Alpha Ralpha Boulevard

by Cordwainer Smith

Zu schön, um wahr zu sein

Nach der Wiederentdeckung der Menschheit wird das übervorsichtige Sicherheitssystem abgestellt. Die Menschen können endlich wieder frei leben, wie in der Vergangenheit. Paul und Virginia genießen ihre neue alte Sprache, ihre neuen alten Namen, den Besuch eines neuen alten Cafés. Doch nicht alles hat sich geä Nach wie vor gibt es Tiermenschen, die die schwere Arbeit verrichten. Virginia beginnt, an ihrer Freiheit in der schönen neuen Welt zu zweifeln. Sie will den Computer Abba-Dingo fragen, der in der Lage ist, die Zukunft vorherzusagen. Um ihn zu erreichen, muss Virginia dem uralten Alpha Ralpha Boulevard bis zu seinem Ende folgen … Die Erzählung „Alpha Ralpha Boulevard“ erscheint als exklusives eBook Only bei Heyne und ist zusammen mit weiteren Stories von Cordwainer Smith auch in dem Sammelband „Was aus den Menschen wurde“ enthalten. Sie umfasst ca. 42 Buchseiten.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy

Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 1961

About the author

Pseudonym of:
Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger

Linebarger also employed the literary pseudonyms "Carmichael Smith" (for his political thriller Atomsk), "Anthony Bearden" (for his poetry) and "Felix C. Forrest" (for the novels Ria and Carola).

Linebarger was also a noted East Asia scholar and expert in psychological warfare.

Reviews

[Nicolina Keeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to read this short story for an English course I am taking and I am very glad it was on the reading list. Honestly, it is an odd read and I have no prior experience with Cordwainer Smith's work but this story provoked so much intrigue in me that I found and purchased a collections book of his work because I want to know more and understand this story, this world better.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this story. I read this because Ursula K Le Guin mentioned it as a story that blew her mind in an interview and I just followed her advice. :-)

[Joe Cloyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first story that I’ve read by Smith, and I’m pretty damned impressed.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Alpha Ralpha Boulevard" is a novelette. First published in the June 1961 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, it was nominated for a 1962 Hugo award. No less a fellow author than Ursula K. LeGuin famously stated that reading this "was as important to me as reading Pasternak for the first time."

The story was reportedly inspired by a painting from Smith's childhood, The Storm, by Pierre-Auguste Cot, portraying two young lovers fleeing along a darkening path. Additionally, the names of the two principal characters, together with the story's conscious attempt to revive a French culture, recall the 18th century French novel Paul et Virginie.

This was my first read of Cordwainer Smith's work. According to Wikipedia, he wrote most of his stories, including this one, in a series called "The Instrumentality of Mankind." It apparently posited an age of computers that made lives too easy. Humankind atrophied as a result. An attempt was made to wean people from the ease, to not make everything more difficult, including disease, hunger, and death. The thought was that doing this would reinvigorate humankind.

This then is a typical story in that series. Paul and Virginia undergo a process called hypnopedia in the hospital they emerged from at the beginning of the story. As a result of unconscious programming they received there, they can no longer speak their native language, but only old French.

They used to be immortal, lives limited (to 400 years?) by something called the Instrumentality. As a result of the hospital process though, they are now mortal, their deaths no longer predictable.

This is all strange, but a pretty cool concept. Paul and Virginia are in love, but Virginia needs to know if their love is programmed or if its real. They go on a quest upon a road that leads into the sky in order to consult the Wizard of Oz, I mean some entity called Abba-dingo, which is supposed to have the answer. This is the story of that quest.

Reading this story makes me interested in reading more stories about the Instrumentality, to see if more details about this world were revealed in those other stories. My next Cordwainer Smith read is therefore The Instrumentality of Mankind, a collection of fourteen short stories that arrived in my mailbox just today.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outside of the box story.
Rating: 4 / 5
(Spoiler-free review)


This is my first Cordwainer Smith piece. Though short, it is a glimpse into his grander future history set in the world of the "Instrumentality of Man". In this work, we are in this era ~14,000 years into the future he calls "The Rediscovery of Man".

This novelette was published in 1961, a date I thought about throughout the reading. I think the reader would be pleased to go into the story without knowing anything about the main concept of this universe. What would possess someone from the author's time to think of such a thing? Was it something specific to Cordwainer Smith (this is his pen name) or a thought in the zeitgeist of the late 1950s?

On a literary note, I took to Smith's prose; it's direct and concise like Hemingway, and also contains a density of meaning I find pleasing to unpack. I'd be curious at some point to step inside his larger future history that this novelette is birthed from.

Finally, this story reminds me of a thought that's been percolating in my mind for some time: what happens to society when all our human needs are satisfied in an era of radical abundance? When disease and resources are taken for granted. Our daily lives currently must revolve around these needs, and so our thoughts and actions are a prisoner to them. But what of them when they are set free?

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 4 out of 5]

ENGLISH: This is one of my favorite stories about the Instrumentality by Cordwainer Smith. It's one of those I remember with pleasure, even though its end is sad. It is one of two stories featuring C-Mell, the cat-girl, who is also one of the main characters in the novel Norstrilia.

ESPAÑOL: Este es uno de mis relatos favoritos sobre la Instrumentalidad de Cordwainer Smith. Es uno de los que recuerdo con placer, aunque su final sea triste. Es uno de los dos relatos en los que aparece G-Mell, la chica gato, que también es uno de los personajes principales de la novela Norstrilia.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

1961. Weird and interesting story that takes place in Smith's Instrumentality of Mankind Universe. I'm not sure that this is a world I'm interested in revisiting.