‘Embassytown’ by China Mieville was a very difficult and
perplexing read; yet, there was something about it that would not let me
abandon it. Science Fiction has not been
one of my favorite genres in recent years. Complexity of plot and more so the
discomfort of being transported into an alien world, has made me distance
myself from this genre. Embassytown, a sci-fi novel, was no different, but it
held my attention and my interest.
Although I had to re-read several chapters of it, some more than once,
to comprehend what was happening and to decipher meanings of words and phrases
that Mieville coins throughout the novel, I quite enjoyed the challenge this
book offered.
The setting of the novel is Embassytown, a city located on a
remote planet that has been colonized by humans, but continues to be home to
the native Ariekei, an intelligent species who speak a language that expresses
only that which is true or factual. The city is a diplomatic enclave and hosts different
alien life forms including humans, some of who are ‘ambassadors’ as they can
communicate in the Arikei language.
During the course of the novel, however, the Arikei learn to lie, and
develop an addiction to this new language of lies and will resort to extreme
violence if deprived of this new-language stimulus.
The story is from the point of view of Avice, “a human
colonist who has returned to Embassytown after a deep space adventure. She cannot speak the Ariekei language, but is
‘an indelible part of it, having long ago being made a living simile in their
language…a language she cannot speak – but which speaks through her, whether
she likes it or not.” It is on her return
to Embassytown with her linguist husband that the story really begins. Avice, though a facilitator for the ‘ambassadors’,
is not an insider to the developing situation in this diplomatic colony, where
a new speech is being introduced to the Ariekei through a ‘new ambassador’.
What results in the aftermath of the ‘introduction’ is violent, frightening,
and appears unretractable as Arikei society starts falling apart and diplomacy
seems to have fled Embassytown.
Will the Ariekei, who ‘before the humans came didn’t speak
so much….but speak now, or will speak now and be able to say how the city is a pit.....a
vessel on the sea and (they) are fish in it” learn the new language and rise in
revolt against the ambassadors? Will the
language addiction of the Ariekei bring about total destruction of Embassytown?
Will Avice, who belongs as much to the Ariekei as to the human ambassadors,
resolve her moral dilemma and pick a side? These are questions that the author
may or may not answer in the novel. However, Mieville does force these questions into
the mind of the reader, who then faces the ultimate question of 'how important is language to consciousness
and thereby to society?'
This novel is definitely a must-read for sci-fi enthusiasts, but
I would also recommend it to language lovers.
The power of language is very strongly felt as the Ariekei speech-experiment
unfolds. Additionally, Mieville
has carried out a ‘reverse personification’ in his characterization of Avice,
the protagonist and narrator; I've never read/seen anything like this before.
This novel is definitely not an
easy read, but it can't be set aside once you start reading it. It sticks; in fact, it is still resonating in my 'consciousness'.
