talking to someone on another planet may be a form of intervention, although one has to make judgment calls when one’s specialty is Communications, as it is for the narrator. The communication techniques are never entirely specified, but it seems that a lot of it comes down to some form of telepathy, combined with a lot of physical contact.
The erotic sides of all of this are implicit in each story, though of course in a non-exploitive way. The narrator speaks of her attachments and feelings for various beings, human, near-human, and totally non-human alike, and she gives birth to several hybrids. The longest storyline follows her involvement with non-human tissue (in the form of a “graft”) that may or may not be sentient, but which profoundly affects her thinking and personality. Indeed, the ultimate question may be not only whether it is right or wrong to interfere with other cultures, but how open we should be to their interference with us.
July 20, 2013
This was fascinating! It was exactly the kind of thing which I feel is *missing* from classic sci-fi, whenever I go there - reflections on culture, individual identity, and communication with other species.
My chief complaint is that its sixties-ness shows in the treatment of sexuality. "Explores her sexuality with friends and colleagues, including the bisexual Martian Vly!", trumpets the book cover. Hah. For the most part, Mary explores *reproduction* with friends and colleagues - actual sexuality is left right aside. Although the use of genital organs in tactile communication with Martians (who are bigendered) is touched upon, Mary sticks strictly to professional boundaries except when Vly is in 'monosexual' reproduction mode - when male, she ends up reproducing with him; when she finds out Vly has become female and had a child of her own, Mary freaks and avoids thinking about it.
Sigh.
My chief complaint is that its sixties-ness shows in the treatment of sexuality. "Explores her sexuality with friends and colleagues, including the bisexual Martian Vly!", trumpets the book cover. Hah. For the most part, Mary explores *reproduction* with friends and colleagues - actual sexuality is left right aside. Although the use of genital organs in tactile communication with Martians (who are bigendered) is touched upon, Mary sticks strictly to professional boundaries except when Vly is in 'monosexual' reproduction mode - when male, she ends up reproducing with him; when she finds out Vly has become female and had a child of her own, Mary freaks and avoids thinking about it.
Sigh.
May 23, 2015
Weird and wonderful and instantly added to my to-reread list. It explores a lot and takes the reader to numerous odd places in less than 200 pages. Wow! Some stunning moments.
Notable:This novel about space exploration with a policy of non-interference was published in 1962 (before Star Trek's prime directive).
Quotable: "Occasionally, even, in an attempt to rock personality, young people try the experiment of becoming temporary carnivores. I never did that myself, but then, I am greedy, very much aware of the taste and texture of what I eat. Besides, I think a communications girl would be bound to find it impossible; there is no edible life in Terra which cannot evoke some slight empathy for any of us."
Notable:This novel about space exploration with a policy of non-interference was published in 1962 (before Star Trek's prime directive).
Quotable: "Occasionally, even, in an attempt to rock personality, young people try the experiment of becoming temporary carnivores. I never did that myself, but then, I am greedy, very much aware of the taste and texture of what I eat. Besides, I think a communications girl would be bound to find it impossible; there is no edible life in Terra which cannot evoke some slight empathy for any of us."
September 15, 2019
Scientificamente plausibile e allo stesso tempo quasi onirico nella leggerezza della sua prosa. Il racconto immaginifico dei viaggi su altri mondi di un'esploratrice "terrena", come sono detti qui gli umani, esperta in comunicazione con altre forme di vita. L'incontro con straordinari popoli alieni, completamente estranei alla forma antropomorfa e a volte, dotati di conoscenze superiori alle nostre. Un'esplorazione dell'Altro con la A maiuscola e al contempo un'esplorazione volta anche all'interno di noi stessi, all'Umano in quanto essere, con particolare attenzione verso la dimensione Femminile, dalla sua morale e alla sua sessualità, dalla generazione della vita (anche grazie all'incrocio con popoli alieni) alla crescita dei figli. Semplicemente magnifico.
January 7, 2023
Originally posted December 30/ 22. Updated Jan. 6/23
3.4⭐ This is an unusual and interesting feminist science fiction novel, written in 1962. The narrator, Mary, (the eponymous Spacewoman) is one of an elite class of interstellar explorers from a far future Earth. Humanity has been divided into two groups, the explorers, who through the agency of time dilation, or "time black out" age very slowly. It must be said that Mitchison's science (the physics, anyway) is pretty fuzzy throughout the book - but no more so than say, an average episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The rest of humanity lives its mundane lives stuck on the planet and bound by "clock time," in the opinion of the somewhat snobbish explorers.
