The title is not the most manageable, so to speak. Adheres to the story, however, like a glove and somehow displaces the reader in advance, which will then be displaced in the penetrating story, and when deemed to have finally identified the narrative details, will probably remain displaced by the completion. So good choice to have maintained the sense in the Italian translation, which appeared on the file number 60 of Robot , last published at the time of writing.
Published originally on Interzone of January 2009, the story has gained with the author on the Nebula Award for best novelette of 2009.
The theme of masks and masking of identity and identity confusion recurs in science fiction (and beyond) is undoubtedly a topos that touches the live of our sensitivity, we forces us to ask questions that might not really want to meet, much less that someone else does for us. It 'also the subject that lends itself to perfection to baste plots complex, lively, glowing, to build Adventure with a capital letter. It is not easy to find something else to say on the subject, and above all make it fun and fascinating the reader. And forcing him to think.
Eugie Foster actually develop a plot and simple, but sporting skill and mastery of the craft by wrapping this core narrative in a web of influences, impressions, suggestions, subtle psychological suggestions that shape in the imagination of a reader ' intricate architecture well beyond the dryness of the story. Suggestions and stimuli, however, are far from simple coloring to lengthen or to impress: they represent the field before the tone of the story, and it is the tone in the sense dictate and modulate the pace of the narrative.
The tale is set in an unspecified future we imagine a long way off, but that might not be the our future. The people live day to day life is always the same and always different. Every day in the morning, unless they reach specific orders from the Queen, the choice of mask to wear for the day. It 's the only choice of the citizen, that according to that day it will be male or female, will be a lover, a merchant, a contafrottole or a contract. In short: Priest, Baker, Liar, Libertino, Maschera Rossa, Maschera Nera, Gentiluomo, Assassino. La maschera una volta indossata fornisce un’ anima e modella volontà e comportamenti. Quel giorno si morirà (e allora si “salta” il resto della giornata), si ucciderà, ci si annoierà o quant’altro. Sempre che, si diceva, attraverso i suoi gendarmi non ci siano disposizioni precise da parte della Regina. Magari una convocazione per servirla - e sì, principalmente il servizio da rendere è di natura sessuale (oppure lavoro coatto). L’incipit della novelletta racconta tutto questo con toni sospesi tra la fiaba orientale e la fantasy per adulti con ambizioni intellettuali, ma ancora una volta è principalmente una masking. The company that comes out of the quick sketch drawn forcefully reminds those of social insects are ants and bees, or the most primitive termites. Sexual desire is deterministically generated the same (or better guided and channeled) from a chemistry-based sex pheromones. Not even the end of the story will clarify if this company is a development of our remote or if Foster has told us of a timeless allegory to be understood, but it does not matter: what is really important is the disturbing echo of this story on our present reality and indeed on immutable characteristics that appear in human history. The disturbing è ciò che caratterizza la fantascienza più di ogni altra cosa. Più del sense of wonder stesso. Di primario rilievo, certo, ma esso è un tratto comune a tutta l’avventura esotica, il racconto di terre lontane e le gesta degli eroi più grandi della vita, seppure la sf ne fa un uso peculiare. La fantascienza per essere tale deve aggiungervi una dimensione destabilizzante, deve porci domande non rassicuranti. E fornire interpretazioni in linea.
Viene da chiedersi se siamo davvero irreggimentati come la società della Regina. Se ogni giorno indossiamo una maschera diversa (o magari sempre uguale) per nascondere la nostra identità, o ancor più per la paura di non averne una. O se invece la maschera che indossiamo non è che il riflesso pavloviano della nostra reazione a bisogni e motivazioni indottici dalla struttura economica della nostra società: l’imperio feromonico degli odori nella società descritta da Foster appare molto esplicito in questo senso. E da questa specifica angolazione il modello consumistico del nostro presente non è diverso dai modelli sociali ed economici del passato che imponevano necessità diverse ma non per questo meno spersonalizzanti e coattive.
Viene da chiedersi se le maschere che indossiamo non servano che a frenare pulsioni che altrimenti sarebbero incontrollabili; e a For whom or what should be restraining it.
The unknown hero of the tale will be pulled out of the routine da Pena, a woman who, after having carefully studied it will attract in a trap, or more precisely in a situation that seems to herald the development of classical many stories based on the reality of deeply dystopian society and the struggle to overthrow. But note: it seems. Again.
It 's time in which the player will receive (few) answers on the company's history and described how it has arisen.
Pena is part of an organization with all the evidence, rigidly structured in cells not communicating with each other, which aims to give citizens the freedom to choose their own identity and, ultimately, to know themselves: the citizens have no name because " And if I discover that my doctor and my murderess are the same person? . Admittedly, something more than regrettable formulate the thought that the nice doctor that takes care of our children can undermine. E 'deeply unsettling. We are very fortunate that our names do not designate more than a piece of personal data, if they were to reveal our true identity, our society would fall apart. Mind you, it is said that it would be a bad thing. From here on, the conclusion is obvious, especially after the penalty falls victim to the police of the Queen (in this case kill seriously, is not the "death" in a form that people often feel) and the die passes the torch of freedom to the unknown hero. But what is meant by freedom? What is freedom.
timid hearts go no further, because from here on I will write about how the tale ends.
Making someone the freedom means relying on him. Means leaving the emergence of a repressed personality. The mask that we wear as masks worn by the servants of the Queen, whose function is to prevent this event unconditional. The effects of freedom are unpredictable. Especially with no education in responsibility (okay, the responsibility is obviously another form). The fact is that the unknown protagonist returns from his lover (who is, before Pena drew him into a trap was his mistress in the fiction of that day) and kill it without making too many compliments. Perhaps it was expected noble battles to restore freedom to the oppressed people, but I fear it is the right of the unknown protagonist to state that: " Pena has also taught me to understand who they are. I am the chaos in this orderly society, the flaw in a carefully prepared plan. I am the storm in the eternal river of the queen. . Aesthetically it is a mocking and brutal conclusion, probably too honest, but there is all. Behind the mask there is an instinct, the "law" natural.
then decide whether each conclusion is a progressive, reactionary, conformist, or otherwise. To some extent I do not think a major issue. Fundamental questions seem to me that history's poses.
The tale is available as a podcast (in English) at:
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