EXCESSION discussion (The Culture group read)

   

Diplomat Byr Genar-Hofoen has been selected by the Culture to undertake a delicate and dangerous mission. The Department of Special Circumstances--the Culture's espionage and dirty tricks section--has sent him off to investigate a 2,500-year-old mystery: the sudden disappearance of a star fifty times older than the universe itself. But in seeking the secret of the lost sun, Byr risks losing himself.

There is only one way to break the silence of millennia: steal the soul of the long-dead starship captain who first encountered the star, and convince her to be reborn. And in accepting this mission, Byr will be swept into a vast conspiracy that could lead the universe into an age of peace...or to the brink of annihilation.

This thread is for the discussion of Excession, the fifth book set in the Culture universe.

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The Culture group read: Wiki page | Organisational thread

Ok, I'm jumping in to the next Culture read on the list after quite a hiatus. I must say - I feel quite overwhelmed by description. I'm vaguely remembering how hard I found Excession in the past - Dajeil just annoys / bores me, although I also recall that if I grit my teeth through her the ships are sheer delight. I'll apologise to my dentist later.

...and sure enough, once past Dajeil's opening chapter, Excession offers the usual blend of darkness, humour and wry commentary that makes the Culture novels a success. I do have a small axe forming that may need grinding later, but I'm going to leave it in the woodshed for now as I trust Banks may yet resolve my issue before I get to the end.

Following on from my thoughts that the first three books gave us the Culture (and specifically Contact / SC) from the outside, the second finally put us into the heart of Contact. State of the Art gave us Contact (ship and agents) exploring Earth; Excession finally gives us ships (lots of them!) and Contact agents as protagonists in a full-length book (because Sma wasn't a major character in Use of Weapons; she was a supporting role).

And when you see them at work, isn't it a wonder the Culture ever gets anything done?

I believe Excession was my second Banks novel, first Contact novel, and it remains a favourite. Won't be reading along but definitely worth a re-read at some point.

And when you see them at work, isn't it a wonder the Culture ever gets anything done?

By them are you referring to Contact, the ships, or both? I vaguely recalled extended discussion among ships and agents as to what should or should not be done, so suspect you mean both. My vague recollection is that Special Circumstances more than makes up for such vacillating: they are decisive and efficacious, and often morally ambiguous at best.

The willingness of individual ships or drones (often sniffed at as rogue or eccentric) to just go do stuff is also a great catalyst.

So my third reading of Excession leaves the score at a close-run draw, which is clever after three readings.

I hated it on first reading, no doubt in part because several friends had talked it up as their favourite Culture novel, and it did nothing for me. Hype isn't helpful. I revisited it a few years ago, however, having become a regular visitor to the Culture in the meantime, and loved it. Call it one all. Yet on this reading I could see all the reasons I disliked it first time around, and found the positives only just balancing them out. So it's a draw after all, and I'll hesitate to revisit it in future I suspect.

So what are my issues with it? Fundamentally, the humans. I could go on about the women in particular and even suggest that I'm starting to suspect I've got fundamental issues with Banks depiction of female characters in the Culture novels in general (for an egalitarian society, female characters are - to this point in the series - restricted to supporting roles; flighty; hapless; self-absorbed; or not part of the Culture and thus subjected to rape, torture and ignominy in book after book - the Affront being another casual perpetrator of offences against their womenfolk) - but I'm clear-sighted enough to spot that I don't like his menfolk either (who are equally flighty and self-absorbed, as well arrogant and responsible for that raping and torturing). But I don't believe Banks was a misogynist, any more than I believe that he hated humanity; the Culture itself is his answer to that and the flightiness that so annoys me is a natural extension of a civilisation so utterly wedded to hedonism.

But back to Excession - I simply couldn't get along with Lady Dajeil of Sulk or queen of self-absorption Ulver, and Byr Genar-Hofoen has to be the least likeable male lead to date. I'd have cheerfully skipped their chapters entirely, and while the Dajeil/Byr storyline provides an interesting insight into the obsessions, ego and morality of a GSV Mind, it's arguably better fodder for a short story than the material for half a fairly substantial book - whereas Ulver feels like she somehow escaped Clueless and hid in the draft when nobody was looking. I preferred the light relief offered by drones in previous novels - I'm not so good with irritating teenagers ;) Perhaps I should just be glad that the first trilogy held itself so firmly outside the Culture, showing us the civilisation from the outside through eyes that I could relate to - rather than through characters I find myself despising and reading through gritted teeth.

