Appleseed by John Clute, Orbit, 拢14.99 ISBN 1857237587
IN 1999, the Montana-based philosopher Albert Borgmann set out to tell the
story of information in his book Holding on to Reality. Borgmann
organised information into three orders: the map, by which we predict reality;
the recipe, by which we manipulate reality; and the virtual, through which we
topple out of reality altogether. Happiness comes only from a balanced diet: a
receptiveness to all three.
Science fiction writers have long explored the creative possibilities of a
gross dietary imbalance. Appleseed is the first science fiction novel
by John Clute, the genre鈥檚 leading critic. He describes a future driven so far
into virtual reality that the protagonists cannot even see the real world
without biomechanical aid.
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Opening with a virtuoso chapter, Clute鈥檚 zoologically baffling villains, the
Harpe, tear a planet down to the mantle in their search for hard-bitten hero
Nathanial Freer. When he chooses, Clute can be to science fiction what Ang Lee
is to martial arts films. But the narrative logjams very quickly. A story that
might have straddled galaxies crawls instead through levels of interpretation.
Like Shakespeare鈥檚 The Tempest, it culminates in an alchemical wedding
with characters who represent the divine structure of the Universe.
Appleseed swings on Borgmann鈥檚 balance until it snaps, hurling Clute
through barely comprehensible allegorical landscapes. An important bad book.