The Demolished Man
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| Author | Alfred Bester |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Shasta Publishers (first edition), Vintage (1996 reprint) |
| Released | 1951, 1996 |
| Media Type | Print ( ) |
| Pages | 256 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-679-76781-9 |
The Demolished Man is a 1951 science fiction novel by Alfred Bester, and was the first Hugo Award winner in 1953. This novel is dedicated to H. L. Gold, the editor of Galaxy, who published it and also made a number of suggestions during its writing. Originally Bester wanted the title to be Demolition!, but Gold talked him out of it.
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[edit] Plot introduction
The Demolished Man is a police procedural, set in a world in which telepathy is relatively common; a major plot component is an obsessive tune that the protagonist has in his head to block his thoughts from casual scanning.
[edit] Plot summary
The story takes place in the 24th century in a society where telepaths, formally known as ‘’Espers’’ and colloquially as ‘’peepers’’, help guard peace and order. Espers are classified in three levels, according to ability: Class 3 Espers are the most common, but can only detect conscious thoughts in other people; Class 2 Espers can dig deep into the pre-conscious level, detecting subliminal patterns, epiphanies and tenuous associations; and Class 1 Espers can detect sub-conscious and primitive urges, which sometimes places them at risk. All Espers can talk amongst themselves telepathically and the more powerful Espers can overwhelm their juniors. Telepathic ability is innate and heritable, but can remain latent and undetected in untrained individuals. Once recognized, however, natural aptitude can be developed through instruction and exercise. A guild has been established to improve Espers’ telepathic skills, to set and enforce ethical guidelines for the conduct of Espers in society, and to increase the esper population through intermarriage requirements. Some telepaths object to the Espers’ Guild’s authoritative control.
The story starts with the travails of Ben Reich, the impetuous young owner of Monarch Enterprises, a commercial cartel that has been in the possession of the Reich family for many generations. Monarch is under the threat of a hostile takeover by the D’Courtney cartel, headed by the older Craye D’Courtney. Reich's struggles against his rival exact a toll on his mental health, leading to recurring nightmares in which he is persecuted by a Man With No Face. His frustration leads him to desperation, and after an attempt to engineer a merger or partnership with D’Courtney, Reich decides he must kill D’Courtney. However, the presence of peepers in society has prevented the commission of murder for over 70 years, so Reich devises an elaborate plan to ensure his freedom. If he is caught, Reich will certainly face “Demolition”, a punishment that is only described at the end of the book.
Reich hires an Esper to “run interference” for him, hiding his murderous thoughts from any other peepers present at the scene of the planned crime. Reich has many Class 2 and Class 3 Espers working for him, but for this task he needs to hire a top Class 1 Esper. In a riveting passage in the book, Reich bribes the prominent peeper psychiatrist Gus Tate to serve as his mental bodyguard during the murder. Dr. Tate also helps Reich by stealing information about D’Courtney’s location by peeping an unknowing colleague.
To further conceal his intentions, Reich visits a composer who teaches him a deceivingly simple tune. "'Tenser', said the Tensor; tension apprehension and dissension have begun" proves to be an earworm so catchy that it blocks most Espers from peeping Reich properly. The lyrics in the jingle have become a favourite feature of fans of the book. Finally, Reich secures a primitive, twentieth-century-style handgun and influences a socialite into carrying a game of Sardines at an upcoming party.
The plan is carried out during the game at the party, but not without some unexpected obstacles. D’Courtney’s daughter Barbara witnesses the murder and runs away. She is later found, suffering from severe shock that renders her speechless. As the scene of the crime is secured, the hero of the story emerges.
Lincoln Powell is a Class 1 Esper and police prefect. He is a highly talented man expected to become the next president of the Espers’ Guild. Powell immediately discovers Reich through some cleverly disguised peeping (Reich’s Esper attorney is present at the encounter). However, telepathy is not accepted as evidence in court, and Powell is obliged to assemble the case through the traditional criteria of motive, opportunity and method.
The chase is on, and Reich’s vast resources and careful planning prove to be a match for the top peeper in the city. Finally, both sides center on finding Barbara D’Courtney, though her delicate state makes her an insufficient witness of the crime. While Reich finds her first he is unable to kill her; Powell rescues her, but loses Reich in the process. Pursuit continues across the Solar System, as Reich attempts to escape the police and a series of mysterious assassination attempts, presumably by the Man With No Face. As he learns more, Powell recognises that the forces behind Reich’s crime are larger than anticipated, and he requests the help of all Espers in an attempt to arrest Reich, channeling their collective energy through Powell in a dangerous procedure called Mass Cathexis Measure. Powell narrowly succeeds.
In the end, it is revealed that Reich was the illegitimate son of D’Courtney, and that the hatred Reich had for him was probably due to a latent telepathic knowledge of the fact. Reich's knowledge isn’t explicitly stated but Barbara, Reich’s half-sister, is revealed to be a peeper herself. Once arrested and convicted, Reich is sentenced to the dreaded Demolition, a process in which the upper layers of his personality are stripped away, emptying his mind for re-education. This procedure is used because Bester’s futuristic society recognises the virtues of those who successfully defy the law, and it seeks to salvage those traits while getting rid of the evil consciousness of the criminal.
