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I just finished Anathem and really enjoyed it. I'm going to re-read it immediately. Question regarding the ending: What happened with Fraa Jad? Did the end of the book show three different "naratives"? Is everyone aware of these other realities? Was it all a dream? Also, were the Laterrans from Earth?
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Mar 14, 2014 03:00
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 17:23 |
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Atlas Hugged posted:They discuss this a bit. It's called "collapsing the wave length" or some bullshit like that. It all goes back to the very first chapter of the book where Erasmus is serving as amanuensis. Erasmus's function throughout the whole book is to serve as a witness for the plot. I'd go so far as to say Jaa himself is the protagonist. Jaa is aware of all possibilities simultaneously through some trickery of his order. Further, he is able to allow other people to "see" these possibilities, as dreams or visions or whatever. He then "collapses" the possible narrative with the "real" one, so the witnesses remember what they saw but continue to exist in their original reality. So all these people see the possible outcomes of contact with Arbre, sometimes even witnessing themselves dying in other possible narratives, and retain that knowledge in their original narrative. I just powered through the last 200 pages again, and I think this interpretation is correct. Once the group enters space, they comment on the difficulty they're having in distinguishing between dream and reality. Several of them mention recalling Jad dying, but there he is, still working with them. Samman comments that he thought he destroyed the transmitter, but then realized he did not - Jad did. Jad destroys the transmitter in order to sever the causality link between Abre and the group in orbit, allowing Jad to control the Narrative without outside interference. Furthermore, your point about Erasmas serving as the narrator of the book means he is the agent collapsing our narrative wavelength - by documenting it, and us reading that. So, I think you hit it exactly - Erasmas does die in a couple of spots, but our story goes on, and so we stay with the version of Erasmas that does not die, and helps bring peace among all the aliens.
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Mar 14, 2014 14:02
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Nevvy Z posted:I think it's that Jaad can mess with the Narrative around himself, but having an observer outside his story collapses it. So he destroys the transmitter so he can manipulate things, but Erasmus serves as his way of collapsing the timeline into a final, acceptable result So, Incanters are real? Also, I feel like we got close to confirmation that Jaad is over a thousand years old, but not quite. Does it seem logical to assume all the Thousanders were actually over 1000 years old and capable of "magic"? Thus the aliens were right to be quite afraid of them? .
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Mar 14, 2014 15:29
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Nevvy Z posted:I thought that the Rhetors were totally bullshit. They never existed really, they are just annoying assholes who like to try to linguististically gently caress with people Are you referring to Fraa Lodoghir?
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Mar 15, 2014 01:07
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Snak posted:It's heavily implied that nature of the mind spanning multiple realities will cause it to naturally try to sort out memories that fit the appropriate narrative. This is why all of their memories become fuzzy.
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Mar 16, 2014 03:10
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Dr. Benway posted:This is from days ago but, Not only did he hand write the whole manuscript, he also used three different fountain pens and inks for each of the main characters. Beautiful. I think there is a great deal of value in appreciating writing as an art - not simply as literature. For those who can and are interested, a tour of the British Library is a must. To see illuminated manuscripts from the 1300's, the Magna Carta, a roll of Kerouac's "On the Road", Beatles lyrics on napkins, etc. It's amazing.
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Mar 20, 2014 14:52
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SardaTheSage posted:In the beginning of Anathem, while on the way to Provener, Fraa Erasmus finds Fraa Lio studying ants, trying to figure out if ants can flank (or use other strategies or tactic). Raz says, "I've seen ants work together to carry off part of my lunch, so I know they coordinate their actions." The same allusion was made with the story of the fly, the bat, and the worm. I'm re-reading the book right now and paying extra attention to everything Jad does. He's the one, for example, who sends Erasmus over the north pole in search of Orolo.
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Mar 31, 2014 02:28
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Question about Anathem: What's the reason these 18-20 year old kids are literally in charge of Arbe's defense? Ala - an 18 or so year old woman is literally in charge of organizing the response. Cell 317 was led not by the head of the Ringing Vale, but Lio - another 18 or so year old. Jesry was the only avout sent to space in the first mission. What makes these kids so special, as compared to not only an entire world, but plenty of other highly trained avout? Erasmas's role kinda makes sense, due to his connections to both Orolo and Jad. Still love the book on my re-read, I just keep wondering how this can be justified. Especially Ala.
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Apr 7, 2014 05:45
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Atlas Hugged posted:Because Jad is orchestrating everything and the only people he is even remotely familiar with are the avout following him. Hadn't thought of it that way. Makes total sense - thanks!
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Apr 7, 2014 17:15
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Yeah, my re-read of Anathem was way more enjoyable than the first read circa first 300 pages.
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Sep 13, 2014 01:49
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 17:23 |
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Strange Matter posted:You want to read Anathem. It has an insane amount of ideas but unlike Diamond Age (and Snow Crash for that matter) it actually develops on basically all of them. It's an incredibly well flushed out book. Seconding this recommendation. Anathem is fantastic. But be prepared for some strangeness.
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Dec 26, 2014 22:20
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