The society Mitchison creates is an enlightened one: men and women are apparently completely equal, although Mitchison curiously maintains there are a few highly technical and esoteric occupations women don't seem to have an inclination towards. Furthermore, women can have sex with anyone or anything they want and Mary certainly does, from African and European human men, to hermaphroditic Martians, to alien tissue "grafts."
The object of much of this activity is procreation, with parents able to choose the gender and appearance of their offspring in advance, although the mechanics of this aren't explained. Having kids doesn't slow down these future Spacewomen, however: after a couple of years during which the children are "stabilized" Mary continues on happily exploring the universe. It's sort of the future as envisioned by Helen Gurley Brown, whose "Sex and the Single Girl" was published the same year as this book.
Mary's job is that of Communicator ( or "communications girl") responsible for understanding alien species and determining their level of intelligence. This is mainly done through a form of advanced empathy. This same ability has enabled humanity to also reach a new level of understanding with animal species; for example animals are still used in scientific research but only with their own consent, like human subjects.
The book is a series of connected episodes, with Mary trying to unlock the nature of each new species while at the same time avoiding "interference " with the aliens, prohibited by a kind of pre-Star Trek prime directive. Mitchison's descriptions of these alien worlds are vivid and brought to my mind the imagery and tone of the animated classic science fiction film "Fantastic Planet."
Now that I've read the book I'll go back and finish the introduction, by academic Isobel Murray, which I abandoned as I found it spoiler-heavy (Done. It was pretty good, explaining some of Mitchison's background and influences. Murray dissected some of the analogies the author used- in one instance when I thought Mitchison was making a point about human biology, she was actually on about theology.
I liked this book and it made me curious about the rest of Mitchison's work, most of which is not science fiction. -30-
3.4⭐ This is an unusual and interesting feminist science fiction novel, written in 1962. The narrator, Mary, (the eponymous Spacewoman) is one of an elite class of interstellar explorers from a far future Earth. Humanity has been divided into two groups, the explorers, who through the agency of time dilation, or "time black out" age very slowly. It must be said that Mitchison's science (the physics, anyway) is pretty fuzzy throughout the book - but no more so than say, an average episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The rest of humanity lives its mundane lives stuck on the planet and bound by "clock time," in the opinion of the somewhat snobbish explorers.
The society Mitchison creates is an enlightened one: men and women are apparently completely equal, although Mitchison curiously maintains there are a few highly technical and esoteric occupations women don't seem to have an inclination towards. Furthermore, women can have sex with anyone or anything they want and Mary certainly does, from African and European human men, to hermaphroditic Martians, to alien tissue "grafts."
The object of much of this activity is procreation, with parents able to choose the gender and appearance of their offspring in advance, although the mechanics of this aren't explained. Having kids doesn't slow down these future Spacewomen, however: after a couple of years during which the children are "stabilized" Mary continues on happily exploring the universe. It's sort of the future as envisioned by Helen Gurley Brown, whose "Sex and the Single Girl" was published the same year as this book.
Mary's job is that of Communicator ( or "communications girl") responsible for understanding alien species and determining their level of intelligence. This is mainly done through a form of advanced empathy. This same ability has enabled humanity to also reach a new level of understanding with animal species; for example animals are still used in scientific research but only with their own consent, like human subjects.
The book is a series of connected episodes, with Mary trying to unlock the nature of each new species while at the same time avoiding "interference " with the aliens, prohibited by a kind of pre-Star Trek prime directive. Mitchison's descriptions of these alien worlds are vivid and brought to my mind the imagery and tone of the animated classic science fiction film "Fantastic Planet."
Now that I've read the book I'll go back and finish the introduction, by academic Isobel Murray, which I abandoned as I found it spoiler-heavy (Done. It was pretty good, explaining some of Mitchison's background and influences. Murray dissected some of the analogies the author used- in one instance when I thought Mitchison was making a point about human biology, she was actually on about theology.
I liked this book and it made me curious about the rest of Mitchison's work, most of which is not science fiction. -30-
September 4, 2013
I will admit, I probably went into this book with higher expectations than I should have. Classic sci-fi about female protagonists by female authors is not a common find, and I tend to expect slightly more progressive gender politics when I do find them. However, this book fell right into the gendered trap - women are more nurturing and emotional, more suited for communications than hard sciences, etc. Blah.
That aside, I was impressed to find a relatively cold account of the details of Mary's life. Despite the book's assumption of how "emotional" women "are", the protagonist does manage to take a rather clinical, detached approach of her own life. She discusses that she felt an emotional connection with her graft (one of the aliens studied), but doesn't discuss it in emotional terms but objectively. She discusses her relationships but rarely gets bogged down in the emotional end of things, and despite the claims on the back of the book, her relationship with the martian is anything but a romance.
There isn't even all that much romance in the book at all, and all the conflicts come from the challenges of studying new species of alien -- a pleasant shift from space operas, obligatory love interests, intergalactic conspiracies, and so on. Instead, we get scientific descriptions of new worlds and the sorts of creatures on those worlds.
The end is sort of abrupt, but the assumption is that Mary doesn't get a chance to complete her memoirs after her final dangerous mission, and as she wrote earlier, that's probably the way she'd 'go' anyway. That's the life of an explorer.
That aside, I was impressed to find a relatively cold account of the details of Mary's life. Despite the book's assumption of how "emotional" women "are", the protagonist does manage to take a rather clinical, detached approach of her own life. She discusses that she felt an emotional connection with her graft (one of the aliens studied), but doesn't discuss it in emotional terms but objectively. She discusses her relationships but rarely gets bogged down in the emotional end of things, and despite the claims on the back of the book, her relationship with the martian is anything but a romance.
There isn't even all that much romance in the book at all, and all the conflicts come from the challenges of studying new species of alien -- a pleasant shift from space operas, obligatory love interests, intergalactic conspiracies, and so on. Instead, we get scientific descriptions of new worlds and the sorts of creatures on those worlds.
The end is sort of abrupt, but the assumption is that Mary doesn't get a chance to complete her memoirs after her final dangerous mission, and as she wrote earlier, that's probably the way she'd 'go' anyway. That's the life of an explorer.
April 29, 2023
3,5/5
Öncelikle yazarın müthiş kurgu yeteneğini ve akıcı bir anlatımı olduğunu söylemek isterim. Zaten kitabı bitirebilmeme olanak sağlayan sebepler de bunlardı. Çünkü maalesef kitabı sevemedim. 🥲 Sebebi ise aradığımı bulamamak diyebiliriz. Yazar için arka kapak yazısında feminist bilimkurgu edebiyatına önemli eserler verdiğini okuyunca böyle daha baskın daha isyankar bir anlatım ve kurgu beklemiştim. Fakat yazarın o kadar sakin ve olan bir durumdan bahseder gibi bir anlatımı vardı ki aradığımı bulamadım. Öte yandan kurguya gelecek olursak feminizmi sadece insan cinsinin dişisi üzerinden anlatmak yerine kurgusal varlıklar ve canlıları da işin içine katarak olaya çok yönlülük katması kesinlikle özgün bir hareket olmasından dolayı övgüyü hak ediyor. Ama dediğim gibi benim beklediğim böyle bir şey değildi. Hatta ilk okuduğumda gezegenler ve yeni canlı türlerini bu kadar derinden tasvir edip anlatmasına anlam verememiştim. Sonraları ise yazarın bu derinliği anlatımının geneline yaydığını fark edince biraz bozuldum. Fakat belki de siz okuduğunuzda yazarın özgünlüğüne hayran kalabilirsiniz bilemem. Okumadan bilemezsiniz.
Öncelikle yazarın müthiş kurgu yeteneğini ve akıcı bir anlatımı olduğunu söylemek isterim. Zaten kitabı bitirebilmeme olanak sağlayan sebepler de bunlardı. Çünkü maalesef kitabı sevemedim. 🥲 Sebebi ise aradığımı bulamamak diyebiliriz. Yazar için arka kapak yazısında feminist bilimkurgu edebiyatına önemli eserler verdiğini okuyunca böyle daha baskın daha isyankar bir anlatım ve kurgu beklemiştim. Fakat yazarın o kadar sakin ve olan bir durumdan bahseder gibi bir anlatımı vardı ki aradığımı bulamadım. Öte yandan kurguya gelecek olursak feminizmi sadece insan cinsinin dişisi üzerinden anlatmak yerine kurgusal varlıklar ve canlıları da işin içine katarak olaya çok yönlülük katması kesinlikle özgün bir hareket olmasından dolayı övgüyü hak ediyor. Ama dediğim gibi benim beklediğim böyle bir şey değildi. Hatta ilk okuduğumda gezegenler ve yeni canlı türlerini bu kadar derinden tasvir edip anlatmasına anlam verememiştim. Sonraları ise yazarın bu derinliği anlatımının geneline yaydığını fark edince biraz bozuldum. Fakat belki de siz okuduğunuzda yazarın özgünlüğüne hayran kalabilirsiniz bilemem. Okumadan bilemezsiniz.
