The State of the Art by Iain M. Banks

The first ever collection of Iain Banks’s short fiction, this volume includes the acclaimed novella, The State of the Art. This is a striking addition to the growing body of Culture lore, and adds definition and scale to the previous works by using the Earth of 1977 as contrast. The other stories in the collection range from science fiction to horror, dark-coated fantasy to morality tale.

Banks has this unique ability to unflinchingly drop you into disorienting contexts and let you make sense of the alien where most authors would just bombard you with exposition.

“The State of the Art” est le quatrième tome du cycle de la Culture de Iain M. Banks. Il a une particularité : c'est un recueil de nouvelles, le seul parmi les neuf romans qui composent le cycle.

L'ouvrage doit son titre à la nouvelle la plus longue du recueil, et peut-être la meilleure à mes yeux. Les autres nouvelles oscillent entre le bon et l'anecdotique, mais c'est vraiment “The State of the Art” qui donne au recueil tout son intérêt, avec peut-être “Descent” qui sort elle aussi du lot.

L'exercice de “noter” un recueil de nouvelles est toujours délicat, faut-il tenir compte du meilleur, du pire, ou d'une sorte de moyenne des nouvelles qui le composent ? Ici, j'ai choisi de rester sur la forte impression laissée par la nouvelle éponyme du recueil, même si dans l'ensemble le recueil est moins bon que les trois premiers romans du cycle.

A nice little break from the mainline stories. This was a quick and light read, I thought that each short story was interesting and worth the time it took to finish. My favorite three:

1. The State of the Art- The titular novella, it's a neat little easter egg of a story. I can understand the urge to pull the Earth into the Culture Universe but at the same not wanting to impact the tone/canon in a Novel sized tale. I can see a desire for a little more Culture/Contact action, but I really felt gratified by how much Earth is featured, illustrated, and reflected upon. This is a tight story with a thoughtful take on determinism and cultural relativity. I think it's worth it to read the collection just for this story. Nice to get more Sma and Skaffen Amiskaw (Iain Banks really knows what the readers want).

2. Descendant - This is how you write a horror story in 6 pages or less. The prose reminded me of Cormack McCarthy. This is one of the shorter stories in the novel, but I thought it was a head above the rest.

3. Cleaning Up - The most meta story of the bunch, there's even a nod to the Satanic Verses. A foreshadowed ending buried within the agnst and commentary. I thought this the most direct and touching story, at least for me.