Doorways in the Sand
by
Roger Zelazny
240 pages
(first published March 1976)
ISBN: 006100328X
(ISBN13: 9780061003288)
Edition Language: English
Literary Awards:
Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel (1976), Nebula Award Nominee for Best Novel (1976), Locus Award Nominee for Best Novel (1976)
My rating: 4,5 estrellas de 5
The hot sands had shouted them through me all afternoon, then night's
frigid breezes had whispered the motto at the overdone lamb chop, my
ear: “You are a living example of the absurdity of things.”
Se dice que Zelazny escribió esto sin hacerle rectificaciones. Contiene aliens, referencias literarias varias, surrealismo bordeando en la sátira, prosa hermosa por momentos, visos de género detectivesco, y, claro está, fantasía.
(O, bien podria decirse que es: Como Zelazny Re-escribió Alicia a Través del Espejo ... o su versión estereoisómerica, con un pequeño twist)
Fred Cassidy es lo que conocemos como el "eterno estudiante", ese sujeto que esta en casi todas las universidades que no parece tener ningun interés en graduarse. Bueno, en el caso de Fred esto es más que deliberado, porque, verán, su tio (en criogenia) dejó en su fideicomiso que Fred tendrá dinero *hasta* que se gradue. Si, ya comprenden su dilema, asi que se las ha ingeniado para no hacerlo por 13 años, saltando de un área a otra por diferentes cursos, sin llegar a completar lo requerido para obtener un título.
Como su seudoconsejero, el Doctor Merimee, le dice:
“You are one of the few successful persons I know.”
“Me? Why?”
“You know precisely what you are doing and you do it well.”
“But I don't really do much of anything.”
“And of course the quantity means nothing to you, nor the weight others place upon your actions. In my eyes, that makes you a success.”
“Me? Why?”
“You know precisely what you are doing and you do it well.”
“But I don't really do much of anything.”
“And of course the quantity means nothing to you, nor the weight others place upon your actions. In my eyes, that makes you a success.”
Su relajada existencia se va a... allá mismo... cuando se ve amenazado por sujetos truculentos preguntando por el paradero de la piedra-estrella. ¿Qué es la piedra estrella? Cuando la Tierra pasó a entrar en contacto con los extraterrestres estos recurrieron a un antiguo sistema para asegurar la buena voluntad entre los nativos: intercambio de regalos er intercambio de rehenes .... o en este caso, fue un intercambio de iconos valiosos. La Mona Lisa y las Joyas de la Corona inglesa a cambio de la piedra estrella y la máquina Rhennius.
Fred no sabe de lo que le hablan, y asi pasa a ser parte de persecuciones, situaciones peliagudas (pun intended), escalamientos, burros telépatas...
“How were you to protect me?”
“By keeping you inconspicuous—”
“With a donkey following me around? Who briefed you, anyway?”
“I am aware of my prominence in this guise. I was about to explain that my task was to provide for your mental silence. As a telepath, I am capable of dampening your thought noises. It has not really been necessary, however, in that alcohol deadens them considerably. Still, I am here to shield you against premature betrayal of your position to another telepath.”
“What other telepath?”
“To be more honest than may be necessary, I do not know.
...reflexiones, y hasta podria decirse que una historia sobre la llegada a la adultez.
Insidious. Delightful. Morals galore, in a strict philosophical sense. This is what education is all about. Were it not for my dear, stiff Uncle Albert and President Eliot, I might have been denied such experiences and the light they constantly shed on my own condition
Es un cuento muy ingenioso desde el punto de vista del lenguaje. Hay física y química incorporados. Posibles teorías del ser. Y de la burocracia.
Las referencias a «Alicia a través del Espejo» abundan:
“They are doodlehums.”
“Doodlehums?”
“Antisocial individuals, intentional circumventors of statutes.”
+
+
“Doodlehums?”
“Antisocial individuals, intentional circumventors of statutes.”
+
Rick
began to laugh.
“Is
it true about you being a night climber?” Paul said.
“Sometimes,”
I said, feeling a peculiar gulf opening between us. That damned
sheepskin was already taking its toll. “Yeah, it's true.”
“That's
great,” he said. “That's really great. I've always wanted to meet
the real Fred Cassidy — the climber.”
“I'm
afraid you have,” I said.
+
I was going to go under again, I knew.
+
I felt the soft blackness brush like the tail of a passing cat against me.
I had obviously touched on a delicate area, especially in light of the recency of their initial contact with Earth. Ragma kept insisting that if they chose one of the exceptions as controlling and removed me on that basis, their legal department would back them up. If it ever actually came to a point where an adjudication became necessary and they were reversed, he felt that he and Charv would not be held especially liable for their interpretation of the law, in that they were field operatives rather than trained legal personnel. Charv, meanwhile, maintained that it was obvious that none of the exceptions applied and that it would be even more obvious what they had done.
+
Curiouser and curiouser. I would simply have to do it again to see what happened next. I straightened, gripped the line with my knees, began to redirect my errant arc.
+
“Hell, for all I know they may be the police.”
“Toasting the Queen that way?”
“Could be their old alma maters Homecoming Queen. I don't know. I'd just as soon no one knew I'm back till I've learned more and done more thinking.”
+
“Toasting the Queen that way?”
“Could be their old alma maters Homecoming Queen. I don't know. I'd just as soon no one knew I'm back till I've learned more and done more thinking.”
+
From the sill, an orange cat blinked at me in yellow— eyed appraisal, then closed her eyes.
+
Since I did not know how long I would be a Spiegelmensch, I wanted to provide against malnutrition, if this were a real danger
+
And I began thinking of the pieces of myself, scattered all over, from dronehood to raisinhood and thereafter. Was it worth it to stalk the mirror? I wondered. I had never really tried. But then—
+
“I'm always being misunderstood,” I said. “It is the burden of an honest man in a world of knaves.
+
Nothing I had ever come across in my checkered study of man and his manifold ways seemed of assistance at that moment.
President Eliot, we got problems.
Las aluciones a reflejos, inversiones, espejos, con montones de juegos de palabras lo convierten en un juego que pronto empieza a disfrutarse, los aliens, y el humor absurdo todo da mucha vibra a Alicia a traves del espejo , y parece ser un homenaje a Carroll en toda su extensión. SPOILER en serio. <spoiler----------> Cuando Fred se refiere a que no cree en coincidencias, y luego se conoce lo que es la piedra-estrella, nos damos cuenta que no ha sido más que un peón en un juego, donde al parecer el tio es el Rey Rojo que lo ha guiado por todo este camino desde enviarlo a adquirir conocimientos casi a los hombre del renacimiento en un montón de temas, y como llega el Speicus a sus manos, y a donde terminará abriendole paso en su negocio de exportaciones-importaciones por toda la galaxia.<-----------------------spoiler>
-Tenemos de nuevo muchos temas de Zelazny de si somos quienes controlamos nuestro destino <spoiler------>y su ¿obsesión? por la Inmortalidad<<--------------spoiler>
-Tenemos de nuevo muchos temas de Zelazny de si somos quienes controlamos nuestro destino <spoiler------>y su ¿obsesión? por la Inmortalidad<<--------------spoiler>
Notas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portmanteau
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estereoisomer%C3%ADa
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camino_del_Ser
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_William_Eliot#Legacy
http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias/2014/07/140730_ciencia_gato_de_cheshire_cuantico_np
Muchas gracuas por nominarme, Giselle, en un par de dias me pongo con eso para responder las preguntaas :)
ResponderEliminar