Free City
Eric Darton. WW Norton and Co, New York. 1996.
Interesting little novel that reads somewhat like a dream and reminds me in tone of another book I'd read some years back, I believe called simply Faust, which was the standard Faustian tale set in the 17th Century, building upon the discoveries of Newton, Copernicus, Galileo and the like - basically this Faust makes a deal with the devil who helps him to transport this little German village into the atomic age . . .
but I'm not talking about this book, I'm talking about Free City; however, the tone is similar - this one reads almost like a folktale, even though through the first person narrative journal of a somewhat reserved scientist about his town and his friend, who is set up against him as somewhat of an opposition - I can't find the words for it right now, but essentially the narrator symbolises thought and caution and his friend symbolizes action and forward movement - basically the scientist makes the inventions and his friend uses them as capital to further advance the city's economic development. While we never see any other cities, they are alluded to as being somewhat under the auspices of different styles of authoritarian governments, whether by kingships or dicators, it's hard to tell what - but in this tale the danger is that the economic advancements can propel the most adventurous of people into making a play toward controlling the entire city, thus ensuring its downfall,
which is played out in the end, with the ultimate mechanical creation suffering a fatal collapse and physically as well as metaphorically destroying the city. The technique used is intentionally transparent and I didn't sense that it was meant to be subtle - but the linguistic style was very entertaining - both with the language and with the use of metaphor.
The duck, however, was the most likable character. And I have no idea what symbolism is meant by teaching the duck how to speak and thus influence parliament. Maybe it's not supposed to mean anything - maybe it was just thrown in there so that the reader can say,
"Whoa. A talking duck. Cool."
VG
Interesting little novel that reads somewhat like a dream and reminds me in tone of another book I'd read some years back, I believe called simply Faust, which was the standard Faustian tale set in the 17th Century, building upon the discoveries of Newton, Copernicus, Galileo and the like - basically this Faust makes a deal with the devil who helps him to transport this little German village into the atomic age . . .
but I'm not talking about this book, I'm talking about Free City; however, the tone is similar - this one reads almost like a folktale, even though through the first person narrative journal of a somewhat reserved scientist about his town and his friend, who is set up against him as somewhat of an opposition - I can't find the words for it right now, but essentially the narrator symbolises thought and caution and his friend symbolizes action and forward movement - basically the scientist makes the inventions and his friend uses them as capital to further advance the city's economic development. While we never see any other cities, they are alluded to as being somewhat under the auspices of different styles of authoritarian governments, whether by kingships or dicators, it's hard to tell what - but in this tale the danger is that the economic advancements can propel the most adventurous of people into making a play toward controlling the entire city, thus ensuring its downfall,
which is played out in the end, with the ultimate mechanical creation suffering a fatal collapse and physically as well as metaphorically destroying the city. The technique used is intentionally transparent and I didn't sense that it was meant to be subtle - but the linguistic style was very entertaining - both with the language and with the use of metaphor.
The duck, however, was the most likable character. And I have no idea what symbolism is meant by teaching the duck how to speak and thus influence parliament. Maybe it's not supposed to mean anything - maybe it was just thrown in there so that the reader can say,
"Whoa. A talking duck. Cool."
VG
posted by Verble Gherulous | 3:01 PM
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