Talking About Alyx
Jun. 13th, 2026 09:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stdesjardinsI was on the Good Reads panel yesterday, which Jo Walton traditionally schedules as the first panel of Scintillation. Four fans each pick a book a couple of months before the convention, we all read each other's picks, and discuss at the convention. As preparation, I wrote out two to five paragraphs about each book, so I can approximate some of what I said by consulting my notes and my memory.
My choice was The Adventures of Alyx by Joanna Russ, a collection of linked stories written in the 1960's. These are stories that are deeply rooted in genre, by an author who is deeply familiar with genre, who has come completely prepared to blow up genre, because she has had enough of your patriarchal bullshit, thank you very much. This is a period when science fiction was just beginning to fully integrate non-male, non-white perspectives, and Russ is one of those foundational authors who influenced everything that came after, if not directly, then through authors reading the work of authors who had read her work. And they remain fresh and exciting today.
The first two stories are set in a world of sword and sorcery. The first is titled "Bluestocking" and begins with the sentence, "This is the tale of a voyage that is of interest only as it concerns the doings of one small, gray-eyed woman." The title prompts us to expect a woman challenging the patriarchal norms of her society, and the opening sentence tells us that the choice of protagonist is significant. Russ is handing us the tools to understand how she wants us to read her work. Alyx will not be condescended to and is capable of surprising anyone who condescends to her, and she also does not share the values of the traditional Campbellian superhero or individualistic mighty-thewed barbarian and doesn't react to situations in the same way. She's attuned to social power dynamics in a way that traditional fantasy protagonists (and their authors) were not, and that turns the genre inside out and makes us see it in a new way.
The third story, "The Barbarian", is set in the same world, but introduces a time traveler with technology so advanced it might as well be magic, and when she comes into conflict with him she has to analyze how his technology works and figure out its weaknesses. It's a very traditional puzzle plot, which could just as easily be used for an episode of Star Trek with Captain Kirk held captive on an alien planet. But aliens underestimating humanity lands very differently than a tech dude underestimating an uneducated woman, at least to anyone who's ever been on social media.
The fourth story brings Alyx into the future, where she's recruited into the Trans-Temporal Authority, and as her first assignment must guide a group of travelers across a desolate war-torn planet without using any technology. It's a task she's uniquely qualified for, both because she's familiar at travel with technology but also because she's the only member of her party who has ever been in danger, but she's also unqualified because she's so new to this future world, and there's culture shock going in both directions. It's a plot that might come out of a Jack Vance novel, but with a protagonist completely unlike anyone Vance ever wrote, which makes it a completely different experience from anything Vance ever wrote.
The final story is "The Second Inquisition", which is about Alyx's legacy. Her example has inspired a rebellion within the Trans-Temporal Authority, and her granddaughter is hiding from factional infighting in small-town 1920's America. It's deeply rooted in Russ's own experience of revolutionary movements and is complicated in a way that I still need to think about. I really, really love this book.
[I forgot to say this during my initial presentation, but it came up later: all of the stories except for "The Second Inquisition" end with the words, "But that's another story." "The Second Inquisition" ends with the words "No more stories."]
My choice was The Adventures of Alyx by Joanna Russ, a collection of linked stories written in the 1960's. These are stories that are deeply rooted in genre, by an author who is deeply familiar with genre, who has come completely prepared to blow up genre, because she has had enough of your patriarchal bullshit, thank you very much. This is a period when science fiction was just beginning to fully integrate non-male, non-white perspectives, and Russ is one of those foundational authors who influenced everything that came after, if not directly, then through authors reading the work of authors who had read her work. And they remain fresh and exciting today.
The first two stories are set in a world of sword and sorcery. The first is titled "Bluestocking" and begins with the sentence, "This is the tale of a voyage that is of interest only as it concerns the doings of one small, gray-eyed woman." The title prompts us to expect a woman challenging the patriarchal norms of her society, and the opening sentence tells us that the choice of protagonist is significant. Russ is handing us the tools to understand how she wants us to read her work. Alyx will not be condescended to and is capable of surprising anyone who condescends to her, and she also does not share the values of the traditional Campbellian superhero or individualistic mighty-thewed barbarian and doesn't react to situations in the same way. She's attuned to social power dynamics in a way that traditional fantasy protagonists (and their authors) were not, and that turns the genre inside out and makes us see it in a new way.
The third story, "The Barbarian", is set in the same world, but introduces a time traveler with technology so advanced it might as well be magic, and when she comes into conflict with him she has to analyze how his technology works and figure out its weaknesses. It's a very traditional puzzle plot, which could just as easily be used for an episode of Star Trek with Captain Kirk held captive on an alien planet. But aliens underestimating humanity lands very differently than a tech dude underestimating an uneducated woman, at least to anyone who's ever been on social media.
The fourth story brings Alyx into the future, where she's recruited into the Trans-Temporal Authority, and as her first assignment must guide a group of travelers across a desolate war-torn planet without using any technology. It's a task she's uniquely qualified for, both because she's familiar at travel with technology but also because she's the only member of her party who has ever been in danger, but she's also unqualified because she's so new to this future world, and there's culture shock going in both directions. It's a plot that might come out of a Jack Vance novel, but with a protagonist completely unlike anyone Vance ever wrote, which makes it a completely different experience from anything Vance ever wrote.
The final story is "The Second Inquisition", which is about Alyx's legacy. Her example has inspired a rebellion within the Trans-Temporal Authority, and her granddaughter is hiding from factional infighting in small-town 1920's America. It's deeply rooted in Russ's own experience of revolutionary movements and is complicated in a way that I still need to think about. I really, really love this book.
[I forgot to say this during my initial presentation, but it came up later: all of the stories except for "The Second Inquisition" end with the words, "But that's another story." "The Second Inquisition" ends with the words "No more stories."]
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Date: 2026-06-13 04:12 pm (UTC)