Gladiator-at-Law

by Frederik Pohl, C.M. Kornbluth

America two hundred years hence with the population strictly divided into the 'haves', who live in electronically operated dream-dwellings, and the slum-dwellers.
The chief hope of escape for the latter is to win a prize at one of the organized Field Days that are bloodthirsty reminders of the Roman Games.
Lawyer Mundin and a strange bunch of friends plan to change all that...

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Dystopia, Novels, Short Stories, Adult

187 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1955

About the author

Frederik George Pohl, Jr. was an American science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career spanning over seventy years. From about 1959 until 1969, Pohl edited Galaxy magazine and its sister magazine IF winning the Hugo for IF three years in a row. His writing also won him three Hugos and multiple Nebula Awards. He became a Nebula Grand Master in 1993.

Reviews

[Brian Clegg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a horrible feeling there will be plenty of younger science fiction readers for whom the names of Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth mean nothing, but for those of us of a certain age they are among the greats.

I've just re-read this classic. It's over sixty years old (I seem on Amazon.com you can buy the June 1954 Galaxy Magazine part of it first appeared in), and yet apart from a few niggling details, it is as fresh as ever. This bread and circuses dystopia, with an early focus on the dangers of corporations and lawyers having too much power is superbly crafted. It's a page turner, but thoughtful as well.

Those niggles? There are inevitably technology flaws - in this case, most notably the use of microfilm to store data. And, as is common for writing of the period, the female characters mostly fit within limited stereotypes (although some of the younger female characters are pretty violent). While you can argue also with aspects of the embedded morality tale, the fact is that this book does everything you want from good science fiction, at a tremendous pace and with lots of content.

I don't want to give too much away, but I can almost guarantee it will exceed expectations - and where some themes may now seem quite familiar, chances are they were novel at the time, because this was pretty much groundbreaking stuff.

Recommended.

[Jules Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pohl and Kornbluth's's sharp satire of the consumer society and corporate corruption of government is as relevant today as when it was first published 50 years ago. "Gladiator at law" describes a possible future for the 1950s in which the working and middle classes are kept under control by the threat of losing their job and with it their tied housing--and the unemployed masses are kept quiescent with bread and circuses, Roman style. Reality tv may not have gone quite as far as the entertainment for the proles depicted in this novel, and science fiction is an exploration of possible futures rather than a prediction of an actual future, but Pohl and Kornbluth's depiction of one of those potential futures is uncomfortably close to present day reality.[return][return]There are some nicely drawn characters, and a realistic look at the hazards of battling powerful vested interests -- while there is a happy ending, it comes at a price. The novel is short by today's standards, but a good read, and well worth hunting down a copy at a reasonable price.[return][return]Comment thread: http://julesjones.livejournal.com/196...

[Ignacio]

Lo abandono cuando apenas llevo 35 páginas. Me cuesta horrores leerlo. Tengo que intentarlo en inglés porque, especialito que me he vuelto, no estoy para estas ediciones de los años 60. Y eso que ésta es de las buenas https://tercerafundacion.net/bibliote...

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a timeless classic. It holds up amazingly well, although, along with every SF writers of the 50's, these two (Kornbluth and Pohl) completely undersold the computer age. Otherwise, their vision of the future was frighteningly clear. The world they describe has not yet come to be, but it still might happen.

The story is pure black comedy and the laughs are painful, but still laughs. Belly Rave (Belle Reve) can be found in the flat-tops of North Sunnyvale. I've walked through that neighborhood, and gangs of bottle-bearing kids may very well develop. The houses still stand, just as Kornbluth thought they might.

[Xabi1990 · Rating 3 out of 5]

leído en 2011. 7/10.
Obra de 1955, que en su día debió de ser futurista, innovadora, pero que hoy queda un poco ingenua.

El ambiente del futuro en el que se desarrolla la trama son pinceladas sobre un mundo post-bombardeo con clases sociales muy separadas en ricos-pobres. Aparecen tambien grandes Corporaciones (recordemos que de Pohl son las novelas de “Mercaderes del espacio”) y el abogado inicialmente ingenuo que se enfrenta a ellas e intenta vencerlas.

