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The Situation
“The Situation” is based on a short story by Jeff VanderMeer which Margo Lanagan called “darkly hilarious” and Kevin Brockmeier “a work of surreal humor, bemused sadness, and meticulous artifice...as if the workplace novels of Sinclair Lewis and Joshua Ferris had been inverted, shaken, and diced until they came out looking like a Terry Gilliam creation.”
50 pages, ebook
First published March 4, 2008
2 people are currently reading
490 people want to read
About the author
Jeff Vandermeer
240 books16.7k followersNYT bestselling writer Jeff VanderMeer has been called “the weird Thoreau” by the New Yorker for his engagement with ecological issues. His most recent novel, the national bestseller Borne, received wide-spread critical acclaim and his prior novels include the Southern Reach trilogy (Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance). Annihilation won the Nebula and Shirley Jackson Awards, has been translated into 35 languages, and was made into a film from Paramount Pictures directed by Alex Garland. His nonfiction has appeared in New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Atlantic, Slate, Salon, and the Washington Post. He has coedited several iconic anthologies with his wife, the Hugo Award winning editor. Other titles include Wonderbook, the world’s first fully illustrated creative writing guide. VanderMeer served as the 2016-2017 Trias Writer in Residence at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. He has spoken at the Guggenheim, the Library of Congress, and the Arthur C. Clarke Center for the Human Imagination.
VanderMeer was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, but spent much of his childhood in the Fiji Islands, where his parents worked for the Peace Corps. This experience, and the resulting trip back to the United States through Asia, Africa, and Europe, deeply influenced him.
Jeff is married to Ann VanderMeer, who is currently an acquiring editor at Tor.com and has won the Hugo Award and World Fantasy Award for her editing of magazines and anthologies. They live in Tallahassee, Florida, with two cats and thousands of books.
VanderMeer was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, but spent much of his childhood in the Fiji Islands, where his parents worked for the Peace Corps. This experience, and the resulting trip back to the United States through Asia, Africa, and Europe, deeply influenced him.
Jeff is married to Ann VanderMeer, who is currently an acquiring editor at Tor.com and has won the Hugo Award and World Fantasy Award for her editing of magazines and anthologies. They live in Tallahassee, Florida, with two cats and thousands of books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
July 10, 2008
Vandermeer comes storming back to pollute the fevered parts of my brain with this stunningly surreal office comedy. Yes, like the show Office had Cronenberg and Terry Gilliam chosen to co-directed it. On the literary side this bears comparison with Steve Aylett's threatening comic nihilism, Peake's rotten rituals and strange characters, and a couple hints of the atmospheres of Lovecraft,Ligotti, and Kafka. This novella is antic, humorous, and grotesque(lots of weird technology made from animals.) Please hurry back with strange, putrid beauty like this one Mr. Vandermeer...I miss you. Scott Eagel's art is a wonderous accompaniment to the story
September 15, 2019
A tour de force in toxic intra-office politics and how it affects a hapless (genetic) code monkey.
The original story text is more profound than the web comic version, though reading the latter first might help the reader acclimate to the VanderMeer weirdness factor. :)
The original story text is more profound than the web comic version, though reading the latter first might help the reader acclimate to the VanderMeer weirdness factor. :)
February 25, 2015
(originalmente em https://acrisalves.wordpress.com/2015... com links)
Enquanto a mais recente trilogia de Jeff Vandermeer faz furor em 17 países (NTY-bestselling), cá é um nome pouco conhecido, tendo apenas dois trabalhos publicados em português : A transformação de Martin Lake & Outras histórias e Almanaque do Dr. Thackery T. Lambeshead de Doenças Excêntricas (ambos excelentes, já agora).
Publicado em 2008, The Situation é uma pequena e espectacular noveleta de Jeff Vandermeer, uma história surreal e envolvente que é, na prática, bastante real se conseguirmos ver por detrás das transformações físicas que envolvem quer as personagens, que ros objectos. O enredo centra-se num escritório de uma grande empresa, mais especificamente numa pequena equipa em que os membros, além de um projecto comum, desenvolvem projectos individuais.
Tudo parece correr sobre rodas, até que um dos elementos de equipa é transferido para outra área. Sob um manager incompetente, os elementos que até se davam como amigos, partilhando momentos fora do horário laboral, perdem o elemento agregador, começando a divergir, tanto em objectivos individuais, como no projecto em curso. Quando se estabelece uma aliança entre dois dos elementos, inicia-se a hostilização do terceiro.
