Look to Windward
Encyclopedia
Look to Windward is a science fiction
novel
by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 2000. It is Banks' sixth published novel to feature The Culture
.
which killed five billion Chelgrians. Some years later, a faction of Chelgrians plots revenge. Mahrai Ziller is a Chelgrian composer living in exile
on a Culture Orbital; Major Quilan, a Chelgrian veteran
, is sent to the Orbital, ostensibly to persuade him to return.
On Masaq, Ziller lives in self-imposed exile, having renounced his privileged
position in Chel's caste
system. An accomplished composer, he has been commissioned to compose music to mark the anniversary of the Idiran-Culture War
. Upon hearing of Quilan's visit, and his reason for travel, Ziller scrupulously avoids him, reluctant to return to a civilization that repels him.
Meanwhile the Mind
controlling Masaq Orbital, previously the General Systems Vehicle Lasting Damage, assists Ziller in the preparations for the performance of his composition. However, it has its own memories stretching back to the Idiran-Culture War and wrestles with its own demons over its role then.
The end of the novel shows the hard and vengeful side to the Culture, as they unleash a bloody retribution against the Chelgrian priest who was responsible in the form of an E-Dust Assassin. It is hinted that the terrorist attack might have been masterminded by another Involved race, or even by elements of the Culture's Minds who feel that the Culture has gone soft and needs a wake-up call.
: the GSV Lasting Damage fought in the Idiran-Culture War, and Ziller specially composes a work to commemorate the arrival of light
from a supernova
triggered during the war. Both titles are derived from a couplet in T. S. Eliot
's poem, The Waste Land
(which appears both in this work and Consider Phlebas as an epigraph
):
There are references to the Culture novel immediately previous to this one, Excession
, where the GCU Grey Area is referred to, and is also possible that Estray Lassils (in her younger, four-armed days) was one of the lovers of the Ah-Forget-It-Tendency SC Agent Leffid Ispanteli, thus placing the events of this novel fully 200-300 years in the immediate past.
This book deals with the themes of exile, bereavement, religious justification of mass violence against humanity/sentience in war
, and the mores associated with life within a technologically and energetically unlimited anarchist utopia
. The book also notably deals with the Sublimed and with their construction of a heaven
.
Many contemporary literary journals reviewed Look to Windward favourably, and critics consider the author one of the prime motivators for the return to the mainstream of contemporary UK fiction
and science fiction.
The book's dedication reads: "For the Gulf War Veterans".
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 2000. It is Banks' sixth published novel to feature The Culture
The Culture
The Culture is a fictional interstellar anarchist, socialist, and utopian society created by the Scottish writer Iain M. Banks which features in a number of science fiction novels and works of short fiction by him, collectively called the Culture series....
.
Plot introduction
After an unsuccessful intervention into its politics by the Culture, the Chelgrian civilization collapsed into a civil warCivil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
which killed five billion Chelgrians. Some years later, a faction of Chelgrians plots revenge. Mahrai Ziller is a Chelgrian composer living in exile
Exile
Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
on a Culture Orbital; Major Quilan, a Chelgrian veteran
Veteran
A veteran is a person who has had long service or experience in a particular occupation or field; " A veteran of ..."...
, is sent to the Orbital, ostensibly to persuade him to return.
Plot summary
Despite the passage of time, Major Quilan still suffers grief and bereavement from the death of his wife, killed during the Chelgrian civil war when both were soldiers. Offered the chance to avenge the Chel, Quilan is inducted into a plot to strike back at the Culture. To guide him on the way, the mind of a long-dead Chelgrian general is emplaced into his 'soulkeeper', a device normally used to store its owner's personality in case of death. Quilan is then sent to Masaq Orbital ostensibly to persuade Ziller to return to his native Chel. To protect him from detection at Masaq, Quilan's memory is selectively blanked until he reaches his target.On Masaq, Ziller lives in self-imposed exile, having renounced his privileged
Privilege
A privilege is a special entitlement to immunity granted by the state or another authority to a restricted group, either by birth or on a conditional basis. It can be revoked in certain circumstances. In modern democratic states, a privilege is conditional and granted only after birth...
position in Chel's caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
system. An accomplished composer, he has been commissioned to compose music to mark the anniversary of the Idiran-Culture War
Idiran-Culture War
The Idiran-Culture War is a major fictional conflict between the Idiran Empire and the Culture in the midst of which Iain M. Banks' science fiction novel Consider Phlebas is set. His later book, Look to Windward, contains many references to the war: particularly the induced supernovae of two stars,...