March 7, 2010
I very much enjoyed this book but find it difficult to describe. It is written as exactly what it says on the tin. A space explorer by the name of Mary is writing a record of her adventures. Set at some point in the undefined future, the heroine is a scientist, explorer and "communications expert" who explores and establishes communication with alien species. It's never stated what "communication" is, although it's clearly not just language, and it's suggested that some form of telepathy is involved.
This is very much the antithesis of gung-ho SF of the Heinlein/Doc Smith variety. It's thoughtful, with no up-front conflict, more concerned with the ethical concerns of exploring space and the problems of communication. Despite, or perhaps because of this, I found it compelling reading.
This is very much the antithesis of gung-ho SF of the Heinlein/Doc Smith variety. It's thoughtful, with no up-front conflict, more concerned with the ethical concerns of exploring space and the problems of communication. Despite, or perhaps because of this, I found it compelling reading.
September 1, 2019
Ignore the blurb, whoever wrote it has obviously not read the book. Actually about communication with very alien (the adjective) beings and how to do it. I wanted more depth, more detail, but the uneasy feeling of more questions might well be what Mitchison was aiming at to make the reader feel like one of the explorers.
July 5, 2025
(...)
The fact that part of this book is satire seems hardly noticed by reviewers. Maybe my reading was influenced the review of Sirius on Gaping Blackbird. That review highlighted the comic significance of a scene I didn’t perceive as comedy at all, so that may have sharpened my senses a bit. Still, this next quote more or less puts all the deep thoughts about empathic communication in a different light.
We used to take our rations and eat them where the creatures could observe us. This roused their sympathy, though they wanted to see the results of the digestive process. I believe Françoise obliged, but they found the result aesthetically disappointing, and tried to express to her their pity and even some thoughts on how better results could be achieved. This was a first important point of higher communication between our groups.
For those who missed it: they are talking about the aesthetics of shit, as the alien creatures’ main occupation is shitting in patterns. The book is worth the price of acquisition for this passage alone, and with it Mitchison brilliantly subverts her own set up.
(...)
Please read the full review on Weighing A Pig
The fact that part of this book is satire seems hardly noticed by reviewers. Maybe my reading was influenced the review of Sirius on Gaping Blackbird. That review highlighted the comic significance of a scene I didn’t perceive as comedy at all, so that may have sharpened my senses a bit. Still, this next quote more or less puts all the deep thoughts about empathic communication in a different light.
We used to take our rations and eat them where the creatures could observe us. This roused their sympathy, though they wanted to see the results of the digestive process. I believe Françoise obliged, but they found the result aesthetically disappointing, and tried to express to her their pity and even some thoughts on how better results could be achieved. This was a first important point of higher communication between our groups.
For those who missed it: they are talking about the aesthetics of shit, as the alien creatures’ main occupation is shitting in patterns. The book is worth the price of acquisition for this passage alone, and with it Mitchison brilliantly subverts her own set up.
(...)
Please read the full review on Weighing A Pig
November 27, 2024
Adına aldanıp zamanımızda geçen bir biyografi olduğunu zannederek başladığım ama ilerledikçe karşıma çıkan bilim kurgu hikayesinden çok etkilenip adeta bitmesin diye yavaş yavaş okuduğum bir kitap oldu. Yazarın daha önce hiçbir eserini okumadığıma hayıflandım. Anlattığı gezegenler, galaksilerarası keşif gezilerinin dinamiği, tanıttığı dünya-dışı varlıklar, bir kaşif ve kadın olarak deneyimlediği “doğum”lar çok ilgi çekiciydi. Diğer kitaplarını da okumayı planlıyorum. Serim As Özdemir’in özenli çevirisi için de tebrikler.
Read
October 28, 2025Have you heard of Naomi Mitchison? No? Me neither, until I heard Marita Arvaniti mention her on the "Meal of Thorns" podcast in an episode about Hope Mirrlees' (excellent) fantasy book Lud-in-the-Mist. I don't recall the exact comment, but it was in a discussion of where fantasy might have gone if Mirrlees had been as influential as Tolkien, or something along those lines. It turns out Mitchison was not only a prolific author, but also the person to whom James Watson dedicated the book The Double Helix! (Sister to the geneticist JBS Haldane.)
