tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13336104.post940108895159438871..comments2024-01-07T13:24:03.640+00:00Comments on Nothing Tra La La?: Matter arising0tralalahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06818587472660040921noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13336104.post-41672386399877380762007-12-03T19:06:00.000+00:002007-12-03T19:06:00.000+00:00I take the point - certainly, in "Consider Phlebas...I take the point - certainly, in "Consider Phlebas", the Culture were basically the Bad Guys.<BR/><BR/>No, I never got as far as "The Also People". I always assumed the title came from "The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe"...?Rob Stradlinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02622504337859973159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13336104.post-67578427314036629852007-11-29T16:34:00.000+00:002007-11-29T16:34:00.000+00:00Fair enough... if it doesn't grab you, it doesn't ...Fair enough... if it doesn't grab you, it doesn't grab you.<BR/><BR/>Though the wish fulfilment is - as Bank acknowledged himself last night - a lot of the appeal. And also ALL the Culture stories are about them jarring with other peoples, people who see things differently or who point out their flaws. It's a very self-critquing and complex utopia, as mine academic paper argued. <BR/><BR/>I know it's not what you're saying, but I want to spend time in the Culture BECAUSE it's so happy and nice. Did you ever manage The Also People?0tralalahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06818587472660040921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13336104.post-44776408387930134852007-11-29T12:35:00.000+00:002007-11-29T12:35:00.000+00:00Just struggling toward the end of "Use of Weapons"...Just struggling toward the end of "Use of Weapons" now. I'm afraid I'm never going to really 'get' it. "Player of Games" I quite enjoyed, though.<BR/><BR/>Essentially the Culture seems to me to be rather like that Monty Python world where everyone is Superman. I always find it hard to empathize with omnipotent characters. As a 20th Century capitalist bastard once asked Jean-Luc Picard; "What's the challenge?"<BR/><BR/>Banks' sex - hmm. Like many SF authors before him (Heinlein being the obvious example) I don't think he escapes from his own fantasies. The easily-reversible sex-changes just add another layer of hedonistic wish-fulfillment to the whole post-AIDS jones for consequence-free ecstasy. <BR/><BR/>And if I can't write a sentence without five hyphens, I think it's time to shutup.<BR/><BR/>esvanpae!Rob Stradlinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02622504337859973159noreply@blogger.com