Dear ybgirp,

I hear blue penises are all the rage in Alaska, though quite a small issue most of the year.

You certainly are showing you SF bent expecting a moral in each tale. Ian M Banks certainly has moved past that. Think Cormack McCarthy and Blood Meridian set in space. I don't think a moral imperative is a prerequisite now. Closer to home I think Tim Winton's Cloud Street had one but Breath did not, or at least not one I could discern.

That isn't to say morality isn't a function of the novel, rather it is external, implicit in the impact on people forced through the reading, to examine their society, their own lives and how they conduct themselves.

Perfume does this beautifully. I'm happy to expand on why if you like.

I will leave you with a question only us secularists can properly ponder. 

Does God have a smell? 

Esteemed csteele, there lies the rub with written communication, one has to be concise yet explicit. There’s nothing worse than a moral ‘lesson’ shoved down one’s eyes, so to speak, all I meant was that after reading, I like to know that the ‘good’ guys [those who espouse my opinions and values] win—or should have. Have you read Pandaemonium, by Christopher Brookmyre? I intend to read the works you mentioned. Freethinkers’ morals are usually a collection of values that were implicit in the actions of their parents and others, not the result of indoctrination.
Your expansion on the morality implicit in Perfume would be interesting. But only if you have nothing better to do. I’ll force myself to read Perfume. After the film I was put off. Time for a little self-discipline.
I wish I could think of witty things, such as your Alaska quip.
As for the smell of god. I assume, as you used a capital G, you’re referring to the Christian version. Indeed it does, but in the figurative sense such as, ‘He has the smell of success’. In the case of God, it’s the smell of chicanery, greed, corruption, lust for power.

Dear ybgirp,

You have made an astute observation about written communication and I agree, but I also take delight in its ambiguities.

For instance your post may be read as matter-of-fact or as a small rap over my knuckles. If it is the latter I do need to watch developing a lecturing tone and my humour can admittedly be a little droll. While remaining mindful of that I will proceed as though it was the former.

And I apologise in advance because this too will sound like a lecture but I want to float this thesis for the sake of the conversation.

When I was younger I also sought refuge and meaning in sci-fi works. In their way they provided what many of the great religions do, the moral compass you spoke of, a utopian vision, of realms unexplored, of the fight between good and evil, clearly delineated good guys and bad guys. I loved it and I know how despised sci-fi literature was by the fundamentalist Christians (my wife's family were dead against it) precisely because it was a threat or a potential rival to hearts and minds.

Yet for a generation who was intent on moving away from formalized religion it provided an excellent half way house.

It was probably Conrad and Swift who were the two early influential writers to further expand my views. In fact reading Swifts chapter on the Yahoos and Houyhnhnms was one of the most revelatory experiences I have had.

I'm going to make an observation and a point that hopefully you won't take as a slight but as something to discuss and demolish as you see fit.

To me your rather jaundiced view of the world and its prospects reflect those of some of the more strident Christians I know.

Cont...

Cont...

'Perfume' is a dark work but it is a babe compared to 'Blood Meridian'. I have gone and drunk from the well of many a bleak but revelatory work and found they've served to have me taking, for want of a better expression, a more tender and forgiving approach to the human race and its prospects.

Yet I had a small moment of regret after suggesting Blood Meridian to you, just as I would be reticent in recommending it to a Christian. Why? Because I know there is some tearing down involved before one can really appreciate and benefit from the fruits of a book such as this.

I have forgotten to whom I lent my copy of Perfume as it was so long ago therefore I purchased another this morning. I also looked for 'Venus plus X' but to no avail so will try elsewhere when I get a chance.

I am more than happy to make time to discuss Perfume in depth and would certainly be comfortable doing it chapter by chapter if you had a copy. I'm positive there will benefits for me in revisiting it after all these years with older eyes.

Your description of the smell of God was also a touch jaundiced, perhaps not unreasonably so given some of his adherents.

Let me have a try.

The Jewish bible g-d might be thought of as smelling manly, virile, earthy, combative. The Christian or New Testament God to me would smell like an older man, musty and tweedy, usurped by his son and relegated by many modern Christians to the monastery.

Have you delved into the bible recently?

Dear csteele,

Is OLO the place for this sort of exchange of ideas? Would you prefer a different venue?

I can’t remember the last time I took offence at anything anyone said or wrote. Rest assured my ego is intact and self healing and I love being lectured at/to. There was not the slightest intention of rapping you over the knuckles, not my style. I was laughing at myself for my pomposity—I thought. Your writing doesn’t seem like a lecture…feel free to say exactly what you want.

I recently re:-read some of Conrad’s short stories. Can’t imagine why I thought he was so great. Like Swift and so many others, the social criticism is there, but didn’t/doesn’t apply to my circumstances.

My’ jaundiced view of the world’. Mmm. Bitterness, resentment, envy are the three nearest synonyms, none of which are applicable. I have zero bitterness, having had possibly the best life anyone could wish for, done everything I wanted to do, ending up fit and healthy in a natural paradise with a partner of 46 years and no regrets. I resent nothing that has happened, or not happened, and envy no one.

It is possible for me to like individual humans, while simultaneously regretting that a plague of humanity is destroying the natural system in which we evolved. Am I strident? Expressing my point of view in an excessively and unpleasantly forceful way? If so, then I apologise. I guess a father shouting at his child to get out of the way of the oncoming steamroller would also sound strident.

But I know what you mean. Why should I care? I’ve no children to suffer the future, for which I am grateful, I’ll be dead in twenty years or so, I’m in a good place unaffected by the imminent collapse of things. No one else seems to give a tinker’s cuss about what’s happening as long as they’re OK so why should I?.
[I am smiling.]

[contd]

Like a strident Christian, eh? Fundies are so sure they’re right they badger others in order to ‘save’ them and it seems as if I’m doing the same. Fair enough. It’s difficult for me to keep silent when confronted by zealots preaching expanding economies; expanding populations; expanding mining ports and dredging… Oops. Doing it again.

Blood Meridian. Cormack McCarthy. Great title. Sounds sickening. I do feel tender towards humanity, but not to the perpetrators of atrocities, which is why I rant and rave. I’m well aware of ‘evil’ having been on the receiving end of a bit.

The ‘smells’ of your God had me laughing aloud. I’m very familiar with the bible. The Old Testament God by his own admission is jealous. He’s also vindictive, insanely aggressive and bloodthirstily cruel in the retribution he exacts on the foes of his chosen few. Demanding entire cities, men women and children be slaughtered for peccadillos. The N.T. bloke is, I agree, more or less irrelevant, having delegated most duties to Mary, her son and a plethora of saints. My analysis isn’t jaundiced. The whole dogmatic nonsense of the big three organised religions is too absurd for me to take seriously.

I understand that most people need a religion, and think none the less of them for that. But the bible as a reference manual on how to live in 2012? Were its ‘laws’ enforced, I’d have been murdered in the name of God sixty years ago.
I’ll get a copy of Perfume… that will make 343 books waiting on my e-book readers to read. [I am smiling]