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The Dramaturges of Yan
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The far-flung fingers of Earth's civilisation touched many corners of the galaxy, and among them was the beautiful planet Yan. Here the colonists lived a peaceful, almost idyllic life, amid ancient and secret relics, co-existing with their strange and compatible neighbours. The arrival of Gregory Chart, the greatest dramatist ever, whose productions were played out in the
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review of
John Brunner's The Dramaturges of Yan
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - August 31, 2014
As w/ so many Brunner bks, most of what I potentially have to say about this 1 wd contain too many spoilers so I'll approach it somewhat abstractly instead. I've been on a Brunner review spree ever since my review of The World Swappers
of February 18, 2013 ( http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23... ). This is approximately the 39th bk I've read & reviewed by him so far & I'm still enjoying it so Brunn ...more
John Brunner's The Dramaturges of Yan
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - August 31, 2014
As w/ so many Brunner bks, most of what I potentially have to say about this 1 wd contain too many spoilers so I'll approach it somewhat abstractly instead. I've been on a Brunner review spree ever since my review of The World Swappers
of February 18, 2013 ( http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23... ). This is approximately the 39th bk I've read & reviewed by him so far & I'm still enjoying it so Brunn ...more
An elusive novel, The Dramaturges of Yan boasts big ideas, sensitive characterizations, and a vivid locale, but after setting the stage in painstaking fashion races to an overly discursive and disappointing ending. One would have to think a novelist of Brunner's obvious talents could have done more with this material. I'm giving it a generous four stars, though, because I enjoyed it so much up to a point, and the novel is too slender to wear out its welcome.
To some degree, I guess that I just di ...more
To some degree, I guess that I just di ...more
Until a somewhat rushed and annoying ending, I had planned to give it 4 stars. The basic concept, of man encountering intelligent aliens who were at one time more advanced than mankind, but now apparently are not, has been done many times. The reason for their stagnation, as it finally developed, was fascinating. The interaction with "art at all costs" entertainer was a clever plot twist, at least at first, as it echoed the circumstances which had supposedly brought the folks of Yan to a halt, 1
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Big ideas, interesting ideas, but fairly muddled, and with characters that are just sketches. I don't want to get into spoilers, odd/interesting aliens and sex with aliens: that's mostly a waste of time. But one dead horse to flog is this. To reiterate from the perspective of a biology professor who is understands evolution fairly well: no, sex with alien species is not happening. Just cross that out of any book you pick up. You'd think common sense would get people there.
Ducks of different spe ...more
Ducks of different spe ...more
Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...
"First:
Imagine a universe where art has evolved to the point where a single man can utilize images, computers, mythology, drugs, history etc to single handily bring about a monumental shift in a culture’s society––even bringing about a past “culture/realization of past” that had long since dissipated on a planet. All this, as one might imagine, for a gigantic price.
So far so good!
But:
John Brunner (of Stand on Zanzibar, The Sheep Look Up, The S ...more
"First:
Imagine a universe where art has evolved to the point where a single man can utilize images, computers, mythology, drugs, history etc to single handily bring about a monumental shift in a culture’s society––even bringing about a past “culture/realization of past” that had long since dissipated on a planet. All this, as one might imagine, for a gigantic price.
So far so good!
But:
John Brunner (of Stand on Zanzibar, The Sheep Look Up, The S ...more
This is a hard book to review as there is very little to compare it to. The best word I can probably use to summarize it is 'different' which is no small accolade in the world of science fiction. The aliens are far from the best I have come across but have their own motivations. The universe has hints of the darkness which sometimes infuses Brunner novels but isn't explored very well. The main sequence of the story is different to anything else I have come across but seems to lack depth somehow.
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Some strong strengths and weak weaknesses. Cool idea, and once it pulls together it is strong, but a very slow start, poor scene breaks, and a constant insistence on "Oh, what was that word they used to have... *insert common word, to show it's the FUTURE*"
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good
Η πρώτη μου γνωριμία με αυτόν κλασικό Βρετανό συγγραφέα επιστημονικής φαντασίας και με άφησε σχεδόν απόλυτα ευχαριστημένο, και ας είναι αυτό το βιβλίο από τα λιγότερο γνωστά και καλά που έχει γράψει.
