Paperback: 161 pages
Publisher: The Women's Press Ltd (first published February 1984)
ISBN10: 0704339501
ISBN13: 9780704339507
Copy: Given as a gift
Reviewer: Cara
From the back of the book:
Five elegant stories from Hugo and Nebula award winning author Joanna Russ, in the form of a history lesson to a child of the future. A mediaeval abbess defends her community against a Viking invasion; a young girl sails on a 19th century clipper bound for America with a guardian who is not what 'he' seems; a time traveller disguises herself as a male god on an errand of mercy in a feudal past; an author evolves the plot of a Gothic romance between two women.
The stories are as much about the nature of science fiction as they are about the imagined and fantastical worlds they describe. Joanna Russ once more draws on her talent for vivid characterisation to involve us in worlds not our own, exploring gender and power relationships in past and future to illuminate our own time.
'Souls', the first story in the collection, won the 1983 Hugo Award.
Extra(Ordinary) People is my first encounter with Joanna Russ's writing and I think it will not be my last. For such a short book, at only 161 pages, it contains some very powerful ideas about how the past we have inherited continues to influence our present. Although written and published in the early 1980's, during a time when the Feminist movement still had some respect and credibility within the wider literary community, the interlinked stories presented in this collection continue to have a message that is relevant to our lives today.
The first, and by far the longest, story is Souls. This is the tale of an abbess facing the terrifying Norsemen who have come to raid the abbey and surrounding community. How Abbess Radegunde chooses to protect and defend all those she is responsible for is the core of the story, which is written from the perspective of Boy News, a young child. I loved this story, the character of Radegunde was powerfully conveyed, beautifully written and carried the story through to it’s conclusion.
“She was kind to everyone. She knew all the languages, not only ours but the Irish too and the tongues folks speak to the north and south, and Latin and Greek also, and all the languages in the world, both to read and write. She knew how to cure sickness, both the old women’s way with herbs or leeches and out of books also. And never was there a more pious woman! Some speak ill of her now she’s gone and would say she was too merry to be a good Abbess…”A modern woman in the 12th century perhaps? Certainly the finale of Souls leaves us with more questions than answers, but the journey was worth the surprise ending. Souls won the 1983 Hugo Best Novella Award, ahead of such contenders as David Brin’s The Postman and works from both George R R Martin and Kim Stanley Robinson, which should give an indication of just how highly regarded this story was by the judges. A fascinating read which lulls us into a false sense of security before hitting us with an unforeseeable ending. Highly recommended.
The next story, The Mystery of the Young Gentleman, takes place on a ship sailing to America in 1885. A young man and his daughter are the central characters and neither are what they at first appear. In saying that, I was still unsure as to who the ‘father’ and narrator really was by the end, but that was possibly the point. Some interesting secondary characters appear in this story, most notably a Joseph Smith of Colorado, otherwise known as the founder of the Mormon church.
Bodies is a confusing tale of time travel, sexuality and utopia. It is written as a (love?) letter to James uploaded to the Net (though bearing in mind it was actually written long before what we now know as the Internet became a part of our everyday life) and examines the life of James as watched by the narrator/letter writer.
“You don’t remember but I saw you come out of the egg. I was there from the beginning; I used to visit you every winter when I was down that way. It never meant much past the first year or so – one can’t anticipate something forever – but it was fun to see you go from a ball to a fish with a tail and so on – twenty years to make the full tour.”Next up is What Did You Do During the Revolution, Grandma?, another first person narrative, set in a far future but also including the fictional land of Ruritania, Hebrew Ashmedai myth with occasional appearances of the Queen of Faerie. I found this story very difficult to get my head around and admit I did not understand it at all. I was confused by the narrator (another first person) and the mix of science and mythology did not gel for me.
The final story is Everyday Depressions, again written in letter form where the narrator relates the developing plot of a Gothic novel to the recipient in among snippets of her everyday life (in a future earth?) and short discussions of politics. The Gothic romance plot is a device to examine gender and racial politics, and personally I found this to be rather dated. It is very short, at only 14 pages, and concludes the collection.
Overall, I had mixed feelings about Extra(Ordinary) People. I loved Souls, the first (and possibly the most straightforward) story but my interest waned as I worked my way through to the fifth and final story. The links between each story – a brief discourse between a schoolchild and an electronic interactive tutor indicating that these stories form part of a far future history lesson – gave some clues as to the central theme. Or did they? Part of what makes Joanna Russ’s collection interesting is the possibility that the stories relate a history of earth being guided by telepathic aliens throughout human existence. But I found that as I progressed through the book, I was becoming more confused about the purpose of the links… were they reliable or just red herrings to throw me off? I don’t regret spending time reading Extra(Ordinary) People, but other than Souls, it is unlikely I will return to this collection in the future. It was a challenging read for me, something that took me outside my comfort zone and gave me a few things to think about. For that alone, I am pleased I persevered to the end. I will, however, read Russ's The Female Man, which is considered to be a defining novel in feminist science fiction.
Plot: 6
Characters: 6
Style: 5
Rating: 6/10
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