Me hubiese gustado que se desarrollara un poco más este futuro que plantea.



No está mal, pero prefiero su gran clásico, la saga de Pórtico.

[Robbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn’t the most polished novel (but who needs polish?), and the plot isn’t the most thrilling (although it is satisfying and well-paced). Nevertheless Gladiator-At-Law is a charming satire, the humour nicely offset by a bleak vision of a future that has slid into corporate feudalism. The suburbs have become a hellhole mollified with bread and circuses (cue the gladiator stuff), and all the good automated housing is leased by a single company to its employees, contingent on them keeping their jobs.

Not everyone will enjoy all the time spent on business meetings and stock manipulations, but I love any SF satire about the workplace or anything vaguely technical and niche (like all the horse-betting detail in Malzberg’s Overlay).

I'm also always up for 50s ideas of future tech, much of which tends to be centred on ‘convenience’, with trademarked names like Sleepless Secretary and Foetoscope (this was pre-ultrasound), especially when the tech is faulty or disappointing, like the misgendering AI secretary in this. My all time favourite example is in Ubik when the guy gets into an argument with the coin-operated door to his flat.

The characters are rough sketches but they are distinct, and not just variations of the same 'platonic man' that plague much SF of the era. Norma being pissed off at men objectifying and infantilising her feels surprisingly progressive for 50s SF, which typically relegated women to sounding boards, sex objects, or nagging wives.

The cartoonish violence of the enormous gladiator show is good fun, even if a lot of the gruesome detail is only inferred. I just wish it had taken up more than a couple of pages near the end. And while some gags didn’t land for me -- like Norvell threatening to beat his wife after he 'grows a spine', or the use of the word 'ay-rab' -- I was on board with Pohl and Kornbluth’s capitalist critique, in particular how innovations made with utopian intent can (or will) be co-opted and misused for profit. That said, this is still very much a 'destroying the house with the master’s tools' kind of story, which is fun, but implausible.

Clearly a big influence on Barry Malzberg's style 👍

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't let the ludicrous title fool you. This campy tour de force is a worthy entry into the collaborative bibliography of the co-authors, and falls nicely in line, stylistically, with their previous novel "The Space Merchants." In this case we have a tale of legal and corporate intrigue set in a dystopian future in which a codified caste system results in cut-throat upward mobility and a large, disaffected lower class dominated by roving gangs of children and adolescents. Within this framework, the authors construct a beguiling tale which is crammed full of colorful, playfully-wrought cliches, without ever descending into abject escapism. Make no mistake, beneath the surface spectacle there is a shrewd examination of the then-current (circa 1955) culture, and a prescient extrapolation of many of its excesses. The title -- as tongue-in-cheek as the rest of the book -- is a reference to the blood sports which form a background to the story and which, eventually, become a key element in the build-up to its climax. If there is any quibble here it is with the brief denouement, which takes a novel already deliberately over the top into the stratosphere. But, hey, if you want to make an omelette... In short, thought-provoking, highly engaging fluff of the highest order.

[BurritoChris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Often nicely-written but usually very grim, verging on boring sci fi. One or two moments are a little uncomfortable with a modern perspective. Like the fact that Norma insists on not being referred to as feminine or by feminine pronouns, but other characters do so anyway for comic effect. And while it may not be outright racist, it certainly features satirical racism, which is still racism. It's a product of it's time, and considering that time is the 1960s, it could be a lot worse. Ultimately forgettable, not a hidden gem.

I think the most interesting thing about the book is on the back cover of the Pan paperback edition where a critic for The Observer writes 'The gladiator bits are fine with public flamethrower combats, duels with vitriol pistols, etc, described horrifically but without glee.'

This begs a couple of questions:
Question 1: Did this person read the book? The gladiatorial arena is only passingly mentioned for the grand majority of the book. Its one action scene does not mention flamethrowers or whatever a vitriol pistol is. I think they just made up some things they wanted to see in the book, which is really really weird.

Question 2: Was this the best review quote they could get for the book? They couldn't find someone to say something overtly positive? Someone who would describe it more positively than 'fine'? Someone who wouldn't list the things they liked best with the addition of 'etc'?! I will have forgotten the book by tomorrow, but this quote is going to stick with me for a long time.

