The Separation (Priest novel)

Last updated

The Separation
Separation Priest.jpg
First edition
Author Christopher Priest
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Genre Science fiction, alternate history
Publisher Scribners
Publication date
2002
Media typePrint (hardcover)
ISBN 0-7432-0836-6
OCLC 59521604

The Separation is a novel by British writer Christopher Priest, published in 2002. It is an alternate history revolving around the experiences of identical twin brothers during the Second World War, during which one becomes a pilot for the RAF, and the other, a conscientious objector, becomes an ambulance driver for the Red Cross. The author introduces a deliberate confusion by giving these brothers identical initials – J.L. Sawyer – one known as Jack (the pilot) and the other as Joe (the ambulance driver).

Contents

Multiple histories – at least two, and on some readings many more – are presented, with different roles and fates for the various characters. The novel abounds with plays on the uncertainty of identity not just between the twin brothers, but also that of Winston Churchill (who used look-alike stand-ins) and, crucially, Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy, who flew to Britain in 1941 claiming to have a peace offer from Hitler.

The novel also utilises a favourite technique of Priest's, that of the unreliable narrator.

Publication

The novel was first published in the United Kingdom in 2002, in trade paperback by Scribners ( ISBN   0-7432-2033-1), followed by a hardcover by Gollancz ( ISBN   0-575-07002-1) in 2003. It was not published in the United States until 2005, when it was published in hardback by Old Earth Books ( ISBN   1-882968-33-6). The Separation was translated into French by Michelle Charrier; it has also appeared in a Spanish translation.

Re-Publication

British magazine The Bookseller reported in May 2003, that The Separation was "to be republished by Orion after the author bought back the rights from Simon & Schuster." The report said that Priest was unhappy with the publicity and marketing support, and quoted Priest as saying, "A lot of staff I had been working with had left. The new editor was clearly not in sympathy with the book, and there was no apparent inhouse support for it." The article added that, in November 2002, Orion's managing director, Malcolm Edwards approached Priest and proposed that Gollancz republish the title in hardback. "Gollancz has always felt like a natural home to me, so I can't say how pleased I am to finally have made it after all these years," Priest said. [1]

Critical reception

In an article for New Scientist about the contestants for the 2003 Arthur C. Clarke Award, Maggie McDonald praised the novel as "strong competition... The twins—RAF pilot and conscientious objector—reach cusps of change, war triumphs, peace fails or vice versa. Priest's writing is gripping, and it's one of those rare books that reveal what writing is: manner and matter twinned and entwined." [2]

Elizabeth Hand described the book as "exquisite ... an exceptionally frightening novel whose nightmare power derives from its chilling, almost clinical evocation of an historical reality with which we are all familiar, the London Blitz... a cliffhanger narrative of dual identities, betrayals, and shifting realities, as two versions of the twins' histories—and England's, and the world's—are woven together, like strands of DNA, to form a terrifying narrative. Priest has used doubles before to great effect, in his award-winning novel The Prestige; but The Separation trumps even that tale. Its chapters linger in the mind like scenes from a Hitchcock film, impossible to shake off; like Hitchcock's work, The Separation begs for repeated readings to appreciate the cold brilliance and execution of its intricate plot fully. A masterly novel that deserves to become a classic." [3]

Publishers Weekly called it a "subtle, unsettling alternative WWII history": "Convincingly detailed diaries, scraps of published texts, declassified transcripts and more baffle a historian who tries to reconcile different realities. The brothers themselves recognize the uncertainty of motives and actions; Joe in particular struggles to believe that he's making a better future even though he realizes how much it costs him personally. Many alternative history novels are bloodless extrapolations from mountains of data, but this one quietly builds characters you care about—then leaves their dilemmas unresolved as they try to believe that what they have done is 'right'." [4]

Pauline Morgan, reviewing the novel for SF Crowsnest.com, said, "This is a glorious book to read—not for nothing was Christopher Priest included in the line-up of Britain's best young novelists some years ago. The Separation does what so few books do these days, whatever genre they are written in; it encourages the reader to think." [5]

Awards

The Separation won the 2002 BSFA Award [6] and the 2003 Arthur C. Clarke Award. [7] It was a finalist for the 2002 Sidewise Award for best long-form alternate history, and the 2003 John W. Campbell Memorial Award. [7] The French translation won the 2006 Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire for best novel in translation.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pat Cadigan</span> British-American science fiction author (born 1953)

Patricia Oren Kearney Cadigan is a British-American science fiction author, whose work is most often identified with the cyberpunk movement. Her novels and short stories often explore the relationship between the human mind and technology. Her debut novel, Mindplayers, was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award in 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul J. McAuley</span> British botanist and science fiction author (born 1955)

