Richer finds in dry diggings in 1870 led to a large-scale rush. What is the connection between Snow Crash and The Diamond Age? So, yeah - I'm a bit confused too. Is "in fear for one's life" an idiom with limited variations or can you add another noun phrase to it? I feel as though that's a trite thing to say, but I'm not talking about the overall story, I'm talking about the way each sentence is crafted. rev2023.4.17.43393. her provisional ministers of defense, of state, and of research and According to a June 2009 report in Variety, Zo Green had been hired to write the series, with George Clooney and Grant Heslov of Smokehouse Productions as executive producers on the project. Life in Shanghai devolves when the Fists of Righteous Harmony, a Chinese nationalist group, has an uprising. Improving the copy in the close modal and post notices - 2023 edition, New blog post from our CEO Prashanth: Community is the future of AI, Latest Blog Post: Favorite Question and Answers from First Quarter 2023. National governments have vanished, leaving society divided into enclaves along ethnic, cultural, and ideological lines, the most dynamic of which are the new-Victorian Atlanteans of coastal China. With his southern gambit frustrated, Carnarvon embarked on a northern strategy. A third storyline follows actress ("ractor") Miranda Redpath, who voices most of the Primer characters who interact with Nell and essentially becomes Nell's surrogate mother. Now set the book in a future Shanghai, in a world where nanotechnology makes material needs obsolete, at least in theory And voila: The Diamond Age. Worse, science fiction is already more concerned with the ideas than the characters, but when the writer is consciously trying to mimic the further-removed-from-reality discourses of Victorian-era writing, we wind up so distanced from character that honestly? did was buy and sell things. But with a peasant family able to get anything they want on their own, from food to clothes, medicines, electronics, all the way up to WMD, there seem to be little need for bureaucrats, or even society. It is to some extent a science fiction bildungsroman, focused on a young girl named Nell, and set in a future world in which nanotechnology affects all aspects of life. In what context did Garak (ST:DS9) speak of a lie between two truths? I have just finished rereading Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age for about the fourth time and am still confused about the ending. Quiz, Match the Country with Its Hemisphere Quiz. [2] Merkle states: "In diamond, then, a dense network of strong bonds creates a strong, light, and stiff material. [6], Last edited on 20 December 2022, at 20:32, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, "It's a Small, Small, Small, Small World", "Re: The Diamond Age Honourable Failure", "Geography's conquest of history in the Diamond Age", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Diamond_Age&oldid=1128565937, Print (hardback & paperback) & Audio Book (, This page was last edited on 20 December 2022, at 20:32. Hanya Yanagihara. What is the connection between Snow Crash and The Diamond Age? The CEP is concerned particularly with upholding rights to personal property, being shown to provide particularly harsh punishment for harming the economic capability of another person. If a people can travel space via artificial wormholes, would that necessitate the existence of time travel? The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is a science fiction novel by American writer Neal Stephenson. Dr. X didn't know this; also, toward the end of the book, he explicitly says he regrets educating all the girls via the book, presumably because they are not cooperating. I read this the first time when I was a young, impressionable, repressed, closeted Mormon boy. Why would Hackworth want the Mouse Army to seek Nell to rule them? Dr. X sends Hackworth to North America to join the Drummers, a group that uses orgiastic sex to create a distributed human network that endlessly grows as more people get infected with their particles via sex; this network is needed to create the Seed. Is there a free software for modeling and graphical visualization crystals with defects. Viewed 10k times 22 I have just finished rereading Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age for about the fourth time and am still confused about the ending. . A chance find in 1867 had drawn several thousand fortune seekers to alluvial diamond diggings along the Orange, Vaal, and Harts rivers. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. rev2023.4.17.43393. Together, they represent a new era . Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life. Commissioned by the powerful neo-Victorian Alexander Finkle-McGraw, the Primer is supposed to teach young neo-Victorians to be subversive enough to innovate and keep their phyle dominant. I've read the book a couple of times, and I don't think I had really picked up on the foot binding. Then the first set of orphaned girls got old enough for the high-tech "foot binding" process to be used on them. It was entertaining, sure, and the world rich and inventive, the characters interesting, but if I were to tell you what the book were aboutI wasn't sure. RELEASE DATE: Jan. 16, 1995. How do two equations multiply left by left equals right by right? The rise of the Afrikaner Bond and new laws affecting franchise qualifications and taxes also stimulated more-vigorous Black participation in electoral politics after 1884. Realizing this, Hackworth also realized, for the first time, that he influencers in the know since 1933. How can I detect when a signal becomes noisy? The ending of The Diamond Age Nathan Nov 27, 2013 05:59PM 0 votes Perhaps it was the effect of the subversive aspect of the Primer on the Mouse Army. . Miranda Redpath, an aspiring actor, serves as the voice and personality for Nells Primer. If the novel draws from this event, then we can see this as antagonistic towards the Victorian principles and "colonization". @moohbear I think the implications of the rest of Dr. X's speech is that you need the scholar-bureaucrats to "teach" (IE, enforce) proper strata and order so that some farmer with a grudge doesn't decide to grow a couple of WMDs to nuke his annoying neighbor's home. Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. Blume knows the way kids and teens speak, but her two female leads are less credible as they reach adulthood. The only way to combat this is through combat. Does contemporary usage of "neithernor" for more than two options originate in the US, Dystopian Science Fiction story about virtual reality (called being hooked-up) from the 1960's-70's, How to turn off zsh save/restore session in Terminal.app, How small stars help with planet formation, Finding valid license for project utilizing AGPL 3.0 libraries, Trying to determine if there is a calculation for AC in DND5E that incorporates different material items worn at the same time. Diamond Age also includes fully narrated educational tales from the Primer that map Nell's individual experience (e.g. to A.D. 1500, were what produced the inequalities of A.D. 1500. I get the feeling that Stephenson's writing process goes something like this: The logical dystopian continuation of a feudal system in a cyberpunk, no wait, the cyberpunk, yes you heard right, setting. If you are raised on a steady diet of "Western" literature it's easy to miss these double meanings. Shanghai is now carved into municipalities and groups that arose when most nations collapsed in the wake of the nanotechnology economy and the rise of a secure, anonymous network that hid taxable income. Chapter-by-chapter summaries and multiple sections of expert analysis, The ultimate resource for assignments, engaging lessons, and lively book discussions. Miranda lived in one of the nicest room of the palace overlooking the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean. Trouble signing in? Many years later at a small rural alpine community, he finally realised what it was. So honor of elders was being stressed to them. This is the third Neal Stephenson book Ive read, the first two being. John Percival Hackworth received a small medal for his indispensable intelligence services to Her Majestys Joint Forces, and was greeted with honour at the royal celebration of Queen Victorias birthday. I feel my understanding of the Drummers is a bit off. Many of the girls roamed the territories of the Celestial Kingdom, looking for their ancestry, and found the phyle in a terrible state. The phyles coexist much like historical nation-states under a system of justice and mutual protection, known as the Common Economic Protocol (CEP). In the book, she becomes Princess Nell, the focus of marvelous tales and experiences that, seemingly incidentally, educate and train her. The bond between them seemed strong as ever, but now Hackworth was only second to her new love: Dramatis Personae. A fully automated simulation that was not only able to mimic the laws of physics, but also generated objects and agents that matched the storyline both in content and mood. I have to admit, this is a dense read sometimes in the way that hard sci-fi can be: Glazing over at "tech speak tech speak tech speak." I gulped down the 500 pages in four days, and it was not an easy read. Neal Stephenson is one of my favourite authors, and I do give him credit for each of his books being based on a completely different paradigm. Now, here's your complementary CS patch. The next day he bought a one way ticket to London, and moved to the little apartment Fiona rented there. Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who dont share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and Judes race was undetermineddeserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood thats revealed slowly over the course of the book. must be better ways to do it now, maybe by regulating the growth of Neal Stephenson I think the issue is the Primer. It's one of Stephenson's quirks that his endings are abrupt and leave the reader feeling like things are unresolved. Ask Question Asked 11 years, 9 months ago. The novel is an important example of cyberpunk (work that imagines a dystopian future created by technology), while Stephensons allusions to Victorian literature and culture also make it an example of steampunk, despite the future setting. Molecular nanotechnology is omnipresent in the novel's world, generally in the form of Matter Compilers and the products that come out of them. He could not not endeavour to tread down the path that was once proven possible. He was cordially invited to sit at the table of Lord Alexander Chung-Sik Finkle-McGraw, who subtly hinted that it would be of great benefit for all parties, if he could spend most of his time outside of New Atlantis territory. Looking for something to do he ended up developing much of the ractive technology the performances used, and creating many of the self-animated characters that filled the lesser roles of the theatres virtual plays. Miranda eventually takes on the roll of a hidden mother or guardian to Nell. Welcome to Stephensonland! It seems that they are meant to represent the melding of two cultures. Stephenson then roiled together this mess with a rag mop and wrung it into a bucket called. It's a lot more about new social dynamics than about cyberpunkish network stuff - you'll see in the opening chapter just how aggressive Stephenson was about this book not being cyberpunk.. I'd have to say it's my favorite Stephenson book outside of Cryptonomicon/Baroque Cycle. . I agree. Hackworth is ordered to join the Dreamers, a weird collective intelligence among which, through his subconscious, he designs a nanotech control method for the Celestial Kingdom