Norstrilia is the third book in the series The Lords of the Instrumentality, a compilation of short stories in a common universe, written and imagined by Cordwainer Smith.
Norstrilia differs from other shorter stories framed in this universe. Norstrilia was conceived as only one novel, but was edited as two short novels, The Planet Buyer and The Underpeople, which were joined back in 1975 to form the novel Norstrilia in its modern form. Thus, Norstrilia is the only novel in the series, and the only book which contains only one story.
However, the variety of this story makes it up for anyone who is accustomed to the short story format of Smith. The plot starts in Norstrilia, the only planet where the immortality drug called stroon is produced. The inhabitants of Norstrilia, short for Old North Australia, have imposed on themselves a strict and frugal style of life, to avoid being corrupted by the inmense amount of money and power they possess. A simple handkerchief could cost twenty million credits in Norstrilia; there’re no possible luxuries. They also control population, getting rid of people without the abilities of being farmers. Rod McBan is one of these people, heir and almost owner of one of the most rich stroon farms in the planet, but with a telepathic defficiency.
Due to his enemies, Rod has to develop a plan to avoid death while keeping his dear farm. With the help of his computer - the only AI computer in the planet, Rod becomes the richest man of the universe, and has to escape from Norstrilia heading towards Cradle of Man, the old Earth, in search for a very antique stamp. There, Rod mets G’Mell and starts to know about the underpeople, who are banned out of his planet, and yet another odyssey begins.
As I commented in the previous article, Smith’s stories can’t be reduced too much. The same happens with Norstrilia. There’s a huge amount of substories and details about the norstrilian culture, the underpeople, the trip to Earth, G’Mell, and many people they meet in the story. There are many references to other stories which explain more deeply certain things left unclear in the story (on purpose, I’d add), like Mother Hitton’s Littul Kittons, the planoforming and solar sail spacecrafts, the origin of A’telekeli, the origin of the Vomact family of doctors, the relationship of G’Mell and Lord Jestocost…
Norstrilia is like a central node where the richness and variety of the Instrumentality universe merges, where all the other stories find firm ground to stand, where other misteries and questions raised in those stories get amazingly clear; or where more misteries and questions arise, making us to want to read even more Cordwainer Smith.
But even as a work by itself, Norstrilia has enough detail to leave us stunned, with poetry and songs, lyrical descriptions, and the unique originality that Smith pours from his stories. Norstrilia is one of my favorite science fiction novels, and one of the best examples of what classic science fiction can bring to us. A must for any science fiction fan.
The last book in the series is Lords of the Instrumentality IV: Searching Three Worlds (approximate translation), containing ten more short stories. Unfortunately, I can’t write about it, because I haven’t bought it yet. I’ll write about it, closing these articles about the Instrumentality and Cordwainer Smith, as soon as I read it.
Seven »« The Lords of the Instrumentality (I and II)
