Feersum Endjinn

Förchtbar machinery ( original title Feersum Endjinn ) is a science fiction novel by the Scottish writer Iain M. Banks. The English original was first published in 1994, the German translation in 2000. It is Banks ' second SF novel that does not belong to the culture cycle.

Action

The action takes place in a distant future of planet Earth. The upload of the conscious human mind in a global computer network, which is referred to as "data body ", " crypto- sphere " or " crypt " is everyday practice and enables the reincarnation of the deceased. However, it has become customary to allow only a limited number of reincarnations.

The technical background knowledge of humanity has been lost here to a considerable extent, as a large proportion of the species has left the planet and those who remained (or at least their rulers ) to fight against other technology advances, for example in the field of artificial intelligence.

However, approaches the solar system of an interstellar molecular cloud, which is a Grand eclipse (original Encroachment ) known. It threatens a blockage of sunlight that would wipe out all life on Earth. Called the diaspora of humanity, has left the earth and the solar system behind a long time ago, but has left a device ( the Förchtbar machinery of the title), which purports to be a solution to this problem. The four main characters of the book, however, do not meet each other until shortly before the end of the story are, in different ways, involved in the attempts to activate the Förchtbar machinery.

A quarter of the book is told from the young narrator Bascule, the "Mediator " ( Bascule the Teller) in phonetic spelling. This is explained with a reading and spelling disorder Bascule, who writes in the German translation Baskül. For the first time occurs Bascule on the fourth chapter of Part 1 of the novel, which begins in the original as follows:

" Woak up Got Dresd. Had brekfast. Spoke wif Ergates thi ant who sed itz juss been Wurk Wurk Wurk 4 u lately master Bascule, Y dont u ½ a holiday? & I Agreed & that woz how We decided we otter go 2 c Mr Zoliparia in thi I- ball ov thi gargoyle Rosbrith. "

Horst Pukallus and Michael K. Iwoleit translate this as in the German edition:

" W8e on. Zoch at me. Aas frühschdük. Unterhield with ant Agathe S8E me: zeid In ledzder you hazd only xocht xocht xocht meizder Baskül why you lekzd nüch xn free tach 1? Ish gave her räschd so came unz the ide mr. Solo pariah in augappel dec Rosbrith - mammuments to visit. "

Reception

Christopher Palmer wrote in an essay in Science Fiction Studies, that the novel is not apocalyptic, even if it threatens the extinction of life on earth; who told Bascule parts give Feersum Endjin loud Palmer a " wonderful lightness and airiness ." As in the Hyperion books by Dan Simmons is "the feeling of space turned from its conventional axis".

The review magazine Kirkus Reviews calls the novel a " exceptional, often brilliantly inventive Odyssey", but ultimately comes to the conclusion that it did not make sense.

Feersum Endjinn won the British Science Fiction Association Award for best novel of the year 1994. Their German translation for Horst Pukallus and Michael K. received Iwoleit 2001 Kurd - Laßwitz price.

Expenditure

• Feersum Endjinn Orbit, London 1994. ISBN 1-85723-235-6 ( first edition )
• Förchtbar machinery. Heyne, München 2000. ISBN 3-453-15660-9 ( German edition )