[Tim Fitzpatrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this in book club. At first I was a little down on it, liking parts of it but being a little overloaded on dystopia lately - current events plus 1300 pages of The Stand - so I wasn't going much for the world portrayed. But as time went on, I got more involved as the rather unlikable characters began to grow into something different. And once the caper portion of the book took off, I got into it.

As for the caper, it does make me wonder if the folks behind Trading Places had read this.

3.5 stars.

[Rog Petersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonky futuristic legal/business/stock market fable in the inimitable Pohl-Kornbluth style, complete with murderous kid gangs and bloodsport for the unwashed masses!
This edition has an amazing John Berkey cover!

[Kaoss · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

Similar to other books of the period like space merchants or computer connection, but not as good. Some good ideas but not fully developed.

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

As with so many of these, this book fails to live up to the silliness implied by the name. If anything, I would say that this book takes itself a little seriously, but I guess I appreciate the honest effort to explore the world it imagines.

[Lawrence · Rating 2 out of 5]

https://gnomeship.blogspot.com/2020/0...

[Emre Bozkuş · Rating 4 out of 5]

Borsa mı daha acımasız bir savaş alanı, gladyatör oyunları mı? Bunu, ikisini de deneyenlere sormak gerek... Pek yetenekli olmayan genç bir avukat, duyma özürlü bir prodüktör eskisi, beyni yıkanmış genç bir varis ve onun ters, erkeksi ablası, yaşlı ve uyuşturucu müptelası bir avukatla birleşip dünyanın en büyük tekellerine meydan okumaya kalkarlarsa ne olur? Mahkeme salonundan borsaya, gençlik çetelerinin cirit attığı kenar mahallelerden dev şirketlerin gökdelenlerine uzanan, arada yakın gelecekteki gladyatör oyunlarının sergilendiği Arena'ya da uğramayı ihmal etmeyen bir macera. Hukuk Gladyatörü'nü okuduktan sonra, bir konut kooperatifine girmeye karar vermeden önce bir kez daha düşünmeniz gerekecek.

Hukuk Gladyatörü ya da özgün adıyla Gladiator-at-Law, adından da anlaşılacağı üzere aslında bir dönem eleştirisi. 1950'li yılların politik atmosferinin bir ürünü olan yapıt, Wisconsin eyaleti Cumhuriyetçi parti senatörü Joseph Raymond McCarthy'nin komünist soruşturmaları ve bu eksende yaşanılan sosyoekonomik değişimleri merkezine alıyor. Soğuk Savaş etkisiyle büyümenin insanlık dışı uygulamalarla gerçekleştirilme çabası, kanunların ve hakların hedefler doğrultusunda göz ardı edilmesi, ırkçılıkla birlikte yükselen tek tip insancı yaklaşımlar ve dahası... Bu ortamda eserin sundukları da haliyle epey karanlık ve puslu. Amerikanın altın çağı olarak geçse de arka planda yaşananlara mercek tutan eser, bu görkemli yükselişin kimlerin feda edilerek ortaya çıktığına dair vurucu detaylardan bahsetmekte; bu sebeple de önemli bir tarihi hüviyet de barındırmaktadır. 1997 yılında Metis Bilimkurgu Serisinin yirminci eseri olarak yerli bilimkurgu okurunun beğenisine sunulmuştur.

İncelemenin tamamı yarın yayında...

[Ugur · Rating 2 out of 5]

1950-1960’lı yıllara ait bilimkurgu okuma günlerimde okuduğum kitaplardan Hukuk Gladyatörü’ne büyük umutlar ile başlamıştım ama kitap boyunca hem hikayenin anlatım tarzından hem de genel olarak konudan çok sıkıldım.

Bilimkurgu kategorisinde görünmesine rağmen içinde çok az bilimkurgu öğesi bulunan bir kitaptı. Kitabı ilk okumaya başladığımda bilimkurgu beklentisi ile başladığım için ciddi anlamda beğenmemiştim, sonrasında polisiye olarak kabul edip okumaya devam ettiğimde okunabilir bir seviyeye ulaşmıştı.

Konu genel olarak gelecekte geçen, firmalar arası mücadelelerin anlatıldığı bir polisiye romanı olarak düşünülebilir.

[Eric Buhrer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dated as hell today, but the ideas - especially the economics - make this the equal of 1984 in my humble opinion.

[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really my kind of SF, although others may like it. Rather slow and sometimes it seems with tongue too firmly in cheek.

[Küpçük Hellyea · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book introduces reader to Pohl's dark-humor tailored mild dystopia. Prefer to read if you look for something more casual than 1984. Prefer to read before "The Age of The Pussyfoot"

[Adam Becker · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best science fiction takes a good look at the present and then tries to extrapolate a possible future. Pohl and Kornbluth did an excellent job of that with this book, originally published in 1953. The depth and complexity in this story exceeded my expectations. There were a number of technological details that show the age of this book but that is one of the elements I enjoy about reading sci-fi that was written before I was born. I have always gotten a kick out of noticing the limitations of what the authors could anticipate or even dream of. The Pohl sense of humor was on display here although not quite as outlandish as some of his other work. As I write this review in 2020 dystopian stories are very popular and this 70 year old book fits right in!
Ideas around the power wielded by corporations, working class becoming wage slaves, and the placating of the masses with bread and circuses are all explored in fascinating ways.
Judging the book by its cover (and back jacket description) I was expecting more of a swashbuckling adventure and less of a boardroom intrigue story. However, I was not at all disappointed by it. It was rewarding to read despite bucking my expectations. I did find it rather odd that the back cover blurb for the Baen 1986 edition was entirely about a person who really is second fiddle to the main character. Not sure how that happened? Maybe the publishers were afraid people wouldn't want to read a book about a lawyer? Although they still published it with the title Gladiator-at-Law. Odd.

[Nader Elhefnawy · Rating 5 out of 5]

After satirizing ad-men and corporate power in their dystopia The Space Merchants, Pohl and Kornbluth set their sights on other targets in Gladiator-at-Law--the legal profession, and the quintessentially '50s-era themes of suburbia, juvenile delinquency (and the hysteria over it) and television. Perhaps a bit less fresh or cohesive than Space Merchants, that still makes for one of the most memorable works of Galaxy magazine's memorable heyday, a brisk read that I breezed through in a couple of days, with plenty of laughter and plenty of bite all these decades later. (Its satire of TV, in fact, seems to me the more resonant in this age of reality television, and perhaps the decay of the dream of suburban living has given that side of the story a new relevance as well.) All in all, it is an unappreciated classic that I wish I had got to sooner.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like 'Space Merchants' I feel as though I can tell which sections are Kornbluth and which are Pohl, this really just means that sections of witty and biting satires of post-war, corporate America are mixed in with a good (reasonably compelling) thriller-adjacent plot. If the occasional high-points of the corporate dystopia 'world-building' were not in the novel, it would be a distinctly mediocre work. But these sections of a more convincingly angry and bleak outlook are what make the novel un-mediocre. I think this means the brief looks into the office drama and the domestic lives of the characters (Norvie in particular) were my favourite parts. It makes me wish the plot was a little more chilled out and didn't reach the levels of pulpiness that it does.

I would like to find a collection of C. M. Kornbluth's short fiction, or a novel that he wrote without a co-author.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the stranger stories that Kornbluth and Pohl cooked up, also one of the few where the main character is an attorney. High quality housing is monopolized by the big corporations, everyone one else must live in the slums with the gangs in falling down houses. Charles Mundin is an attorney who is not from one of the big families, he can only take on small cases until he stumbles upon the clients who have inherited 1/4 of the company that owns the housing.

Things get pretty crazy as normal for these authors and Mundin must overcome gangs, corporate thugs and a ghoulish blood circus to win his case. While a bit too pat in spots with some dated attitudes, it's still an excellent SF classic.

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a weird one. I read part of it in an old copy of GALAXY science fiction magazine; this was serialized and then fixed up from there. It's set in a dystopia where the suburban experiment has turned into mad science. Remember that this was written in the 1950s, when tract homes or "Levittowns" were sweet new tech: Pohl and Kornbluth project into a future where that momentum bottoms out in "Belly Rave," shithole suburbs that are like Mad Max or The Warriors but with cul-de-sacs and ramblers rather than desert or skyscrapers. (Not that the cities are better, they're essentially hollowed out.) Anyone who isn't insanely rich is indentured to a corporation, and the masses are entertained with gladiatorial Field Days, which are sort of like The Purge meets Saw.

All neat, except the actual plot is much more "at-law," it's a legal thriller with sfnal elements bolted on. Rather bizarre, and not really that interesting.

2.5 stars rounded down.

[Karmakosmik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un vero peccato questo "Gladiator at law", tradotto nella mia vecchissima versione cartacea con un titolo che non c'entra una mazza come "La Corte degli automi, perchè di spunti in questo libro, Pohl insieme al suo sodale Kornbluth ne sforna tanti, come per esempio un tribunale gestito da robot\automi, piccole città stato semi-autogestite dalle stesse grandi società, e addirittura una specie di domotica ante-litteram con quelle che vengono chiamate case bolla, ma il tutto rimane molto sullo sfondo senza approfondire nulla, incentrandosi solamente sul lavoro finanziario fatto per mettere in crisi la società che costruisce le case bolla. Non siamo molto distanti dai temi trattati ne "I Mercanti dello Spazio", solo che qui vengono trattati in maniera molto più blanda e meno incisiva.

[Joachim Boaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...

"In honor of Frederik Pohl, who recently passed away, I decided to pick up one of his works from the dark maw that is my extensive and overwhelming to read pile. The last Pohl novel I attempted was a complete disappointment — Slave Ship (1956) — but his collaborations with one of my favorite 50s short story authors, C. M. Kornbluth (who died in 1958 at 34), are often highly readable. Perhaps the most famous writing duo in SF history, Kornbluth and Pohl produced five novels together including the SF classic The Space Merchants (1953) and multiple [...]"

[Rafaa · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

Una distopia que critica al corporativismo con una historia que cumple y es entretenida; no hace grandes profundizaciones en las ideas propuestas.

Fue publicada en la década del cincuenta, en la cual, en Estados Unidos, se empezó a producir de la mano de escritores amateurs, una buena cantidad de historias de ciencia ficción, las cuales tenian ideas innovadoras pero muchas quedaron en un plano superficial; esta no esta mal pero padece ese mismo problema: podria haber sido mucho más.

Aun así me gustan bastante este tipo de novelas de ciencia ficción, con una historia sencilla y facil de leer. Son el equivalente a las peliculas taquilleras.

[James Cain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pohl and Kornbluth are, as usual, incredible. Greater than the sum of their parts, which is a pretty high sum to begin with.

I approached this having read "The Space Merchants" (which I recommend you do as well).
Without sidetracking too much, it's very funny, and also great science fiction.

This has a slightly more somber tone, yet still maintains a sense of humor, though it's far more clever and evasive. It's a fascinating and rich world of corporate greed and legal shenanigans. It's one of the more inventive golden age books I've read. I would highly recommend this to anyone.

[Roger M Kolaks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pohl & Kornbluth there were none better

Fred Pohl & Cyril Kornbluth wrote together seamlessly. When asked both claimed that even they did not know what contribution each had made to their collaborations.

_Gladiator At Law_ has been among my favorites since I first read it two-thirds of a century ago. It is Social-Science Fiction at its best.

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

See how it is done. A great story by 2 great writers.

A classic book by 2 greats of F&SF. Fred Pohl is an acknowledged master but Kornbluth was a senior statesman of the genre. There are quirks reading any of the older works and this one has some minor racial and gender based issues but it still holds up as a genuinely masterful story.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Attorney Charles Mundin takes on corporate America in a near future where the country is in dire straits and the stock market holds the world to ransom.

A slick narrative which predicted a big short on the market and the ramifications of a new crash on the market. Pohl and Kornbluth's novel literally deals with the shattered dreams of the inhabitants of Belle Reve, near New York.