Dr. Paul Linebarger, aka Cordwainer Smith

Cats, cruelty and children

Idealism and morality in the Instrumentality of Mankind

[I found this article in the WayBack Machine, no current links for attrbution, so my apologies in advance for once again simply repurposing* content I find appropriate and essential for Sun Pop Blue.—kb]

"The Lords of the Instrumentality who are here on Fomalhaut III. There is the Lord Femtiosex, who is just and without pity ... There is the Lady Goroke ... who has shown kindnesses to underpeople, as long as the kindnesses were lawful ones. And there is the Lady Arabella Underwood, whose justice no man can understand." ["The Dead Lady of Clown Town", Cordwainer Smith]

The science-fiction writings of Cordwainer Smith consist of some twenty-odd short stories and two novels, which chart the history of an evolving civilisation over some fifteen thousand years. The history is internally consistent, and each story contributes to a coherent picture of the technological, social and spiritual development of the future described.

In real life, Smith was Dr Paul Linebarger, Professor in Asiatic Studies at Johns Hopkins university and colonel in US military intelligence, accomplished linguist and foreign policy adviser to the state department. His writing style, partly inspired by Chinese narrative techniques, more closely resembles poetry than the conventional dry prose of science-fiction, and his stories are dense with literary and historical references and more or less complex linguistic puns. Running through the entire work is a consistent morality and outlook, whose principal themes recur again and again in stories often written many years apart.

The broad outlines of Smith's future civilisation can be briefly sketched. Travel between the stars and the consequent expansion of human culture through the universe is made possible by the invention of 'planoforming' ships that travel faster than light, and by the development of novel systems to protect their passengers and crew against the dangers of space. In this new interstellar culture, true humans live lives of privileged ease, while work is done by robots and by 'underpeople', animals genetically modified to have near-human intelligence and form. Over it all presides the Instrumentality, a benign but absolute dictatorship composed of a ruling nobility who use their technological and telepathic powers to maintain the status quo and to dispense an abstract and dispassionate justice. It is against this background that the principal themes of Smith's stories - love, courage, cruelty, hope, innocence, belief - are played out.

*Repurposing: dot-com-speak for outright theivery.

From the WomenSing website: "Believing that music is transformative and enlightening for both singer and listener alike, WomenSing is devoted to the study and performance of great choral repertoire and to sharing it with a broad audience."

The evening's repertory did not disappoint, ranging from Vivaldi's Beatus Vir to Haydn's String Quartet in Eb Major to the Snow Birds—Words by Sri Ananda Acharya (born 1883 to the Brahmin caste, later renouncing the world and settling in Norway) and music by Michael Head (1900-1976). The lyrics for the song cycle came from an early edition of Sri Ananda's poetry, entitled "The Snow Birds."

The lyrics to "Only A Singing Bird" I found particularly wonderful.

I am not God nor His messenger.
I am only a singing bird.
I am not Poet nor his Muse.
I am only a singing bird.
I am not Prophet.
I am not Sage—
I am only a singing bird. 

I fly in the heav'ns across the seas.
And come to sing at thy door.
Each dawn when the morning God
smiles on the ocean,
Each eve when the twilight God
sings at earth's end,
Each night when the God of thy heart
sits in silence alone with the God of my heart.
I am only a singing bird.

La Danse, by Henri Matisse

My old friend, Jon Carroll, of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote the following column a while back. I was just going to quote it, but it is such a good read (and so hard to find) I think I'll just steal the whole thing.

Chronicle Books published a collection of Jon's columns a few years back, Near-Life Experiences. I will tell you this: his column "How To Drive In Indonesia" is worth the price of the book alone. I have read it so many times over the years, laughing out loud starting about the third paragraph and on through the rest of the piece.

In the eighties, I used to see Jon at the M&M Tavern, at the bar, stack of magazines and papers, a drink, a pack of cigarettes and an ashtray arrayed around him, deep in concentration, reading, working. He hates me to say things like this, but he was a true hero of mine in my youth, along with David Bowie, Keith Richards, Iggy Pop, columnist Herb Caen, and, of course, Kojak.

Herewith Jon's Matisse column: 

If you're going to read only one thousand-page book about a French artist this year, make it "The Unknown Matisse," by Hilary Spurling, in two volumes, winner of many awards, filled with big fun, poverty, struggle, scandal and lots of paintings. Cast of hundreds, many of them famous. Can't miss.

I do want to direct your attention to the color plates in the first volume, particularly plate No. 6. The caption reads: "The Dinner Table,' 1896-97. (100 x 131 cm.) The first in a long line of Matisse's works to outrage the public at the annual Paris salons; the other three remained too disturbing to show to anyone except friends in private."

Oh my; it's those naughty French artists again, free and zany in Montmartre, painting things to shock the bourgeoise. And what could it be? It is a woman arranging flowers at a dinner table. The woman is fully clothed. The food on the table is mostly fruit, including pears and lemons. The painting is, if not precisely representational, entirely uncryptic -- a plate looks like a plate, a chair looks like a chair, a wine decanter looks like a wine decanter. There are no disemboweled rabbits, watches floating in space, great smeary bits of color, glued-on bits of hair and fingernails -- nothing like that.

The Manual at www.instrumentality.com.

I had the classic book on the science, art, craft ... the mojo required to produce a Number One Hit in Great Britain, The Manual (on how to get a #1 hit the easy way), on my website, instrumentality.com, for many years. It was the only the only thing people came to look at, I think. And then a couple people asked for pdf's of the book within a week. I suggested they do the right thing and buy the damn book. And then,

the lightbulb went on. 

"Why not get a commission from Amazon?"

So I took the book down & linked to the book through the affiliate thing. Now I realize there are no copies available. Soooooo ... I've put this treasure back online.

I'm sorry for violating copyright. I am sorry for stealing from the KLF. But I secretly believe they know the extent of my crimes. And are smiling.

My intro from the site: 

With all due respect to the copyright notices below, Instrumentality presents The KLF's "The Manual" on how to get a number one hit in England. This document is as insightful, if not moreso, into the workings of the music business and the making of songs as any other texts we've ever encountered.

Essential for anybody interested in music, or the music business, or looking for a good reason to get out of the music business.

And herewith a few excerpts from the masterpiece:

firstly, you must be skint and on the dole. anybody with a proper job or tied up with full time education will not have the time to devote to see it through. also, being on the dole gives you a clearer perspective on how much of society is run. if you are already a musician stop playing your instrument. even better, sell the junk. it will become clearer later on but just take our word for it for the time being. sitting around tinkering with the portastudio or musical gear (either ancient or modern) just complicates and distracts you from the main objective. even worse than being a musician is being a musician in a band. real bands never get to number one - unless they are puppets.

if you are in a band you will undoubtedly be aware of the petty squabbles and bitching that develops within them. this only festers and grows proportionately as the band gets bigger and no band ever grows out of it. all bands end in tantrums, tears and bitter acrimony. the myth of a band being gang of lads out "against" the world (read as "to change", "to shag" or "to save the world") is pure wishful thinking to keep us all buying the records and reading the journals. mind you, it's a myth that many band members want to believe themselves.

so if in a band, quit. get out. now.