The only interesting aspect of the human storylines for me (which I'm serious; I'll just skip in any future read - especially Alicia Silverstone Ulver Seich) was the denouement of the Dajeil Gelian / Byr Genar-Hofoen plot. After 40 years of pregnant sulking, Dajeil finally has the opportunity to see her former lover and is unexpectedly reluctant to do so. The slow reveal of the Dajeil/Byr storyline makes it clear that he didn't just abandon her; nor did he just cheat on her - she assaulted him when he was in female form, and sort-of pregnant, nearly killing him and resulting in the death of Byr's baby. Byr leaves, and Dajeil then puts her own pregnancy and life on hold for the next 40 years - sulking, as some observers suggest, or possibly wallowing in remorse, or traumatised and hoping for Byr's return to achieve some sort of closure. Either way, I find 2 things intriguing in that they're whispered rather than shouted through the narrative: Dajeil would have killed Byr permanently, as it becomes clear at the end of the book that Byr has never been backed up and lives on the principle of only getting one shot at life (and Dajeil was aware of this when she stabbed him) and they lost their second baby. In facing a second death, Byr does in fact come to terms with that assault, and in facing her own death (and losing control of her pregnancy), Dajeil comes to terms with giving birth at last; both are able to move on. These very human notes are quieter refrains of pathos that cut across the huge operatic chaos going on ship-to-ship around the Excession, and are almost at odds with the portrayal of humanity in general whilst offering something more recognisable in its tragedy. I sort of hate myself a bit for even thinking that, but there you go.

All of which also makes the Sleeper Service's actions make more sense - it feels responsible; it's not just playing God, it's trying to make amends (and not necessarily to Dajeil) - and it can't take its sensors off the human action even while it tries to figure out what to do with the Excession.

So I can respect the outcome of the human story, but oh, I didn't enjoy the journey.

Happily, however, there are the Minds.

Here we get politics, acerbity, convoluted ethics, self-reflection, poetry, horror and glimpses into the intellectual hierarchies at play within the Culture. We get to see how the Mind reflects the type of ship it is housed within, and the many cliques, clubs and committees within Contact and Special Circumstances. Intellectual snobberies that have previously been suspected but not mentioned come to light (such as meat as a Mind swear word, and the explicit reference - by the Grey Area, probably, I forget - to a human mind simply not being as important as a Mind). It's fascinating stuff, and watching the ethics and the mind games (no pun intended) is by far the most interesting show in town. As noted above, this is all about Contact / SC from the inside - working for and against itself - and exploring the very intriguing question of whether the Culture is only good because it hasn't had the opportunity (or the temptation) to be bad.

Lucky humanity, allowed to play in a future they long since abrogated all responsibility for, because - thankfully - their ancient creations have souls and consciences (of sorts; here we see that even the Minds are far from incorruptible, and that one Mind's necessary outcome is another's black-souled conspiracy). The distinctions between one Mind's conscience and another's (most notably the Attitude Adjuster, the Killing Time, the Grey Area and the Sleeper Service) are fascinating, as are the carefully drawn lines of their monumental egos. The Sleeper Service keeps Dajeil aboard in a sense because it is playing God (although only in a sense, as noted above) - however much it shies away from direct interference (which it can afford to do, without any real time constraints). The Grey Area plays God far more directly, sampling the minds of entire planets to pass judgement on uncontacted wrongdoers.

I'll admit to struggling to keep track of which Mind was part of what conspiracy, but... I'm only basic human.

...all of which is, frankly, fabulous. So I might revisit this again in future, and just skip every chapter from a human POV ;)

As an aside, I'll admit to finding the general commentary on the Affront (and their foreign policy and diplomacy) entertaining, however much the aside about their womenfolk annoyed me. You have to love the aridity of Mr Banks' humour sometimes!