Anyway, Memoirs of a Spacewoman is a fascinating and idiosyncratic book about space exploration, published in 1962. The setting is a post-scarcity world in which many people choose to spend their time on expeditions to the many other planets on which life exists. The protagonist, Mary, is a communications specialist, and the book is what it says on the tin--her memoirs of several expeditions. The science of space travel in the book is very much handwaved, but an important feature is that explorers experience jumps forward in time through some combination of time dilation and coldsleep. This has weird effects on human society, since parents can end up younger than their children and so forth. The setting is an interesting early-feminist one, where the nuclear family no longer exists, and people give their offspring up to mutualist "creche" upbringings after the first year or two, but taking time to have a child and care for them is still something many people, including our protagonist, really value.
It's somewhat of a "book where nothing happens," in the sense that it's just a chronicle of a few different voyages without any overarching plot other than being (part of) the story of Mary's life. But I found it very engaging, mostly because of Mitchison's unique take on exploration and contact with non-human life. It's a little hard to describe but I would describe it as both biopunk and feminist. The protagonist discusses at length how one of the key hazards of contact with non-human cultures is losing your sense of self, and how explorers like Mary undergo significant training to fortify their psychological stability. One of the major ways that Mary communicates with strange non-human life forms that she encounters is by grafting them onto her own body and engaging in something on the continuum from symbiosis to parasitism (and it's not always warm and fuzzy!). Also, it's just casually dropped in that humans can now communicate pretty directly with a lot of domesticated animals on earth, and they're notably more intelligent (or just more respected) than we would think today.
I'm absolutely going to track down more Mitchison as she's written a diverse array of books. I'm really surprised that she's not better known, or at least wasn't to me. Thanks to Marita Arvaniti for cluing me in to her!
Edit: she was also a friend of JRR T and was a proofreader of LOTR!
Anyway, Memoirs of a Spacewoman is a fascinating and idiosyncratic book about space exploration, published in 1962. The setting is a post-scarcity world in which many people choose to spend their time on expeditions to the many other planets on which life exists. The protagonist, Mary, is a communications specialist, and the book is what it says on the tin--her memoirs of several expeditions. The science of space travel in the book is very much handwaved, but an important feature is that explorers experience jumps forward in time through some combination of time dilation and coldsleep. This has weird effects on human society, since parents can end up younger than their children and so forth. The setting is an interesting early-feminist one, where the nuclear family no longer exists, and people give their offspring up to mutualist "creche" upbringings after the first year or two, but taking time to have a child and care for them is still something many people, including our protagonist, really value.
It's somewhat of a "book where nothing happens," in the sense that it's just a chronicle of a few different voyages without any overarching plot other than being (part of) the story of Mary's life. But I found it very engaging, mostly because of Mitchison's unique take on exploration and contact with non-human life. It's a little hard to describe but I would describe it as both biopunk and feminist. The protagonist discusses at length how one of the key hazards of contact with non-human cultures is losing your sense of self, and how explorers like Mary undergo significant training to fortify their psychological stability. One of the major ways that Mary communicates with strange non-human life forms that she encounters is by grafting them onto her own body and engaging in something on the continuum from symbiosis to parasitism (and it's not always warm and fuzzy!). Also, it's just casually dropped in that humans can now communicate pretty directly with a lot of domesticated animals on earth, and they're notably more intelligent (or just more respected) than we would think today.
I'm absolutely going to track down more Mitchison as she's written a diverse array of books. I'm really surprised that she's not better known, or at least wasn't to me. Thanks to Marita Arvaniti for cluing me in to her!
Edit: she was also a friend of JRR T and was a proofreader of LOTR!
April 24, 2024
Una de las novelas de ciencia ficción más originales que he leído. La escribió una aristócrata británica de 65 años en 1962 (buscad la vida de la autora, es extraordinaria). Se desarrolla en un lejano futuro del que no explica mucho; solo sabemos que parecen haberse superado la escasez y la violencia, y que hay una élite social de exploradores galácticos que viajan en hibernación, explorando planetas extraños, lo que inevitablemente recuerda a Star Trek (la serie empezó varios años más tarde de la publicación del libro). Se centra sobre todo en la psicología de la mujer del espacio y de los alienígenas, todos extraños y extrañamente creíbles. Está llena de ideas muy avanzadas incluso para hoy sobre la mente, el sexo y la reproducción, todo desde un punto de vista femenino. No es gran literatura, el estilo es simple y casi clínico, pero sin duda hace pensar. Si la buena ciencia ficción es literatura de ideas con un fundamento científico, es buenísima ciencia ficción.