Claro que, sendo uma história de Jeff Vandermeer, nada poderia ser assim tão simples. Devagar percebemos que a cidade sofreu alguma catástrofe e que, o jovem trabalhador, vê aquela empresa como uma segunda casa. Por outro lado, os trabalhadores pouco têm de humano, mudando de aparência como quem muda de humor. Os projectos, esses, são ainda mais fantásticos, projectos de escaravelhos que ajudam as crianças a aprender, ou de peixes que, engolindo estudantes lhes ensinam capacidades matemáticas.
Sob a capa de toda a surrealidade, está a verdadeira história – a forma como colegas de trabalho pouco honrados interceptam mensagens de outros com intuitos malévolos, onde as amizades são apenas aparentes para alguns – meras alianças oportunísticas. Talvez por isso haja personagens que literalmente mudam de aspecto várias vezes ao dia, e outros que adoptam uma aparência animaléstica, cada vez mais distante e fria.
The Situation encontra-se disponível gratuitamente. Caso gostem, podem também encontrar uma pequena banda desenhada no site TOR.com.
Enquanto a mais recente trilogia de Jeff Vandermeer faz furor em 17 países (NTY-bestselling), cá é um nome pouco conhecido, tendo apenas dois trabalhos publicados em português : A transformação de Martin Lake & Outras histórias e Almanaque do Dr. Thackery T. Lambeshead de Doenças Excêntricas (ambos excelentes, já agora).
Publicado em 2008, The Situation é uma pequena e espectacular noveleta de Jeff Vandermeer, uma história surreal e envolvente que é, na prática, bastante real se conseguirmos ver por detrás das transformações físicas que envolvem quer as personagens, que ros objectos. O enredo centra-se num escritório de uma grande empresa, mais especificamente numa pequena equipa em que os membros, além de um projecto comum, desenvolvem projectos individuais.
Tudo parece correr sobre rodas, até que um dos elementos de equipa é transferido para outra área. Sob um manager incompetente, os elementos que até se davam como amigos, partilhando momentos fora do horário laboral, perdem o elemento agregador, começando a divergir, tanto em objectivos individuais, como no projecto em curso. Quando se estabelece uma aliança entre dois dos elementos, inicia-se a hostilização do terceiro.
Claro que, sendo uma história de Jeff Vandermeer, nada poderia ser assim tão simples. Devagar percebemos que a cidade sofreu alguma catástrofe e que, o jovem trabalhador, vê aquela empresa como uma segunda casa. Por outro lado, os trabalhadores pouco têm de humano, mudando de aparência como quem muda de humor. Os projectos, esses, são ainda mais fantásticos, projectos de escaravelhos que ajudam as crianças a aprender, ou de peixes que, engolindo estudantes lhes ensinam capacidades matemáticas.
Sob a capa de toda a surrealidade, está a verdadeira história – a forma como colegas de trabalho pouco honrados interceptam mensagens de outros com intuitos malévolos, onde as amizades são apenas aparentes para alguns – meras alianças oportunísticas. Talvez por isso haja personagens que literalmente mudam de aspecto várias vezes ao dia, e outros que adoptam uma aparência animaléstica, cada vez mais distante e fria.
The Situation encontra-se disponível gratuitamente. Caso gostem, podem também encontrar uma pequena banda desenhada no site TOR.com.
September 1, 2023
4/2/20
I came across this short story after a teacher told me about the New Weird genre--and I guess the first thing I'd have to say is that "weird" is probably the most suitable way to describe this writing. Jeff VanderMeer just builds the craziest world and readers have to accept it.
Plot-wise, past all of the strangeness, I love the simplicity & ""relatability"" of the story itself. It reminds me a bit of how the human eye actively seeks out a face even in images without one--in this story, I think it's fascinating to see how I can empathize and find the humanity in a situation filled with so much general weirdness.
It's a short read, and even just for the sake of reading something so wildly different than anything else you'll ever read, I think it's so worth it. The pdf is online for free, if anyone's interested. I'd love to explore more of the New Weird genre, now.
I came across this short story after a teacher told me about the New Weird genre--and I guess the first thing I'd have to say is that "weird" is probably the most suitable way to describe this writing. Jeff VanderMeer just builds the craziest world and readers have to accept it.
Plot-wise, past all of the strangeness, I love the simplicity & ""relatability"" of the story itself. It reminds me a bit of how the human eye actively seeks out a face even in images without one--in this story, I think it's fascinating to see how I can empathize and find the humanity in a situation filled with so much general weirdness.
It's a short read, and even just for the sake of reading something so wildly different than anything else you'll ever read, I think it's so worth it. The pdf is online for free, if anyone's interested. I'd love to explore more of the New Weird genre, now.
