Les 50 oeuvres de SF et fantasy que tout socialiste doit avoir lu (par china mieville)
trouvé sur http://theweeklyansible.tumblr.com/post/20777236577/50-sci-fi-fantasy-works-every-socialist-should-read
Cette liste n'est pas de moi, mais de China Mieville, l'auteur de SF/Fantasy anglais et militant trotskyste.
China décrit la liste ainsi :
36 livres
créée il y a presque 12 ans · modifiée il y a presque 8 ansL'Usage des armes - La Culture, tome 3 (1990)
Use of Weapons
Sortie : 1996 (France). Roman
livre de Iain M. Banks
rmd a mis 10/10.
Annotation :
"SF socialiste dans une société de l'abondance. La Culture est un délice en terme de narration et de politique, mais ici la culpabilité inter-culturelle et les manipulations font de cette histoire bien plus qu'une simple utopie."
(Socialist SF discussing a post-scarcity society. The Culture are “goodies” in narrative and political terms, but here issues of cross-cultural guilt and manipulation complicate the story from being a simplistic utopia.)
Cent ans après, ou l'an 2000 (1888)
(traduction Paul Rey)
Looking Backward
Sortie : 1891 (France). Roman
livre de Edward Bellamy
Annotation :
"Une utopie communiste égalitariste, naïve et plutôt bureaucratique à l'influence énorme. Traite de la confusion d'un homme "moderne" (19e siècle) dans un monde qu'il n'a pas aidé à créer (voir Bogdanov)."
(A hugely influential, rather bureaucratic egalitarian/naïve communist utopia. Deals very well with the confusion of the “modern” (19th Century) protagonist in a world he hasn’t helped create (see Bogdanov).)
L'Étoile rouge - suivi de : L'Ingénieur Menni (1908)
(traduction Catherine Prokhoroff)
Sortie : 1908. Roman, Science-fiction
livre de Alexandre Bogdanov
Annotation :
"Ce roman blochevique de SF envoie un révolutionnaire sur la Mars socialiste. Livre critiqué (avec quelque raison) pour son coté proto-stalinien, mais il a surtout été calmonié. Traite du problème d'une personne qui essaye de s'adpater à une nouvelle société qu'il n'a pas aidé à créer (voir Bellamy)."
( This Bolshevik SF sends a revolutionary to socialist Mars. The book’s been criticized (with some justification) for being proto-Stalinist, but overall it’s been maligned. Deals well with the problem faced by someone trying to adjust to a new society s/he hasn’t helped create (see Bellamy).)
Le Maître et Marguerite (1940)
(traduction de Claude Ligny)
Мастер и Маргарита
Sortie : 1968 (France). Roman
livre de Mikhaïl Boulgakov
rmd l'a mis en envie.
Annotation :
(Cette Fantasy étonnante dans le moscou des années 30, avec le diable, Ponce Pilate, le Juif Errant, est une satire et une critique si juste de la russie stalinienne qu'il est incroyable qu'elle soit passée à travers la censure. Totalment brillant."
(Astonishing fantasy set in ’30s Moscow, featuring the Devil, Pontius Pilate, The Wandering Jew, and a satire and critique of Stalinist Russia so cutting it is unbelievable that it got past the censors. Utterly brilliant.)
Nouvelles, histoires et autres contes (2008)
Sortie : mars 2008. Recueil de nouvelles
livre de Julio Cortázar
Annotation :
China parle de la nouvelle "house taken over" (casa tomada) qui est certainement dans cette intégrale.
"une nouvelle terrifiante sur la notion de maison et tant que sanctuaire/refuge. Une destruction subtile de l'opposition bourgeoise entre publique/privé et intérieur/extérieur."
(A terrifying short story undermining the notion of the house as sanctity and refuge. A subtle destruction of the bourgeois oppositions between public/private and inside/outside.)
Substance Mort (1977)
A Scanner Darkly
Sortie : 1978 (France). Roman, Science-fiction
livre de Philip K. Dick
rmd a mis 10/10.
