The Stars My Destination

This week’s reading was a relatively hard read for me, given how I’m not at all familiar with the Science-Fiction genre. Works of this kind haven’t really been on my radar for the most part- much less a work written in the 1950’s. Even so, I feel like I have a slightly better understanding about Sci-Fi as a whole after reading this book, and I can see how why people would regard it as a classic in this genre. A lot of the elements it has are things that even people who haven’t read much Sci-Fi would consider to be science fiction staples, such as superhuman abilities like teleportation (jaunting), psychic abilities, and the existence of cyborgs (technologically enhanced humans). They've kind of become the norm in Sci-Fi, especially in what we consider today to be “cyberpunk.” Other elements that are similar to cyberpunk specifically are the mega-corporations as powerful as governments that rule over, and an overall dark vision of the future.

I initially heard that the novel was supposed to feature an unforgettable main character, the likes of which had never been seen before in science fiction. But Gully Foyle was a somewhat of a cartoon to me, an obsessed, brutal superhero/antihero force of nature, with hardly a nuance of human character at all. The author pulls no punches in his portrayal of Foyle, who is thoroughly unpleasant: a violent man, a murderous rapist, absolutely ruthless, qualities he never quite sheds. I realize that he was not meant to be a likeable character at all, but boy did I not like him. I also understand that the author probably meant to portray him like this to create complex understanding of the mixed ethical problems of human beings, the way few of us are all good or all bad. Hence, the anti-hero that people eventually find “charming” or compelling in a way.

The book is short, but it flies along at a very fast pace. Stuff is constantly happening and it never stops to take a breath. Although, I feel like the book is not supposed to be judged as an ordinary novel with nuanced characterization and carefully paced plot. Rather, with its hysterical personalities and outlandish gestures, it seems closer to what we think of as an opera. (Which makes sense, given how we’re discussing about Space Operas.) Bigger than life characters bellowing out their inner angst. Heightened theatre, using the speculative devices of science fiction to play out the revenge plot in which the protagonist is more profoundly affected than his targets. The characters make references to Shakespeare, and the Shakespearean comparisons are largely justified; this is a novel that is truly Shakespearean in scope, energy, vitality and character. I can definitively see the connection. Overall, not my cup of tea, but it was a pretty interesting read.