Paul J. McAuley is a British botanist and science fiction author. A biologist by training, McAuley writes mostly hard science fiction. His novels dealing with themes such as biotechnology, alternative history/alternative reality, and space travel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alastair Reynolds</span> British science fiction author

Alastair Preston Reynolds is a British science fiction author. He specialises in hard science fiction and space opera. He spent his early years in Cornwall, moved back to Wales before going to Newcastle University, where he studied physics and astronomy. Afterwards, he earned a PhD in astrophysics from the University of St Andrews. In 1991, he moved to Noordwijk in the Netherlands where he met his wife Josette. There, he worked for the European Space Research and Technology Centre until 2004 when he left to pursue writing full-time. He returned to Wales in 2008 and lives near Cardiff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Sladek</span> American science fiction author (1937–2000)

John Thomas Sladek was an American science fiction author, known for his satirical and surreal novels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conscientious objector</span> Person refusing military service on moral grounds

A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–industrial complex due to a crisis of conscience. In some countries, conscientious objectors are assigned to an alternative civilian service as a substitute for conscription or military service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Priest (novelist)</span> British author

Christopher Priest is a British novelist and science fiction writer. His works include Fugue for a Darkening Island, The Inverted World, The Affirmation, The Glamour, The Prestige, and The Separation.

Victor Gollancz Ltd was a major British book publishing house of the twentieth century and continues to publish science fiction and fantasy titles as an imprint of Orion Publishing Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Courtenay Grimwood</span> Maltese born British science fiction and fantasy author

Jon Courtenay Grimwood is a Maltese born British science fiction and fantasy author. He also writes literary fiction as Jonathan Grimwood, and crime fiction and thrillers as Jack Grimwood.

<i>The Prestige</i> 1995 novel by Christopher Priest

The Prestige is a 1995 fantasy novel by British writer Christopher Priest. It tells the story of a prolonged feud between two stage magicians in late 1800s England. Its structure is that of a collection of diaries that were kept by the protagonists and later collated. The title derives from the novel's fictional practice of stage illusions having three parts: the setup, the performance, and the prestige (effect).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steph Swainston</span> British writer

Steph Swainston is a British literary fantasy/science fiction author, known for the Castle series. Her debut novel, The Year of Our War (2004), won the 2005 Crawford Award and a nomination for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

<i>Air</i> (novel) 2005 novel by Geoff Ryman

Air, also known as Air: Or, Have Not Have, is a 2005 novel by Geoff Ryman. It won the British Science Fiction Association Award, the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, and the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and was on the short list for the Philip K. Dick Award in 2004, the Nebula Award in 2005, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 2006.

<i>The Space Machine</i> 1976 novel by Christopher Priest

The Space Machine, subtitled A Scientific Romance, is a science fiction novel written by English writer Christopher Priest.

Canongate Books is an independent publishing firm based in Edinburgh, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justina Robson</span> British writer

Justina Robson is a science fiction author from Leeds, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cherie Priest</span> American writer

Cherie Priest is an American novelist and blogger living in Seattle, Washington.

<i>The Extremes</i> 1998 novel by Christopher Priest

The Extremes is a 1998 science fiction novel by the English writer Christopher Priest. The novel received the BSFA Award.

The following is a list of works by Arthur C. Clarke.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Morden</span> English science fiction author

Simon Morden is an English science fiction author, best known for his Philip K. Dick Award–winning Metrozone series of novels set in post-apocalyptic London.

Lily Shepherd Tobias (1887–1984) was a Welsh writer and activist for suffrage, labour, peace, and a Jewish national home in Palestine. She wrote four novels, short stories, and plays.

<i>The Facts of Life</i> (Joyce novel) 2002 novel by Graham Joyce

The Facts of Life is a historical fantasy novel by English writer Graham Joyce. It was first published in the United Kingdom in December 2002 by Victor Gollancz Ltd, and in June 2003 in the United States by the Atria Publishing Group. It is set in Coventry, England after the end of World War II, with flashbacks to the Coventry Blitz when the Luftwaffe bombed the city on 14 November 1940.

References

  1. ↑ "Priest double for new home Gollancz". The Bookseller . London: 6. 23 May 2003.
  2. ↑ McDonald, Maggie (26 April 2003). "Futures Near Perfect: Who Will Win the Arthur C. Clarke Award? Maggie McDonald Lines up the Field". New Scientist . 178 (2392): 54.
  3. ↑ Hand, Elizabeth (March 2003). "Things That Never Happen". The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction . 104 (3): 38+.
  4. ↑ "The Separation". Publishers Weekly . 252 (41): 45. 17 October 2005.
  5. ↑ Morgan, Pauline (1 February 2004). "The Separation by Christopher Priest" . Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  6. ↑ "2002 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
  7. 1 2 "2003 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
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.