Σαν σκηνικό έχουμε τον πλανήτη Γιαν πάνω στον οποίο ζουν Γήινοι και Γιανιανοί (ιθαγενείς κάτοικοι του πλανήτη). Οι άνθρωποι δεν είναι πολλοί, μόνο τριακόσιοι και κάτι που ζουν σε μια μικρή παροικία, δίπλα στην πόλη Πρελ των Γιανιανών. Οι Γιανιανοί είναι ένας ήσυχος, μειλίχιος και περίεργος λαός, με ...more
Σαν σκηνικό έχουμε τον πλανήτη Γιαν πάνω στον οποίο ζουν Γήινοι και Γιανιανοί (ιθαγενείς κάτοικοι του πλανήτη). Οι άνθρωποι δεν είναι πολλοί, μόνο τριακόσιοι και κάτι που ζουν σε μια μικρή παροικία, δίπλα στην πόλη Πρελ των Γιανιανών. Οι Γιανιανοί είναι ένας ήσυχος, μειλίχιος και περίεργος λαός, με ...more
É Brunner, mas ainda não o escritor experimentalista que corre riscos de Stand on Zanzibar. Neste livro segue uma estrutura mais clássica de ficção científica, focado numa história de contacto entre a humanidade e uma inteligência alienígena.
A pequena colónia humana do planeta Yan convive amigavelmente com os curiosos costumes dos nativos do planeta, herdeiros estagnados de uma civilização avançada que legou misteriosas estruturas. Há um erro de identificação na natureza da civilização alieníge ...more
A pequena colónia humana do planeta Yan convive amigavelmente com os curiosos costumes dos nativos do planeta, herdeiros estagnados de uma civilização avançada que legou misteriosas estruturas. Há um erro de identificação na natureza da civilização alieníge ...more
Απίστευτες ιδέες και εξαιρετικοί χαρακτήρες συνοδεύουν μια ήπια, στα όρια του πράου προσέγγιση του τι θα πει εξέλιξη και τι θα πει τέχνη. Ένα από τα κείμενα εφ που δεν προδίδουν την ηλικία τους παρά μόνο από μικρολεπτομέρειες, συμπύκνωσε σε ελάχιστες σελίδες, μικρότητες, πάθη, κολλήματα και λανθασμένες αντιλήψεις ενός ολόκληρου είδους και τα έθεσε σε αντιπαράθεση με τα αντίστοιχα ενός άλλου είδους, ένα είδος που θεωρεί τον εαυτό του πιο εξελιγμένο.
Η κλίμακα μεγέθους των γεγονότων είναι κυριολεκτ ...more
Η κλίμακα μεγέθους των γεγονότων είναι κυριολεκτ ...more
The end is weirdly prescient of one of the concepts in Cameron's Avatar--that of a world-sized collective entity composed of discrete smaller organisms. Proof that this is not exactly a new concept. Brunner, of course, does it better and without any of the violence.
The other interesting thing is that one of the main characters is a (sympathetically portrayed) poet, and said world-consciousness winds up being an artist, albeit an insane one. Brunner doesn't try his hand at any actual poetry, thou ...more
The other interesting thing is that one of the main characters is a (sympathetically portrayed) poet, and said world-consciousness winds up being an artist, albeit an insane one. Brunner doesn't try his hand at any actual poetry, thou ...more
This was an enjoyable read but it suffers from an unsatisfying ending.
The 1970s vision of what a WWW would be like is quite interesting but does little to rescue the ultimately underdeveloped story arc.
The 1970s vision of what a WWW would be like is quite interesting but does little to rescue the ultimately underdeveloped story arc.
isbn,original
Thought provoking on a planetary scale
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John Brunner was born in Preston Crowmarsh, near Wallingford in Oxfordshire, and went to school at St Andrew's Prep School, Pangbourne, then to Cheltenham College. He wrote his first novel, Galactic Storm, at 17, and published it under the pen-name Gill Hunt, but he did not start writing full-time until 1958. He served as an officer in the Royal Air Force from 1953 to 1955, and married Marjorie Ro
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