Martin MacInnes<\/strong>. This 2023 novel surprises with a vision that draws directly on science fiction tropes, delving first into the vast ocean and then exploring the Solar System.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
If one thing stands out in this novel, it is undoubtedly the powerful need for connection between people and our planet. Leigh Hasenbosch grows up in Rotterdam and finds refuge from her unhappy childhood in the water. As an adult, she works as a marine biologist and takes part in a project to explore the ocean floor; from there, step by step, she joins a space mission. Put like that, it might sound strange, but the novel is superbly written: it is atmospheric, brimming with brilliantly evoked details, never sacrificing the realistic authenticity of lived experience, yet at the same time capturing a sense of strangeness that hints at the true depths of what we still do not understand about life. It immerses us completely in the story told by MacInnes without making us question a thing.<\/p>\n
As the Booker Prize judges put it: \u201cIn this strange and wonderful world, every outward journey \u2013 whether to space or the depths of the ocean \u2013 is an inward one, as Leigh seeks to move beyond her troubled childhood. In Ascension is a Solaris for the climate-change age.\u201d This comparison with Stanis\u0142aw Lem\u2019s book is no coincidence. The author himself, Martin MacInnes, said: \u201cI\u2019m happy to call In Ascension SF, even if it risks disappointing some readers who might bring narrower expectations to the genre. I see it as an unlimited genre, a platform for going anywhere. Stanislaw Lem, for instance, is a canonical SF writer, but the breadth of experimentation and achievement in his novels is just astonishing, exhilarating. An SF novel can be as high-brow as any other genre, can have strong characters and be filled with beautiful writing.\u201d<\/p>\n
During our session, we will analyse MacInnes\u2019s novel in depth and attempt to answer some of the following questions (please note that some of them contain spoilers regarding the plot of the novel):<\/p>\n
– How does MacInnes\u2019s use of the Gaia hypothesis (the Earth as a single self-regulating organism) influence the novel\u2019s ending and Leigh\u2019s journey?<\/p>\n
– In what way does the book challenge the traditional boundaries between science fiction and climate fiction, or is it both at the same time?<\/p>\n
– What is the significance of the circular motifs that appear in the book (for example, Datura, the spaceship, the sea turtles and the salmon returning to spawn)?<\/p>\n
– How do Leigh and Helena\u2019s differing perspectives on the abuse they suffered in their childhood influence the way the reader perceives the family dynamics?<\/p>\n
– What role does the mysterious entity Datura play in the plot? Is it an alien lure, a human artefact from the future, or something entirely different?<\/p>\n
– MacInnes deliberately leaves many scientific questions unanswered; do you feel this ambiguity enriches or frustrates the reading experience?<\/p>\n
– In what way does the mysterious propulsion technology known as \u2018the power\u2019 (which fails when observed) serve as a metaphor for the limits of human understanding?<\/p>\n
– Does the element of time travel (crossing the heliopause) suggest that the crew returned to the past to seed life on Earth, or to a different point in Earth\u2019s future?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
London: Atlantic Books, 2024 496 pages 9781838956271 On June, 8th we will bring this season\u2019s series of Donostia Book Club discussions to a close with another book from the Booker Prize longlist: In Ascension by Martin MacInnes. This 2023 novel surprises with a vision that draws directly on science fiction tropes, delving first into the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":24540,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eleberria"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogak.donostiakultura.eus\/liburu-dantza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogak.donostiakultura.eus\/liburu-dantza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogak.donostiakultura.eus\/liburu-dantza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogak.donostiakultura.eus\/liburu-dantza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogak.donostiakultura.eus\/liburu-dantza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24538"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogak.donostiakultura.eus\/liburu-dantza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24549,"href":"https:\/\/blogak.donostiakultura.eus\/liburu-dantza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24538\/revisions\/24549"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogak.donostiakultura.eus\/liburu-dantza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogak.donostiakultura.eus\/liburu-dantza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogak.donostiakultura.eus\/liburu-dantza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogak.donostiakultura.eus\/liburu-dantza\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}