Схизматрица

by Bruce Sterling, Брюс Стерлинг, Александр Етоев (Translator)

Именно этот роман, наряду с первыми рассказами Уильяма Гибсона, стал своеобразной «библией» киберпанка, ярчайшего явления в американской фантастике и литературе середины 80-х. Если же брать шире — «Схизматрица» дала настолько мощный творческий и идейный толчок литературе всех направлений, что влияние этой книги ощущается и по сей день.

Genres: Science Fiction, Cyberpunk, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Space Opera, Novels

430 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Bruce Sterling is an author, journalist, critic and a contributing editor of Wired magazine. Best known for his ten science fiction novels, he also writes short stories, book reviews, design criticism, opinion columns and introductions to books by authors ranging from Ernst Jünger to Jules Verne. His non-fiction works include The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier (1992), Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years (2003) and Shaping Things (2005).

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

At times, my mind would wander while reading Schismatrix. But not in the usual way wherein a thought much more interesting than what's on the page enters my head. Instead, I found myself often just musing about the ideas I'd just read a paragraph ago or even earlier in the book.

Schism is so packed with ideas and dwells so little on any one of them that it was sometimes a bit difficult to keep reading, wait, that idea was so interesting...the ramifications...we can't go on yet, I have to think about this!

Despite having been written twenty-five years ago (can 1985 really be that distant?) there is very little in Schism to place the date of its authorship anywhere but on the bleeding edge. Sterling sidestepped many of the usual conventions of Science Fiction altogether, so there's little of the familiar to fall back upon and it's no lazy read. In fact, it can be a bit exhausting. But I found plenty of humanity and meaning amongst the chaos of technologies, philosophies, world-building and world-destroying.

So I recommend that you crack open the Schismatrix, where the excitement of invention truly never ends.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had written Bruce Sterling off as a relic of the cyberpunk era, big mistake. The wow factor is pretty big on this. Mind mutating, WTF, idea per sentence science fiction with shades at time of Bester, Triptree jr. Delaney, Barrington J. Bailey(who blurbs it) William S. Burroughs, and Ballard. Dense, filled with absurd humor and grotesque surreal visions, as human future and form breaks and cascades into increasing odd shapes. I feel a little buzzed after finishing this. This and a couple of short stories have put Sterling on my favorites list. This book also had a profound influence on the books of Charles Stross and Alastair Reynolds, the former taking the zany idea flinging and economic speculation and the latter the grim, fractured weirdness.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has been on my list after reading an excellent short story by Sterling dealing with this same universe. Well after finally finding a copy of this and reading it, I can say I wasn't missing much. Like a lot of SF, the characters seem like cardboard cutouts, and the plot is not good to say the least. Actually, this book is confusing as hell. Why are the characters doing what they are doing? What is motivating them? Sterling does present a colorful vision of the future where humans abandon Earth and live out on lunar colonies, on asteroids, and moons of Saturn. They are divided up into Mechanists and Shapers. They apparently don't like each other but it's never made clear why. There is an alien race called The Investors who arrive and there is a period of détente. Then the Investors go away or something. Who knows? This really seems like a several short story pieces that are clumsily cobbled together to make a novel. The chapters are sometimes several years apart in the timeline with no decent grounding of what happened during the intervening years or why. There's also dozens of characters who drift in and out of the novel at various times. Like I said, confusing as hell.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only other book I've read that comes at all close to kinship with this fascinating space epic is Stross's 2005 Accelerando, which appears to have been influenced both indirectly (in form & style) and directly (posthumanism & lobters!) by Schismatrix, which predates Accelerando by two decades. In both cases there is at least one tongue-lolling, brain boiling, oh-wow SF concept worked into the story in every paragraph. Such a high ratio of idea-to-story weighs a little heavy on the reading at times, sometimes making ciphers out of secondary characters and making blatant macguffins out of interplanetary political conspiracies and intruige, but it never veers too far into the superficial, and Sterling occasionally lets his left brain cool down for stretches and allows some real depth and pathos to seep into his story before resuming the SF pyrotechnics. There were occasionally whole stretches of the story that made only a passing amount of sense to me (i.e. "are they *really* transforming themselves into modified deep sea creatures and colonizing the subterranean oceans of Europa, or did I miss something?"), but such parts were still a deliriously pleasurable experience.

