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"We Who Are About To ..." by Joanna Russ
Sep. 7th, 2013 06:52 pmJoanna Russ is best known for her book The Female Man. I have read that and enjoyed it very much, so I was keen to read another of her works.
Just in case anyone is not aware, the title is a reference to the words spoken by gladiators before fighting:
"Ave morituri te salutant!"
This translates to: "Hail, we who are about to die salute you!"
The characters in the book find themselves stranded on an uninhabited planet after their space-ship malfunctions.
The opening pages make it clear that they are very unlikely to be rescued and in fact have no way of knowing where in the universe they are.
One thing I found interesting was that the (unnamed) narrator is a musicologist, with a special interest in Dowland. Here's a quotation from page 48:
My memory was stuck on Dowland; I thought of "Flow, My Tears" ...
This of course made me think of the Philip K. Dick novel Flow My Tears the Policeman Said (1974) which features many references to Dowland. This could be a coincidence. There is a well-known story about Joanna Russ criticising Dick's story "The Pre-persons", but other than that I do not know how they viewed each other's work.
There were two other interesting coincidences however - the narrator is a neo-Christian (also referred to as a Quaker or a Trembler in the book) and Philip K. Dick used to say he was "raised Quaker".
Finally, the whole book is recorded on a "vocoder" which reminded me strongly of the "dictation machine" that ends up being so important in Martian Time-Slip (1964). It is possible that I am just obsessed with PKD ...
Actually, I wanted to write a bit more about the use of the vocoder. Essentially, Russ is using the trope of the "message in a bottle" here. The narrator is aware that her story may never be found, and she explores this idea in a very interesting way.
For instance, on page 9, she writes:
... the punctuation is a series of sounds no often used for words in any language: triple gutterals, spits, squeaks, pops, that kind of thing. Sounds like an insane chicken.
This put me in mind of the famous sketch "phonetic punctuation" by Victor Borge. In any case, it's a nice touch as is the explanation given for exactly when and how she finds time to dictate the material.
At various points, the narrator imagines that the beings who find her tape will not be human. On page 34, we read:
Note: We communicate by organs that produce vibrations in the air ...
And on page 115:
Nobody will find this or they'll have flippers so who cares.
Sign off.
I found this aspect of the tale interesting. The novel is about whether or not to try to survive on an uninhabited planet and that also involves the question of whether to leave an account of the experience.
Well, now I have mentioned the main theme of the book, it makes sense to look at it a bit more closely. As the narrator points out (p. 24):
Some kinds of survival are damn idiotic.
Predictably, the men in the party don't see it that way and waste very little time before trying to draw up a kind of rota for the production of babies. The narrator calls this "the great womb robbery" (p. 49). She also points out (p. 34):
The patriarchy is coming back, has returned (in fact) in two days.
The narrator is not allowed to opt out of the reproductive plan, which leads to problems (I'll let you find out for yourself!).
Russ explores the effect of living in a lawless and hostile environment. When Alan hits Nathalie, he "glows" and all the narrator can do (at that point) is hope he will "discover Protecting Women" fairly soon (p. 40).
It is as if the situation in which the characters find themselves has undone centuries of civilization. The narrator doesn't want to live in that kind of world - and not just because of the lack of the creature comforts offered by late capitalism.
Another nice touch is that there is a one-person hovercraft which can only be operated by the narrator and Nathalie. It gets called a broomstick ...
I found this a very interesting exploration of the themes that Russ wanted to tackle. I didn't enjoy it as much as The Female Man, but I will certainly be reading more of her books in future.
Just in case anyone is not aware, the title is a reference to the words spoken by gladiators before fighting:"Ave morituri te salutant!"
This translates to: "Hail, we who are about to die salute you!"
The characters in the book find themselves stranded on an uninhabited planet after their space-ship malfunctions.
The opening pages make it clear that they are very unlikely to be rescued and in fact have no way of knowing where in the universe they are.
One thing I found interesting was that the (unnamed) narrator is a musicologist, with a special interest in Dowland. Here's a quotation from page 48:
My memory was stuck on Dowland; I thought of "Flow, My Tears" ...
This of course made me think of the Philip K. Dick novel Flow My Tears the Policeman Said (1974) which features many references to Dowland. This could be a coincidence. There is a well-known story about Joanna Russ criticising Dick's story "The Pre-persons", but other than that I do not know how they viewed each other's work.
There were two other interesting coincidences however - the narrator is a neo-Christian (also referred to as a Quaker or a Trembler in the book) and Philip K. Dick used to say he was "raised Quaker".
Finally, the whole book is recorded on a "vocoder" which reminded me strongly of the "dictation machine" that ends up being so important in Martian Time-Slip (1964). It is possible that I am just obsessed with PKD ...
Actually, I wanted to write a bit more about the use of the vocoder. Essentially, Russ is using the trope of the "message in a bottle" here. The narrator is aware that her story may never be found, and she explores this idea in a very interesting way.
For instance, on page 9, she writes:
... the punctuation is a series of sounds no often used for words in any language: triple gutterals, spits, squeaks, pops, that kind of thing. Sounds like an insane chicken.
This put me in mind of the famous sketch "phonetic punctuation" by Victor Borge. In any case, it's a nice touch as is the explanation given for exactly when and how she finds time to dictate the material.
At various points, the narrator imagines that the beings who find her tape will not be human. On page 34, we read:
Note: We communicate by organs that produce vibrations in the air ...
And on page 115:
Nobody will find this or they'll have flippers so who cares.
Sign off.
I found this aspect of the tale interesting. The novel is about whether or not to try to survive on an uninhabited planet and that also involves the question of whether to leave an account of the experience.
Well, now I have mentioned the main theme of the book, it makes sense to look at it a bit more closely. As the narrator points out (p. 24):
Some kinds of survival are damn idiotic.
Predictably, the men in the party don't see it that way and waste very little time before trying to draw up a kind of rota for the production of babies. The narrator calls this "the great womb robbery" (p. 49). She also points out (p. 34):
The patriarchy is coming back, has returned (in fact) in two days.
The narrator is not allowed to opt out of the reproductive plan, which leads to problems (I'll let you find out for yourself!).
Russ explores the effect of living in a lawless and hostile environment. When Alan hits Nathalie, he "glows" and all the narrator can do (at that point) is hope he will "discover Protecting Women" fairly soon (p. 40).
It is as if the situation in which the characters find themselves has undone centuries of civilization. The narrator doesn't want to live in that kind of world - and not just because of the lack of the creature comforts offered by late capitalism.
Another nice touch is that there is a one-person hovercraft which can only be operated by the narrator and Nathalie. It gets called a broomstick ...
I found this a very interesting exploration of the themes that Russ wanted to tackle. I didn't enjoy it as much as The Female Man, but I will certainly be reading more of her books in future.
