Subject: File: "FEMINISTSF-LIT LOG0209A" ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 2 Sep 2002 22:52:32 EDT Reply-To: friendly STRICTLY ON TOPIC discussion of Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia Sender: friendly STRICTLY ON TOPIC discussion of Feminist SF/Fantasy and Utopia From: Tess Meara Subject: (no subject) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit 
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Date:         Tue, 3 Sep 2002 22:48:30 -0400
Reply-To:     friendly STRICTLY ON TOPIC discussion of Feminist SF/Fantasy and
              Utopia 
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From:         "Janice E. Dawley" 
Subject:      BDG: The Annunciate
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Labor Day weekend has come and gone, and it's time to discuss *The Annunciate*.

What did you make of this book? Was it simply a dark adventure tale, or did
it have a deeper message?

Of the various blurbs included with the book, I found Maureen McHugh's most
interesting: "*The Annunciate* has nanotechnology and spaceships, but at
its heart is Severna Park's delicate calculus of human need -- the need for
information, for a fix, for a place to live, for a lover and for a
mother... the need for hope."

Eve's need for a mother figure certainly keeps her with Annmarie long after
she should have left. Determined not to repeat this history, she assumes
the role of mother to the succubus baby. Is this a hopeful ending or an
apocalyptic one?

A propos of this question, I looked up William Burroughs' "Algebra of Need"
(mentioned in the book's dedication):

"Junk [opium and its derivatives, including heroine and morphine] is the
ideal product...the ultimate merchandise. [...] Junk yields a basic formula
of "evil" virus: The Algebra of Need. The face of "evil" is always the face
of total need. A dope fiend is a man in total need of dope. Beyond a
certain frequency need knows absolutely no limit or control. In the words
of total need: "Wouldn't you?" Yes you would. You would lie, cheat, inform
on your friends, steal, do anything to satisfy total need. Because you
would be in a state of total sickness, total possession, and not in a
position to act in any other way."

 From http://www.cures-not-wars.org/ibogaine/iboga.html

The Burroughs quote is obviously relevant to Staze and Annemarie, Rose and
Corey's plan to addict as many of their enemies as possible. But Burroughs
extended the Algebra of Need to other areas of life besides drug addiction:

"For Burroughs, all systems of control are but "mathematical extensions of
the Algebra of Need beyond the Junk virus" -- and all social struggle is
analogous to his own battle against heroin addiction."

 From http://eserver.org/clogic/1-1/youdelman.html

I think this larger meaning is more relevant to *The Annunciate*. The Staze
addicts are relatively powerless and ineffective -- hardly evil compared to
the controlling, practically sociopathic Annmarie and Corey. Was anyone
else reminded of the Nazi doctors upon reading about their experiments on
human subjects? I found them quite horrifying. (Corey's "re-pro-duc-tion"
trial with Naverdi was particularly gut-churning and brought back the
unpleasant memory of a short story called "Precious" by Roberta Lannes.
Think gynecologist, sedated patient, worm that can live in uterus and snack
on  invading man-meat. Revolting is an understatement.)

What is evil in this book seems to be the use of technology, drugs and
religion to control others. The mythology of the Annunciate was intertwined
with the story to such an extent that it was obviously important, but I was
never sure what to make of it. Was it an "opiate of the masses" or a
metaphor for the overall story?

The dictionary says that "annunciate" is either a verb, meaning "to
announce" or an adjective meaning "foretold". Both imply a future event. A
transformation of the human race? The arrival of a human/alien messiah
bearing the fruit of the tree of knowledge? Or just the end of the book?

What do you think?

-----
Janice E. Dawley.....Burlington, VT
http://therem.net/
Listening to: Coldplay -- A Rush of Blood to the Head
"I've built my white picket fence around the Now,
with a commanding view of the Soon-to-Be." -- The Tick
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Date:         Thu, 5 Sep 2002 08:17:52 +1000
Reply-To:     friendly STRICTLY ON TOPIC discussion of Feminist SF/Fantasy and
              Utopia 
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              Utopia 
From:         nike 
Organization: Griffith University
Subject:      Re: BDG: The Annunciate
Comments: To: friendly STRICTLY ON TOPIC discussion of Feminist SF/Fantasy and
          Utopia 
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> i never seem to have enough time - these days - to respond to this list quite as
> in-depth as i'd like BUT - here's my two cents on the meaning of annunciate.

i was raised catholic so my understanding is that the annunciate is quite likely a
reference to the catholic/xian story of the Annunciation - ie: when the Archangel
arrives to tell Mary she is going to bear the christ child.

you can draw all kinds of implications form this - but key i think is that your
reading of this moment in M's life depends largely on whether you are a believer or
not. if you are, fine, it seems reasonable enough to be the vessel of godhood
(maybe!), but if not it's a fairly horrific thing to have some *alien* have
impregnated you without your knowledge and/or permission. (i apologise for how
brutally insensitive that reading of the Annunciation may sound if you happen to be
a xian of any persuasion, btw) After this Mary may have all kinds of conflicted
feelings reflected in this novel - and drawn out far more, I'm not suggesting that
it is a rewriting, merely that it reflects on the implications of the Annun
mythology - the need for love/protection in both its negative and ugly forms, as
addiction and nurturance.

anyway - enough of my inconsequent ramblings :)
nike


> The dictionary says that "annunciate" is either a verb, meaning "to
> announce" or an adjective meaning "foretold". Both imply a future event. A
> transformation of the human race? The arrival of a human/alien messiah
> bearing the fruit of the tree of knowledge? Or just the end of the book?
>
> What do you think?
>
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Date:         Thu, 5 Sep 2002 08:25:57 +1000
Reply-To:     friendly STRICTLY ON TOPIC discussion of Feminist SF/Fantasy and
              Utopia 
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              Utopia 
From:         nike 
Organization: Griffith University
Subject:      Re: BDG: The Annunciate
Comments: To: friendly STRICTLY ON TOPIC discussion of Feminist SF/Fantasy and
          Utopia 
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ok - so i couldn't resist going that one step further :)

to me this is linked to the staze - ie: the forced addiction to staze - the love of the
addict for their particular junk - the self-deluding mythologies we can build up around
our addictions, how they make us better/more creative/more loving/more able to live in
this ugly world lol. IF you read the Annunciation as a forced impregnation you can see,
i think, the analogy with staze addiction - and with more ubiquitous 'addictions' to
religion, technology etc. Sure, some of these 'addictions' have benevolent qualities,
but they are also incredibly dehumanising - including immaculate conception, staze
addiction, human experimentation, etc.

ok - i'm going now - promise :)
nike