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Jacinthes
En l'an 2000 la télévision classique ne suffit plus au bonheur des masses. Une industrie fructueuse s'est développée qui consiste à transmettre les rêves en direct. Choyés, surpayés en cette époque de pénurie, des Rêveurs professionnels font vivre au public, par procuration, histoires d'amour ou d'aventures, jeux érotiques et crimes passionnels. Mais le métier n'est pas sans danger : au bout d'un laps de temps plus ou moins long, les Rêveurs "schizent" et leur cerveau grillé ne transmet plus que des rêves atroces, impossibles à commercialiser, dont un marché noir florissant fait ses délices. À la fois un suspense et une fable très sombre sur la manipulation des masses qui n'est pas sans rappeler le film Network.
- GenresScience FictionDystopia
288 pages, Pocket Book
First published January 1, 1983
1 person is currently reading
97 people want to read
About the author
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
259 books477 followersA professional writer for more than forty years, Yarbro has sold over eighty books, more than seventy works of short fiction, and more than three dozen essays, introductions, and reviews. She also composes serious music. Her first professional writing - in 1961-1962 - was as a playwright for a now long-defunct children's theater company. By the mid-60s she had switched to writing stories and hasn't stopped yet.
After leaving college in 1963 and until she became a full-time writer in 1970, she worked as a demographic cartographer, and still often drafts maps for her books, and occasionally for the books of other writers.
She has a large reference library with books on a wide range of subjects, everything from food and fashion to weapons and trade routes to religion and law. She is constantly adding to it as part of her on-going fascination with history and culture; she reads incessantly, searching for interesting people and places that might provide fodder for stories.
In 1997 the Transylvanian Society of Dracula bestowed a literary knighthood on Yarbro, and in 2003 the World Horror Association presented her with a Grand Master award. In 2006 the International Horror Guild enrolled her among their Living Legends, the first woman to be so honored; the Horror Writers Association gave her a Life Achievement Award in 2009. In 2014 she won a Life Achievement Award from the World Fantasy Convention.
A skeptical occultist for forty years, she has studied everything from alchemy to zoomancy, and in the late 1970s worked occasionally as a professional tarot card reader and palmist at the Magic Cellar in San Francisco.
She has two domestic accomplishments: she is a good cook and an experienced seamstress. The rest is catch-as-catch-can.
Divorced, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area - with two cats: the irrepressible Butterscotch and Crumpet, the Gang of Two. When not busy writing, she enjoys the symphony or opera.
Her Saint-Germain series is now the longest vampire series ever. The books range widely over time and place, and were not published in historical order. They are numbered in published order.
Known pseudonyms include Vanessa Pryor, Quinn Fawcett, T.C.F. Hopkins, Trystam Kith, Camille Gabor.
After leaving college in 1963 and until she became a full-time writer in 1970, she worked as a demographic cartographer, and still often drafts maps for her books, and occasionally for the books of other writers.
She has a large reference library with books on a wide range of subjects, everything from food and fashion to weapons and trade routes to religion and law. She is constantly adding to it as part of her on-going fascination with history and culture; she reads incessantly, searching for interesting people and places that might provide fodder for stories.
In 1997 the Transylvanian Society of Dracula bestowed a literary knighthood on Yarbro, and in 2003 the World Horror Association presented her with a Grand Master award. In 2006 the International Horror Guild enrolled her among their Living Legends, the first woman to be so honored; the Horror Writers Association gave her a Life Achievement Award in 2009. In 2014 she won a Life Achievement Award from the World Fantasy Convention.
A skeptical occultist for forty years, she has studied everything from alchemy to zoomancy, and in the late 1970s worked occasionally as a professional tarot card reader and palmist at the Magic Cellar in San Francisco.
She has two domestic accomplishments: she is a good cook and an experienced seamstress. The rest is catch-as-catch-can.
Divorced, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area - with two cats: the irrepressible Butterscotch and Crumpet, the Gang of Two. When not busy writing, she enjoys the symphony or opera.
Her Saint-Germain series is now the longest vampire series ever. The books range widely over time and place, and were not published in historical order. They are numbered in published order.
Known pseudonyms include Vanessa Pryor, Quinn Fawcett, T.C.F. Hopkins, Trystam Kith, Camille Gabor.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
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August 2, 2020Now that I've got your eyeballs for a second, go read Science Fiction and Other Suspect Ruminations' review: https://tinyurl.com/y4kujdwq
September 23, 2018
This is a rather interesting dystopia novel. The characters are not likable, and they are not really meant to be. It is more of a character study about what sexism and out of control capitalism can make people be as well as how it can affect creatively.
Despite its age, the themes of the book can still be applied to today, especially with the use of social media and the entertainment industry.
Despite its age, the themes of the book can still be applied to today, especially with the use of social media and the entertainment industry.
August 2, 2020
Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...
"Chelsea Quinn Yarbro’s Hyacinths (1983) is an unsettling dystopian tale of a future where even the unregulated creative world of Dreams is harassed and controlled. On another level, Hyacinths lays bare the dangers of unregulated industry and the ingrained sexism within western capitalism. There’s a deep sadness within these pages, a sadness at the lack of progress for equal rights in the workplace, a sadness at inability [...]"
"Chelsea Quinn Yarbro’s Hyacinths (1983) is an unsettling dystopian tale of a future where even the unregulated creative world of Dreams is harassed and controlled. On another level, Hyacinths lays bare the dangers of unregulated industry and the ingrained sexism within western capitalism. There’s a deep sadness within these pages, a sadness at the lack of progress for equal rights in the workplace, a sadness at inability [...]"
April 8, 2014
This novel's a stunner: usually, even in the best "allegorical" works of SF, there's a bit of "strings-showing" to the puppetry; the Wizard of Oz is the President, the thronging hordes are consumer-class dolts, etc.
Here, though, Quinn Yarbro's immersive world is so absorptive you can't change an element in your head and imagine its "double" in contemporary life; a better example of William Gibson's notion that (his) SF was "to describe a world too weird to express any other way" [NOTE: Not verbatim!] I haven't come across lately, completely by accident, in the section of Powell's not frequented by other Quinn Yarbro freaks.
As always, her characters think out loud inside their heads and don't always guess correctly about what the other's going to do — a subtle "technique," if you want to call it that, but one that brings us that much closer to Human Life.
Highly recommended! (And: makes great "beach reading," too!) Sometimes, the Author does do all the work "for you"!
Here, though, Quinn Yarbro's immersive world is so absorptive you can't change an element in your head and imagine its "double" in contemporary life; a better example of William Gibson's notion that (his) SF was "to describe a world too weird to express any other way" [NOTE: Not verbatim!] I haven't come across lately, completely by accident, in the section of Powell's not frequented by other Quinn Yarbro freaks.
As always, her characters think out loud inside their heads and don't always guess correctly about what the other's going to do — a subtle "technique," if you want to call it that, but one that brings us that much closer to Human Life.
Highly recommended! (And: makes great "beach reading," too!) Sometimes, the Author does do all the work "for you"!
January 17, 2008
Corny, but popcorn satisfying. Until the end. The thing about the end: there wasn't one.
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June 1, 2021La televisión se ha quedado atrás. El nuevo modelo de entretenimiento audiovisual son los Sueños. Como suena: se ha conseguido capturar los Sueños para retransmitirlos como un medio de masas, como parte del ocio. Es una experiencia completa: no solamente las imágenes, el movimiento y el sonido son parte de la experiencia; los olores, las impresiones, las sensaciones… Es un medio total. La televisión, la música y el resto de productos audiovisuales han quedado desbancados.
Los Sueños comerciales mueven una cantidad ingente de dinero y solo pueden ser producidos por Soñadores, una gente que tiene el don de Soñar de manera coherente y a voluntad. Todo el mundo conoce sus nombres y sus deseos más profundos. Son las nuevas estrellas de las masas, son admirados y envidiados. Todo el mundo desearía ser un Soñador…
…hasta que se convierten en uno. Dentro de las cadenas productoras de Sueños, todo el mundo sabe la verdad: los Soñadores son personas desgraciadas. La mayoría de ellas se queman después de un tiempo Soñando y pierden todas sus capacidades mentales. En el mejor de los casos, cumplen con su contrato y pueden retirarse, con medicación para toda la vida, a un lugar apartado de las grandes ciudades para llevar una vida tranquila. En el peor y más habitual, se necesita su ingreso en unas instalaciones especiales que ya ha habilitado la cadena, donde vivirá con medicación y atención psiquiátrica el resto de su vida, mientras entran y salen de la lucidez.
Siempre defenderé que la ciencia ficción habla del presente y no del futuro. Los libros sobre la conquista del espacio tratan las relaciones entre clase, el colonialismo y cómo decidimos qué vidas tienen valor y cuáles no; no intentan adivinar qué encontraremos cuando consigamos salir del Sistema Solar. Las películas sobre robots nos hablan del miedo al otro, sobre nuestra capacidad de adaptación y sobre la facilidad con la que corrompemos nuestra moral; no es una quiniela que intenta acertar por dónde avanzará la informática en los próximos años.
Sin embargo, con Jacintos, de Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, es difícil de mantener.
La novela se escribió en 1983 y llegó a España en una única edición en 1990. Y al leerla en 2020 parece perturbadoramente profética: el crunch en las empresas de videojuegos, por las que tienen a sus programadores trabajando hasta 80 horas a la semana durante meses; o los streamers, adorados y quemados a partes iguales. Cada pocos meses surge la historia de un streamer que se suicida. Levanta revuelo durante unos días, nos preguntamos cómo permitimos que algo así pase y luego ocurre lo que ocurre con los Soñadores de Jacintos: la exigencia de contenido nuevo nos hace mirar a otro sitio, seguir consumiendo evasión a expensas de la salud y la vida de quien nos la provee.
Continúa en... https://lanaveinvisible.com/2021/04/0...
Los Sueños comerciales mueven una cantidad ingente de dinero y solo pueden ser producidos por Soñadores, una gente que tiene el don de Soñar de manera coherente y a voluntad. Todo el mundo conoce sus nombres y sus deseos más profundos. Son las nuevas estrellas de las masas, son admirados y envidiados. Todo el mundo desearía ser un Soñador…
…hasta que se convierten en uno. Dentro de las cadenas productoras de Sueños, todo el mundo sabe la verdad: los Soñadores son personas desgraciadas. La mayoría de ellas se queman después de un tiempo Soñando y pierden todas sus capacidades mentales. En el mejor de los casos, cumplen con su contrato y pueden retirarse, con medicación para toda la vida, a un lugar apartado de las grandes ciudades para llevar una vida tranquila. En el peor y más habitual, se necesita su ingreso en unas instalaciones especiales que ya ha habilitado la cadena, donde vivirá con medicación y atención psiquiátrica el resto de su vida, mientras entran y salen de la lucidez.
Siempre defenderé que la ciencia ficción habla del presente y no del futuro. Los libros sobre la conquista del espacio tratan las relaciones entre clase, el colonialismo y cómo decidimos qué vidas tienen valor y cuáles no; no intentan adivinar qué encontraremos cuando consigamos salir del Sistema Solar. Las películas sobre robots nos hablan del miedo al otro, sobre nuestra capacidad de adaptación y sobre la facilidad con la que corrompemos nuestra moral; no es una quiniela que intenta acertar por dónde avanzará la informática en los próximos años.
Sin embargo, con Jacintos, de Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, es difícil de mantener.
La novela se escribió en 1983 y llegó a España en una única edición en 1990. Y al leerla en 2020 parece perturbadoramente profética: el crunch en las empresas de videojuegos, por las que tienen a sus programadores trabajando hasta 80 horas a la semana durante meses; o los streamers, adorados y quemados a partes iguales. Cada pocos meses surge la historia de un streamer que se suicida. Levanta revuelo durante unos días, nos preguntamos cómo permitimos que algo así pase y luego ocurre lo que ocurre con los Soñadores de Jacintos: la exigencia de contenido nuevo nos hace mirar a otro sitio, seguir consumiendo evasión a expensas de la salud y la vida de quien nos la provee.
Continúa en... https://lanaveinvisible.com/2021/04/0...
November 27, 2020
Tant de bo l'autora hagués aprofundit en alguns aspectes que tracta la novel·la perquè seria una meravella. Això sí que és una bona crítica al capitalisme, no el que fan alguns altres llibres.
August 26, 2025
Being able to see other people's dreams and the industry that would rise from such technology is concept that gets toyed around with occasionally. The book is primarily (and understandably) from the perspective of those who would be on the inside of the industry, and the exploited creatives that the industry rose around -- dreamers. It was an interesting read, but I wish that there would've been just a bit more world-building around the societal impacts of the tech, and more on the governments response to briefly mentioned civil unrest.
December 22, 2019
Uh...wow... I truly thought a lot about this had promise, but it never really went anywhere. The ending felt like the author was trying to fit the story into an exact word count without going over. Seriously disappointed in this. Only two stars because I save one star ratings for trash I can’t even finish.
September 15, 2016
This was a clever-but-frustrating novel. A technology is invented which allows the recording and playback of dreams. Initially, this is used to help with psychotherapy, but quickly becomes a form of entertainment. Commercials are inserted in the form of subliminals. What could possibly go wrong with this concept? Well, the professional dreamers are burning out and going psychotic, and no one seems to care.
That is at the heart of the story, but also at the heart of my frustration WITH the story. I just found that part hard to believe. I mean, suppose 50% of all network newscasters were going crazy, seemingly as a result of their jobs. Don't you think someone would try to find out why? Well, it's happening to the Dreamers, and no one but one of the main characters seems to care. Then, there are the riots, the increases of which happen to coincide with the increases in the use of Dreaming as entertainment, but no one seems to care or notice that either.
Also, the book was written in 1983, and while it's a future story, too many of the attitudes were frozen in time. The idea of gay/lesbian entertainment is considered shocking and/or forbidden, and the role of women in business was just peculiar.
So, while well-written, it felt like it could have been better and much more convincing.
That is at the heart of the story, but also at the heart of my frustration WITH the story. I just found that part hard to believe. I mean, suppose 50% of all network newscasters were going crazy, seemingly as a result of their jobs. Don't you think someone would try to find out why? Well, it's happening to the Dreamers, and no one but one of the main characters seems to care. Then, there are the riots, the increases of which happen to coincide with the increases in the use of Dreaming as entertainment, but no one seems to care or notice that either.
Also, the book was written in 1983, and while it's a future story, too many of the attitudes were frozen in time. The idea of gay/lesbian entertainment is considered shocking and/or forbidden, and the role of women in business was just peculiar.
So, while well-written, it felt like it could have been better and much more convincing.
January 28, 2014
Perturbante, envolvente!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews