The Culture Series of Iain M. Banks: A Critical Introduction

by Simone Caroti

This critical history of Iain M. Banks' Culture novels covers the series from its inception in the 1970s to the The Hydrogen Sonata (2012), published less than a year before Banks' death. It considers Banks' origins as a writer, the development of his politics and ethics, his struggles to become a published author, his eventual success with The Wasp Factory (1984) and the publication of the first Culture novel, Consider Phlebas (1987). His 1994 essay "A Few Notes on the Culture" is included, along with a range of critical responses to the 10 Culture books he published in his lifetime and a discussion of the series' status as utopian literature.
Banks was a complex man, both in his everyday life and on the page. This work aims at understanding the Culture series not only as a fundamental contribution to science fiction but also as a product of its creator's responses to the turbulent times he lived in.

Genres: Nonfiction, Criticism, Writing

242 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2015

Reviews

[Annikky · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 This is very good, but only makes sense if you are a serious Banks fan (plus can handle high-level literary criticism, which can get somewhat convoluted even when written by the best). I highly recommend making sure you have read all Culture novels before tackling this (spoilers galore) and it helps if you have read the rest of Banks’s oeuvre as well.

[Victor Tanasa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part biography, part literary analysis, 100% awesome.

Reading this has made me appreciate even more the wonderful body of works that is the Culture series and how much thought has been put into it. One can find out how the utopian society formed in Bank's mind, what influenced its creation, as well as the origin of many of Bank's trademarks, such as the silly ship names, the author's characteristic humor and, of course, his fondness for explosions.

Reading about Bank's life also brought me closer to him and his works in a way, too.

Recommended for any Culture fan.

[Neptune Towers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I guess there is a first time for everything after all. My first written review on goodreads happens to coincide with the reading of a book that belongs to a genre I am exploring for the first time as well. In a fitting irony, it is a book on literary criticism. Writing about what others wrote (or even worse, writing about what others wrote regarding what others have written) has been traditionally the kind of exploration that would have bored me into blissful sublimation in my formative years. However, in this case it happens that the writing about which is written has a rather interesting catch.

I have spent the last eight months or so thoroughly following a whim and exploring the Culture of the late Iain M. Banks. Sprawling, colorful science fiction that at its worse is jaw-dropping stunning, and at its best of a superb, grandiose beauty. One painted in vibrant hues with the odd gothic tinge. Throughout the span of nine novels, a novella and a couple of short stories, Banks followed what are in my view three general lines of inquiry:

i) What is sentient, organic life left to do once it has achieved paradise?
ii) What happens when a transcendental entity, one closer to divinity than any sort of physical mooring, runs into a moral conundrum that is barely expressible in terms an unCultured reader could understand, let alone solve?
iii) what constitutes a noble purpose and just how miserable are the deeds one is willing to justify in order to see it fulfilled?

Throughout the body of the Culture, Banks has offered a wide range of possible options and answers to the above problems. Some of them amusing, some horrifying, most of them deeply shocking and thought-provoking. And more often than not hidden within layers of beautiful prose, double meanings, a dry, dark sense of humor, and a penchant for dark games played between the writer, the characters and the reader. Sometimes, hidden simply behind the kind of preternatural darkness that enshrouds dubious morality. It is very easy to lose oneself in the beauty and wonder of the Culture and perhaps miss the subtle or deeper points, and here is where I've found Simone Caroti's critique quite helpful. The book is for the most part quite accessible to a lay rather that may have very little background in the formal aspects of literary criticism. It offers a brief biographical summary of Iain M. Banks in order to establish his roots as a writer, then goes ahead to explore the early works of his career and follows both the development and interpretation of his writing within the Culture and the general academic attitude towards it. If you're like me and would be interested in exploring his early novels as well, you might want to follow my example and skip some early paragraphs and pages here and there in the first chapters, where the author briefly covers the novels (penned simply as Iain Banks) leading up to his published debut within the Culture with Consider Phlebas. That aside, I think it's an excellent companion for anyone who has read the series and would like to open their eyes or reflect upon some of the more obscure points of Banks' writing. Obviously, I must stress that this should be done after reading the novels themselves in order to experience firsthand their beauty and, at times uncanny, wonder.

