Customer Reviews

The Dark Light Years

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In my edition of the book it's pretty obvious that the person who wrote the back cover copy didn't actually bother to read the book itself and just read the last two chapters, since that's basically what it describes (it must be the publisher, because my copy of Barry Malzberg's "Galaxies" is from the same publisher and the same problem is there) . . . which isn't bad, but turns out to be incredibly misleading and makes you think the point of the book is very different from what it really is. What we have here is a slim novel about humans making contact with an alien race and lousing it up pretty bad. Aldiss' theory, in what was becoming a fairly prevalent one among SF authors at the time, was that aliens, not being human, can't be necessarily understood very easily and it'll take a lot of work. Unlike Lem's Solaris, which postulated that we'd never be able to understand aliens no matter how hard we tried, Aldiss states that we could do it if we work at it, but nobody will bother. The bulk of the book is a satire on the human race essentially, dissecting all the little things that make us so screwy as a whole. It's not a very optimistic book, so don't expect any uplifting message here, while most of the humans are fairly decent people, a lot of them do some pretty mean things out of ignorance or just plain spite. And the aliens themselves are sort of dopey, while the whole "communicating through excrement" thing is pretty funny and there's some other scattered neat ideas, as a race they just aren't that interesting. In fact the whole book suffers from good ideas but okay execution . . . the plot itself is almost too straightforward, there are barely any really standout characters (the main characters disappears partway through the book, never to be seen again) and while there's a statement lurking in the story somewhere, it never really coheres into a solid one. On the whole though it's a thought provoking and entertaining read and short enough that you can finish it off in a long afternoon without much trouble. Aldiss is enough of a master that even his minor works offer something to take home and make it a worthwhile read. Definitely worth a look.

In a myriad of SF-writers, Brian Aldiss has always stood out because of his ability to infuse typical genre scenarios with unique imagination and gentle irony, and The Dark Light Years is the author at his best. The plot follows humanity's first contac with an alien race called the Utods, an intelligent, gentle people who think technology is a strange Idea and socialize using their excrements(!). Aldiss turns this scenario into a humorous but but bleak fable about human nature, with lots of sideways glances at heavy philosophical themes like the nature of communication, religion and progress. A great book, halfway between Ellison and Asimov. Thoroughly recommended.

Fresh off reading Brian Aldiss' wonderful Non-Stop I eagerly picked up a battered copy of The Dark Light-Years (1964). I was sorely disappointed. The Dark Light-Years is disjointed, muddled, and only occasionally thought-provoking. This is frustrating since the premise is quite promising.

Plot Summary

The Utods are multi-headed multi-limbed hippo-like mud-wallowing creatures which alternate genders. They live with their lizard-like parasites in large mud and feces filled ponds which they wallow in and philosophize. They journey between their planets in seedpod spaceships filled with their own filth. They feel no pain, are pacifists, and are happy.

Some humans encounter a bunch of them and their seedpod spaceship. Some of the Utods try to communicate with the humans but are impulsively slaughtered in cold-blood. Two are captured alive and the rest are dissected...

The humans of this future time live in ultra-hygienic conditions eating their synthesized foods and drinking non-alcoholic beverages. A few stalwarts still cook meat...

The "plot" (and I use that term as loosely as possible) follows the attempt of a bunch of scientists to communicate with the the Utops. Alidss throws some half-baked linguistic theory at the reader... He's more interested in introducing hordes of secondary non-entity characters so he can fill up his page limit and stay away from the any interesting attempts at interaction between the humans and the aliens.

However, the complete inability of the humans to communicate with the aliens (who have chosen not to communicate) introduces the main theme of the work: the humans are so repulsed by the filth of the Utods that they are forced to reevaluate the meaning and criteria of the words/concepts sentience, intelligence, civilization, progress -- not only as applied to the aliens but ourselves. Does our conception of civilization completely exclude all other forms civilization might take?

The Utods (luxuriating in their feces ponds) act as a lens through which to view mankind... Here glimpses of Aldiss' ability shine through. Is space travel instinctual behavior? Is it a gauge for intelligence? What are the ramifications of a meeting a species possessing greater intelligence than man yet so antithetical to man?

And then a superflous amount of random disjointed secondary plot tidbits rear their little heads.

