Helliconia Spring
長い冬から目覚める惑星ヘリコニアを舞台に、少年ユリとその後に続く人びとの生をたどる壮大なSF小説。二つの太陽がもたらす途方もなく長い季節の変化のなかで、都市オルドランドの興亡、人間とファゴルの対立、遠い地球からの観測が交錯する。
作品情報
何世紀にもわたる季節が、ひとつの惑星の生態と文明の行方を決めていく。
『ヘリコニア』三部作の第一部。厳冬の終わりに人びとが活動を再開する世界を、世代をまたぐ群像と緻密な生態系の描写で描く。地球の観測者たちの視点を織り込み、ある惑星の環境変化が社会、信仰、身体に及ぼす影響を見つめる。
書籍情報
- 出版社
- Jonathan Cape
- 発売日
- 1982-02-25
- ページ数
- 361ページ
- 言語
- 英語
- ISBN-13
- 9780224018432
- ISBN-10
- 0224018434
- 価格
- 21419 JPY
- カテゴリ
- 洋書/Science Fiction & Fantasy/Science Fiction
This is the first volume of the Helliconia trilogy - a monumental saga which goes beyond anything yet created by this master among today's imaginative writers. An entire solar system is revealed, and with a world disturbingly reflective of our own, Helliconia: an Earth-like planet where dynasties change with the seasons. In the beginning, a solitary lad, Yuli, sets out from the icy barriers after his father has been captured by phagors. It is winter, the centuries-long Helliconian winter. Yuli enters the priesthood of an underworld where darkness is holy and holiness has power over individuals. He learns of warrior mystics called Keppers and of an even more secret elite, the lascivious Takers. Through trials and wonders, he worked his way back to the world of the day to found a city called Oldorando, where his descendents recall his name because he rejected his faith in favour of his people. Later in the history of Oldorando, Aoz Roon enters the picture - a leader with a dark past; Shay Tal, a sorceress who is his loving adversary; young Laintal Ay, who alters the course of history, and many other memorable characters. Again we encounter the phagors, that beats-species which is man's unalterable rival. Over the years, phagor armies cross a continent to conquer Oldorando - an Oldorando now in the grip of violent change, as winter yields to brilliant spring. Events and characters and animals stream across the pages of this gigantic novel. Cosmic in scope, it keeps an eye lovingly on the humans involved. So the 5,000 inhabitants of the Earth's observation station above Helliconia keep their eyes trained on the events of Oldorando and may long ot intervene though the dangers are too great. So we on Earth have them all in our vision in one of the most consuming and magnificent novels of scientific romance.
Brian Aldiss began his enormously successful career as a bookseller in Oxford before becoming Literary Editor of the Oxford Mail. His two outspoken and best-selling novels, The Hand-Reared Boy and A Solider Erect, established his reputation, which was soon enhanced by a psychedelic novel of European dimensions, Barefoot in the Head. He is also the author of a Gothic adventure, Frankenstein Unbound, a space opera, The Eighty-Minute Hour, a remarkable opus entitled The Malacia Tapestry and an epic extravaganza illustrated by Mike Wilks, Pile. But his fame, built up over many years, is as one of the most innovative, prolific and popular writers of science fiction of our day. His most recent books in this field have been Last Orders and Other Stories; Enemies of the System, which Anthony Burgess described in the Observer as 'rich, allusive, full of real people and unfailingly interesting'; New Arrivals, Old Encounters and Moreau's Other Island. Now Brian Aldiss has gone beyond the normal parameters of science fiction. Helliconia Spring is the first volume of a gigantic new odyssey, introducing an entire planetary system: to use the term coined by H. G. Wells, a magnificent 'scientific romance'.
レビュー
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Best sci fi world ever created
I first read the Helliconia books many years ago in a second-hand paperback, since it was out of print by then. The main character in these books is not a person, but a planet. The author presents an incredibly detailed picture of that planet and its inhabitants as the struggle to survive over thousands of years in which living conditions go from extreme to extreme. Helliconia is a planet that orbits a moderately warm star, that in turn orbits a hot companion whose comings and goings results in conditions on the planet going from freezing cold to unbearably scorching hot over a thousands of years. During the centuries long winter humans survive as best they can under ground, and then re-emerge in the "spring" to struggle against a powerful but primitive non-human race who rule the winter but then give way when warmth returns and allows humans to flourish again. Physics, biology, anthropology, psychology and politics are all in play as humans first struggle against their non-human adversaries, and then each other. The only sci fi series that comes close to Helliconia is Dune, another of my favorites, but I'd argue that between the two this is far deeper and broader in scope. One intriguing theme is the loss and recovery of knowledge among the humans over each cycle and how it impacts the individuals the story follows (one of the most vivid examples of this involves the astronomical discoveries by the brilliant and headstrong Vry, whose survival in hostile times could determine the future of scientific development on her world). As the first in the series, Helliconia Spring is a good place to start immersing yourself in this world -- something I'd encourage you to do,
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When does it get interesting?
A rather lenghty and rather boring first volume. Everything takes place in the dark, under the snow for hundred of pages. I was unable to finish it and will certainly not get the two other volumes...
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It is a wonderful piece of writing
I have read this twice before in hard copy - the first time over thirty years ago. It is a wonderful piece of writing. Forget all the magic swords, elfin princesses etc that other writers offer. This is a real world, beautifull conceived, and the whole story is gradually unveiled in a masterly fashion. Aldiss is one of the greats and this whole trilogy is wondrous. It's a shame the scoring won't allow 6 stars
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Two Stars
Just couldn't connect with the story. Choppy story line and little character development.
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Brilliant - in its time
I had the trilogy, I think. Meant to read it when I was a teenager, but time passes, and I thought it was time for me to catch up. Read the Winter one, marvelled at some of the things in there, but got terribly bored once we got into spring. I gave up with it in the end. It's very long....
関連する文学賞
- 英国SF協会賞 第14回（1982年） ・受賞