The Scar

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The Scar is a science fiction - novel by British author China Miéville Tom . The German first edition was published in 2004 by Bastei Lübbe , Cologne, in two parts, as Die Scar and Leviathan . The text was translated by Eva Bauche-Eppers .

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The Scar's narrative essentially revolves around the poles of self-determination and manipulation . Espionage and counter-espionage play just as much a role as betrayal and political intrigue .

The political and social organizational models of the various parts of the city of Armada give the sociological- oriented reader plenty of food for thought.

Those interested in nautical specialist knowledge will enjoy the detailed descriptions of historical ship types that make up the floating city of Armada .

The mysterious ghost heads and their technically highly developed legacies (e.g. Uther Doul's Possibel Sword) offer classic science fiction fans enough space for speculation .

Last but not least, vampires play a not entirely insignificant role within the complex events.

Formal framework

The Scar comprises 370 + 296 pages, which are spread over 47 chapters. The book is divided into seven parts, which are titled: Canals , Salt , The Compass Factory , Blood , Storms , Morgenwand'rer and Wahrschauer . In addition, nine intermezzi interrupt this structure.

The story is told either from the perspective of Bellis Schneewein , who temporarily does so in the form of a letter to an unnamed addressee, or from the perspective of the Remade Gerber Walk . The novel concludes with a coda in which the two protagonists draw their personal summary of the events.

Synopsis

The emigrant ship Terpsichoria , which is supposed to bring workers from New Crobuzon to the new colony Nova Esperium , is seized by pirates. The passengers are carried off to the floating city of Armada , where they are allowed to start a new life. The Terpsichoria was more like a slave ship of sorts ; their hold full of prisoners - day laborers , craftsmen, remades - who gladly accepted this offer. The paying passengers, on the other hand, are less cooperative, which is of little use to them.

The city's informal leaders - a dubious couple who go by the name of "The Lovers" - forge big plans. First, they want to hunt an Avanc , a gigantic sea monster that actually lives in a neighboring dimension . The titanic monster will then serve as a draft animal for the city to bring it through the Hidden Ocean to the rift . This legendary place is said to be the source of unimaginable power that lovers should put at the service of the city.

The first part of the plan succeeds. Pulled by the Avanc , the city sets off on its way to the rift . During the journey, she is attacked by a fleet of warships from New Crobuzon , a civil war is put down, but apparently inexorably Armada approaches its goal. A few days' journey before the rift , however, the population rebelled a second time and forced a return to familiar waters with a bloodless mutiny . The female half of the lovers, however, tries to reach the crack alone in a small steamboat .

Framework for action

The central location of The Scar is the floating city of Armada , which consists of tens of thousands of ships moored together. It has existed for centuries and has hundreds of thousands of inhabitants. The people live on specialized offshore agriculture , livestock , fisheries and piracy . There are large multi-ship parks, churches, temples, an arena, craft shops, factories, and public educational institutions.

In Armada, different species live together as equals. The urban area is divided into eight clearly defined, competing neighborhoods: Jhour , Books Hort , sun sleeper , My - & - Your , Alser , dog house , pike water and debris case . All are organized in different political systems - from democratic councils to district monarchies to military dictatorships . The Senate, in which each district has one vote, decides on the whole. Its chairmanship is in the hands of the most successful district. The current is the Hechtwasser , which is led by a couple named Die Liebenden and, from the background, by their bodyguard, the legendary Uther Doul .

From the beginning, Armada suffered from its relative immobility. Either the city drifts aimlessly with the ocean currents and winds or a multitude of small tugs transports them very slowly to a certain region. The current leadership wants to finally solve this problem. She organizes a large-scale hunt for an enormous, mythical creature, an Avanc , who is to be forced into the service of the city. First they have the Sorghum hijacked, a mobile drilling platform from New Crobuzon for the extraction of stone milk, a strongly thaumaturgically enriched raw material, with which the monster should be calmed down and made controllable.

This is where the passengers of the enraged emigrant ship Terpsichoria come into play. It turns out that the sole purpose of this caper was to get the marine biologist Johannes Feinfliege into the hands. His specialist knowledge seems to be indispensable for the Avanc project and he can actually be integrated with great enthusiasm.

Quite different is the brittle linguist Bellis Schneewein . Although she had to flee New Crobuzon because she, as the former lover of the wanted high traitor Isaac Dan dar Grimnebulin , had to expect arrest and torture, she had a clear return option . This is, by the way, the only reference to the previous Bas-Lag novel.

Out of necessity, Bellis takes a job as a librarian in the central library of stolen books. For some unknown reason, she caught Uther Doul's attention . He makes sure that she becomes much more involved in Armada's affairs than she would actually like.

On the side, however, she forges escape plans and is looking for allies. Apparently the only other person with thoughts of escape is Silas Fennek , a spy and, it turns out, a senior procurator of New Crobuzon . He is in possession of secret invasion plans by the Grymmenöck , who are said to be about to invade New Crobuzon . It is therefore in his interest to send a warning to the city as soon as possible. What he does not suspect: a large group of Grymmenöck has been on his track for some time to steal these documents from him. The search status of this squad is updated again and again in the nine intermezzi.

