The Dark Forest

Abstract

The third part, a rush of unchaptered narrative, takes place during the German occupation of Denmark and focuses on Kaj, now a methamphetamine-driven coordinator of samizdat news-sheets. Ib, too, has joined the Resistance but is a shadowy figure , close to cardiac collapse. The brothers both die in 1944: Ib in a hospital respirator and Kaj in Gestapo headquarters. He jumps to his death after having been tortured into submission by a German officer, the exhusband of Kaj’s one-time lover. So far, so gripping, but the fourth part is more remarkable still. It consists of short entries in Ib’s civil war diary during the months when, fascinated by the pain of others, he went AWOL in the Finnish hinterland . In part 1, that war, as seen by Kaj, makes some sense; “Ib’s war” is insane and unendurably beautiful. Arguably, the novel’s structure is further complicated—purists might call it “messed up”—by extras such as hospital case notes, a Gestapo report, philosophical asides (the spirit of Kierkegaard hovers), quotes from the Book of Revelation, fragments of letters , and alarmingly funny poetry. But the writing—intelligent, intense and sensuous —makes all these elements fuse into a compelling, readable whole. Afgrunden is an extraordinary and truly great novel. Anna Paterson Aberdeenshire, UK Cixin Liu. The Dark Forest. Trans. Joel Martinsen. New York. Tor. 2015. 512 pages. Suppose you know with certainty that in four hundred years a cosmic event will obliterate the human race. Suppose, for example, you are a brilliant strategist and former secretary of defense, or a renowned neuroscientist and quantum physicist. You have access to almost limitless resources and are accountable to no one. What would you do? This question drives The Dark Forest, the second novel in Cixin Liu’s celebrated trilogy Remembrance of Earth’s Past and sequel to his Hugo Award–winning The Three-Body Problem (see WLT, Sept. 2015, 63). That novel ended with definitive proof of the far-distant threat and with an event that brings to a permanent halt all fundamental scientific research. The Dark Forest, which plunges right into the ongoing story, tells of the first two of the four centuries before humanity’s demise. Any effort to save humanity will require technological progress, which is hamstrung by the end of science. Efforts are further crippled by familiar human foibles: hubris, vanity, hidden agendas, lust for political capital, warring factions within military and political institutions, and so on. The worsening crisis causes even the most ethical of individuals and institutions to resort to kidnapping , emotional blackmail, and murder. In response, the United Nations chooses four men to constitute “The Wallfacer Project .” Given access to unlimited resources and accountable to no one, these four are charged with devising and implementing plans that, four centuries hence, will prevent the extinction of humanity. But there’s a catch: they must not write down or speak about their true plans; rather, they must become “the world’s perfect liars.” Three of the chosen are luminaries. But the fourth, Luo Ji, is an aimless slacker: a second-rate, opportunistic scientist more reminiscent of, say, Toru Okada, the narrator of Haruki Murakami’s The WindUp Bird Chronicle (1997), than of Liu’s intense characters. Yet this most improbable of protagonists becomes the fulcrum on which the fate of humanity turns. The greatest surprise of The Dark Forest is its emphasis, amid spectacular set pieces and dollops of hard science, on ideas in conflict. Driving these conflicts is the overriding question, Given the certainty of the threat and the scales of space and time Susan Stanford Friedman Planetary Modernisms: Provocations on Modernity Across Time Columbia University Press Susan Stanford Friedman deconstructs and analyzes the idea of modernity as a recurring phenomenon across millennia. By analyzing the works of writers across many times and cultures, Friedman argues that instances of creativity and innovation have occurred throughout history. Hailed as a groundbreaking book in the field of modernist theory, this book is bound to spark intellectual discussion for years to come. Maureen Freely Angry in Piraeus Illus. Rie Iwatake Sylph Editions Maureen Freely is an American who was raised in America, Turkey, and Greece. A...