February 6, 2016
Uma boa introdução para conhecer o new weird disponível em português. Vandermeer é um dos maiores nomes do gênero. Não é o seu melhor trabalho. Mas o leitor iniciante terá, em poucas páginas, contato com a mistura de terror, fantasia e ficção científica que é marca registrada desse tipo de literatura. Cria-se aqui um clima ambíguo de estranhamento e identificação. Coisas muito bizarras acontecem num ambiente considerado "normal", o mundo corporativo. A edição em e-book da Tarja Editorial é bem cuidada, inclusive no projeto gráfico, só vacilando em alguns momentos da revisão com palavras faltando letras e ecos que poderiam ser facilmente solucionados. O livro vale a pena. Texto pioneiro deixado a leitores curiosos pela finada Tarja.
July 17, 2009
Classic Vandermeer: beautiful, creepy, kind of haunting, melancholic. Office politics, murders, nightmarish creatures and vistas, hints of an apocalyptic wasteland. I loved this, of course.
June 1, 2011
As smart about office culture as The Office, and this has a giant bear. Take that Michael Scott.
December 6, 2016
This was an ok story, but it was massively elevated by the wonderful artwork
February 13, 2018
Odd little offering. It's interesting, and clever, but I didn't feel like I got much out of it. Maybe someone who's worked in the sort of environment being satired would find it more enjoyable.
March 6, 2021
quietly devastating and too accurate, haha. Made me think, unfortunately, of my workplace.
I can see how this is a precursor to Borne, but the MC is Wick but also not quite Wick? Unclear, as this MC is an unaltered person with a human past.. but this could have just been a later adaptation/addendum
I can see how this is a precursor to Borne, but the MC is Wick but also not quite Wick? Unclear, as this MC is an unaltered person with a human past.. but this could have just been a later adaptation/addendum
January 5, 2024
"The last raise had been a huge leech shaped like a helmet. It was meant to suck all the bad thoughts out of your head. It smelled like bacon, which seemed promising. I had invited Mord and Leer over to my apartment and we’d fried it up in a skillet. I’d gotten a week’s worth of sandwiches out of it."
March 14, 2019
Short and Sweet.
October 4, 2019
Horrifyingly realistic
November 21, 2020
Good sarcastic short fiction on office politics and managers.
March 9, 2022
Might've been 4 stars but I really don't like bugs.
January 6, 2023
Download PDF copy of book from Wired here:
https://www.wired.com/2008/03/the-sit...
or
Graphic Novel Version here:
https://www.tor.com/2012/01/25/the-si...
https://www.wired.com/2008/03/the-sit...
or
Graphic Novel Version here:
https://www.tor.com/2012/01/25/the-si...
August 14, 2024
It’s an office comedy, and the cover is 100% accurate.
I liked this proto-borne novella :)
I liked this proto-borne novella :)
May 13, 2008
The review is originally available at - Realms of Speculative Fiction
At lunch, we would sneak out behind the company building with a blanket and sit on the little hill there, looking out onto a ravaged landfill full of the bright skeletons of vultures and then, beyond that, the city in all its strange mix of menace and vulnerability. The grass was yellowing rather than dead. A wiry tree stood on the hill at that time. We would ear crackers and old cans of shredded meat, the smell in that context almost unbearably tantalizing.
After lunch, we would unlock the glass cases containing our beetles. Their shining green-and-crimson carapaces would open like the lids of eccentric jewelry boxes to reveal their golden wings, and we would release them into the world.
Those beetles contained every joyous thing we had ever known, and we loved to watch them fly out into the distance.
...
I can remember Leer saying once, "This hill makes me happy."
~~~
"The Situation” is my first foray into the writing of Jeff Vandermeer, a multiple award-winning author and one of the progenitors of the New Weird avant-garde literary movement. Vandermeer’s own definition of the subgenre from the introduction to the New Weird anthology (Tachyon Publications, 2008) exposes as crucial some of the following elements: (1) urban, secondary-world fiction based on the complex real-world models; (2) subversion of the romanticism usually found in traditional fantasy; (3) may have elements of both sf&f; (4) acute awareness of the modern world and (5) the writing style and writing techniques may include elements of surreal, postmodern and transgressive horror for the tone, style and effect. I found all this to be blatantly true concerning this novelette.
