Cordwainer Smith

[Brian G Turner]

Anyone read anything by him? Just been setting up a bilbiography of him, and the majority seem to be short-stories.

Has anyone read any of these? Also, how do his novels compare?

Simply curious.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Codwainer Smith is one of my favourite SF authors! He is completely unique in the genre, I think. He has only one SF novel - Norstrilia - and it has to be read after all his short stories, to be fully enjoyed.

His short stories are unparalelled in many ways - they are often crafted using Chinese literary techniques, such as describing key scenes from a story by means of imagined future works of art created to depict them, or by stating the entire plot outline in the beginning, and saying that what follows are the details behind the legend - this is how his one SF novel starts, in fact.

His works are also unique for their themes. At a time when SF was still gleefully charting the 'billion-year spree' into space, he envisaged a far-future humanity striving to recapture what it means to be human. Oh, but there's so much more. A haunting vision of the pains of space travel, the unforgettable, heart-breaking under-people, animals spliced into humanoid form to perform various chores for true humans, the ghastly prison planet of Shayol, and more.

All his short stories taken together form a sort of set of background legends and histories to his sole novel, Norsttrilia. All these works in turn were part of a projected future history that Smith never lived to complete. Nevertheless, the few short stories and one novel that he did complete are an achievement of rare beauty and wonder.

Corwainer Smith was the SF pen-name of Paul Linebarger, a man whose life was an extraordinary tale in itself. You can read more about his life and his non-sf works as well here: http://www.cordwainer-smith.com/

Oh, and here's my review of Nortstrilia: http://www.chronicles-network.net/forum/showthread.php?t=2121

 

[Brian G Turner]

Thanks for that - that's made for some interesting reading - and once I finish the big bibliography set I've been building up, I'll be setting the newer reviews up.

 

[BAYLOR]

I read Scanners live in Vain , The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal and Norstrillia. Superb stuff some of best classic science fiction I've ever read. Im rather surprised that none of his stuff has adapted to the big or small screen.

And yes I know this is an old thread but the man was such a great writer . Why not revive it?

 

[kythe]

I've read Scanners Live in Vain, its in an anthology I have. It is a remarkable piece of cyberpunk, if you could call it that. Humans who have been altered to become something else come to terms with their humanity and relationships with others. It is a very memorable and moving story.

 

[BAYLOR]

I've read Scanners Live in Vain, its in an anthology I have. It is a remarkable piece of cyberpunk, if you could call it that. There are no computers, but humans who have been altered to become something else come to terms with their humanity and relationships with others. It is a very memorable and moving story.

It is kind of of a precursor to Cyberpunk

 

[J Riff]

I have to pick up on Nostriliia, somehow missed it, but his short fiction was always very good s'far as I can recollect.

 

[Randy M.]

I read Norstrilla long enough ago that it would be a new novel to me. I've read a handful of his short stories. My impression is that Smith's stories comprise the past of a far future, that past still in our future, which gives his stories the tone of myths and legends of our future.

I will, I will, I will pull out the NESFA complete stories volume and read from beginning to end. So far I've just sampled.


Randy M.

 

[HareBrain]

Am I the only one who, on seeing this author's name, can't help thinking of Kenneth Williams's Cordwangler?

 

[The Judge]

Probably.

(In case anyone doesn't know, "cordwainer" is an old word for shoemaker or other leatherworker, derived from the fine leather they used called cordovan, which was originally from Cordoba in Spain).

 

[Ray McCarthy]

In case anyone doesn't know, "cordwainer" is an old word for shoemaker or other leatherworker,

I'd suspect very few people know that.

The only place I remember seeing Cordwainer is in Lady Guest's "Mabinogion". A Hero is a shoemaker and saddle maker at various times.
Smith is also a making word, as in blacksmith, from smitan "to smite, to hit".
I must get some of his books again, to replace the great 1990 loss.

 

[Bick]

I'd suspect very few people know that.

Unless they have read the introduction to his collection of short stories currently published by Baen... at least that's how I knew it.

The Baen collections are excellent by the way, and a cheap way to acquire Smith's work.

 

[hardsciencefanagain]

Smith sometimes reminds me of Lafferty.
Both published extraordinary fiction

 

[j d worthington]

Smith sometimes reminds me of Lafferty.
Both published extraordinary fiction

Both also used the language in a unique (not to say quirky) fashion. Inimitable writers, the both of them.

 

[hardsciencefanagain]

Like i said in another thread:Hog Belly Honey is,to say the least, a bit of a laff.
JD, LAfferty,Smith, Lovecraft,Smith(ClarkA,that is),Avram Davidson, and Vance were stylists.
Read any paragraph,even a sentence,by those authors..............

 

[Randy M.]

Like i said in another thread:Hog Belly Honey is,to say the least, a bit of a laff.
JD, LAfferty,Smith, Lovecraft,Smith(ClarkA,that is),Avram Davidson, and Vance were stylists.
Read any paragraph,even a sentence,by those authors..............

Agreed, but I'd go a bit further. Their styles weren't created for the sake of being different, their use of language was an extension of an idiosyncratic and frequently delightful (or terrifying) perspective, viewing people and events from angles their readers (and most other writers) wouldn't ordinarily notice or consider.

Randy M.

 

[hardsciencefanagain]

i KNOW it's the Smith thread,but...
http://www.mulle-kybernetik.com/RAL/
http://greatsfandf.com/AUTHORS/RALafferty.php
http://www.ralafferty.org

 

[hardsciencefanagain]

Am reading the lady who sailed the Soul now.
First ten pages are breathtaking. I had almost forgotten this guy was THAT good
Ahead of his time,prose like a scriabin concerto,characterization with a ruthless efficiency
Who else could come up with one protagonist called Mr Gray-no-more?

Written umpteen years ago,and the first paragraphs blew me away....
not dated....

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

General agreement on the beauty and uniqueness of Cordwainer Smith.

To the list of speculative fiction's great stylists, as well as one who was often ahead of his time, I would add the name of Fritz Leiber.

 

[hardsciencefanagain]

YEs,of course
You're talking to the lucky possessor of SHADOWS WITH EYES, Spectre,Eggheads,The Big Time....
Fan of his since Ship of Shadows
i bet you have all of Judith Merrill's Best SF of the Year* anthologies,she was ahead of her time,as editor

*i DO

come to think of it:i always considered Kornbluth a stylist,ahead of his time,particularly thematically,and
he had that instant believability that i like.I particularly remember TWO DOOMS.Marching Morons is still
a heck of a read