And if you happen to be unCultured, consider changing that. To paraphrase Caroti, consider going ahead and exploring the one utopia of which most of us who have caught a glimpse of have thoroughly agreed we'd enjoy living in.

[reherrma]

Diese sehr akademische Beschäftigung mit Iain M. Banks "Culture Zyklus" bietet einen ziemlich guten Überblick über Iain Banks Opus Magnum, seine Space Opera über die Kultur.
Caroti geht alle Bücher durch, mit den Zusammenfassungen der Handlung, die der Analyse vorangehen. Die Analysen schwanken m.E. gut zwischen dem akademischen und dem lesbaren Ende des Spektrums. Die Lektüre war für mich nicht einfach, letztendlich habe ich aber ein größeres Verständnis der Culture-Romane bekommen, die ich allerdings in deutscher Übersetzung gelesen habe.
Caroti wird dem Atem und dem Umfang von Iain M. Banks unvergleichlichem Werk der Kulturserie meiner Meinung nach gerecht, mit einer aufschlussreichen, gut recherchierten und leidenschaftlichen Analyse aller wichtigen Attribute und Merkmale, die in Banks literarischen Science-Fiction-Werken (und einigen Mainstream) Werken zu finden sind. Ein großartiger Begleiter zu den Romanen von Iain M. Banks...

[Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very thoughtful and detailed overview of the main ideas of each of the Culture novels of Iain M Banks. Not to be read before the novels.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am pleased as punch that the Culture is far from dead, indeed, may we all take up the banner of one of the SF universe's most sociologically admirable and desirable universe creations, with the sexiest ships and smartest Minds that have inspired us to read more and more SF, and, particularly, space opera. There is no grander fun in the multiverse. Banks's imagination vies with Terry Pratchett's, Isaac Asimov's, Frank Herbert's and C.J. Cherrhy's - outside of Tolkien's fantasy. I have yet to find anything remotely close, though, in space opera. If Asimov's Galactic Empire series encircling his state-of-the-art Foundation trilogy is the early progenitor of space opera, Banks's Culture series is the modern standard, and unless we can borrow from the canon, we cannot move on to the possibility of a new future one.

Caroti's sentiments lie at the heart of a deep communal sigh - there are many of us who adore this series, not merely for the sexy, witty, audaciously fast fun they are, but also for the amount of thought that goes into it and agitates in us sympathetically. It's like the difference between going to the cinema and going to the theatre - in the former, you know you'll have some fun, but in the latter, you have to engage your mind in full concentration to participate, and the results are of an entirely different dimension. Banks invites you to come and play for a few hours, but you have to play hard, and you feel, as he writes, that it’s a personal invitation and a very personal experience. He opens up and shares his mind with you, and it really does feel like you've been invited into hearing the thrilling adventures of a secret cabal with the vanguard of sexiest operatives and gear. Ulver Seich and the ROU Killing Time come to mind: wouldn't you just like to play with them!

So to read such an intelligent critique of such intelligent articulation of such super-intelligent entities is joyous and enriching. The Culture series, Banks's other M-non-Culture SF novels, and a large tranche of his mainstream novels (too many to list) are some of the best fun times I've had all by myself, with another by proxy. Not all of it has been superlative... Matter was a difficult blend of far-future space opera and medieval fantasy; The Algebraist [2004] had slashes of genius (the Archimandrite Luseferous is one of the baddest villains painted); Look To Windward [2000] was a disappointment even on a revisit years later; but a second visit of Inversions [1998] turned it from a so-so to a superb, so re-visits are a must. This is partly because - aside from the usual climatic factors of reading, such as not being the right time, being 'read out', or even affected by what you've just read - Banks's novels demand as the theatre does, and sometimes the energy isn't there from the reader's perspective, or some of the novels are so complex that you need your wits tuned right now, in order to be open to the best out of them... and they all offer something wonderful, adventurous, fun, witty, deeply thoughtful and thought-provoking, even The Hydrogen Sonata [2012], his last gift to us of this series. Against A Dark Background [1995] (a non-Culture) is another that gave more in the second reading.