Considering how much of this book, first published in 1985, still feels new and mind-blowing, and given the influence it has had in the genre these past two decades (Swanwick, Stross, et. al.) it is a must read for sf devotees.

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Innovador en su momento, pero pocos se dieron cuenta.-

Género. Ciencia-Ficción.

Lo que nos cuenta. Abelard Lindsay es un formista (o formador en otras ediciones) desterrado a la Luna en la que rápidamente debe usar su ingenio y su “formación”, nunca mejor dicho, en diplomacia para encontrar tanto la forma de sobrevivir en la tensa sociedad de Zaibatsu Popular Circunlunar de Mare Tranquilitatis como la forma de luchar por aquello en lo que cree, totalmente distinto de lo que la facción mecanista (o mecanicista en otras ediciones) propone.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this due to a recommendation at the end of Alastair Reynolds' Galactic North. I thought it was pretty good, but definitely more intellectually stimulating than entertaining. He has some pretty fascinating ideas, although the overall plot itself is a little lackluster. Definitely worth reading, if only to see some ancestral ideas that evolved their way into Reynolds' Revelation Space universe.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book review: 3.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐💫

Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling is a science fiction novel set in Sterling’s Shaper/Mechanist universe. The book explores a future where factions of humanity have moved beyond the constraints of Earth and have settled in asteroids around the solar system. Concepts of genetic engineering, cybernetics, habitation in space, political factionism, posthumanism, and alien involvement are all contained within this story. The plot of the novel follows Abelard Lindsay, as he navigates the conflicts between factions of humanity and sets events in motion for his own benefit and survival.

The novel starts with Abelard’s tale where he is sent to an asteroid habitat reserved for rebels, rogues, criminals, and pirates. Abelard uses his skills as a diplomat and training given to him by Shapers to deceive and influence his escape. The Shapers are a faction of humanity that is set on genetically modifying themselves. They are in contrast and opposition to the Mechanist faction, who use cybernetics and machine technology to modify and enhance themselves. These two major factions dictate the conflicts and future of humanity and space. Abelard, neither Shaper nor Mechanist, plays one off the other to further his own vision for the future. That vision is one mainly of his own survival.

Several events throughout the novel play out over two hundred years, with the factions trying to control what is termed the Schismatrix of humankind. An alien species called the Investors is also central to the plot. The Investors main goal is to trade with and profit off of humanity.

Schismatrix has truly interesting concepts and ideas on posthumanism. Abelard’s character and how he shapes the future is incredibly interesting, though the plot is a little slow during the first half of the novel. The second half really picks up and the story becomes fascinating. If you are a fan of Alastair Reynolds, I would definitely recommend this novel. But I would only recommend it for those who are well read in science fiction.

[Chip · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very difficult book to get through. And honestly not a well written because the book's ideas are all over the place and near impossible to figure out what is going on. It took me almost the entire book to unravel the main premise was two cousins with different philosophies of life are out to get each other. There is plenty of political manipulation and deception. A couple of interesting ideas but far and few between.

[Jeremy Hornik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. Hard science sci-fi with a psychedelic edge. Mechs versus shapers in a diplomatic battle for the something or other. Covers centuries, feels like it took months to slog through.

I'm reading it twenty-five years too late.

[Pier Virgilio Vassalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Che trip!

