Hermaphrodites, Way Back in 1960
by
Angelo Ventura
 |
Venus
Plus X
by Theodore Sturgeon |
| BOOK
LINKS |
Venus
Plus X (1960)
by Theodore Sturgeon
In
long ago 1960 science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon wrote this
intriguing book about a man who finds himself snatched from his
own time and projected in a future when an hermaphrodite race
(called Ledom) has supplanted humanity.
Sound
familiar? Those Ledom are very sociable people, skilled in biological
and social science, and they're rather different from Wraeththu:
they never sleep (instead sometimes fall in a sort of trance),
have two uteri and always procreate twins. The insemination is
reciprocal and contemporaneous, they can be both soume and ouana
to each other at the same time. They have a device, the cerebrostyle,
that allows fast learning by connecting a recording machine directly
to the brain. No lenghty hours to spend studying over textbooks
for them!
This
novel is of the category "Utopian," which means almost
no plot and long expanations, but on the whole it's very interesting.
The Ledom are very kind and emphatic, and literally worship children
"because it is not conceivable we'll ever obey them."
That's a bit weird.
The
human, Charlie Johns, is very impressed by their charity and compassion,
but since the Ledom have snatched him to have a frank appraisal
of their society by an average man, they have to tell him a secret
of theirs that'll make Charlie revise his judgment. In the last
pages there are some plot twists, and we get, finally, to glimpse
Ledom society from the inside. A final revelation awaits the reader
who patiently waded through descriptions and dissertations. A
really worthy read, in my opinion!
About
the Author:
Angelo Ventura lives in Italy. His email is angeloventura@iol.it. |