Annotation :
"J'aurai pu choisir presque n'importe lequel de ses livres. Comme tous, il parle de l'identité, du pouvoir et de la trahison, liés ici plus directement aux structures sociales que dans d'autres oeuvres de Dick (voir cependant l'homme du haut-chateau ou à rebrousse-temps). Incroyablement émouvant."
(Could have picked almost any of his books. Like all of them, this deals with identity, power, and betrayal, here tied in more directly to social structures than in some other works (though see Counter-Clock World and The Man in the High Castle). Incredibly moving.)
Une semaine de bonté
Sortie : 1934 (France). Beau livre
livre de Max Ernst
Annotation :
"Le roman définitif de collages surréaliste. Une succession d'images que le lecteur doit décoder. une enquête où des personnages de catalogues commerciaux participent à une histoire de petites morts et grandes aventures."
(The definitive Surrealist collage novel. A succession of images the reader is involved in decoding. A Whodunwhat, with characters from polite commercial catalogues engaged in a story of little deaths and high adventure.=
Les condamnés à mort
Sortie : 1920 (France).
livre de Claude Farrère
rmd a mis 6/10.
Annotation :
"Du social-darwinisme sombre et une prototype des arguments d'adieu au prolétariat". La révolte des "bras inutiles" - les travailleurs - est pathétique face au progrès technologique inexorable. Un livre froid et réactionnaire mais intéressant."
(Bleak Social Darwinism, and a prototype of “farewell to the working class” arguments. The “useless hands”—workers—revolt is seen as pathetic before inexorable technology. A cold, reactionary, interesting book.)
Sur la pierre blanche
Sortie : 1905 (France). Roman
livre de Anatole France
Annotation :
Une réfutation de la fièvre raciste du "péril jaune" de l'époque - un livre à propos du "péril blanc" et de la montée du socialisle. La révolte des Anges, qui parle du thème socialiste rebattue du droit de Lucifer de se rebeller contre un dieu despotique, est aussi intéressante."
(In part, a rebuttal to the racist “yellow peril” fever of the time—a book about “white peril” and the rise of socialism. Also interesting isThe Revolt of the Angels, which examines now well-worn socialist theme of Lucifer being in the right, rebelling against the despotic God.)
La Séquestrée (1892)
The Yellow Wallpaper
Sortie : 2002 (France). Roman
livre de Charlotte Perkins-Gilman
Annotation :
Towering work by this radical thinker. Terrifying short story showing how savage gender oppression can inhere in “caring” relationships just as easily as in more obviously abusive ones. See also her feminist/socialistic utopias “Moving the Mountain” (1911) andHerland(1914).
Les Aventures extraordinaires de Sa'îd le Peptimiste (1974)
Al-Wakāʾiʿ al gharībah fī ikhtifāʾ Saʿīd Abī al-Naḥsh al-Mutasāʾil
Sortie : 1987 (France). Roman
livre de Émile Habibi
rmd l'a mis en envie.
Annotation :
"Le titre complet est plus long. Habibi fut membre du Parti communiste palestinien, vétéran de la lutte anti-britannique des années 40 et membre de la Knesset pendant plusieurs années. Ce livre surréaliste et avenant traite de la vie d'une Palestinien en Israel (avec des bouts de surréalisme et des aliens)."
(The full title is much longer. Habiby was a member of the Palestinian Community Party, a veteran of the anti-British struggle of the 40s, and a member of the Knesset for several years. This amiable, surreal book is about the life of a Palestinian in Israel (with surreal bits, and aliens).)
Les Dépossédés (1974)
The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia
Sortie : 1975 (France). Roman, Science-fiction
livre de Ursula Le Guin
rmd a mis 9/10.
Annotation :
Le travail le plus ouvertement politique parmie les excellentes oeuvres de cet auteur anarchiste. L'examen des relations entre un monde riche et capitaliste et un monde communiste pauvre et presque stérile (bien que high tech)."
(The most overtly political of this anarchist writer’s excellent works. An examination of the relations between a rich, exploitive capitalist world and a poor, nearly barren (though high-tech) communist one.)
