Stand On Zanzibar Book

[Gaby Zenz]

ISFDB Bibliography

A review by Charlene Brusso

Advertisement Brunner's Hugo-winning 1968 novel about individual responsibilityand the dangerous consequences of social apathy returns to print at anexcellent time. I first read Stand on Zanzibar as a university student back inthe early 80s. It was an "old" book then, but it never really read likeone. Now, a decade later, it still doesn't.Readers who're used to a nice tight linear narrative will need todo some work to get into Zanzibar. But that's okay, because it willforce you to think, and thinking is exactly what this book wants you todo. Brunner's story unfolds as a somewhat structured montage, aninterwoven series of linked sections; the style is similar to the workof high-tone literary writer John Dos Passos, whose short, quick scenescobbled together seemingly at random produce a synergy of mood andstory. Brunner's structure is slightly more complex, but in many wayseasier to follow, since each wide-flung piece really does connectplotwise to all the others.The novel opens by setting Context with a powerfully thematicquote from Marshall MacLuhan. In short:"A point of view can be adangerous luxury when substituted for insight and understanding."Brunner plunges us into the novel's dysfunctional, overcrowded, media-saturatedworld via a random channel flip across the story spectrum withSCANALYZER, providing an "INdepth INdependent INmediate INterface"between the reader and "the happening world."The core of the novel focuses on NYC apartment mates Norman Houseand Donald Hogan. Like everyone else in this world, although they shareliving quarters, and sometimes even girlfriends, they really don't knoweach other. Norman is an up-and-rising young exec at super-mega-international-corporate-conglomerate General Technics (current motto:"The difficult we did yesterday. The impossible we're doing right now"), home of the most powerful supercomputer in the world, the celebratedShalmaneser. Through subtle and not-so-subtle manipulation, Norman hasused his African-American heritage as a politically correct lever tounlock company doors his brains and experience might not otherwise open.Now that he's reached the upper echelons on the company, however, hecan't shake a nagging sense of dissatisfaction, a worry that there mustbe more to things, that somehow he's missed something important.One secret he's missed is that Donald Hogan is a spy, one of therare "Dilettanti" recruited by the government for their skill atsynthesizing information, the ability to sort and cross-reference ideasand discover patterns. Mild-mannered and quiet, with an obscure degreein history and biology, Donald would never draw suspicion. He's spentthe last ten years of his life, every work day, at the New York PublicLibrary reading a little bit of everything, filing regular reports onpatterns he's noticed, all very low-key. In the back of his mind is theconcern that someday he might be "activated," called on to serve in amore active capacity in one of the world's political hotspots, likeYatakang, a socialist island empire off the southeast coast of China -- but whyworry about something that will probably never happen? Still,Donald's innate pattern-matching instincts can feel something is up.Pieces are pulling together. Wheels are being set into motion. Theworld is going to change. Big-time.Brunner sets the story in motion with two seemingly unconnecteddiscoveries. The first is the change of power in the tiny Africancountry of Beninia, (pop. 900,000) where refugees of civil war fromthree neighbouring countries have settled, all members of tribes hostileto one another -- yet Beninia has known nothing but peace since it wasgranted independence from British colonial rule. The credit for thishas gone to Beninia's president, Zadkiel F. Obomi. But once he retires,who will lead and protect this tiny country with no war, but also noliteracy, industry, or technology?Elihu Masters, the US Ambassador to Beninia as well as Obomi'sfriend, approaches the board of General Technics with an offer. If GTwill help educate the population and build the needed infrastructure,Beninia will allow them sole rights to exploit the vast, untouchedmineral and oil reserves offshore for a period of time. Before he knowsit, Norman is in Beninia, where murder is practically unknown; where theclosest word the language has for anger means "insanity."But then the second discovery is announced. In a crowded US wherereproductive privilege is offered only to those with a clean genotype,babies are a rare and jealously hoarded luxury. But now the Yatakanggovernment announces that famous geneticist Dr. Sugaiguntung hasinvented a way for everyone, even those with the most undesirable genes,to have perfect children. US citizens being the privileged souls theyare, of course they want to know 1) When can we get access to thistechnology? And 2) Why didn't the US discover it first?Donald finds he's finally been activated. Next thing he knows,he's been flown to a military base in Asia for eptification (from 'EPT,'that is, 'education for particular tasks' -- in this case,assassination). Donald's mission is to prove Sugaiguntung's so-calleddiscovery is a lie and to sway the Yatakangi people to dump theircurrent leader and replace him with a US-backed rebel who's been leadinga guerrilla war for several years. Donald isn't sure he wants to do anyof this, but then his brand-new reflexes start doing the thinking forhim...From the misty depths of the late 60s, Brunner gives us theultimate dysfunctional society, a world of decadence spilling intodecay, of high tech advances and the loss of common sense. There's agood bit of cyberpunkish foreshadowing here. The drugs, the meanstreets, the ragged suburbs, and Mr and Mrs Everywhere on your TV set,who can be programmed to look just like you; through them you can attendthe most exclusive parties, visit the most scenic places on Earth, meetthe rich and famous, all at the flick of a remote control.But some of Brunner's book is also very much "today," wheregenetic engineering is a viable business, muckers go postal and take outtheir frustrations with indiscriminate murder, and more than one pundithas accused the US of "government by public apathy."The novel's title comes from a point Brunner notes early on: "Ifyou allow for every codder and shiggy and appleofmyeye a space of onefoot by two, you could stand us all on the 640 square mile surface ofthe island of Zanzibar." With the US population at 400 million andgrowing, and the global population hovering around 8 billion,Brunner uses myriad points of view to capture a world on the brink ofhuman critical mass. A world in desperate need of some clear thoughtand common sense, and most of all, some direct action. Otherwisethey'll all end up like crazy Bennie Noakes, perpetually tripping onTriptine, staring at the boob tube and frequently heard to say "Christ,what an imagination I've got!" He thinks the world is a dream.Nothing could be like this. But it is.Copyright 2000 Charlene BrussoCharlene's sixth grade teacher told her she would burn her eyesout before she was 30 if she kept reading and writing so much. Fortunatelyhe was wrong. Her work has also appeared in Aboriginal SF, AmazingStories, Dark Regions, MZB's Fantasy Magazine, and other genre magazines.