[PetSch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frag mich bitte keiner nach der Handlung; obwohl viel in dem Roman drin steckt - was auch immer.
3 Sterne wären zu wenig, 4 zu viel.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my taste. The first section had a sort of post-apocalyptic feel - most people seem like scavengers, pirates, black market...a major form of currency corresponds to time one can spend with prostitutes... Not a good start for me. The end involving some mysterious / implausible entity didn't work for me. In between, the story was essentially futuristic intrigue. Didn't really engage me, but didn't put me off either. A theme of divisions between groups of future humans based on bio-enhancements, tech body parts or those who are just brains hooked into the computer network will interest some readers, but I didn't feel it was explored deeply.

[Ben Loory · Rating 2 out of 5]

been meaning to read this for a really, really, REALLY long time... finally got around to it. i was expecting cyperpunk but it's not, it's far-future space opera; feels a lot like varley's The Ophiuchi Hotline. only a lot longer and not as much fun. the ideas are great (and they just keep coming), and the book's written in a kind of hallucinogenic countercultural michael moorcockian mode, but the story is just... really slow. like, "wait, is there even a story?" type slow. it was hard to finish.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sterling's highly detailed future Worlds and Races reminds me of Iain M. Banks at his best in the Culture novels. There's usually a large dose of social critique in Sterling's books and this is no exception with it's interspecies animosity and interaction having parallels with our own planet and it's current and historical cultural and racial conflicts. There's a significant degree of anthropomorphism with the aliens but hey! at least it's not bunny rabbits with human emotions. I'd recommend all of Bruce Sterling's books and this is no exception.

[Jesse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Imaginative and interesting 80s sci-fi with no plot. Damn, this coulda been way more readable...

[Patrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

Interesting ideas, but horrible writing. Plot and character development were poor and context was nonexistent. Couldn't finish it.

[Apa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ei vieläkään kyberpunkkia, mutta taas paljon viitteitä tulevasta. Ja samoin kuin edellisessä Sterlingin kirjassa, tähän oli tungettu mukaan kaikkea ja vähän vielä lisää. Asioita ei selitellä, mutta ne eivät myöhemminkään oikeastaan paljastu tai selviä ja oikeastaan monet jutut jäävät jotenkin yhdentekeviksi. Ehkä se heijastaa päähenkilön asennetta. Ei tästä oikein tavallista juonellista genrekirjaa saa. Sekava ja hidas lukea, mutta tulipahan kahlattua.

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Непогано, дуже зайшло. 3 частини дуже різні по настрою і сюжету, друга мені зайшла, мабуть, найбільше.
Єдине, що трохи незрозуміло - чому книга записується в багатьох описах до кіберпанку. Той факт, що Стерлінг - один з батьків жанру, зовсім не означає, що він має писати виключно кіберпанк. Що не робить книгу анітрохи гіршою.

[Diego Tonini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Per quanto apprezzi l’acume di Sterling nelle sue analisi sociopolitiche e riconosca la sua capacità di dipingere società realistiche, senza risparmiarsi una critica a quella in cui viviamo, la sua scrittura proprio non mi appassiona.
Leggo i suoi romanzi, certo, ma faccio fatica ad arrivare in fondo, e questo non fa eccezione.
Sarà la narrazione di ampio (troppo?) respiro, che copre un intervallo di secoli, sarà la sua maggiore attenzione per l’introspezione psicologica e sociale rispetto alle scene d’azione, sarà la ricerca dei dettagli, ma non riesco ad accedere appassionarmi come vorrei alle sue storie.
Limite mio.

