Theodore Sturgeon - Venus Plus X

[jojajihisc]

I just finished this book today and I'll stop short of calling it the best science fiction novel I have ever read in the event my enthusiasm cools after I've had more time to think about it, but this was a great book.

It's the story of a man who wakes up and finds himself in a world he doesn't recognize. The book centers mainly on sex and religion and, in fact, how the two relate. More specifically gender roles are questioned, the notion of raising children by the community is advocated and an entire philosophy is established by the end that is very appealing. There are bits of science, philosophy, art (particularly how music is used by this advanced culture) and history. All of this in just over two hundred pages.

Anybody else ever read this book?

 

[J-Sun]

It was many many moons ago and I've largely forgotten it, except that I recall liking it a great deal. In fact, while most everything Sturgeon wrote was great, whether long or short, my recollected impression is that you could make a case that it was his best novel. Not as famous as More Than Human, but that wasn't precisely a novel, either.

Wish I could say more but I tend to forget even the best stuff over time and a re-reading would be called for.

 

[Pyxis]

I realise this is quite an old thread, but here goes....

Three years ago, I ordered a volume of short stories by Theodore Sturgeon especially after watching an episode titled "A Saucer of Loneliness" on the Twilight Zone. I managed to read the short story with a bit of difficulty, and when I tried to read his other ones I would end up with a throbbing headache, a bit swivel eyed and my mind trailing off to heaven knows where

The sad thing is, I haven't been able to retain much to memory any of his stories and I am left in total wonder as to how the above short story ever came to be successfully adapted for television!

Am I the only one here to get a headache whenever I try to envision Sturgeon's magnificent worlds through his writings?

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I just read this a short while ago. Its ideas about gender are remarkably "modern" for a novel published in 1960. (It's also interesting how Sturgeon alternates the chapters of the main story with chapters describing present day society [circa 1960] and how the sexes relate to each other.)

 

[Fried Egg]

This one's on my to-do list...(as is everything else by Sturgeon I haven't yet read)

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Great author. More Than Human is my fave.

What was the one with the green jewels in?

 

[J-Sun]

What was the one with the green jewels in?

The Dreaming Jewels? (If it's that book but that title doesn't ring a bell, it has a horrible stupidly literal spoiler variant title:

Spoiler

The Synthetic Man

.)

 

[Stephen Palmer]

That's the one!