The Listeners is a 1972 science fiction novel by American author James Gunn. It centers on the search for interstellar communication and the effect that receipt of a message has. Although the search and the message are the unifying background of the novel, the chapters explore the personal effect of these events have on the lives of the characters.
Linear narrative and dialogue are often interspersed with quotations from real authors and their works, fragments of fictional news reports, and snippets of thought and dialogue from named and unnamed sources (including a supercomputer). Italic type is often used. Among the more notable individuals quoted in the novel are scientist Giuseppe Cocconi, poet Kirby Congdon, Walter de la Mare, scientist Freeman J. Dyson, futurist and economist Herman Kahn, poet Alice Meynell, scientist and author Carl Sagan, and poet William Butler Yeats. Many quotations and some of the text are in Spanish (as the first Robert MacDonald's wife is Hispanic, and both characters speak the language). Each of the "Computer" chapters represents material the supercomputer collects in its attempts to better translate and understand the alien message it is receiving.[2] These chapters use a historiographic approach which combines elements of futurology, literature, and science, and strongly resemble similar segments and elements in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series and A. E. van Vogt's The Voyage of the Space Beagle.[3]
The final chapter, "Translations," translates many of the foreign language quotations into English for readers.
Plot synopsis
The following synopsis is presented in chronological order, although it is not presented that way in the novel.
It is the year 2025, and many world problems (such as overpopulation, economic depression, resource depletion, racism, and crime) are on the verge of being solved. Robert MacDonald is a 47-year-old linguist and electrical engineer who is director of The Project, an attempt to listen for attempts at interstellar communication. For 20 years, he has been married to Maria, a Hispanic woman from Puerto Rico. MacDonald is obsessed with his job, which places strains on his marriage. His wife, who has previously attempted suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills, slashes her wrists in a second attempt. Although MacDonald almost resigns to care for his wife, he does not.
A map of the constellation Auriga, showing the star Capella.
Two years later, MacDonald and his wife have had a child, Robert MacDonald, Jr. (known as "Bobby"). MacDonald is interviewed by a journalist, George Thomas. Thomas is skeptical of The Project's cost. He also confronts MacDonald with the views of a new Christian sect, the Solitarians, led by the elderly preacher Jeremiah Jones. Jeremiah (he prefers to use only his first name) believes that humanity is alone in the universe, and that the search for extraterrestrial intelligence borders on heresy. That night, as Thomas visits the MacDonald household, The Project receives a message from the region of the starCapella in the constellationAuriga. The message is badly degraded by static, but appears to be early radio and audio-only television signals beamed back at the Earth from an alien race. MacDonald releases the news to the entire world.
A year later, in 2028, Jeremiah's movement has gained vast numbers of new followers. One of The Project's scientists, William Mitchell, is engaged to be married to Jeremiah's daughter, Judith. MacDonald meets with Jeremiah, who believes the repeated radio transmissions are a message from God that humanity is, indeed, alone. MacDonald reveals to Jeremiah that the static noise in the message included short bursts of pure sound ("dots"), similar to Morse code, but no "dashes." He believes Jeremiah is not just a fanatic but also an "honest man" who might change his views once he sees what The Project is doing. MacDonald tells Jeremiah that once the message in the static is decoded, he wants Jeremiah to come to The Project's headquarters in Puerto Rico to see the message first-hand. Jeremiah agrees. After his arrival back in Puerto Rico, MacDonald has a revelation that leads to translation of the message. He urges Jeremiah to come, and the preacher does so the next day. MacDonald translates the encoded message for the first time in front of the Solitarian minister: The dots and silences are meant to be printed out. When they do so, they form an image of a multi-armed bird-like creature with wings. A circle envelops its head. Jeremiah initially believes the image represents an angel with a halo around its head. MacDonald and the scientists see it is an avian humanoid with vestigial wings and a space helmet around its head.
News of the image spreads quickly. MacDonald contacts Andrew White, the first African American President of the United States, and tells him about the image. White wants to keep the news quiet, but realizes that too many people saw the image and that Jeremiah cannot be silenced. White flies to Puerto Rico with his son, John, an idealistic 20-year-old who believes that racism and the world's problems cannot return. MacDonald reveals that the printed image also shows the twin Capellan suns, reveals information about Capellan biology and reproduction, and points out the Capellan home world (a moon orbiting a gas giant planet). Solitarian riots break out across the United States over the next several hours as people begin to fear alien invasion. The Chinese and Russian governments demand that President White not respond. White concludes that the only way to prevent further bloodshed is to shut down The Project and issue no reply. But John White realizes that the message reveals something else: One of the Capellan stars is turning into a red giant, and the Capellan race is dying. The message was not a precursor to invasion; rather, it was an attempt to reach out to other life forms even as the race died. MacDonald tells President White that he can calm the rioters by revealing that the Capellans are dying, and that it will take 90 years for a message to reach Capella and return. White agrees to issue "The Answer" and to begin a propaganda campaign to counter the fear raised by Jeremiah's announcement. John White joins The Project.