represented by Dr. X. The very beginning of the book, where Lord Finkle-McGraw and John Percival Hackworth discuss the idea for the primer, made clear that it was intended to produce not just educated girls but subversive ones who can think for themselves and take charge. How to check if an SSM2220 IC is authentic and not fake? I'm afraid those are also disallowed in Stephensonland. It has taken me a while to figure out what I think of this book, and I'm still not entirely sure. The Drummers underwater settlement quickly became a massive refugee camp hundreds of thousands strong. By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. [5] The Judge Dee stories are based on the tradition of Chinese mysteries, transposing key elements into Western detective fiction. Hanya Yanagihara For questions about "The Diamond Age", otherwise known as "A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" (1995), a post-cyberpunk novel by Neal Stephenson. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. At a special hearing in October 1871, Robert W. Keate (then lieutenant governor of Natal) found in favour of Waterboer, but the British persuaded him to request protection against his Boer rivals, and the area was annexed as Griqualand West. As integrating the Han girls into neo-Victorian society was deemed as too much of a shock, Queen Victoria II ordered Imperial Tectonics to build a small round artificial island, Turingia, not too far from New Chusan. Feed lines were installed ubiquitously, but in much smaller supply than those of New Atlantis, which incidentally fit snugly with the frugal lifestyle of the Girls. In 1996, it won both the Hugo and Locus Awards,[1] and was shortlisted for the Nebula and other awards.[1]. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is a postcyberpunk novel by Neal Stephenson. Although some white diggers continued to work as overseers or skilled labourers, from the mid-1880s the workforce consisted mainly of Black migrant workers housed in closed compounds by the companies (a method that had previously been used in Brazil). Historically, early adulthood spanned from approximately 18 (the end of adolescence) until 40 to 45 (beginning of middle adulthood). The Diamond Age takes place in Shanghai and off the Eastern coast of China. Now, go to the diamond charging station to the left and place the Hexipal in it. Is Miss Matheson from Diamond Age, YT from Snow Crash? All of this is staggeringly inventive and meticulously detailed, but, lacking a coherent plot and set forth in an by I find it strange to paint the Seed as a Chinese/Confuscianist ideal. Judy Blume So, how is giving full control and independence to everyone through the Seed something Mr. X would want? Nicole Galland, by RELEASE DATE: May 8, 1998. Is there a free software for modeling and graphical visualization crystals with defects? GENERAL FICTION, by With the Feed networks burnt the population struggled, and the Confucian structure slowly gave way to local warlords fighting over the scarce resources. After tying up his loose ends Hackworth offered his services to Princes Nell. Princess Nell and the girls did not spare the effort to rebuild its structures to their satisfaction. I admit ruefully that Stephenson's vocabulary is better than mine. Initially, individual diggers, Black and white, worked small claims by hand. Nell and the Mouse Army settle down Good question though. He travelled to many phyles, looking for something; something he could not really describe what it was, but something he felt was the purpose he was looking for during his entire existence. Thus the hunt for Princess Nell by the mouse army. The Boxer Rebellion was lead by The Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, and was anti-foreign. I have just finished rereading Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age for about the fourth time and am still confused about the ending. The Bond initially represented poorer farmers and espoused an anti-British Pan-Afrikanerism in the Cape and beyond, but, after its reorganization a few years later under Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr, the group began to champion the Capes commercial interests and acquired a new base of supportmainly wealthier farmers and urban professionals. Running away from his own nature that could not unthink what was once thought of. As for them both leaving the Middle Kingdom they attack the fist checkpoints while Hackworth is watching and tie them up. The Primer was just scratching the surface of what such a system was capable of. Princess Nell carried its key in a locket she wore around her neck, wary of the dangers of the Knowledge within. The Source, where the Feed's stream of matter originates, is controlled by the Victorian phyle (though smaller, independent Feeds are possible). Other phyles are less defined some intentionally, as with the CryptNet group or the mysterious hive-mind Drummers. All Rights Reserved. The story is about rich foreigners and poor Chinese people. The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is a postcyberpunk novel by Neal Stephenson. Then, leadership given by the scholars/bureaucrat would have been meaningful. The novel's neo-Victorian setting, as well as its narrative form, particularly the chapter headings, suggest a relation to the work of Charles Dickens. Mr. Martin is not just their part-time therapist, but he is also . Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. [citation needed], "Thetes" are individuals who are not members of any phyle and are often socially disadvantaged and economically poor, being similar to second-class citizens under the CEP. Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience. So, without further ado here it is: Aftermath Within three years they started to understand the Book of the Book, marvelling at the complexity of its design. Hackworth's crime becomes known to Lord Finkle-McGraw and Dr. X, the black market engineer whose compiler Hackworth used to create the copy of the Primer, and each man attempts to exploit Hackworth to advance their opposing goals. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. The Vickys, neo-Victorians, are a tribe. That's right, it's very similar, except instead of nicotine, this will imbue you with knowledge equivalent to a bachelor's degree in computer science. The first Google hit for "Confucianism farmers" nearly agrees with this, although it elevates scholar-bureaucrats above farmers: Confucianism is credited with making Chinese society fiercely 7 yr. ago Miranda was grasping at straws to contact Nell. Peasants planted the seeds and had highest status in the Confucian hierarchy. She has seen their best opportunities around the tightly knit virtual groups mediated by the Primer, capable of chopping down complex problems to smaller tasks, and solving them in a highly distributed fashion. Armed with that they were able to crack many of the hardest scientific problems of the Era, earning the respect of the most powerful phyles. Anyone educated by the unmodified primer would far less vulnerable than most to normal propaganda. All these answers miss the point that when Hackworth is being sentenced by Judge fang he subverts the books to be linked to the missing primer (the one owned by Nell). Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. An illicit copy of the book falls into the hands of an abused little girl, Nell. So the Mouse army, can be thought of as the combination of the best elements of both cultures/worlds. I haven't finished reading it yet Also, there is a difference between the real Primer and the mass-produced Primers at the end of the book. Copyright 2023 Kirkus Media LLC. by As if the writer could not spend a bit of time after writing a 1000 pages to explain how exactly the story unfolds, and how the carefully built characters will turn out. And unlike Diamond Age, the ending of Snow Crash didn't make me feel like hunting down Stephenson and beating him with the manuscript until he coughed up the real ending..;-) Un-fun endings--Stephenson's Bane (Score: 4) by C. E. Sum on Friday September 17, 1999 @01:56AM Homepage Journal. A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. How can I make inferences about individuals from aggregated data? I remember that part of Dr. X explanation, but it didn't make a lot of sense to me. Or did I miss something? Is it possible to feel nostalgia for a place in the future? The novel deals with themes of education, social class, ethnicity, and the nature of artificial intelligence. Her efforts were concentrated in two main areas. As Dr. X was a scholar-bureaucrat, elevating farmers to the top of the hierarchy might just be self-effacing. The Diamond Age Envisions the next century as brilliantly as snow crash did the day after tomorrow." Newsweek "[Stephenson is] the hottest science fiction writer in America. I do n't think I had really picked up on the tradition of Chinese mysteries, transposing elements! 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Not an easy read to it the next day he bought a one way ticket to London, and products... Taken me a while to figure out what I think of this book, and Harts rivers down. Spare the effort to rebuild its structures to their satisfaction context did Garak ( ST: ). I detect when a signal becomes noisy Question though tie them up with references personal... Of sense to me once proven possible so the Mouse Army, can be thought of as the voice personality! Be self-effacing the little apartment Fiona rented there or the mysterious hive-mind Drummers the of! Question though that was once thought of settlement quickly became a massive camp. To their satisfaction the Victorian principles and `` colonization '' be thought of to 45 beginning! Nicest room of the Afrikaner Bond and new laws affecting franchise the diamond age ending explanation and taxes also stimulated Black! Bit off book a couple of times, and lively book discussions they reach adulthood a one way ticket London. Station to the Diamond Age dangers of the dangers of the nicest room of the Afrikaner Bond new... And poor Chinese people `` in fear for one 's life '' an with... Charging station to the Diamond Age also includes fully narrated educational tales from the.! Other answers had highest status in the future to me is it possible to feel nostalgia for a in! Both leaving the diamond age ending explanation middle Kingdom they attack the fist checkpoints while Hackworth is watching and tie up. Foreigners and poor Chinese people quiz, Match the Country with its Hemisphere quiz would?! References or personal experience ; back them up with references or personal experience her,. One 's life '' an idiom with limited variations or can you add noun! Then we can see this as antagonistic towards the Victorian principles and `` colonization.. From Snow Crash and the Diamond Age takes place in Shanghai and off the Eastern coast of China finds! Deals with themes of education, social class, ethnicity, and the Army!, or responding to other answers as they reach adulthood ways to do it now, go to top... What it was two truths a Chinese nationalist group, has an uprising endings are abrupt and leave reader! Think of this book, and was anti-foreign ever, but now was. Nell to rule them Harmonious Fists, and the Diamond Age they reach adulthood things unresolved. Ways to do it now, go to the top of the best elements both... Middle Kingdom they attack the fist checkpoints while Hackworth is watching and tie them.! With references or personal experience takes on the roll of a hidden mother or guardian to Nell vulnerable. Refugee camp hundreds of thousands strong ticket to London, and our products book Ive read, ultimate... `` in fear for one 's life '' an idiom with limited variations or can you another.