. Upon hearing of Quilan's visit, and his reason for travel, Ziller scrupulously avoids him, reluctant to return to a civilization that repels him.
Meanwhile the Mind
Mind (The Culture)
In Iain M. Banks' Culture novels most larger starships, some inhabited planets and all orbitals have their own Minds: sentient, hyperintelligent machines originally built by biological species which have evolved, redesigned themselves, and become many times more intelligent than their original...
controlling Masaq Orbital, previously the General Systems Vehicle Lasting Damage, assists Ziller in the preparations for the performance of his composition. However, it has its own memories stretching back to the Idiran-Culture War and wrestles with its own demons over its role then.
The end of the novel shows the hard and vengeful side to the Culture, as they unleash a bloody retribution against the Chelgrian priest who was responsible in the form of an E-Dust Assassin. It is hinted that the terrorist attack might have been masterminded by another Involved race, or even by elements of the Culture's Minds who feel that the Culture has gone soft and needs a wake-up call.
Literary significance and criticism
In some respects Look to Windward serves as a loose sequel to the first Culture novel, Consider PhlebasConsider Phlebas
Consider Phlebas, first published in 1987, is a space opera novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks. Written after a 1984 draft, it is the first to feature the Culture.-Overview:...
: the GSV Lasting Damage fought in the Idiran-Culture War, and Ziller specially composes a work to commemorate the arrival of light
Speed of light
The speed of light in vacuum, usually denoted by c, is a physical constant important in many areas of physics. Its value is 299,792,458 metres per second, a figure that is exact since the length of the metre is defined from this constant and the international standard for time...
from a supernova
Supernova
A supernova is a stellar explosion that is more energetic than a nova. It is pronounced with the plural supernovae or supernovas. Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months...
triggered during the war. Both titles are derived from a couplet in T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
's poem, The Waste Land
The Waste Land
The Waste Land[A] is a 434-line[B] modernist poem by T. S. Eliot published in 1922. It has been called "one of the most important poems of the 20th century." Despite the poem's obscurity—its shifts between satire and prophecy, its abrupt and unannounced changes of speaker, location and time, its...
(which appears both in this work and Consider Phlebas as an epigraph
Epigraph (literature)
In literature, an epigraph is a phrase, quotation, or poem that is set at the beginning of a document or component. The epigraph may serve as a preface, as a summary, as a counter-example, or to link the work to a wider literary canon, either to invite comparison or to enlist a conventional...
):
Gentile or Jew
O you who turn the wheel and look to windward,
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.
There are references to the Culture novel immediately previous to this one, Excession
Excession
Excession, first published in 1996, is Scottish writer Iain M. Banks's fourth science fiction novel to feature the Culture. It concerns the response of the Culture and other interstellar societies to an unprecedented alien artifact, the Excession of the title.The book is largely about the response...
, where the GCU Grey Area is referred to, and is also possible that Estray Lassils (in her younger, four-armed days) was one of the lovers of the Ah-Forget-It-Tendency SC Agent Leffid Ispanteli, thus placing the events of this novel fully 200-300 years in the immediate past.
This book deals with the themes of exile, bereavement, religious justification of mass violence against humanity/sentience in war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
, and the mores associated with life within a technologically and energetically unlimited anarchist utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
. The book also notably deals with the Sublimed and with their construction of a heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
.
Many contemporary literary journals reviewed Look to Windward favourably, and critics consider the author one of the prime motivators for the return to the mainstream of contemporary UK fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
and science fiction.
The book's dedication reads: "For the Gulf War Veterans".