[Jörg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bruce Sterling was one of the leaders of the Cyperpunk movement in science fiction and Schismatrix is the central novel of Sterling's shaper/mechanist universe. The Schismatrix is the whole extraterrestrial mankind after departure from exploited and polluted earth to orbital stations around the moon, in the asteroid belt, the Saturn rings or other places in the solar system. A schisma of mankind into shapers and mechanists took place with shapers focussing on genetical engineering and mechanists using mechanical implants to extend and improve life. The factions are fighting each other in wars lasting generations. At the fringes of societies diverse subcultures have formed. Their participants are called sundogs. Schismatrix mainly tells the story of one of them, Abelard Lindsay, spanning almost 200 years of his life. A main theme is the arrival of alien races and their influence on mankind.
The book is termed a cyberpunk novel, although it is not about the seemingly constitutive element of the genre, cyberspace. It's linked to the genre in its generally pessimistic attitude toward human development and man/technology integration. Mankind will continue to fight each other for power and wealth, exploit their environment notwithstanding any technological progress. Technology's role is to provide new ways of living after man has destroyed his environment again. It can't help to overcome human weaknesses. Nonetheless, Sterling leaves a remainder of hope as mankind is inventive enough to always find new ways to survive and he hints at a future in what he calls post-humanism.
To me it's a punk novel in so far as the author's wants are larger than his skills which could be said of almost any early punk musician. The book is full of half-baked philosophy, the writing appears more dilettantistic than stylish which is not helped by one of the worst German translations I've read.
It has enough strengths though. Sterling has lots of ideas & thoughts on future issues, many of them just hinted at to be explored in other stories. There's a richness of settings and concepts that could fuel ten other SF stories. The disintegration of mankind into many different social systems is interesting enough and the characterization of alien races so facetted that I would love to read a hypothetical history book of Sterling's shaper/mechanist universe where the weaknesses of his story telling wouldn't matter.

[Benoit Goudreault-Emond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably more 3 1/2 than 4 for me, or maybe 3.75.

I'm told this is a seminal Cyberpunk book. Well, there's a lot of punk, for sure, but it's very different from the other seminal work, the Sprawl series by William Gibson. I must say that after reading a ton of Sprawl-lookalike books and movies, this was a breath of fresh air.

However I felt that it was *very* handwavy about the ultimate evolution of intelligence. According to the story, humanity eventually would reach a cusp and "vanish" - none of this is explained in any way, shape or form. The conclusion is very puzzling in that regard; it could be seen as some sort of allegory I suppose, but I dislike this kind of thing when it's not really justified by the rest of the text.

Sterling's prose flows easily, though it feels disconnected somewhat at times. The impression I'm left with is a set of medium-length novellettes connected through the main protagonist. The protagonist evolves somewhat but you don't get to see how. His archenemy is implied to die in a duel, then shows up later (disminished, but still) and all is forgiven. It's not the latter I disliked; I'm a sucker for redemption stories and learning to live with one's enemies. But too many people were presumed dead and show up again. Yet, not the hero's late wife.

It left me feeling a bit unsatisfied, as if death of some characters versus others was done just for the sake of exposing concepts and artificially creating drama, as opposed to following the universe's own rules.

Also the overuse of drugs bugged me. I don't think we'll even be able to design such "drugs" that so precisely alter one's personality or perception. But I guess that's the archaic part of the novel; that kind of thing was common in writings of those times.

Still, despite my gripes, there's a lot to like about the book. Interesting take on human evolution. Earth abandoned for very depressing reasons. Everybody just bumbling along and trying to improve their lot, but with two very different camps at odds to one another. And then, surprise, aliens show up! That surprised me because I thought Cyberpunk was mostly void of aliens, but aliens make it even more interesting here.

Overall, though, I feel that the novel is a bit disjointed. A solid read, but it didn't rock my world. Maybe I read it too late; when it came out it must've shattered quite a few preconceptions.

[7on · Rating 2 out of 5]

Выпущенная через год после "Нероманта" библия киберпанка :) По крайней мере так говорят про эти книги. И в чём-то они конечно правы. Когда Брюс это написал ему был 31 год и у меня есть предположение, что он баловался запрещёными веществами в те времена. Не то что бы роман какой-то очень фантастический и немыслимый, просто он так написан... пожалуй об этом в конце

знаем, что все это — надуваловка, но какая разница. Символ имеет смысл, если кто-то наделяет его смыслом. А они в этот символ вложили все, что могли.