[edit] Characters in "The Demolished Man"
Bester sought to create equal rivals in his depiction of Ben Reich and Lincoln Powell. Although the figures are not properly balanced, they share qualities that set them apart from their peers. Reich is probably the most intriguing figure. He lacks moral integrity, and is willing to take considerable risks in order to see his wishes carried out. However, he is a very charming figure to many around him, specially at the beginning of the book when his desperation is still in check. His personal mantra is "Make your enemies by choice, not by accident". Throughout the book, the reader may find himself sympathising for Reich as much as for Powell.
Lincoln Powell is said to have a dual personality. Behind the correct role model and perfect cop hides Dishonest Abe, a name that parodies the nickname of Abraham Lincoln. Dishonest Abe usually takes the lead in conversation, and Powell will find himself lying in earnest to anybody for the sake of amusing himself. This characterisation may be somewhat unconvincing, but it serves to represent two things: First, as perhaps the best mind in the planet, Powell finds himself constantly alone and needs to invent games that keep him amused. Secondly, this feature of his character tries to show that both Reich and Powell are exceptional and that people such as them always need to violate the rules of society in order to improve it.
Female characters are somewhat belittled. Most female figures have open interests in either of the two lead males, which undermines their value as individual figures. However, this portrayal of women follows typical pulp literature stereotypes, a style that Bester chose to adopt throughout the book.
Other minor characters are similarly stereotypical, but not without their attractions from an artistic viewpoint. One is Keno Quizzard, a blind albino (a motif which also appears in The Stars My Destination) who is the leader of an underworld organization employing gimpsters (gangsters), and who is hired by Reich to help find Barbara D'Courtney.
Chooka Frood is a classic madam, as corrupt as they come. She keeps a bodyguard (possibly a friend, companion and/or lover) named Magda who has red eyes, laughs continuously, dresses in leather and studs (remarkable for 1951) and is apt to attack at the slightest provocation.
Duffy Wyg& (read as Wygand), who composes the Tenser said the tensor song, is portrayed as the essence of the "modern career woman, the virgin seductress". Again, remarkably for a 1951 SF novel, she seems to crave humiliation or conquest by men, though this kind of character is a staple of film noir, or the hard-boiled detective fiction genre.
[edit] Major themes
[edit] Stylistic methods
Foremost among the interesting stylistic methods that Bester uses are the graphological deviations used to represent the communications between the telepathic characters. Bester utilises a range of graphological layouts to represent how chaotic the human psyche is and how the telepaths have learned to structure their thoughts in order to communicate together on a telepathic level. The telepaths use a variety of different 'patterns' to give their thoughts structure and also for their own entertainment. For example, when a telepathic party begins the thoughts are represented as chaotic and not bound together into a form:
Frankly Canapes? Why
Ellery Thanks delicious yes,
I Mary, they're Tate,
Don't I'm
Think treating
You'll Canapes? D'Courtney.
We Be I
brought Working Expect
Galen For him
along Monarch in
to Much Canapes? town
help him celebrate Longer. shortly.
He's The
just taken his Guild
is exam
just and
about been
to classed
However, once the party is properly structured we see further the group force themselves to play their thoughts into a more cohesive pattern:
Sorry, Lincoln. We weren't party-minded Enough Tate thought Esper but Alan Men I'm Seaver remaining Not that a Pres was ever elected still unmarried
This pattern is called a 'simple basket weave' but there exist others. Math curves, Music and Architectural design are also mentioned in the same passage. The espers in the book also use this technique to play simple logic games but creating puzzles from their patterns. An example of this is a picture built from words of an eyeball floating in a stein to create the camouflaged image of Einstein.
[edit] Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science
The action takes place in a future New York City, one in which a major war has occurred, leaving behind some remarkable features. One location is known as Bomb Inlet, but the most bizarre is an installation called 99 Bastion West Side, a mega-brothel built where a nuclear explosion caused thousands of tons of liquid glass and ceramics to melt in an underground chamber. The result is a multi-colored, singing, solid lake which the owner, Chooka Frood, uses as part of a mystic fortune-telling act. It is here that Barbara D'Courtney is eventually found, in a zombie-like state, participating in the act. The building above is a 3-D maze of odd-sized chambers used variously for vice and for evading pursuit by the authorities.
This combination of low-life characters in wrecked and run-down locations is one of the reasons the novel is regarded as a prototype of the style that later became known as cyberpunk.
On the other side of the coin, there is much hi-tech in evidence, though it is used in comic-book fashion to propel the plot, without regard for long-term consequences. Thus there are fast space-ships, artificial gravity, Neuron Scrambler guns, aerial cars known as Jumpers, force-shields, "temporal phase" technology used to hide a safe, and so on. The weapon used in the murder, however, comes from that most ancient establishment, a seedy pawnshop, run by an ostracized telepath who made the mistake of breaking Guild rules for money offered by Reich.
[edit] External link
- The Demolished Man publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