The Situation’s intent is straightforward enough and revealed by the author in the acknowledgements: “I dedicate The Situation to all the passive-aggressive emotional vampires,…and incompetent power-abusing managers currently lurking among unsuspecting office workers everywhere.” We follow an anonymous corporate worker in his everyday life in a weird company that has a big all-kinds-of-weapons-proof beetle on top where the godlike owners reside. The company itself dabbles with what we would label as biotechnology – producing all kinds of beetles, worms, grubs, man-sized fish and other distorted fauna that serve all kinds of purposes (usually analogous to this world’s computer technologies and pharmaceutics). It is a story about modern workplace relations – as flawed and dysfunctional as they are. The company’s interior is the one and only safe-haven that the employees know. Hope is buried in the past along with all the happy memories and family photos. Our worker’s days revolve around pleasing his superiors and finding himself exceedingly outcasted from the people he works with, facing growing hostility and isolation.
This novelette reminds me uncannily of Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” with an added pinch of Marvyn Peake’s “Gormenghast”. Vandermeer has a lyrical approach to writing, using a lot of metaphors and allegories, and sure knows how to make you sympathize with the main protagonist. His ideas are just twisted enough for me to like and to remind me to read some of his other works – I’ve heard a lot of good things about his collection of short stories gathered in “City of Saints and Madmen”.
To conclude, this is a kind of story that I'd recommend to grown-ups or those remotely familiar with office work...for those under 25 (this age limit is highly arbitrary!) I would say to wait a few years so you can full appreciate Vandermeer's allegory of the office life.
And the best thing is that you can read this novelette for free as a free e-book here, thanks to PS Publishing.
At lunch, we would sneak out behind the company building with a blanket and sit on the little hill there, looking out onto a ravaged landfill full of the bright skeletons of vultures and then, beyond that, the city in all its strange mix of menace and vulnerability. The grass was yellowing rather than dead. A wiry tree stood on the hill at that time. We would ear crackers and old cans of shredded meat, the smell in that context almost unbearably tantalizing.
After lunch, we would unlock the glass cases containing our beetles. Their shining green-and-crimson carapaces would open like the lids of eccentric jewelry boxes to reveal their golden wings, and we would release them into the world.
Those beetles contained every joyous thing we had ever known, and we loved to watch them fly out into the distance.
...
I can remember Leer saying once, "This hill makes me happy."
~~~
"The Situation” is my first foray into the writing of Jeff Vandermeer, a multiple award-winning author and one of the progenitors of the New Weird avant-garde literary movement. Vandermeer’s own definition of the subgenre from the introduction to the New Weird anthology (Tachyon Publications, 2008) exposes as crucial some of the following elements: (1) urban, secondary-world fiction based on the complex real-world models; (2) subversion of the romanticism usually found in traditional fantasy; (3) may have elements of both sf&f; (4) acute awareness of the modern world and (5) the writing style and writing techniques may include elements of surreal, postmodern and transgressive horror for the tone, style and effect. I found all this to be blatantly true concerning this novelette.
The Situation’s intent is straightforward enough and revealed by the author in the acknowledgements: “I dedicate The Situation to all the passive-aggressive emotional vampires,…and incompetent power-abusing managers currently lurking among unsuspecting office workers everywhere.” We follow an anonymous corporate worker in his everyday life in a weird company that has a big all-kinds-of-weapons-proof beetle on top where the godlike owners reside. The company itself dabbles with what we would label as biotechnology – producing all kinds of beetles, worms, grubs, man-sized fish and other distorted fauna that serve all kinds of purposes (usually analogous to this world’s computer technologies and pharmaceutics). It is a story about modern workplace relations – as flawed and dysfunctional as they are. The company’s interior is the one and only safe-haven that the employees know. Hope is buried in the past along with all the happy memories and family photos. Our worker’s days revolve around pleasing his superiors and finding himself exceedingly outcasted from the people he works with, facing growing hostility and isolation.
This novelette reminds me uncannily of Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” with an added pinch of Marvyn Peake’s “Gormenghast”. Vandermeer has a lyrical approach to writing, using a lot of metaphors and allegories, and sure knows how to make you sympathize with the main protagonist. His ideas are just twisted enough for me to like and to remind me to read some of his other works – I’ve heard a lot of good things about his collection of short stories gathered in “City of Saints and Madmen”.
To conclude, this is a kind of story that I'd recommend to grown-ups or those remotely familiar with office work...for those under 25 (this age limit is highly arbitrary!) I would say to wait a few years so you can full appreciate Vandermeer's allegory of the office life.
And the best thing is that you can read this novelette for free as a free e-book here, thanks to PS Publishing.
April 4, 2008
Do you like your job? Are you friendly with the people you work with? Can you trust your boss?
What if you got back from your vacation to find your workplace subtly altered, almost sinister? How would it feel to be shut out: the straggler outside the herd? All of the weirdness you're imagining right now cannot hold a candle to Jeff VanderMeer's workplace satire The Situation.