Final Thoughts

Clocking in at a mere 128 pages one would expect a concise plot, an interesting central idea, with a few underdeveloped characters which perform their functions in a somewhat average manner... Instead, a multiplicity of characters move in and out of the narrative. Some disappear all together. Ultra-minor characters are suddenly important and then disappear altogether. And then, some slipshod is introduced when an ultra-minor character is suddenly the crux of the entire "plot"... The result is a frustrating morass of interchangeable non-entities. This is fine in a longer novel but in one of only 128 pages?

Another nagging problem Aldiss' method of plot exposition -- a large percentage of the events are rarely described as they happen. Instead, they are summarized later. This passive method makes the plot less engaging. This also means that Aldiss can shrink from describing how characters change or what causes them to change and instead just tells us simply that they changed!

The broad themes of the work are the only redeeming feature of the work since the aliens themselves, the characters, etc are hokey and unbelievable. What happens when man encounters an alien so alien that its sentience cannot even be gauged? Stanislaw Lem's sci-fi ouvre explore this theme in great detail with penetrating philosophical insight. Aldiss on the other hand relies ENTIRELY on the frustrating dichotomy between his aliens and man. Subtlety isn't in Aldiss' vocabulary.

It's unfair to compare Aldiss to Lem since Lem is a genius. But The Dark Light-Years` flaws aren't in the ideas but in the delivery. The poor attempt at a frame story, deficiencies in basic exposition (reliance on passive storytelling), and the overwhelming desire to make every character a bit part muddles all of Aldiss' central themes. The parts are here for a great classic sci-fi novel -- instead, we're greeted with a rather shoddy skeleton.... and half-formed thoughts...

It's a shame really -- the ending is surprisingly good...

Still worth checking out.

Group of holy patriarchs lost their bearing in space winds and had to land to an unknown planet. Within the seed of leguminous plant, in the doorway of their ship, they gaze the new planet and debate if the planet is worthy enough to be united to be part of their far away triple sun system. They reach consensus: it is. The high patriarch states solemnly: "Let defecation commence". The closest mud spot sits there ready to take their weltering. The utods have landed.

This is story about first contact: the humans that find these 6 legged cow pigs in their mud spot and utods that raise to meet the two-legs. The trigger fingered soldier thinks the rhinos are attacking and slaughters all but two of them. Back in the earth the utods are put to zoo for scientists and military to poke them. They do not understood the utods having 100 million years of evolution. They only see the two in captive to squeak with 6 holes using bands of which some are out of human hearing range. No one can possibly not love a novel with dialogue where the two utods in the zoo opine that if this is all they get, it will be a little boring: "a change of scenery would be welcomed at least every 5 years" (The utods live 1000+ years).

Three (3) stars. Published in 1964 this is a dazzling story about bodily functions; It's about poop; the physical and mental health requires wallowing in mud and filth is requirement for utods. A staple of comedy long before Douglas Adams. The story is biting and hilarious. But the wryly humorous indictment of man's boundless arrogance on the other hand is not so well balanced. Two-legs are cardboard stereotypes. Also shooting utods like cattle from a "helicopter" is quite on the borderline, because the reader gets so sympathetic towards them. The story is sharp and sad. Highly recommended, but the book probably won't last repeated reads well.

This slim novel is a wryly humorous indictment of man's boundless arrogance. Failure to comprehend an existence that is starkly at odds with our own leads to the mistaken conclusion that the utods are little more than vaguely bright cattle. Throughout the story the strange alien's serene intelligence is either misconstrued or missed completely. Only one man, who decides to exile himself in order to observe the creatures in their own environment, will ever understand the profound connection they have with their world and each other.

This isn't one of Aldiss's best. The humour can be a little smug and the narrative seems to lack conviction. Also, the depth of characterisation and description doesn't live up to that of his better work. That said, as always with Aldiss, this is still worth a read.

If mankind met an alien race which built no structures and wallowed in mud, would we understand their intelligence? If we found they communicated by tasting the excretions of others in the mud wallow, would we be ready to communicate? Think so? A cautionary fable by SF great Brian Aldiss displays a lot less trust in mankind's basic decency towards less developed civilzations.

I don't know , Brian Aldis is a great writer , he wrote masterpieces like "The Long Afternoon On Earth" and "Space , Time And Netaniel" but this book is just horrible.

It's REALLY dated , totaly flat charecters , childish aliens , and the story itself is pretty bad.

I like most of his work , and he does have ingenius sparks sometimes , but this book is lame! For some good read of Aldis you should try "the interpreter" or "The Long Afternoon On Earth".