Caroti's chapters tend to deal in large part with a detailed synopsis of the Culture novels followed by an assessment of the work in the space opera canon, and of the central idea of the Culture as 'critical utopia', and relates these premises with pieces by commentators and critics who have got round to including Banks in their considerations of these themes and categories, as well as dystopian, Western, imperialist and other analyses that either accord with Caroti's own conclusion or contradict it. Briefly, Banks's left-wing liberal intellectual portrayal of the Culture as a self-critical utopia is upheld against each work, and this is an interesting debate. If you are an admiring fan of each of the novels, then the comprehensive summary of the plots, characters and factions which revolve around this central tenet of critical utopia is very interesting - and since my favourite is Excession [1996] and I admired The Player of Games [1988] and a couple of others, those lengthy summaries were interesting, and clearly put.

This method, however, does come unstuck at a certain point - specifically chapter 7 on Look to Windward [2000] - because it seems that the rather lengthy chapter is just about one of his interesting if not in my view most brilliant works. But it isn't; it's more than that; it's also a round-up of the critical appraisal of Banks's sf to date (2014), and is bizarrely out of place. Whereas Caroti introduced a similar round-up as a separate chapter earlier (5), he seems to have tacked on this as a conclusion not entirely germane to Look to Windward, and we get the feel that we are in the middle of a different type of book: more a collection of essays on the different novels which have developed over some time, and been brought together for publication; it reads like the end of a former PhD thesis. This is not exactly erroneous as untidy. I would have preferred another interim and separate chapter on the state of play to that chronological point in Banks's publishing history - as is chapter 5 - than this slightly messy format. It's merely a matter of organisation, but it smacks of something slapdash or slipshod rather than considered - like bolting on afterthought to Affronter warfare.

Of course, part of the problem of this approach anyway is reiterating the case for the critical utopian central ethos of the Culture series as you entertain each work; after a while, the point being made, it wears a little thin, and while upholding the worth of this central tenet of the Culture series against otherwise seemingly less considered criticism is admirable, even championable, it is a less cohesive way of challenging the 'misinterpreters', some of whom range from agreement through 'ambiguous utopianism' to 'Western imperialism', than if the chapters were themselves more clearly organised into two parts: synopsis, then critical appraisals. This is what they are, essentially, but it does get a little muddled at times. I'm all for bullet points when it comes to outlining your essential conclusions; they are easier to absorb, since visual, and they summarise essential points clearly. Amidst all this discussion, my understanding of some parts is still inchoate and slightly blurred...

Banks's novels will be among the 50 novels I will re-read in my remaining lifetime. I've read most of them twice, and I've just started a new reading cycle of them that will hopefully include all of his works - if I have the time... Works such as Caroti's inspire me to get right on that task as soon as possible. I love that he loves these books too, that they are serious fiction born of a fun-loving mind who used all of his smart invention to share, entertain, and, yes, have fun, with dazzling articulation, skill and style, and the best of the Culture novels stand easily alongside any highbrow literary works as well as the epitome of fantasy. It's merely snobbery that denies this is so.

Another minor criticism of this intelligent assessment of Iain M. Banks's superlative Culture series, it is a tiny but significant one: there should be a Banks bibliography, identifying the mainstream from the M-non-Culture and M-Culture novels and short stories. This is a must. And a smelling check sod pick up the odd standard English istake, and the frquent missmellings of Ajay (i.e. Ajayi). Getting this right is minor, but good form. Imagine a GCU making such mistakes?!

[Tony da Napoli · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK, I finally finished it.
You are here because you love the works of the late and sorely missed Iain M. Banks - particularly The Culture Series - the most under-appreciated works of SF by the Hugo/Nebula snobs ever.
Every book in this series should have won best novel in each award. After you read this Critical Introduction, you will see that serious readers (more than just SF readers) and critics agree with that opinion.
-
This book has more 7+syllable adjectives in it that I knew ever existed. You will need your Kindle dictionary, or a paper one, to understand some of what is said. I have been into all kinds of literature for many decades, reasonably well educated, and thought I had a good English vocabulary. Nope. Be warned. The critics, especially those that Caroti extensively quotes, must have an annual adjectives competition to see who can stump the others most. It makes for some slow going unless you just skip the words. If you understand them all, then bless you.
-
OK. That said, when you get to the parts where Caroti is actually talking about the books, plots, story lines, and Banks opinions, and insights, it is great. It makes up for the stilted vocabulary in the other parts.
Caroti does a great job parsing the books and explaining the core elements and the inter-woven philosophies of the series. He will tell you things about your favorites that you missed or did not grasp when you read them. I wish the whole book was more focused in that manner. You will also learn more about Banks himself. Goals, motivations, philosophies. Caroti provides extensive footnotes, references, and bibliographies as is required/expected for a serious piece.