June 10, 2015
Mary is a future Terran communications expert and explorer. She goes on long expeditions to search for and communicate with other usually extraterrestrial species. The society she lives in is very open-minded, and has apparently learned lessons from history about misguided attempts to help or interfere with non-personal issues. Her relationships with her children are thoughtful and unique--notably unpossessive and respectful.
I love the portrayal of relationships--I particularly liked that marriage was not a person's societal goal in life (though raising successful children in partnerships was)--though monogamy wasn't looked down upon either. I liked how it seemed that children were given time to develop on their own, and with their specific age cohort, though it is surprising to see apparent disinterest from the parents in observing the development of the children. I don't recall seeing what lifespans for people were in this book, so perhaps looking forward to a long life of knowing your adult children would be preferable to the memories of them being younger (which they often don't remember anyway). I love the informed society and their non-interference ideals (like Star Trek TNG's 'Prime Directive'). I thought there was a very interesting and powerful metaphor regarding sin and a potential afterlife in a scene with caterpillars and butterflies. Absolutely fascinating!
Reminded me at times of Ursula Le Guin ('The Dispossessed' comes to mind), James Tiptree, Jr. (extraterrestrial sex), and Clifford D Simak (in the reasonable behavior of dogs, as in 'City'). Recommended science fiction! In fact it's recommendable quite a bit more generally--this is the only sci-fi book I can think of that I think would have been a hit on Oprah's book list!
I love the portrayal of relationships--I particularly liked that marriage was not a person's societal goal in life (though raising successful children in partnerships was)--though monogamy wasn't looked down upon either. I liked how it seemed that children were given time to develop on their own, and with their specific age cohort, though it is surprising to see apparent disinterest from the parents in observing the development of the children. I don't recall seeing what lifespans for people were in this book, so perhaps looking forward to a long life of knowing your adult children would be preferable to the memories of them being younger (which they often don't remember anyway). I love the informed society and their non-interference ideals (like Star Trek TNG's 'Prime Directive'). I thought there was a very interesting and powerful metaphor regarding sin and a potential afterlife in a scene with caterpillars and butterflies. Absolutely fascinating!
Reminded me at times of Ursula Le Guin ('The Dispossessed' comes to mind), James Tiptree, Jr. (extraterrestrial sex), and Clifford D Simak (in the reasonable behavior of dogs, as in 'City'). Recommended science fiction! In fact it's recommendable quite a bit more generally--this is the only sci-fi book I can think of that I think would have been a hit on Oprah's book list!
July 27, 2016
This is my first outing with Mitchison, and I definitely enjoyed it. I'd connect it to a couple of things within the genre - any Ursula Le Guin which features an anthropologist is an obvious comparison, and not just because of the subject matter but also the style; also Cordwainer Smith's A Game of Rats and Dragons; and, in the menacing butterflies, perhaps a precursor for Mieville's slakemoths.
I read it all at one sitting, and it pulled me along, but, for me, it didn't quite have that spark to push it further up the star scale. Maybe that will change with another reading, but, at the moment, I stand by my rating.
I read it all at one sitting, and it pulled me along, but, for me, it didn't quite have that spark to push it further up the star scale. Maybe that will change with another reading, but, at the moment, I stand by my rating.
June 8, 2009
Really neat thoughtful, hard sci-fi exploring ideas of communication with truly alien intelligences, and the adaptations our society might make when exploring the galaxy while dealing with relativistic time distortion, where explorers may see a few subjective months go by while years pass on Earth. An unexpectely good find in my used book impulse purchasing adventures.
October 17, 2012
So very, very good - a re-read for research purposes for a paper I'm writing, but it pulled me in nonetheless. (And lots of useful material for this and future paper.)
February 21, 2023
Kitap muhteşem bir hayalgücü ile yazılmış. Bir oturuşta bitiyor. Yazarın hayatı da çok ilgi çekici. Bilim kurgu sevenler şans versin derim.
December 10, 2025
Kitabı okuyanların yorumlarını kitap öncesinde okumak beni olumlu ya da olumsuz etkiliyor. Artık böyle bir şey yapmamaya özen göstereceğim.
Çünkü kitabın yorumlarını okuduğumda kitaptan beklentim artıyor.
Bu kitap içinde beklentim üst seviyede olduğu için kitabı okurken daha bir detaylı betimlemeler bekledim. Maalesef istediğim zevki elde edemedim.
Objektif olmak gerekirse bir kadının günümüz etik kuralları dışında olacak annelik hikayeleri ve işi icabı iletişim kurmak zorunda olduğu canlılar ile iletişimine yaklaşımları anlatılmış.
Konu farklıydı ama tema olarak içinde bana kattığı bir edinim yoktu.