Le Talon de fer (1908)
(traduction Louis Postif)
The Iron Heel
Sortie : 1923 (France). Roman
livre de Jack London
rmd a mis 9/10.
Annotation :
"Le chef-d'oeuvre de Jack London : Des écoliers du monde socialiste du 27e siècle trouvent des documents sur l'oligarchie fasciste aux USA et la révolte du prolétariat. Par ailleurs, le socialisme indubitable de London est miné par le racisme le plus épouvantable."
(London’s masterpiece: scholars from a 27th Century socialist world find documents depicting a fascist oligarchy in the US and the revolt of the proletariat. Elsewhere, London’s undoubted socialism is undermined by the most appalling racism.)
Wicked
La véritable histoire de la méchante sorcière de l'Ouest
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
Sortie : 19 mai 2011 (France). Roman
livre de Gregory Maguire
Annotation :
Brilliant revisionist fantasy about how the winners write history. The loser whose side is here taken is the Wicked Witch of the West, a fighter for emancipatory politics in the despotic empire of Oz.
La Légende de Hawkmoon (1979)
The History of the Runestaff
Sortie : 26 février 2012 (France). Roman, Fantasy
livre de Michael Moorcock
rmd a mis 7/10.
Annotation :
Moorcock is an erudite Left-anarchist and a giant of fantasy literature. Almost everything he’s written is of interest, but Hawkmoon is chosen here in honor of Moorcock having said about it: “In a spirit consciously at odds with the jingoism of the day, I chose a German for a hero and the British for villains.” There are also plenty of satirical references and gags about 1960s/70s politics for the reader to decode.
Nouvelles de nulle part
News from Nowhere, or, an Epoch of Rest, being some chapters from a Utopian Romance
Sortie : 1891 (France). Roman
livre de William Morris
Annotation :
A socialist (though naively pastoral) utopia, written in response to Bellamy (above), that unusually doesn’t shy away from the hard political question of how we get the desired utopia-proletarian revolution. See alsoThe Well at the World’s Endand his other fantasies.
Beloved (1987)
Sortie : 1989 (France). Roman
livre de Toni Morrison
Annotation :
It’s well known that Beloved is a superb book about race and slavery and guilt, but it’s less generally accepted that it’s a fantasy. It is. It’s a ghost story that wouldn’t have half the charge without the fantastic element.
Titus d'Enfer (1946)
Gormenghast, tome 1
Titus Groan
Sortie : 1974 (France). Roman
livre de Mervyn Peake
rmd a mis 8/10.
Annotation :
Série complete.
An austere depiction of dead ritualism and necessary transformation. Don’t believe those who say that the third book is disappointing.
Les Royaumes du Nord (1995)
À la croisée des mondes, tome 1
His Dark Materials : Northern Lights
Sortie : 1998 (France). Roman, Jeunesse
livre de Philip Pullman
rmd a mis 8/10.
Annotation :
série complète.
lman let us down. This book is here because it deals with moral/political complexities with unsentimental respect for its (young adult) readers and characters. Explores freedom and social agency, and the question of using ugly means for emanicipatory ends. It raises the biggest possible questions, and doesn’t patronise us that there are easy answers. The second in the trilogy,The Subtle Knife, is a perfectly good bridging volume… and then in book three,The Amber Spyglass, something goes wrong. It has excellent bits, it is streets ahead of its competition… but there’s sentimentality, a hesitation, a formalism, which lets us down. Ah well.Northern Lightsis still a masterpiece.
La Grève (1957)
(traduction Sophie Bastide-Foltz)
Atlas Shrugged
Sortie : 2011 (France). Roman
livre de Ayn Rand
Annotation :
Know your enemy. This panoply of portentous Nietzcheanism lite has had a huge influence on American SF. Rand was an obsessive “objectivist” (libertarian pro-capitalist individualist) whose hatred of socialism and any form of “collectivism” is visible in this important an influential—though vile and ponderous—novel.