They say Banks created NSO - the New Space Opera. He takes the space opera to a newer level of sophistication than that of the old "American" model. Ironically, I had coined this genre Science Fiction Neveau, but implied the same. A new take on SF literary content and method.

If you do not LOVE the Culture series, do NOT even think about reading this. Also, you probably should have read them all at least twice before starting this.

[Jacob Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

"There it was, a future, drawn out in trajectories across hyperspace, told through the serene clear agency of godlike AI, and spelled out in a voice modulated so that the pain of one's existence became a small section of a far larger context."

The Culture series made a special impression on Caroti, as it did on me and many others. Here he defends its significance not only for the genre of space opera, but as a utopian work - "one of the very few literary utopias most of us actually agree would be nice to live in." His primary concern is to reject cynical interpretations of the series, in which "the whole notion of the Culture as a utopia is a smokescreen deployed to hide the reality that this utopia is, in fact, every bit as imperialistic as every other society"; based on statements by Banks and on the texts themselves he believes "Banks was, in fact, dead serious about imagining a society one could genuinely call utopian." This matches my own interpretation - while I think Banks wants us to see the complexity of the decisions his characters face, and to face the fact that unambiguously correct answers may elude even the best-intentioned and best-equipped decision-makers, he nonetheless means to draw an optimistic and inspiring vision of a possible future: one where the decision-makers really do have everyone's best interests at heart, where the powerful take their ethical responsibilities very seriously, and where equality and happiness are the day-to-day reality of the masses.

Caroti recaps each of the Culture novels and draws out a number of connections and patterns I had missed. He also discusses Banks' pre-Culture literary novels, and gives some background on Banks himself, who sounds like a pretty entertaining character - you gotta love someone who takes up a hobby called "Drunken Urban Climbing."

[Mike Franklin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I approached this book with some trepidation; I am always a little wary of academic book critics, tending to find them a little pretentious. A gross generalisation, of course, but one that usually holds true for me and, for me at least, this was filled with all those esoteric and obscure words that only critics/academics seem to use and for which I always feel there are plenty perfectly acceptable and more widely understood alternatives available. But, that aside, I was very impressed, both enjoying the ideas being presented and appreciating the deeper insights into Banks’ ideas and writing it has given me.

I picked this up around halfway through a reread of Banks’ Culture novels (just before rereading Look to Windward) and I now rather wish I had picked it up before I started. I suspect it would not be very useful to someone who has not yet read at least some of the Culture novels but It would make an excellent foundation for a reread. I certainly found myself reading Look to Windward much more critically and enjoying it all the more for that.

The primary focus of the book is, unsurprisingly, looking at the Culture as a utopia; exploring the idea that such a utopia can only exist in a science fictional post-scarcity society and also looking at the idea of the Culture being a Critical Utopia (Google is your friend), though I have found myself mentally shifting to thinking of it as a “self-critical utopia.” Throughout Banks’ books there is always a feeling of the Culture as a society questioning itself: what level of intervention is acceptable? Is any level of intervention acceptable? Is the culture stagnating or has it already stagnated? And almost all the books are addressing these issues in one way or another. In Consider Phlebas its the war with the Idirans and mainly presented from the perspective of someone who hates the sterility of the Culture. In Player of Games it is justifying intervention by showing just how barbaric so called civilised societies can be (and we Terrans are certainly not excluded from this view). In Use of Weapons we see the problem that a utopia is simply is not suited to producing the Rambo-like people needed to do the job of intervening, so necessitating the recruitment of agents from outside. In The State of the Art we get to look at Earth from the perspective of the Culture and are asked the question whether it is best to save us through intervention or to sacrifice us to understand better what will happen. An experiment, yes, but for the greater good of the rest of the galaxy’s sentients, of course. In Excession elements of the Culture feel that their society is getting too soft and a good short vicious war is called for. In Inversions we get to see two different approaches to intervention. And so on.