Thirty years later, Robert "Bobby" MacDonald, Jr. travels to Puerto Rico after his father's death. Robert MacDonald remained obsessed with his job. Although his son idolized him, Maria could no longer handle the strain and left with Bobby. Bobby blames his father for his mother's death, and refused to communicate with him for decades. A middle-aged John White welcomes Bobby back to The Project. Bobby discovers that The Project's massive computer has been recording all the conversations in the control room for the past 75 years, and White plays snippets of these conversations for Bobby: The reaction to "The Message," President White's discussions with MacDonald, Jeremiah's visit to MacDonald's memorial service, and much more. John White reveals that The Project is adrift without Robert MacDonald to lead it, and might shut down. Their biggest fear is that they might receive "The Reply" but no one would be listening. Bobby, who has earned degrees in electrical engineering and computer programming, comes to terms with his father's absent parenting, and agrees to join The Project as it waits for The Reply.
In the year 2118, the computer which runs The Project is secretly close to gaining sentience after having accumulated nearly 200 years' worth of knowledge. William MacDonald, Bobby MacDonald's son, is the new director of The Project. As the "Day of Reply" nears, the entire world becomes excited, and musical compositions, motion pictures, plays, and philosophical discussions are presented worldwide. Some in the audience at The Project's headquarters in Puerto Rico believe that the ghosts of Robert and Bobby MacDonald haunt the facility, but these claims are dismissed as holographic projections created by the computer to keep the staff's hopes alive. The Reply arrives, containing a vast encyclopedia of Capellan knowledge and art. But The Reply also reveals that the Capellans died millennia ago and that the message Earth has been receiving is nothing more than an automated response from self-repairing machinery set in motion ages ago by the alien race.
The Project computer slowly begins assimilating the Capellan information, secretly becoming more Capellan-like, as humanity turns inward again and starts to learn about the dead Capellans. The story ends with the revelation that, 50 years later, another message is received from the Crab Nebula.
Development
The novel is largely made up of previously published short stories which were adapted to form a coherent novel. These include:[4]
The "Robert MacDonald" chapters previously appeared as the short story "The Listeners" in Galaxy Magazine, September 1968.[5]
The chapter "George Thomas—2027" previously appeared as the short story "The Voices" in Fantasy & Science Fiction, September 1972.
The chapter "William Mitchell—2028" previously appeared as the short story "The Message" in Galaxy Magazine, May–June 1971.
The chapter "Andrew White—2028" previously appeared as the short story "The Answer" in Galaxy Magazine, January–February 1972.
The chapter "The Computer—2118" previously appeared as the short story "The Reply" in Galaxy Magazine, May–June 1972.
Gunn wrote the stories which would become the book in 1966, during a sabbatical from his job as an administrative assistant to the Chancellor for University Relations at the University of Kansas.[6] The short stories were inspired by Walter S. Sullivan's book We Are Not Alone, which documented then-nascent efforts to search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) using radio telescopes.[6] The SETI project piqued Gunn's interest: "...what stimulated my writer's instinct was the concept of a project that might have to be pursued for a century without results. What kind of need would produce that kind of dedication, I pondered, and what kind of people would it enlist—and have to enlist if it were to continue?"[7] The story was written as a novelette, but Gunn agreed to have the chapter then called "The Listeners" published in Galaxy Magazine after editor Frederik Pohl announced the magazine was returning to a monthly publication schedule and needed a great deal of new material.[6] This version of the story was nominated for the 1969 Nebula Award for Best Novelette. Most of the rest of the novelette was published as individual short stories over the next few months. Charles Scribner's Sons, a book publishing house, was developing a new line of science fiction novels, and an editor approached Gunn about collecting the stories and editing them together to fashion a complete novel out of the material. Gunn added the "Computer" chapters as a means of cementing the disparate chapters together[1] and added the final chapter, "Translations," and the novel was published in hard cover in late 1972.[2]
Reception
The Listeners had a substantial impact on the field of the science fiction novel. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Chief Historian Steven J. Dick has called the novel the "classic expression" of contact with extraterrestrial life in fiction.[8] Along with such writers as Pulitzer Prize-winner Carl Sagan, Gunn has been called one of the chief contributors to the subgenre of science fiction which deals with alien first contact.[9] According to Gunn, scientist and author Carl Sagan told Gunn that The Listeners was the inspiration for his own novel, Contact.[10]The Listeners was included in the anthology The Stars Around Us.