Главный герой Абеляр Линдсей, молодой аристократ и через его жизненный путь перед нами и раскрывается мир схизматрицы. Кстати о названии. Схизма значит раскол с греческого, ну и матрица как вместилище всего о чём идёт речь. Раскол проходит среди двух основных групп человечества шейперы (поклонники мутаций и генной инженерии) и механисты (адепты имплантов и технического вмешательства в устройство человека).

Человечество зашло в тупик, кузен. Души больше нет — одни состояния сознания.

Основная проблема книжки это её поверхностность. Сейчас объясню. Стерлинг настолько преисполнился и вложил столько идей и концепций в свою книгу, что уже в первой четверти начинает кружиться голова. То что я написал выше про две главные группы это лишь основа, дальше больше, есть так же фракции, независимые астеройды и буквально любой космический корабль может обозначить себя государством со своим парламентом и органами управления. Так же люди в мире схизматрицы делятся по своим политическим взяглядам: паттернисты, презервационисты, терраформисты и т. д.

Ты высок настолько, насколько высоки твои помыслы.

И вот при всём этом ослепляющем многообразии глубины абсолютно нет. Ни глубины сюжета, ни глубины персонажей - ни-че-го! Герои просто функции и статисты, их мотивы не ясны, их характеры не прописаны. Сюжет как будто катиться с горки, чертыхаясь, переворачиваясь в воздухе и абсолютно непонятно к чему и куда всё идёт. Получается что главная проблема книги и является её главной фишкой.
Идеи крутые, смелые, до сих пор удивляющие, но их реализация лично мне не зашла и художественности очень сильно не хватает.

Смерть в конце концов побеждает нас. Но наши дети — наша месть ей.

[Chris Tower · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not quite sure what to say about this book. It's not going to be for everyone. Many recommended it to me as a classic science fiction novel with cyberpunk flare (though not so much really) and a great future vision for author and seer Bruce Sterling. For the language of futurism alone, I loved it. Like this passage on pages 246-47: "In the hands of the Zen Serotonists, the Ring Council struggled for stability; as a result, it was falling behind. The cutting edge of genetics technology had been seized by the wild-eyed black surgeons of the cometaries and the Uranian rings, mushrooming posthuman clades like the Metropolarity, the Blood Bathers, and the Endosymbiotics. They had discarded humanity like a caul. Disintegrating microfactions surrounded the Schismatrix like a haze of superheated plasma."
And there's lots more where that came from. It's poetic, lyrical, and fantastic, like a futuristic garden spring roll with surprise tastes hidden inside its roll.

It's a complicated, lavish, dense book, though its plot hums along swiftly, and there's plenty of sex. It's surely worth re-reads. I just wish there was an audio version.

[Brock Wooldridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think it’s a testament to the richness of ideas in this books that I’m giving it 4 stars despite there being no real plot and weak characters. In brief, I really think it’s a must read for sci-fi fans, particularly those who are into Alastair Reynolds (Reynolds’ writing was influenced by Schismatrix).

This book focused a lot on the probability of humanity splitting more and more rapidly into different ‘clades’ of life, each clade with its own vision of post-human life. The diversification of humans is so rapid and bizarre that it’s easy to get vertigo reading it all. In the end I liked this effect, as it felt like a compelling and realistic way of showing what may happen to far future humanity - that we eventually became aliens to each other.

Awesome book. Not for everyone

[Adam Shand · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first science fiction book which blew my mind. I was about sixteen years old and reading it in a grungy motel on the beach in Samoa where my family stopped for a holiday in the process of moving to New Zealand. What I've always loved about Bruce Sterling is his characters, he writes character driven, grungy cyberpunk. It's full of meat and emotions and all the failures of humanity. There is no holy grail, only humanity driven and changed by the pursuit of technology.

I've lost count of the number of times I've read this book, bought this book and the number of times I've loaned it to people. If you haven't already read it, DO IT.

[Booksofdoom · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good science fiction novel, but it is very heavy and in the end I appreciated the short stories in the back better than the actual Schismatrix part.