Another focus of the book is the view that Banks was reinventing space opera. Previously space opera had tended to be one of the less serious, more immature sub-genres of science fiction (another gross generalisation, of course, that ignores authors like Clarke, Bester, Aldiss), filled with all sorts of improbable heroics and adventure. Banks’ Culture books provide an alternative, more mature and thoughtful sort of space opera, not to mention more left rather than right leaning politically. He wasn’t alone in this, with other contemporary authors like Vinge, McAuley, Stross and others, but he was certainly quite prominent and I think many of the serious space opera writers who came along ten years or so after Banks got started, like Hamilton, Asher and Reynolds, owe much to him.

I am not sure whether this is a four- or five-star book. On the one hand I do not agree with everything the books asserts and it would be remarkable if I did but, on the other hand, it has made me think much more critically about Banks’ books and that, surely, is more important than agreeing with all of Carotis ideas. So, I am giving it five as I think it has done an excellent job of achieving what I consider to be its most important role.

Incidentally, one of the more interesting facts to emerge from this book, and also one of the more prosaic, is that the first book written by Banks was not The Wasp Factory, that was just his first published book, the first book he wrote (that was eventually published) was Use of Weapons; not even the first published Culture book. Apparently, Banks’ whole genesis of the Culture grew out of the idea of a utopian society that, by its very nature, would not produce the kind of ruthless people it occasionally needed. It was heavily rewritten before finally being published but the first draft preceded all his other published books.

I would definitely recommend this book to lovers of Banks’ Culture books. You are unlikely to agree with everything Caroti has to say but it is likely to make you think more about what you are reading or have read.

[Seanán Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Does what it says on a tin, offered a solid refresher and reminder of what the books were about. I feel it didn't delve deeply enough into the nature of what the Culture is itself, or flaws within it (for example we can think of examples where things in the Culture would potentially horrify, what would the attitude be towards paedophilia, would it have been engineered out as a clearly undesirable trait, would the issues that make it socially unacceptable in our society be rendered moot in the culture), I feel there was scope to interogate the ideas underlying the culture more thoroughly with an eye towards politcal theory, the book most engages with explicitly sci-fi writers and utopian theorists (Moylan in terms of addressing sci-fi utopias Ernst Bloch gets a mention, but is not really dug into). It would have been interesting as well to question how would The Culture fit in with anarchist theory also, does the Culture offer a test of or scope for anarchism?

In terms of structure it's short enough, it averages about two books per chapter, I think the group mechanism Caroti uses is fine (he groups them in terms of the four stories he wrote pre-wasp factory that were rewritten but published post wasp factory, the bridge and walking on glass. Then the next three Excession, Inversions and Look to Windward, which he frames as perspective books (inversions being below, excession god-like, and look to windward as equal). The last three get one chapter and perhaps are not given enough consideration, though there is a sameness to them. They were long, a bit meandering, indulgent and unfocused which made up for it by having terrific set piece endings (Matter has that fantastic battle through the inner core of the Shell World, Surface Detail the gleeful Abominator class getting to use its weapons, and Hydrogen Sonata has the reveal of Mistake Not's... full name. Caroti does an incredibly irritating thing in that when treating Matter he insists on over using the word 'Matter', such as "She left her home because ultimately she felt it didn't Matter enough, but of course for her the journey is about getting to the place where it does Matter". I feel as well the book would have benefitted from more mentions of his other books, especially Transmission, Against a Dark Background (who's Lazy Gun McGuffin seem like Culture tech) and the Algerbraist. I don't think enough was made of Banks' background, Admiral father, interest in engineering.

I've spent most of this typing giving out about what it's not, but I wouldn't say I'm disappointed by it, there's plenty to like, Caroti writes well enough, it's a pleasure revisiting of these books with some company, as stated it's a good refresher, it will almost certainly point out things you missed, of course it's a pointless read if you haven't read all the culture novels yourself, pricey too, still if you've given over the amount of time it takes to take the few million odd words that constitute the entire Culture ouvre you might as well fork out a few bob for this.

[Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very much a literary overview of the Iain "M" Banks Culutre books (with side references to the non-Culture SF too) it is an interesting read.

As someone who likes to go along for the ride, likes an expansive world-building but doesn't read too much intention into literature (too much retro-Shakespeare intentions in my high school years for my cynical mind) this was quite an enlightening look into the backdrop and intention of Banks books. Even the sequencing of bursts of Culture books with gaps between is not something I had been concsious of other than desperately waiting for the next one (I caught Consider Phlebas and Player of Games in 1988 and everything else as it came out, once even as an ARC).

A good read for fans of the Banks, clearly also written by a fan.

[Berta Kleiner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting and even entertaining read, knowledgeable and insightful.

[Gregg Kellogg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun revisit to the world of Iain M. Banks’ Culture.

A great way to delve into the themes Banks explored in his novels, but spoilers abound. Great for fans of the Culture series.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must have companion book that adds a lot of insight and explanation on the Culture novels.

[Matthew Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re a fan of Banks’s Culture novels, this book probably merits 5 stars. But while I am indeed a fan of all ten of those books, I can’t help but be a bit disappointed in Caroti’s critical introduction to this series. Maybe not so much disappointed, but more wondering where Volumes 2, 3, and 4 are of this work.

There’s a good bit of biography of the late author, and the context in which the ideas that shaped the Culture would come about. So far so good, as a reader looking to dig deeper into this world I appreciated this background. Readers always knew Banks was doing more with these books than spinning a good yarn, and Caroti uses the language and insight of critical analysis to name and describe much of that additional work: Banks was making an argument for a critical utopia, a leftist ideal projected and perfected through the stories and characters and moral conundrums stress-tested by the wars, encounters, power disparities, grey areas, and other adventures the books contain. It’s helpful to have this all in one place, yeah, but avid readers would be forgiven if they think they’ve already gotten much of this from the books themselves and the author’s own “A Few Notes on the Culture.”

While Caroti goes on to provide placement of Banks and this work in the WHEN he was, I found at the end of this book a lot less of what I’d hoped for in the WHY he was. Ok, attempt to paraphrase Banks and one of this book’s chief themes aside, I found the critical analysis of the books themselves lacking, or really, expecting more and greater analysis before the last page turned. Each chapter relies heavily on plot recaps of the relevant book(s), handy if you need a refresher and not unwelcome for that reason, but I wanted much more of the “critical” part. The “critical utopia” lens is well explored. The implications of intervention, a huge theme of many of the Culture books, is explored with most of the chapters about the earlier novels (with significant and welcome attention given to Sma and her appearance and growth between State of the Art and Use of Weapons). The moral arguments about matter and “the real” being the definitive form of reality are touched on too. But there’s much more going on within the pages of Banks’s books that Caroti never touches. Artificial intelligence and its right to personhood? The interaction of faith and virtual afterlives in a material universe? The implications of neural laces and“reventing”creating a de facto immortality? The gaps left unexplored in this book seem to multiply as I think about what else wanted this author to explore. It’s the very things that make Banks and these books so singular and thought-provoking. As if to make my point, Caroti really just runs out steam when he reaches the final few books in the series and then simply ends. If this were a college essay, I’d be flipping the pages back thinking I missed the conclusion paragraph(s).

All in all, anyone who likes The Culture books will enjoy this engaging analysis of them. But I think Culture fans will also want more from a book that takes on the mighty challenge of plumbing their galactic depths. Here’s hoping this is merely volume one of what will be many more critical analyses of Banks and his bizarre, singular, and ultimately hopeful universe.

[Bill Coffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those who wish to understand Iain M. Banks' Culture works - Consider Phlebas, The Player of Games, Use of Weapons, The State of the Art, Excession, Inversions, Look to Windward, Matter, Surface Detail, and The Hydrogen Sonata - Simone Caroti's scholarly review of them is an excellent place to start.

Set in a deep-space setting known as the Culture, where sueprtechnology, artificial intelligence and gigaproduction have eliminated scarcity, Banks' novels deal with the various ethical and moral quandaries of the Culture's relationships with the universe it occupies, and the various dystopian neighbors it encounters. Usually, this involves Contact, the branch of the Culture that dedicates itself to reaching out to non-Culture, and even non-spacefaring societies in a kind of reverse form of the Prime Directive. And they often involve Special Circumstances, the dirty-tricks wing of Contact that gets its hands dirty, when hands need dirtying.

Caroti gives us some background on what informed Banks as an author, as well the relationship between his three tranches of work -mimetic (or "mainstream" fiction), science fiction, and science fiction set in the Culture. She also provides really insightful and thoroughly researched treatments of each of the Culture novels (and its novella, State of the Art), while providing evidence for how each of them forms a variation of a theme, or a further iteration of Banks' own exploration of what it means to be a utopia especially within a context where dystopia still abounds.

The thing holding this back from being a five-star book for me, is the academic premise on which it is founded: Banks receives short-shrift as a writer because his mainstream critics discount his science fiction, and his SF critics don't carry weight in academic circles. One appreciates Caroti's frustration here; Banks as a writer deserves more critical attention than he receives, and Caroti has taken up the standard to rectify that. So the depth with which she explores Banks' work is terrific and lays bare the intricacy and quality of storytelling that so many critics overlook because of their intellectual and stylistic bigotry.

And yet, she also spends long passages taking other critics to task for their readings and dismissals of Banks, and unless you're on her particular crusade, you're not likely to care. Likewise, for her efforts to hold up Banks' love of space opera as a defense for the genre against those who discount it. As a matter of scholarship, there's certainly something there. One just wonders how much Banks himself would have wanted people to fight on his behalf like this.

He often noted that it really got up his notes, the way critics separated his mainstream fiction (published under Iain Banks) from his science fiction (published as Iain M. Banks). But what's critical here is that what always seemed to bother wasn't that he was being denied credit he felt he was due, but rather, that his work which was meant to explore how humans could try to transcend the evils of bigotry (among other evils) managed to bring out yet more bigotry. One feels for Banks here, but he probably knew what he was getting into. The first person through the wall always takes a beating for it.

[Cayce · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love that someone has written such a thoughtful and loving homage/analysis to my favourite author. It is incredibly well-researched and pulls from a huge number of sources. However while it starts out strong and deep, it loses focus before all the books have been discussed. The final 3, possibly the best of the bunch, receive very little exegesis. Banks is additionally portrayed in such glowing light, with no room for seeing him or his works as flawed. As such, this book is less literary criticism and more like a superfan’s hobby.

[Hamish Cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extended argument for more scholarly attention to Banks' work, both science fiction and mimetic, and an examination of the various philosophical and political arguments espoused by Banks' works. Each chapter addresses a book or period and a philosophical argument that arises from it/them. Chapter sections also trace the development of Banks' literary career and critical reception. Dense, in a similar way to Banks' own writing, and thoroughly compelling in its analysis.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Banks wrote the last trilogy of Culture books with the assumption that a healthy life for any Commonwealth, and especially for a utopian one, must involve the presence of others and arrange that presence into shapes, that however complicated they become, tie civilization together. That's because civilization needs telling, all the time and every time, otherwise it slips away into ennui and dreams of empire."

[Anthony O'Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a critique of the Culture novels ( and implicitly the Culture itself ) this was all fairly ho hum. But if you are a fan of the series of novels this is simply a breathtaking reminder of the scope and brilliance of that work. Ah yes remember him. Oh no, not that. Oh I'd forgotten about that one. Nostalgia on steroids. Iain Banks died too young and too soon. There will be no more.

[Craig Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

A terrific deep dive into the influences and contemporary academic conversations that certainly shaped the formation of the Culture series of novels. This also finally got me to read non-Culture Iain Banks books. A strong recommendation for fans of the series.

[Brendan]

Read parts of

[Tim Kordas]

Really enjoyable critical essays that add some context to Banks' books, and connect the books together in ways I hadn't expected.

[Laszlo · Rating 5 out of 5]

To read after finished Culture novels, otherwise it spoils the banksian twisted story lines.
And reread the whole Culture after finishing this.

[Vance · Rating 2 out of 5]

An extremely dry and academic look at The Culture Series by Iain M. Banks. Well intended but similar in taste to 3-day-old toast.