Bellis and Silas start a brief relationship with each other, but escaping together is out of the question. A happy coincidence, however, seems to have made it possible to get at least one message to New Crobuzon on its way. The young shekel , also once a fellow traveler on the hijacked Terpsichoria , lets Bellis teach him to read. He is making rapid progress and systematically working his way through Armada 's children's book division . In the process, he accidentally discovers a book that Armada's research department absolutely needs. The author Krüach Aum describes in detail how the Avanc , a legendary sea monster, can be attracted and controlled, i.e. exactly what the lovers are planning.

Bellis destroys part of the book, forcing the lovers to look for its author. Krüach Aum , an Anopheles, lives in exile with his outlawed mosquito people on a nameless island. The Armada expedition actually manages to find the island and contact Krüach Aum . When interpreting them serves Bellis snow wine . Unnoticed, she sends the merchants anchored there the warning message from Silas Fennek that they, thanks to the promise of considerable rewards and privileges, want to bring them to New Crobuzon .

With the help of Krüach Aum , Armada brings an avanc under his control and lets himself be dragged towards the crack , a mythical place where reality has collapsed and everything becomes possible. The lovers see it as the source of all power and want to make it usable for themselves and Armada .

On the way there Armada encounter countless challenges. First, the city is attacked by the New Crobuzon Navy , which, thanks to the treacherous machinations of Silas Fennek , was able to follow the course of Armada . The attack can only be repulsed with heavy losses. In the wake of the navy, the Grymmenöck jagdtrupp has reached Armada and is looking for Silas Fennek . With the help of some opposition districts, they unleash a gruesome civil war, finally grab the spy and disappear. Shortly before reaching the crack, however, the citizens revolt again. In a bloodless rebellion, they force a reversal and a return to the familiar pirate existence. The rule of lovers is over.

In the final coda, Bellis Schneewein ponders long and bitterly about the extent to which Uther Doul manipulated and used it to bring about exactly this result of events. It is also difficult for the reader himself to give a clear answer to this question.

Relevant species

  • Remade , criminals of all kinds, whose flesh has been reshaped by science and thaumaturgy, as punishment for any offense.
  • Grymmenöck , amphibious, aggressive, unpredictable aquatic creatures who live in the northern fjords of Bas-Lag. They have reportedly been planning to invade New Crobuzon for years.
  • Cray , aquatic marine species, lives in and around the underwater city of Salkrikaltor, has good economic and diplomatic relations with New Crobuzon.
  • Anopheles , a matrilinearly organized insect species, tyrannized the continent Gnurr Kett 2000 years ago during the so-called Malarian Matriarchy for some decenia. After its fall, the remnants of this people are kept in quarantine on Anopheles Island, because the males are considered first-class scientists.
  • The ghost head , a legendary alien race that stranded a long time ago in Bas-Lag and, thanks to a kind of probability technique, exercised absolute rule over the world for 500 years. Nothing is known about their disappearance or their end.

Action characters

  • Bellis Schneewein , originally a passenger on the hijacked emigrant ship Terpsichoria , linguist and translator, speaks Ragamoll (= the common language of New Crobuzons), Salt (= the language spoken in Armada) and Hochketai, interprets on Anopheles Island.
  • Dr. Johannes Feinfliege , passenger of the hijacked emigrant ship Terpsichoria , naturalist and marine biologist.
  • Gerber Walk , a human remade mechanic, originally a prisoner on the hijacked emigrant ship Terpsichoria , can be remade on Armada to become a real water dweller.
  • Schekel , first a prison guard at the Terpsichoria , then a friend of Gerber Walk , learned to read from Bellis and accidentally discovered the precious book by Krüach Aum in the children's book department .
  • Uther Doul , bodyguard of the "lovers", thanks to his possibel sword an invincible fighter.
  • Hedrigall , veteran cactus warrior, operates long-range reconnaissance for the city of Armada with the airship Arrogance .
  • The Brucolac , a noble vampire, ruler of the district rubble case , opposes the journey to the plan , collaborated with the enemy and secretly penetrated into Armada Grymmenöck .
  • Krüach Aum , an Anopheles scientist , was the first to invoke an avanc and wrote a detailed treatise on this problem.
  • Silas Fennek , Procurator of New Crobuzon , spies on the Grymmenöck's plans for an invasion, ends up in Armada by chance and enables the New Crobuzon navy to follow the movements of the city.

Awards

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b 2002 Award Winners & Nominees . In: Worlds Without End . Retrieved on July 26, 2009.
  2. ↑ a b c d e 2003 Award Winners & Nominees . In: Worlds Without End . Retrieved on July 26, 2009.
  3. ↑ KLP 2005 award winner . In: Kurd-Laßwitz-Prize . Retrieved on May 18, 2016.