For years I’ve vaguely heard of
this novel, considered a lost classic of SF literature, often invoked in the
same exalted company as Asimov, Clarke, Stapleton, Bradbury and company. Yet the book itself is out of print, hard to
find, and there are no adaptations to stumble on. And the name, “City,” doesn’t leap out at you
like 2001, I, Robot, or The First and Last Men. Luckily, my university library teems with old
science fiction and fantasy classics (thank you to whatever professor bequeathed
them to the library!), including a stray copy from 1976. The book captured me from the start not only
from its beautifully clear (yet at times poetic) writing, but from the sheer
scope of its themes. City
communicates on the same level and shares the same themes as works such as 2001
and Planet of the Apes, yet at times seems to go far beyond them, if
only in its playful humor which never quite takes itself too seriously. Written on the heels of WWII, the book deals
with some of the great themes left in its wake: the importance of tradition,
the persistence of civilization, and the question of racial identity. Do we have a duty to our “race”—and should we
win this race? Are we doomed to
destroy one another? Can humans truly
make a better, more peaceful world? And if
destruction is our fate, who will inherit the Earth? Do we have time to appoint our
successors?