Arada sıkılma olasılığınız var. Önden bilgi olsun.
İyi okumalar
Çünkü kitabın yorumlarını okuduğumda kitaptan beklentim artıyor.
Bu kitap içinde beklentim üst seviyede olduğu için kitabı okurken daha bir detaylı betimlemeler bekledim. Maalesef istediğim zevki elde edemedim.
Objektif olmak gerekirse bir kadının günümüz etik kuralları dışında olacak annelik hikayeleri ve işi icabı iletişim kurmak zorunda olduğu canlılar ile iletişimine yaklaşımları anlatılmış.
Konu farklıydı ama tema olarak içinde bana kattığı bir edinim yoktu.
Arada sıkılma olasılığınız var. Önden bilgi olsun.
İyi okumalar
November 24, 2025
Yazıldığı yılları düşünürsek; cinsellik, ebeveyn olma, annelik, iletişim vb. kavramlarına ve farklı yaşam türlerine bakış açısını değiştirme anlamında devrimci bir roman. Bilimkurguda en sevdiğim konulardan olan zenobiyolojiyi çarpıcı tasarımlarla işlemiş Mitchison. Bilimkurgu edebiyatının cevher örneklerinden biri bence.
August 28, 2023
60s space travel, gender politics, critiques of the nuclear family, ethics of non-intervention and what it means to be human. Affirms my belief that I hated sci-fi for so long not for the genre itself but because it is overly dominated by grown men who still use Star Wars bedsheets.
September 1, 2025
A disconcerting read. A Star Trek-like tale of exploration, complete with the Prime Directive (though preceding it by 4 years). Rather than the encounters with alien forms of life, what stuck out most to me was the manner of its telling. The memoir of one Mary, she doesn't at any point stop to explain the history of what happened between the 20th century and whatever year this might be, what technology exists, or what the hell a wooli-warm is (if this is just some Britishism, please tell me). Being a cryosleep-displaced planetary explorer, she's detached even from Earth itself: we have a pinhole view of it through her offhand mention of such things as universal vegetarianism, the independence of children to raise themselves, and freely available abortion. "Back-time exploration" is briefly mentioned near the end of the story. Her own name, Mary, is referred to cryptically as a "Changer's name", as are the names Ket and Lil-burn. What the hell that means is never even cursorily explained.
I love it. Mitchison has completely committed to this being a document of the far future, with almost zero concessions to our present perspective. At every turns it feels like it should be familiar, never is. These humans of the peaceful utopic future are so ethical, but at the same time feel so cold. Mary has children with a string of men, who are friends but not lovers. She hardly meets her own children as they grow up, as she did with her own mother. Her overriding passion is the high science of communication, which has allowed humans to contact not only alien intelligences, but converse with the animals of Earth.
Mary's attitude to death is also strange. Her own mother dies mysteriously in her youth, which seems to have no bearing on her decision to follow her in the same work, and she remarks that "I was proud and happy about my father who had chosen to undertake an interesting and successful piece of work of a kind which was incompatible with the continuation of human life." What an enigmatic statement. At an another time she remarks that "drowning is a mild death for an explorer. [...] Explorers are likely to have crueller deaths. But, being explorers, they know how to meet them." She observes of a respected colleague that she'll likely die alone, collecting data, by her own choice, and this is a good thing. The ending is suggestive.
Though largely episodic, the story has two plots that form the core: parasitic amoebas that are implanted on Mary, and an expedition to a planet of caterpillars and butterflies that causes the most extreme ethical consternation of all the episodes. Broadly, they can be said to represent the twin difficulties of maintaining the integrity of one's identity and dealing with ethical quandaries during cultural exchange. Mary struggles with both throughout, but cannot truly overcome either. The struggle is inherent in being an explorer and communicator.
Though the aliens are on the whole not particularly crazy in concept or design, the story has lots of little weird elements, like an alien-built shelter for human explorers entirely made of glass, with halls too narrow for humans to pass without touching chest to chest, or the C.M. Kösemen-esque element of Martians tactilely communicating with their genitals. The dilemma of the caterpillars and butterflies is genuinely unusual,
Barlowe's choice out of all them for his Guide to Extraterrestrials is the Radiate, the first alien that Mary communicates with, though the episode is pretty minor in the grand scheme. Though not the only radially symmetric organism in the Guide, the Radiate is probably one of the most alien in this book. I like Barlowe's interpretation of its sucker-tentacles, with a clear "hand" at the end of each, and the scrunching and wrinkling of the tentacles suggest that this one is in the process of locomotion.