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What they thought then, part two: It won the Hugo in 1969, beating Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin, Nova by Samuel R Delany, Past Master by RA Lafferty, and The Goblin Reservation by Clifford D. Simak.

Predictions, part one: accurate. Implanted contraceptives. Hyperactive media. Gay marriage. TiVo. Genetic modification (and industrial pharma, to an extent). Privacy, or lack thereof, as a key social issue. Puffa jackets. Globalisation.

Predictions, part two: inaccurate. The reliance on big central computers. The absence of peak oil and climate change. Continuing cold war-esque paranoia. The introduction of eugenics laws to control population growth. Sexual mores.

Niall: Sorry, it should be a given, you/I/We always need to read more books *g*

My main point though is that whereas some years there is a standout Hugo nominee (not always winner) amidst mediocrity, Stand On Zanzibar beat off some very tough competition.

I felt like the basic concept, the pheremone thing, was a bit of a cop-out. I was surprised to find such a ray of sunshine in an otherwise bleak story. It almost felt like something an editor made him tack on, except that Beninia itself was so central to the book.

One thing I thought of: There are several women of various class/power levels in SoZ, but none of them are sympathetic the way Norman, Donald, the ambassador or the sociologist are. In fact, many of the women are decidedly unlikeable altogether.

I reread SoZ a year or two ago (and still need to write a review of it.) but what struck me about the gender relationships was that they seemed a straight extrapolation of the worst cliches of sixties counterculture: all free and radical and hip and liberal for the men, but with the women being there to pour the coffee and provide a good lay. The exceptions you name are noticable exactly because they are exceptions and at least one of them is described negatively because she is a career woman.

John Brunner is unfortunately not as well known or as frequently read nowas he once was. He was an extremely prolific British science fictionauthor from the 1950s through the 1980s, ranging from space opera tosocial satire and complex analysis of social trends. Stand onZanzibar is one of his best-known novels and a Hugo winner, written in1968 and attacking questions of governance, overpopulation, mass media,and international politics. With that subject matter, you'd think itwould be dated, but this is one of those books that beautifully capturesgeneral tendencies in sociology despite often being wrong about thespecifics.

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