[Paco Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is the one that i asked bruce to sign. and old tattered paperback copy, but treasured. then his wife asked him to turn down the led zepplin because the kids were trying to sleep. or something.

[reherrma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Besprechung folgt !

[Derek · Rating 2 out of 5]

When you need a narrative to showcase your posthuman universe and you settle on the good old fashioned "horny picaresque"

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Cyberpunk infused early and influential work of postmodern space opera.

Warning: spoiler alert!!

Bruce Sterling’s Shaper/Mechanist series (1982-1985) consists of several short stories and only one book, Schismatrix. The series revolves around a conflict between two ideologically divided factions: the Shapers who dream of a transhumanist utopia via biogenetic engineering, and the Mechanists who strive for perfection through machine implants and computer circuits. Set in a widely colonized 24th Century Solar System, Schismatrix is an early and hugely influential example of postmodern space opera.

Abelard Lindsay, born into a Mechanist family, has changed allegiance to the Shaper cause. Political intrigue has forced him into exile in the circumlunar criminal enclave of the People’s Zaibatsu, a lawless and slowly decaying society. Lindsay eventually manages to escape so he can begin a journey across the Solar System, promoting peace between the Shapers and Mechanists, working for the Preservist cause of trying to preserve a core of humanity’s baseline, an endeavour that is tied up in and threatened by a decade-long rivalry with his former ally, Philip Constantine, now a Shaper militant. By the intervention of a technologically more advanced alien race known as the Investors, who weigh in by pursuing peace for the sake of a free flowing economy, Lindsay initially succeed at establishing an uneasy détente between Shapers and Mechanists.

The Shaper/Mechanist schism is only the tip of the iceberg and symptomatic of much wider splintering of humanity in the world of Schismatrix, a sf trope that has since come to define most of postmodern space opera, such as David Zindell’s Neverness Universe (1988-1998) and Dan Simmons’ Hyperion Cantos (1989-1997). Sterling envisions a mature space-faring civilisation where any sense of community has evaporated, where a global understanding of humanity is impossible. The sheer amount of therapies available within each camp means that is not even possible to reduce the Shaper/Mechanist schism to a simple binary. While Mechanist "Lobsters" permanently seal their bodies into life-support shells, allowing them to live and work in deep space, Mechanist ‘Wireheads’ have left their bodies behind to live as computer simulations. The splintering of humanity has also led to an explosion in different ideologies, from Preservationism, the idea that the human baseline must be preserved, to Cataclysm, a libertarian resistance to social controls, to Zen Serotonin, a bioengineered drive for zen-like bliss and slowing down of societal change.

Technology has also opened up the field of human phycology and what it means to be human. Shapers can change mode of consciousness at will, they can free themselves of emotional baggage to enhance their analytical acumen. Side-stepping humanness for political or economic gain is the source of continual tension in the work, a theme that anticipates Peter Watts’ multi-layered investigation into the nature and evolutionary purpose of consciousness in the his still ongoing Blindsight series (2006-2014?). Subject to the same evolutionary logic, Shaper children are bioengineered to mature early and learn faster than their baseline counterparts known derogatively as the Unplanned. With so much money and effort put into breeding – in what is basically a case of survival of the best engineered – it is only natural that the Shapers have evolved into an aristocratic society where one’s genetic heritage is of great importance. It is suggested that augmented cognitive power has paved the way for a post-scarcity society, and it is therefore not surprising either that the Shapers worry a great deal about ageing and spend large sums of money on rejuvenation therapies.

Concerns over economic growth play an important part in the book where data volume is used as a measure for progress. Humanity has clearly learned valuable lessons from Earth, now a marginalised backwater following an ecological collapse. An yet, not everyone is in favour of technology controls. The faction known as Cataclysts demand an end to all controls, favouring a super-charged neo-liberal agenda which recalls Charles Stross’ Accellerando (2005).