Naomi Mitchison has an interesting place in the literary world: an early proof-reader of Lord of the Rings, a friend of Olaf Stapledon, and sister of JBS Haldane, she wrote dozens of books herself, mostly historical novels and travelogues, but including a few science fiction and fantasy stories. She died at age 101 in 1999, and now is mostly forgotten. Patrick Stuart's review of Corn King and Spring Queen makes it sound like an actual masterpiece, so I'll definitely grab anything by her I see. I actually never found a physical copy of this very book, and it's one of only a handful of books featured in Barlowe's Guide I don't own.
I can definitely see a light Stapledonian influence in this book. The focus on communication among alien intelligences, and the stoic attitude toward death and misfortune are highly Stapledonian, and the combination of utopic and transgressive elements are also of a piece with him. The brief mention of "back-time exploration" seems like a nod to the sort of "time travel" practised in Last and First Men/Star Maker. It's certainly not excessively imitative, but the influence is detectable.
Summary:
I love it. Mitchison has completely committed to this being a document of the far future, with almost zero concessions to our present perspective. At every turns it feels like it should be familiar, never is. These humans of the peaceful utopic future are so ethical, but at the same time feel so cold. Mary has children with a string of men, who are friends but not lovers. She hardly meets her own children as they grow up, as she did with her own mother. Her overriding passion is the high science of communication, which has allowed humans to contact not only alien intelligences, but converse with the animals of Earth.
Mary's attitude to death is also strange. Her own mother dies mysteriously in her youth, which seems to have no bearing on her decision to follow her in the same work, and she remarks that "I was proud and happy about my father who had chosen to undertake an interesting and successful piece of work of a kind which was incompatible with the continuation of human life." What an enigmatic statement. At an another time she remarks that "drowning is a mild death for an explorer. [...] Explorers are likely to have crueller deaths. But, being explorers, they know how to meet them." She observes of a respected colleague that she'll likely die alone, collecting data, by her own choice, and this is a good thing. The ending is suggestive.
Though largely episodic, the story has two plots that form the core: parasitic amoebas that are implanted on Mary, and an expedition to a planet of caterpillars and butterflies that causes the most extreme ethical consternation of all the episodes. Broadly, they can be said to represent the twin difficulties of maintaining the integrity of one's identity and dealing with ethical quandaries during cultural exchange. Mary struggles with both throughout, but cannot truly overcome either. The struggle is inherent in being an explorer and communicator.
Though the aliens are on the whole not particularly crazy in concept or design, the story has lots of little weird elements, like an alien-built shelter for human explorers entirely made of glass, with halls too narrow for humans to pass without touching chest to chest, or the C.M. Kösemen-esque element of Martians tactilely communicating with their genitals. The dilemma of the caterpillars and butterflies is genuinely unusual,
Barlowe's choice out of all them for his Guide to Extraterrestrials is the Radiate, the first alien that Mary communicates with, though the episode is pretty minor in the grand scheme. Though not the only radially symmetric organism in the Guide, the Radiate is probably one of the most alien in this book. I like Barlowe's interpretation of its sucker-tentacles, with a clear "hand" at the end of each, and the scrunching and wrinkling of the tentacles suggest that this one is in the process of locomotion.
Naomi Mitchison has an interesting place in the literary world: an early proof-reader of Lord of the Rings, a friend of Olaf Stapledon, and sister of JBS Haldane, she wrote dozens of books herself, mostly historical novels and travelogues, but including a few science fiction and fantasy stories. She died at age 101 in 1999, and now is mostly forgotten. Patrick Stuart's review of Corn King and Spring Queen makes it sound like an actual masterpiece, so I'll definitely grab anything by her I see. I actually never found a physical copy of this very book, and it's one of only a handful of books featured in Barlowe's Guide I don't own.
I can definitely see a light Stapledonian influence in this book. The focus on communication among alien intelligences, and the stoic attitude toward death and misfortune are highly Stapledonian, and the combination of utopic and transgressive elements are also of a piece with him. The brief mention of "back-time exploration" seems like a nod to the sort of "time travel" practised in Last and First Men/Star Maker. It's certainly not excessively imitative, but the influence is detectable.
Summary:
March 25, 2025
I came across “Memoirs of a Spacewoman” while searching for science fiction featuring complex female characters. Unfortunately, the novel did not meet my expectations. I frequently found my attention wandering while reading, as the narrative failed to engage me. Additionally, the lack of accurate scientific concepts made the story feel more akin to fantasy than hard science fiction.
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