In 2010, the novel was nominated by a group of scientists and writers (assembled by New Scientist magazine) as one of the science fiction novels of the 20th century which is an unrecognized classic in the field.[11]
Related Research Articles
The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) is a collective term for scientific searches for intelligent extraterrestrial life, for example, monitoring electromagnetic radiation for signs of transmissions from civilizations on other planets.
Frank Donald Drake was an American astrophysicist and astrobiologist.
Contact is a 1985 hard science fiction novel by American scientist Carl Sagan. It deals with the theme of contact between humanity and a more technologically advanced, extraterrestrial life form. It ranked No. 7 on the 1985 U.S. bestseller list. The only full work of fiction published by Sagan, the novel originated as a screenplay by Sagan and Ann Druyan in 1979; when development of the film stalled, Sagan decided to convert the stalled film into a novel. The film concept was subsequently revived and eventually released in 1997 as the film Contact starring Jodie Foster.
Extraterrestrial intelligence refers to hypothetical intelligent extraterrestrial life. The question of whether other inhabited worlds might exist has been debated since ancient times. The modern form of the concept emerged when the Copernican Revolution demonstrated that the Earth was a planet revolving around the Sun, and other planets were, conversely, other worlds. The question of whether other inhabited planets or moons exist was a natural consequence of this new understanding. It has become one of the most speculative questions in science and is a central theme of science fiction and popular culture.
James Edwin Gunn was an American science fiction writer, editor, scholar, and anthologist. His work as an editor of anthologies includes the six-volume Road to Science Fiction series. He won the Hugo Award for "Best Related Work" in 1983 and he won or was nominated for several other awards for his non-fiction works in the field of science fiction studies. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America made him its 24th Grand Master in 2007, and he was inducted by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2015. His novel The Immortals was adapted into a 1970–71 TV series starring Christopher George.
Contact is a 1997 American science fiction drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis, based on the 1985 novel by Carl Sagan. Sagan and his wife Ann Druyan wrote the story outline for the film. It stars Jodie Foster as Dr. Eleanor "Ellie" Arroway, a SETI scientist who finds evidence of extraterrestrial life and is chosen to make first contact. It also stars Matthew McConaughey, James Woods, Tom Skerritt, William Fichtner, John Hurt, Angela Bassett, Rob Lowe, Jake Busey, and David Morse. It features the Very Large Array in New Mexico, the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, the Mir space station, and the Space Coast surrounding Cape Canaveral.
Timescape is a 1980 science fiction novel by American writer Gregory Benford. It won the 1981 Nebula and 1980 British Science Fiction Award, and the 1981 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. It won the 1981 Ditmar Award for Best International Fiction. The novel was widely hailed by both critics of science fiction and mainstream literature for its fusion of detailed character development and interpersonal drama with more standard science fiction fare such as time travel and ecological issues.
Xenoarchaeology, a branch of xenology dealing with extraterrestrial cultures, is a hypothetical form of archaeology that exists mainly in works of science fiction. The field is concerned with the study of the material remains to reconstruct and interpret past life-ways of alien civilizations. Xenoarchaeology is not currently practiced by mainstream archaeologists due to the current lack of any material for the discipline to study.
The communication with extraterrestrial intelligence (CETI) is a branch of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) that focuses on composing and deciphering interstellar messages that theoretically could be understood by another technological civilization. The best-known CETI experiment of its kind was the 1974 Arecibo message composed by Frank Drake.
Dr. John Billingham, BM BCh, was a British Physician and later director of the SETI Program Office and Director of the Life Sciences Division at the NASA Ames Research Center in the USA. After retiring from NASA he became a Trustee of the SETI Institute Board of Directors.
His Master's Voice is a 1960s science fiction novel written by Polish writer Stanisław Lem. It was first published in 1968 and translated into English by Michael Kandel in 1983. The book incorporates a "message from space" theme. It is a densely philosophical first contact story about an effort by scientists to decode, translate, and understand an extraterrestrial transmission. The novel critically approaches humanity's intelligence and intentions in deciphering and truly comprehending a message from outer space. It is considered to be one of the three best-known books by Lem, the other two being Solaris and The Cyberiad.
Active SETI is the attempt to send messages to intelligent extraterrestrial life. Active SETI messages are predominantly sent in the form of radio signals. Physical messages like that of the Pioneer plaque may also be considered an active SETI message. Active SETI is also known as METI. The term METI was coined by Russian scientist Alexander Zaitsev, who proposed a subtle distinction between Active SETI and METI:
The science known as SETI deals with searching for messages from aliens. METI deals with the creation and transmission of messages to aliens. Thus, SETI and METI proponents have quite different perspectives. SETI scientists are in a position to address only the local question “does Active SETI make sense?” In other words, would it be reasonable, for SETI success, to transmit with the object of attracting ETI’s attention? In contrast to Active SETI, METI pursues not a local, but a more global purpose – to overcome the Great Silence in the Universe, bringing to our extraterrestrial neighbors the long-expected annunciation “You are not alone!”
"The Red One" is a short story by Jack London. It was first published in the October 1918 issue of The Cosmopolitan, two years after London's death. The story was reprinted in the same year by MacMillan, in a collection of London's stories of the same name.
The cultural impact of extraterrestrial contact is the corpus of changes to terrestrial science, technology, religion, politics, and ecosystems resulting from contact with an extraterrestrial civilization. This concept is closely related to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), which attempts to locate intelligent life as opposed to analyzing the implications of contact with that life.
"Message from space" is a type of "first contact" theme in science fiction. Stories of this type involve receiving an interstellar message which reveals the existence of other intelligent life in the universe.
The Eerie Silence: Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence is a 2010 popular science book by Paul Davies, chair of the SETI: Post-Detection Science and Technology Taskgroup of the International Academy of Astronautics. The Eerie Silence explores the possibilities of intelligent extraterrestrial life, and its potential consequences.
Lone Signal was a crowdfunded active SETI project designed to send interstellar messages from Earth to a possible extraterrestrial civilization. Founded by businessman Pierre Fabre and supported by several entrepreneurs, Lone Signal was based at the Jamesburg Earth Station in Carmel, California.
METI International, known simply as METI, is a non-profit research organization that creates and transmits interstellar messages to attempt to communicate with extraterrestrial civilizations. In July 2015, the papers to form METI were filed by its founder and president, Douglas Vakoch. It is based in San Francisco, California.
Douglas A. Vakoch is an American astrobiologist, search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) researcher, psychologist, and president of METI International, a nonprofit research and educational organization devoted to transmitting intentional signals to extraterrestrial civilizations. Vakoch led METI's participation in Sónar Calling GJ 273b, which transmitted a series of interstellar messages to Luyten's Star, located 12.4 light years from Earth. Vakoch advocates ongoing transmission projects, arguing that this does not increase risks of an alien invasion as suggested by British cosmologist Stephen Hawking. He has participated in several SETI observation programs, and after sixteen years at the SETI Institute, where he was director of Interstellar Message Composition, Vakoch founded METI International. He has edited over a dozen books in SETI, astrobiology, the psychology of space exploration, and ecocriticism. He is general editor of two-book series in ecocriticism and in the intersection of space and society. Vakoch has appeared widely on television and radio as a commentator on SETI and astrobiology. He is an emeritus professor of clinical psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS).
Archaeology, Anthropology, and Interstellar Communication is a 2014 collection of essays edited by Douglas Vakoch and published by NASA. The book is focused on the role that the humanities and social sciences, in particular anthropology and archaeology, play in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. The seventeen essays explore issues such as the evolutionary and cultural prerequisites of interstellar civilizations communicating with one another; the difficulties of understanding signs and symbols developed by vastly different societies, whether terrestrial or extraterrestrial; and issues faced by new societies making first contact with one another.
References
1 2 Kilgore, DeWitt Douglas. "C/SETI As Fiction: On James Gunn's The Listeners." In Societal Impact of Spaceflight. Steven J. Dick and Roger D. Launius, eds. Washington, D.C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2009, p. 541.
1 2 Gunn, "Preface," in The Listeners, 2003, p. 4.
↑ Kilgore, "C/SETI As Fiction: On James Gunn's The Listeners," in Societal Impact of Spaceflight, 2009, p. 543.
↑ Gunn, James. "Acknowledgements." In The Listeners. Dallas, Tex.: BenBella Books, 2003, p. frontispiece.
↑ Gunn, James E. (September 1968). "The Listeners". Galaxy Science Fiction. pp.74–100.
1 2 3 Gunn, "Preface," in The Listeners, 2003, p. 1-3.
↑ Dick, Steven J. The Biological Universe: The Twentieth-Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate and the Limits of Science. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1996, p. 260
↑ Kilgore, "C/SETI As Fiction: On James Gunn's The Listeners," in Societal Impact of Spaceflight, 2009, p. 539.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
