The Violent Man by AE Van Vogt

[Pratfall II]

Just picked this up... it deals with mind control and totalitarian China... any Van Vogt experts have any thoughts?

 

[Pratfall II]

A bit of the way through this one... it seems like van vogt is taking the piss on himself: the "right man" a personality that must always be right. the main character is captured by the red chinese 6 years after the revolution and put into a strangely easy-going prison where he is made part of an experiment to see if he can be made a true believer in maoism or he will be executed. really fascinating story so far...

 

[antiloquax]

I have read "Tyranopolis" which also deals with totalitarian themes. I enjoyed it. Have not read "The Violent Man".

 

[J Riff]

I remeber it was quite good.

 

[Pratfall II]

it was quite a good book. the main character is just flawed enough to be interesting without losing the reader's sympathy. some good quotes concerning leninist communism. "Marx discovered how a relatively small group of terrorists could take over a state. However, he offered no method whereby the state could ever get rid of the terrorists. And so, communism is now caught in the trap of its own takeover techniques. Like an endlessly repeating computing machine, the system invariably picks the most violent of the intelligentsia for the top positions, and these men then project their psychosis into the society. In order to feel justified, they mercilessly promote the cause of communism, and they can't turn back because the compulsion inside them prods them mercilessly."