Solipsists, Useless Kings, and Lazy Guns: Against a Dark Background by Iain M. Banks

 

Longtime readers of this blog (or anyone who talks to me about science fiction for five minutes) may remember that I'm a huge fan of Iain M. Banks's Culture series (find out why in "Death and Utopia: Reflections on the Culture").

Against a Dark Background is not a Culture novel. It's neither quite as fun nor as deep as the Culture books, but it has its moments. Even a sub-par Iain M. Banks novel is above average science fiction.

But like Feersum Endjinn and The Algebraist, Against a Dark Background not set in the Culture universe (or at least not within the galactic territory traversed by the Culture). The Algebraist is probably my favorite of Banks's non-Culture SF, but Against a Dark Background has its share of Banksian brilliance.

I'm still sad about Banks's untimely demise in 2013, so I kept putting off reading the last of his space operas on my list. I'm glad I finally got around to it. I think at least one other Banks novel on my list, Transition, is also science fiction of more terrestrial sort. I've only read one of his "mainstream" novels, so there are plenty more to read. But I also feel like I may need to re-read the Culture novels soon.

Anyway, back to Against a Dark Background...

Set in a planetary system a million lightyears from the closest planet where humans have had spaceflight for thousands of years, Against a Dark Background explores some themes of loneliness and isolation (eventually... it takes a while to get there). The main character Sharrow is part of a noble family often involved in private wars within the system. When she was young, her mother was killed and the Huhsz religion believes their salvation lies in wiping out the female line of her family. 

And there's a thing called a Lazy Gun that almost sounds like something from a Douglas Adams novel (pulling the trigger somewhat randomly results in anything from a nuclear explosion, a hole in the spacetime continuum, or a heavy object appearing above the target). And an army of Solipsists (hilarious!). A religious sect that hates God and wants to get an outsider to be their leader. A "Useless King" that spends money excessively on useless things to avoid too much technological advancement in his country. And a lot more strange and wonderful ideas--this is Banks, after all!

While I found most of the novel interesting enough, some parts of it felt unnecessary or bloated. The almost randomly-inserted flashbacks often made it difficult to tell when everything was taking place, or even really where (some of the world building is slow dripped over hundreds of pages). 

A lot of the action is hard to follow. I think a chapter about a quarter of the way in was almost completely indecipherable to me. But eventually it all sort of came together (as is common in my experience of reading Banks). And Sharrow is great throughout. And the ending is almost as poignant, if a bit bleak, as some of my favorite parts of the Culture (almost, anyway).

A bit on the Solipsists. Solipsism is the view that only I exist (or you, and then I and this review are part of your imagination). So of course the idea of an army of Solipsists is too good to pass up. Get it? But to take it seriously (maybe more seriously than intended), it is possible! Each Solipsist thinks the others are "apparances" (or manifestations of their imagination and/or unconscious). So, for example, if you are the sole conscious being, this review was actually written by you, or some part of your mind. A bit wacky, but it makes sense.

Solipsism is a bit of a philosophical joke, but it has sometimes been taken seriously. The 11th century Buddhist philosopher Ratnakīrti is sometimes read as a solipsist. I think this is a bit hasty, because as a Buddhist his point is really more that given the lack of a self, there's no fundamental distinction between self and the world. 

And if you really take this seriously (as Ratnakīrti does!), there is no strict delineation between you, me, and the rest of the universe (a view that Yogācāra Buddhists call non-dualism). So it's not that we're all one me, but that there is no me separate from non-me. Whoa.

Which segues, in a strange way, to the other philosophical topic I wanted to talk about: isolation. The Golter system is quite different than the Culture, but not all that different than some of the cultures the Culture encounters. Most of the system is a capitalist aristocracy where noble families fight private wars that sometimes involve nuclear weapons. The nobles have "Passports" that identify them as nobility to set them off from the riff-raff.

Add to this the fact that the system is a million light years from anywhere else (maybe even between galaxies?), and you get some pretty heavy themes of isolation, both social and physical.

In a universe this isolated, this cold, this uncaring... maybe the Solipsists have a point worth more careful consideration, at least if we took on solipsism more as a non-dualism that breaks down the barriers between us. Maybe this is reading too much into this, but given Banks's leftist/socialist leanings, maybe there is a deeper critique in Against a Dark Background of both a political and existential nature. 

One (spoiler free) way to read the main character's actions, especially at the end: Our perceived isolation ought to bring us closer together--or better yet, encourage us to see that we were a lot closer together than we thought all along. But we may have to obliterate the things that keep us apart to get to this realization.

See also a slightly different version of this review on Goodreads.