Savante returns from his vaction to find that things have changed at his office. Friends have switched departments, or formed new alliances while he was away. Policy and procedures are new, but no one has brought him up to speed. He struggles mightily to adapt, but it seems that everyone is against him. Savante's days at the Company are numbered.
There's a lot of emotion behind this story, especially anger. But even as he paints cruel word-pictures of the other workers at the Company, VanderMeer graces us with some fantastic images: communication beetles, a paper-skinned manager with a dry, shrivelled leaf for a heart, the savage smile of a manipulative coworker.
But even with the strange setting and fantastical images, what's really gripping is how recognizable the actions of the Company and its minions are, and the utter bewilderment of Savante, who's done nothing wrong, yet can't seem to make it right.
If ever you've had a bad employment experience, you'll recognize the setting, the characters, and especially the emotions of The Situation>/i>.
It's a short, savage salvo of righteous anger, and it makes a terrific companion to VanderMeer's other workplace satire (and one of my personal favorites) "Secret Life."
PS Publishing has outdone themselves on the packaging, too. The book itself is clean and well-designed, and the creepily gorgeous Ben Templesmith cover puts it over the top.
What if you got back from your vacation to find your workplace subtly altered, almost sinister? How would it feel to be shut out: the straggler outside the herd? All of the weirdness you're imagining right now cannot hold a candle to Jeff VanderMeer's workplace satire The Situation.
Savante returns from his vaction to find that things have changed at his office. Friends have switched departments, or formed new alliances while he was away. Policy and procedures are new, but no one has brought him up to speed. He struggles mightily to adapt, but it seems that everyone is against him. Savante's days at the Company are numbered.
There's a lot of emotion behind this story, especially anger. But even as he paints cruel word-pictures of the other workers at the Company, VanderMeer graces us with some fantastic images: communication beetles, a paper-skinned manager with a dry, shrivelled leaf for a heart, the savage smile of a manipulative coworker.
But even with the strange setting and fantastical images, what's really gripping is how recognizable the actions of the Company and its minions are, and the utter bewilderment of Savante, who's done nothing wrong, yet can't seem to make it right.
If ever you've had a bad employment experience, you'll recognize the setting, the characters, and especially the emotions of The Situation>/i>.
It's a short, savage salvo of righteous anger, and it makes a terrific companion to VanderMeer's other workplace satire (and one of my personal favorites) "Secret Life."
PS Publishing has outdone themselves on the packaging, too. The book itself is clean and well-designed, and the creepily gorgeous Ben Templesmith cover puts it over the top.
July 4, 2016
The first comparison that comes to mind for this novella is another shorter work of Vandermeer's, Secret Life. One of my favorite Vanderstories, it masterfully unveils a thriving and convincing hidden world beneath an otherwise mundane office building. In The Situation, Vandermeer turns his attention to office relations, reminding me of Michael Cisco's The Divinity Student with a dose of Franz Kafka. As one who identifies with the sometimes paralyzing paranoia of the workplace, I found The Situation both comic and heartbreaking.
July 19, 2009
A beautifully put together little book, with gorgeous cover art. The story will raise many a hearty (though bitter) laugh in anyone who has experienced the dysfunctional side of corporate culture, and VanderMeer's imagination is as prolifically surreal as ever, but the book ultimately felt a bit slight.
May 25, 2012
Bizzarro e misterioso – così bizzarro e così misterioso che non sono neanche sicuro di aver afferrato il punto sulla "situazione". Però ci sono idee molto originali e la società in cui lavora il protagonista è così simile a una società "nostra", pur riuscendo a essere diversa e vera a modo suo, che non può che piacere.
April 21, 2018
Almost certainly the same world/universe as Borne, which I adored. It's hard to know how exactly they tie together, but my guess is this was an early effort at fleshing out that world and kind of sets the stage.
August 11, 2009
Slight, but incredibly fun!
May 3, 2011
This is basically the kind of new weird that I love. As an office worker, it even tweaks some of my recognition nerves. Totally weird, totally recommended.
January 26, 2012
Whoa. That was surreal. But, underneath, familiar. I too have worked for this company.
You can read this here: http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2008/03/...
You can read this here: http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2008/03/...
Read
July 18, 2012So, yeah, having worked in the corporate world for 12 years, and 3 years working in IT for academia... that was pretty brilliant.
March 13, 2014
A surreal take on office life (as I have read in reviews). Thanks to i09 for their recommendation of this writer. Tor has an excellent webcomic on their site. Check it out!
July 6, 2016
Weird and wonderful.
December 6, 2019
love it, this BOrne and the strange bird should be packaged together, then i'll buy it again
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews