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The Languages of Pao

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"The Languages of Pao," by Jack Vance, is set in part on the planet Pao, a world populated by the descendants of human colonists. Pao's huge population is extremely docile by nature. Because the people's passivity makes them easy prey for conquest and exploitation, the planet's monarch seeks help from Lord Palafox, an official from the technologically advanced world of Breakness. Palafox's plan is to make the Paonese able to defend themselves in the following way: newly created languages will be used as tools to transform Pao's culture and mass psychology.

The back cover of the book notes, "It's one of the extremely few science fiction novels ever based on the science of linguistics." The novel is an effective combination of an intriguing idea, solid plotting, and compelling characters. Vance's finely crafted prose is really a pleasure to read--it's sturdy yet elegant. Vance creates richly detailed portraits of the very different worlds of Breakness and Pao. He fills his story with thoughtful details which really breathe life into the pages. And while this is clearly a science fiction novel, at times Vance infuses it with a flavor of fantasy or fairy tale.

This is both a novel of ideas and a novel of characters. The story of Pao raises intriguing questions about the relationships that link language, culture, political power, military power, and educational establishments. The book is not just a tale of massive sociolinguistic experimentation, but also a coming-of-age story and a story of political suspense. It also falls into the genre of military science fiction--in short, it's a rich and complex text. The big ideas of the book are anchored by well-drawn characters who inhabit a volatile web of interrelationships. Particularly poignant is Vance's portrait of one character, who finds himself caught between two very different cultures. "The Languages of Pao" is a noteworthy achievement by a master craftsman of science fiction.

"The Languages of Pao" was first published in 1957. It is written in the classic style of my favorite SF author. The story is set on one of those typical, out-on-the-edge-of-the-galaxy worlds that Vance loves to create, complete with the typical flowery anthropological descriptions of eccentric human societies he is famous for. Beran Panasper is the "Medallion," heir to the throne of his father, the "Panarch" or emporer of the planet Pao. The Panarch is assasinated by Bustamonte, the "Ayudor," Beran's uncle, who becomes regent. Bustamonte tries to kill Beran so that he can become emporer. Beran is saved by Lord Palafox, a dominie of the Breakness Institute, where he takes Beran for safety. Palafox has a plan to change the character of the docile people of Pao by creating new languages which will morph them into technicants, warriors, merchantilists and diplomatic managers, depending on which language is learned. This is Jack Vance in his relative youth and a very enjoyable story.

The "languages of poa"is a brilliant book. Jack Vance looks at the subtle methods of control achieved by conquerors who lacking manpower decide to pacify a world after the initial invasion by pacifying the language. It sounds so simple, but only becaue of the deft skill with which Jack Vance handles the complex threads. The story is simple but you are left with the impression that perhaps there should be a bit more concern shown by the general populace by the often blatant manipulations of the advertisers and the spin doctors of various corporations and politicians. Aside from that rather dark warning the "Lanuages of Pao" has all the trade-mark Jack Vance humour...Drollness at it's best.

In "The Languages of Pao", Jack Vance explores the
connection between language and culture on Pao,
which is (at the beginning of the story) a planet-sized
extrapolation of pre-Industrial Revolution medieval
Asian culture with a thin layer of technology on top.

At the beginning of the story, the Paonese reflect their
language... neutral and relatively passive... and Pao buys
mercenaries and modern weaponry. After being
plundered one too many times by an invading clan,
Pao's ruler turns to Palafox, a powerful academic
("Dominie") from the neighboring world of Breakness.

Palafox's project has two goals... one overt and one
covert. The overt goal is to create Paonese intellectual,
mercantile and martial castes through the creation of
three new languages, three colonies of young Paonese
raised from the cradle in the respective languages and
of an Interpreter Corps that understands them all.
Palafox demands a harsh price for his services...
the indenture of thousands of young, beautiful
Paonese girls for concubinage and siring of
half-Paonese offspring.

As seen through the progress of Beran, a fugitive
Paonese crown prince who becomes a linguist on
Breakness, joins the Interpreter Corps and returns
to Pao, the reader eventually discerns the depths
of Palafox's madness and his ultimate goal: for he
and his descendants to collectively outbreed Paonese
men and take over the whole planet.

Late in the story, after Beran assimilates two of three
castes and outmaneuvers Palafox, his forces are
defeated by the warrior caste. When they attempt
to depose Beran, he resists, claiming that they cannot
wield ultimate power on Pao because they cannot
communicate with the Paonese (i.e., anyone but
themselves). When they challenge Beran to do
something about it, he slips one by them. By
ordering that all Paonese children... including those
of the current warrior caste... should henceforth be
educated in Pastiche, a heterogeneous melange of
the new languages created years before, he laid the
groundwork for their eventual assimilation.

There are interesting parallels between the role of
Pastiche on the Pao that will emerge after the end of
"The Languages of Pao" and the role of English, a
similarly heterogeneous melange, in our own 21st
Century world.

Pao is a peaceful planet of eight continents and many islands. The Paonese are gentle, uncomplicated, non-competitive, folk whose only problem tends to be famine one on or another continent at times.

Their rules is called the Panarch, named Aiello. Aiello's brother is Bustamonte, called the Ayudor, or second in command. Sitting at table, listening while his father received complaints from the citizens and tradesmen, was young Beren. During an argument with an agent from the Mercantil, the room goes dark and when light is restored Aiello is dead. Also attending the room is Palafox, a scientifically enhanced Dominie from the world Breakness. When it seems young Beren will be implicated in his father's murder, Palafox helps him escape, only to hold him hostage on Breakness.

Bustamonte, in the meantime, becomes Panarch of Pao, but is soon blackmailed so heavily by the Mercantil that he turns to Breakness to solve his problem. The Breakness Dominine from their institutes decide help Bustamonte by breaking apart the very language of Pao, since Paonese hold social caste sacred. The Paonese language was split into three new languages, Valiant, Technicant, and Cogitant. The eager students sent from Pao to the Breakness institute even created their own mish-mash language called Pastiche. And Beren learns them all. Beren steals away from Breakness and Palafox's institute, to settle back on Pao as Ercole Paraio.

But Palafox has never lost sight of the young boy he rescued so long ago, and is not finished with Beren yet. He has an alternate and selfish motivation for having saved the boy king so long ago. Does Beren have enough Paonese left in him to rule his people? Does he have enough Breakness in him to stop Palafox? You'll just have to read the rest.

This is one of Vance's older and shorter novels, but it runs at breakneck speed with Vance's amazingly realistic worlds, strange people, unique heroes, and magnificent prose. Don't miss out on this one! Enjoy!

`Good things come in small packages.' is a common enough expression come Christmas time, and the same could be said of Jack Vance's `The Languages of Pao.' Written in 1957, the book is one of Vance's earlier creations and does not represent the maturity of style that `Tales of the Dying Earth,' `Planet of Adventure', the Cadwal Chronicles, etc. display. However, one can that seeds have been planted and buds are sprouting. The novel, though checking in at only 150 pages, is unmistakably Vance.

Fully deserving to be fleshed out - to have all of the details unpacked - the exposed bones of `The Languages of Pao' tell of the exiled ruler of the titular planet and the steps he takes to stabilize his beloved country and culture after his father's assassination. Baren is just a boy when he is whisked away by the seemingly benevolent wizard dominie, Falafox, to the planet of Breakness. The knowledge Barend gains and linguistics he learns unravel up to his return to Pao in a fashion that only Vance can present. Events moving swiftly - perhaps too swiftly for the weight of the ideas motivating them - the story moves with a firm hand and focus its conclusion. Showing incredible balance and realism, while the end comes in typical Vance style - positive for the protagonist, that is - it bears nothing of the fairy tale colors other pulp sci-fi stories of the time wore.

Aside from the plot moving at times quite rapidly, the only disadvantage of `The Languages of Pao' is that the reader is left wanting a more detailed narrative regarding the role language plays in the story. While what exists is more than sufficient to carry the plot, the thematic punch is somewhat pulled due to the paucity of description. Obviously playing off Saussere's `sign' and `symbol' theory of linguistics, the book would not have suffered for the social connection to language to have been made stronger. Alas, the idea coming so early in Vance's career, the seed never had a chance to fully blossom.

That being said, `The Languages of Pao' is certainly an atypical sci-fi story written as only Jack Vance can. The cultural insight, wry humor, and well-thought out plot are all present. As such, the book comes highly recommended for any Vance fan who has not yet read this work, or for anyone who would like a quick taste of what role linguistics might play in a sci-fi story.

The art of language is often idiosyncratically pursued when one person finds themselves driven towards learning the mindset of a foreign logic, the lexicon of a distant land or the mode of thought of a backwards culture. Writing a science fiction novel revolving around the art of language seems like a recipe for disaster, where science and art meet, collide and fragmentize into a heap of rubble. Amazingly, Jack Vance pens a wondrous work where the two meet harmoniously.

Against my hope for a better SF novel, The Languages of Pao starts off with an aristocratic and loquacious bang: the dignified king is disheartened by the purportedly unscrupulous transactions of the merchants, whom have been dealing bilaterally with the militaristic-prone neighbor which the king himself finds disconcerting. Admittedly, I like the wordiness of the noble speaking and I found myself quite enjoying the position of the ruthless dictator and, later, the benevolent overseer. Vance is really keyed into the reader who wants to see an easy overlord, rather than merely glorifying a king and bestowing upon him great, unparalleled powers or unchallenged rule (alá Southeastern Asian monarchy or numerous science fictional kings of lore).

Being a bilingual person (nearly fluent in spoken and written Thai), I found the task of writing about an alien tongue to be most precarious. However, Vance found a way to keep it interesting through the mode of good-hearted child heir-to-the-throne versus conniving wizard of a literally overcast planet. Cheesy as it may be, assuredly, it works. It is epic to follow the progression of the awkward relationship of to-be-king Beran and wizard-extraordinaire Palafox from didactic simplicity to heroic brotherhood to enemy at the gates. With age comes reason, but with too much age comes senility.

Not only has the story a gripping hold, the intricate life lessons of a learned man are brought upon the pages via insightful dialogue:
Page 96 offers an intuitive view into education saying, `Education is not achieved through the heart - it is a systemization of the mental processes.' `But I am something other than a mental process. I'm a man. I must reckon with the whole of myself.'
Page 114 offers a delectable tidbit about trust: `A commitment is good only so long as it is advantageous.' `This is not always true. A person who fails one commitment is not often entrusted with a second.' `Trust? What is that? The interdependence of the hive; a mutual parasitism of the weak and incomplete.'

This is brilliant stuff to some from a seemingly pulp novel full of everything but pulp. This novel deserves some serious respect. Poul Anderson dabbles in the realms of language in his SF novels (e.g. Brain Wave, Planet of No Return) but fails to put it in the forefront like Vance has nobly done so. But the one area Vance fails in is climatic build. The climax is hasty, looked over. Hence, the ultimate conclusion is unsatisfactory. If only an additional twenty pages were added to The Language of Pao, the unfolding of the climax and conclusion would have been so much better... five-star better. But as a trans-literate academic, I found this novel to be a pure gem.

Its kind of fitting that Jack vance wrote a story in which the use of language is key. After all, if any living writer deserves to be called a wordsmith, its Vance. The Languages of Pao is one level a fairly standard sci-fi adventure - young prince robbed of his birthright by an usurper, and spirited away for safekeeping, where he learns the necessary skills to reclaim his throne. That last sentence, while not actually incorrect in any way, however bears only faint resemblance to the story in fact told.

There are so many quirks and grey areas here that you are always a little off balance - for instance, in the opening paragraph or so we are told that on the quiet, rural planet Pao, the standard methods of population control are forced resettlement and infanticide, which is widely accepted. The story is truly about language, and how language affects the way we think, and therefore act. New languages can be created to instil desired traits in those who speak them, and a populace altered as a result.

In this frame a rousing adventure is told, of Beran Panasper, the rightful Panarch of Pao, and his conflicts with the usurper Bustamente and enigmatic sorcerer Palafox, but the theory never goes away, and nor does it cause the book to drag (although at 170-odd pages, it is only a short read to begin with).

Vance has written a truly sci-fi tale about ideas here, presented through a fairly standard storytelling medium to make it accessible. It is well written and gripping, although the dialogue is perhaps not as "Vancian" as his later works. Some scenes are striking: there is one which clearly references the appearance of the gom jabbar testing in Dune: except that Pao was written in 1958 and Dune in 1965, so it appears that Herbert likely read this story and expanded the concept greatly.

Its kind of fitting that Jack vance wrote a story in which the use of language is key. After all, if any living writer deserves to be called a wordsmith, its Vance. The Languages of Pao is one level a fairly standard sci-fi adventure - young prince robbed of his birthright by an usurper, and spirited away for safekeeping, where he learns the necessary skills to reclaim his throne. That last sentence, while not actually incorrect in any way, however bears only faint resemblance to the story in fact told.

There are so many quirks and grey areas here that you are always a little off balance - for instance, in the opening paragraph or so we are told that on the quiet, rural planet Pao, the standard methods of population control are forced resettlement and infanticide, which is widely accepted. The story is truly about language, and how language affects the way we think, and therefore act. New languages can be created to instil desired traits in those who speak them, and a populace altered as a result.

In this frame a rousing adventure is told, of Beran Panasper, the rightful Panarch of Pao, and his conflicts with the usurper Bustamente and enigmatic sorcerer Palafox, but the theory never goes away, and nor does it cause the book to drag (although at 170-odd pages, it is only a short read to begin with).

Vance has written a truly sci-fi tale about ideas here, presented through a fairly standard storytelling medium to make it accessible. It is well written and gripping, although the dialogue is perhaps not as "Vancian" as his later works. Some scenes are striking: there is one which clearly references the appearance of the gom jabbar testing in Dune: except that Pao was written in 1958 and Dune in 1965, so it appears that Herbert likely read this story and expanded the concept greatly.

Beautiful new edition of such a great classic. Distopia meets hope. One of the few books capable of touching so many areas of interest, from SF and linguistics to politics and sociology. Amazingly powerful look at the philosophy and reality of societal control. Could be alongside 1984 and the likes for studies in danger and potentiality of imperial means. Also, a joy for all us conlangers. Vance simply can't be beat.