The Empty People

by Barry N. Malzberg

First there was Della, the woman who wanted . . . love? She did not - could not - know, for where love should have been was emptiness.

Then came the Poet, who wanted only to please, but did not know how. His every effort was rejected - but he could not stop trying.

Rogers was the completion, the part above all other parts that made the whole.

And then there was Archer - and the thing in his brain . . .

Genres: Science Fiction

159 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Barry Nathaniel Malzberg was an American writer and editor, most often of science fiction and fantasy.

He had also published as:
Mike Barry (thriller/suspense)
K.M. O'Donnell (science fiction/fantasy)
Mel Johnson (adult)
Howard Lee (martial arts/TV tie-ins)
Lee W. Mason (adult)
Claudine Dumas (adult)
Francine di Natale (adult)
Gerrold Watkins (adult)
Eliot B. Reston

Reviews

[iambehindu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Malzberg’s first science fiction novel is, in some ways, a nightmarish retelling of Romeo and Juliet. Except Juliet cheats on her husband with the family doctor, and Romeo has a metastatic tumor in his brain.

One of the great misconceptions of Malzberg’s work is that he’s death-obsessed, cold, and emotionally un-calculated. On the contrary: his writing is a life-affirming practice—not in the saccharine sense, but in sorrow’s role as parable. Romeo and Juliet don’t die out of crystalline, unshakable love. Rather, the connective tissue for such a bond is already too saturated with fractured personas—each one a parade of possible futures, possible desires, and cultural anesthesia.

The Empty People is a clever narrative about identity collapse. And if you’ve read a few of his later, more refined works, you’ll likely enjoy this roundabout trip back to the origin. It’s among his most purgatorial, frightening, and claustrophobic. As usual, fans of Kafka and Ungar should give him a chance.

“Life, it seemed, could overcome everything which was out to block it if you only cared enough.”

[Fred · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those glorious 1970's era 160 page novels. More ideas packed in one of these literary SF books than all of the latest fantasy doorstops put together. In this novel a poet, a housewife, and an unnameable entity are trapped in various scenarios by an alien intelligence. The book is unclassifiable and nearly unintelligible; I challenge anyone to make more of it than that! It probably all takes place in the mind of a brain cancer patient, the husband of housewife Della. Or maybe it doesn't. Scenes of paranoia and existential angst intimate a Dick-like atmosphere but there is really a lot going on psychologically and philosophically. I dont have it figured out, this book will require further explication and readings, much like Joanna Russ' difficult And Chaos Died. Hard to find this book but worth the effort - this is the type of experimental novel that you wonder how it got published, and mean that as a compliment. Recommended for those comfortable with abstraction, theory, and ambiguous narrative.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a novel by Barry Malzberg that's written with his best paranoid, haunting style. It has a bit of a future-Gothic feel to it, and Malzberg's favored theme of people trying their best to cope with situations not only beyond their control, but beyond their understanding.

[Rainb0warri0r · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un lungo racconto scritto sul finire dei gloriosi anni Sessanta, ma che potrebbe benissimo sembrare scritto ieri, oggi.
Un uomo e una donna, ognuno prigioniero di ignote entità aliene in una prigione più mentale che fisica. Su un altro piano, il deterioriamento fisico e mentale di un uomo inghiottito dal cancro, e l'impossibilità di dire, dall'esterno, cosa accada all'interno.
O'Donnell gioca con il lettore, lo insegue mentre si muove come in un labirinto, in preda alla paranoia. La descrizione spaziale è ristretta, sì da dare paranoia e claustrofobia; ma ancora più soffocante è la sensazione dei personaggi di essere chiusi tra le ristrette mura della propria mente.
Una grande stratificazione di senso, un grande apparato stilistico, un finale pazzesco.

[Joachim Boaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

3.5/5 (Good)

"“Inspecting a few she found that they were about what she had expected: the science-fiction books seemed to be full of nonsense about extraterrestrials or flights into space, the damnedest silliest stuff imaginable, and the sex part was sheer filth. There was no question about it; there was no other way to describe those books” (12).

Science fiction as delusion. More specifically, chapters replete with SF plots with evil aliens with interchangeable names and megalomaniacal claims to power [...]"

[Stephen Rowland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primo Malzberg psychodrama masquerading as science fiction. It does drag a bit, could've used a better editor to remove some of the repetition, otherwise it showcases everything I love about Malzberg (under his O'Donnell pseudonym).

[Christopher Sutch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I believe this book (under the pseudonym K. M. O'Donnell) was Malzberg's first attempt at something approaching science fiction. It is marred by a number of issues: his hack porn work up to this point in his literary career, a murky psychological melodrama that never quite came clear for me, and an idiosyncratic symbolic structure that remains incoherent to me as well. If it was a better piece of prose it would probably be worthwhile studying to clear up some of the puzzling aspects, but ultimately it's not good enough to cause me to want to waste my time doing that.

Whether or not the aliens are real or imaginary, however, the tropes of imprisonment and control are well-described and straightforward and provide the only redeeming thing in this too-long book.

[Ralph Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strange little book as only Malzberg can write.

[MariaGrazia Bacilieri · Rating 1 out of 5]

Che fatica arrivare alla fine...
Più che fantascienza è una metafora della morte di un personaggio, la metafora della lotta tra vivere e morire.

[Francesco · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Da allora K. M. O' Donnell è stato dimenticato." - ci sarà un perché?
Alle volte, il titolo dice tutto di un libro. Alle volte, non è necessario (può anzi essere fuorviante) aprire il volume e leggere la prima pagina della storia. Alle volte, bisognerebbe limitarsi a prendere atto della sensazione immediata che ti dà la copertina, e non cedere alla tentazione di cimentarsi a leggere qualcosa di “diverso” al prezzo di ignorare quella sensazione (al quale si sono aggiunti ben 15,00 €, troppi, per 160 pagine, fossero anche di buona qualità). Continua a leggere qui: http://fantascienzaedintorni.blogspot...