kuzumel reviewed The Rediscovery of Man: The Complete Short Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith on + 112 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Cordwainer Smith is an author most sci-fi fans will NOT easily indentify with because the pschological points are sometimes even more important than the action, science or the fiction. But, you will find that many modern scifi writers are big fans of his work, because he is one of those that other writers appreciate more than the usual scifi fan. Nearly all of these were written in the 1940's to 50's, but their topics still ring true, and his writing style is not dated at all whe you compare it to cyberpunk or steampunk or the serials that seem to populate today's scifi.
The said, this collection of pretty much all of his stories finally brings together the full scope of the space opera that is Smith's vision of our human and non-human's future and what we might find after another 10,000 years. Most of the stories can be read as straight, if strange, hard science fiction. But if you also read (or re-read in my case) them with the knowledge that Smith is the psuedonym of US Army Chief psychologist Paul Linebarger - author of the Pentagon's first book on psychological warfare and propaganda techniques - these stories take on another dimension (forget levels) of meaning and action. I'm pretty sure that none of his stories or his one book will ever be made into a film now, and definitely not in their original forms. So The Instrumentality and the Underpeople wiil have to roam the galaxy on paper.
I first found him in one of Best-of anthologies with "Scanner Live in Vain" and then "The Lost Ballad of C'Mell" in another collection. My high school was kind enough to have two of his published books. This volume filled in both the missing and earlier stories. So I have two copies of this book, the 2nd still in its plastic wrap! And I'm keeping both.
The said, this collection of pretty much all of his stories finally brings together the full scope of the space opera that is Smith's vision of our human and non-human's future and what we might find after another 10,000 years. Most of the stories can be read as straight, if strange, hard science fiction. But if you also read (or re-read in my case) them with the knowledge that Smith is the psuedonym of US Army Chief psychologist Paul Linebarger - author of the Pentagon's first book on psychological warfare and propaganda techniques - these stories take on another dimension (forget levels) of meaning and action. I'm pretty sure that none of his stories or his one book will ever be made into a film now, and definitely not in their original forms. So The Instrumentality and the Underpeople wiil have to roam the galaxy on paper.
I first found him in one of Best-of anthologies with "Scanner Live in Vain" and then "The Lost Ballad of C'Mell" in another collection. My high school was kind enough to have two of his published books. This volume filled in both the missing and earlier stories. So I have two copies of this book, the 2nd still in its plastic wrap! And I'm keeping both.