Pavane
Sortie : 1968 (France). Roman
livre de Keith Roberts
rmd a mis 8/10.
Annotation :
These linked stories take place in a present day where Elizabeth I was assassinated and Spain took over Britain. This examines life in a world where a militant feudal Catholicism acts as a fetter on social and productive functions. Though Roberts was no lefty at all, and you could probably power France on the energy from his spinning grave at being included in this list.
Mars la rouge (1992)
La Trilogie de Mars, tome 1
Red Mars
Sortie : 1992 (États-Unis). Roman, Science-fiction
livre de Kim Stanley Robinson
rmd a mis 6/10.
Annotation :
série complete.
Probably the most powerful center of gravity for Leftist SF in the 1990s. A sprawling and thoughtful examination of the variety of social relations feeding into and leading up to revolutionary change. (It’s also got some Gramsci jokes in it.)
Frankenstein ou le Prométhée moderne (1818)
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus
Sortie : 1821 (France). Roman, Science-fiction, Fantasy
livre de Mary Shelley
rmd a mis 7/10.
Annotation :
Not a warning “not to mess with things that should be let alone” (which would be a reactionary anti-rationalist message) but an insistence on the necessity of grappling with forces one unleashes and the fact that there is no “innate” nature to people, but a socially-constructed one.
La Vie en temps de guerre
Life During Wartime
Sortie : 1987 (France). Roman
livre de Lucius Shepard
rmd a mis 7/10.
Annotation :
Horrific vision of a future (thinly disguised Vietnam) war. Within the savage examinations of the truth of war and U.S. foreign policy, Shepard also investigates the relation between SF, fantasy, and “magic realism”, and uses their shared mode to look back at reality with passion.
Rêve de fer (1972)
The Iron Dream
Sortie : 1972 (France). Roman
livre de Norman Spinrad
rmd a mis 7/10.
Annotation :
A SF novel by Adolf Hitler… Spinrad’s funny, disturbing and savage indictment of the fascist aesthetics in much genre SF and fantasy. What if Hitler had become a pulp SF writer in New York? Not a book about that possibility but a book from it. “By the same author: Triumph of the Will and Lord of the Swastika.” Brave and nasty.
Le Juif errant
Sortie : 1844 (France). Roman
livre de Eugène Sue
Annotation :
Huge book by radical socialist Sue, about the adventures of the family of the Wandering Jew of legend. Symbolic fantasy elements: the Jew is the dispossessed laborer and his partner is downtrodden woman. Marx hated Sue as a writer (not without reason—less, for Sue, is not in more) but hell, it’s an important book.
Voyages de Gulliver (1726)
(traduction Jacques Pons)
Gulliver's Travels
Sortie : 1976 (France). Roman
livre de Jonathan Swift
Annotation :
Savage attack on hypocrisy and cant that never dilutes its fantasy with its satire: the two elements feed off each other perfectly.
Aélita (1923)
Аэлита
Sortie : 1923 (Union Soviétique). Roman
livre de Alexeï Nikolaïevitch Tolstoï
Annotation :
Distant relative of the other Tolstoy. The “revised” version is less good, written in the stern environment of Stalinism. A Red Army officer goes to Mars and foments a rebellion of native Martians. Good rousing stuff, but also interesting in terms of “exporting” revolution. See also the superb avant-garde film version from 1924.
Les Oiseaux lents (1985)
Slow Birds
Sortie : octobre 1987 (France). Roman
livre de Ian Watson
Annotation :
Left-wing author whose short story collection above includes a cold demolition of Thatcher and Thatcherism. His take on oppression—cognitive and political—informs all his rather austere, cerebral writing.
L'Île du docteur Moreau (1896)
The Island of Dr. Moreau
Sortie : 1901 (France). Roman, Science-fiction
livre de H. G. Wells
Annotation :
Like a lot of Wells’s work, this is an uneasy mixture of progressive and reactionary notions. It makes for one of the great horror stories of all time. A fraught examination of colonialism, science, eugenics, repression, and religion: a kind of fantasy echo of Shakespeare’sThe Tempest.