Sputnik Caledonia
Sputnik Caledonia (2008) is a book by Andrew Crumey for which he received the Northern Rock Foundation Writer's Awardprior to publication. It tells the story of a Scottish boy who wants to become a spaceman,takes partin a mission to a black hole in a parallel communist Scotland, and later returns to the real world. The work is divided into three parts, with the central second part in the parallel universe being predominantly serious in tone, while the other two parts are shorter and more humorous. The title, with its reference to the Russian Sputnik program and Caledonia (Engl. Caledonia), the Latin-Celtic name for Scotland, suggests a Scotland as a Soviet satellite state .
Summary
- part One
Robbie Coyle, nine at the beginning of the book, lived in Kenzie in Scotland's Central Belt in the early 1970s. He dreams of going into space; but due to his father's anti-American and pro-Russian stance, he would rather be a cosmonaut than an astronaut, which is why he is learning Russian. He found the Eastern European radio station Voice of the Red Star on an old radio receiver , imagined it was a telepathic signal from another star, and wanted to be brought to this planet.
- part two
Nineteen-year-old Robert Coyle lives in the British Democratic Republic - a communist state that was formed after the Nazi occupation of Scotland in the Great Patriotic War - and enters the "Installation", a secret military base in Scotland, to take part in a space mission to participate. A strange new object, presumably a black hole, has been discovered in the solar system and the volunteers are asked to telepathically explore it. Robert only vaguely remembers the time before his arrival, and it is not explained to the reader whether and what connection exists between part one and part two.
- Part three
Robbie's parents from Part One are now retirees. Her story alternates with that of “the kid”, a thirteen-year-old runaway who raves about science fiction stories like Doctor Who and is convinced: "In an infinite universe anything is possible". He meets a middle-aged man ("the stranger") who claims to be a spaceman on a mission. The stranger could be the older Robert from Part Two - or a terrorist and identity thief. The third part refuses to be resolved logically and takes up topics discussed earlier. He is emotionally ambivalent and contrasts the comedy from part one with the dark pessimism from part two.
expenditure
- Sputnik Caledonia . Picador 2008, ISBN 978-0330448413 (hardcover), ISBN 978-0330447027 (paperback)