The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer

Amazed that this is from 1995; its concerns feel very current - too current. The nations of the world collapse from cryptocurrency destroying the tax base; they are replaced with voluntary ideological associations, including trads ("neo-Victorians" and techno-Confucians) who are shown thriving where others suffer civil war, state failure, and ordinary poverty and abuse. Everyone has fancy nanotechnology, which solves absolute poverty and allows massive structures to be built of solid diamond.

That's all in the background, where the foreground is a theory of education and rebellion, of social degeneration and regeneration. The leader of the Victorians designs the best educational game ever, a 12-year-long adventure game with live narration. He does this because there's a shortage of subversion and rebellion in his society, and he wants to train his granddaughter to be independent. (He also says the neo-Vickys have an associated shortage of great artists, but to put it mildly this is not something the originals suffered.)

In particular, Stephenson was a bit obsessed with moral relativism in the 90s; he harps on the superiority of realism, or communitarianism, or status regulation, or sincerity, or something, in most of his books. Superficially, his concern matches one annoying strain of internet writing of the last few years - the clickbait strawmaneering of the Petersons and the Lindsays. But French Theory fell in the meantime, outside of a few academic subcultures with little influence, so Stephenson can be right while these guys are wrong. An excess of scepticism and irony - a deficit of shaming and judgment - does not strike me as the first problem with the mores of 2020.

Stephenson saves most of the nice bits of the book for the Vickys, and his attempt to recover what was good about the original Victorians (their energy, inventiveness, duty, taste) ignores a lot of what was bad about them. (Though he actively endorses their hypocrisy about sex, he would have to think again about their betraying their Christian universalism with retributive justice and imperialism.)

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"when I was a young man, hypocrisy was deemed the worst of vices," Finkle-McGraw said. "It was all because of moral relativism. You see, in that sort of a climate, you are not allowed to criticise others--after all, if there is no absolute right and wrong, then what grounds is there for criticism?...

"Now, this led to a good deal of general frustration, for people are naturally censorious and love nothing better than to criticise others' shortcomings. And so it was that they seized on hypocrisy and elevated it from a ubiquitous peccadillo into the monarch of all vices. For, you see, even if there is no right and wrong, you can find grounds to criticise another person by contrasting what he has espoused with what he has actually done... Virtually all political discourse in the days of my youth was devoted to the ferreting out of hypocrisy."

"That we occasionally violate our own stated moral code," Major Napier said, working it through, "does not imply that we are insincere in espousing that code."
"Of course not," Finkle-McGraw said. "It's perfectly obvious, really. No one ever said that it was easy to hew to a strict code of conduct."
n

Having "Victorian" characters means he gets to have fun with his dialogue; there are dozens of words I've never seen before in this, and several children crafting exquisitely balanced subordinate clauses.

About a third too long, and that's with him completely truncating the excellent Judge Fang plotline. As always, he is incapable of writing a good ending. Maybe 4 stars on re-read.

Диамантената ера е една от любимите ми книги още от тийнейджърските години и фактът, че при прочитане сега ми харесва още повече, говори много за нея (същото далеч не може да се каже за повечето други фантастики). Нийл Стивънсън е изрод и трябва да му се признае, че не изкарва книги на конвейр, а всяка една е обмислена и пълна с идеи, които хора на различно ниво могат да намерят за интересни.

Специално тази прави доста добро предположение за обществото в "ерата на благоденствието" където елементарните потребности на всеки са задоволени кажи речи безплатно - не, че това е много трудно предположение, след като положението е цивилизованите страни и сега е такова, както и в ерата на информацията където финансовите и информационни транзакции стават по начин, който правителствата не могат да проследят и контролират и това довежда до липсата на национални държави и групиране на хората така да се каже в "държави по интереси".

Това, което бе ново за мен в книгата за разлика от прочитанията в младите ми години е идеята за традиционализма като необходимо условие за успешно и стабилно общество, в ролята на трите най-успешни "филозони" (разбирай държави с доброволно членство) в книгата - викторианците, хански Китай и Япония.

A girl and her book

The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is my favorite of Neal Stephenson's books. By that I don't mean that it is the best, or most intellectually compelling, or has the best characters or world-building (although some of those things may be true). I mean only that it is the one that gives me the most pleasure to read. I have read it at least three times, once in paperback shortly after it came out, then again 23-Nov-2012 (exactly ten years ago) and 11-Oct-2020.

If you read five-star reviews of romance novels on Goodreads, you'll see a lot of long gif-filled squeals of swoony love for the romantic relationships described. I can't read such reviews, because every one of them seems exactly like all the others. And I am certainly not about to write one. I mention them because that is how I feel about the relationship between Nell and her book.

Am I seriously comparing a girl's love for a book to a romantic relationship? (In fact, the relationship between A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer and Nell is more a mother-daughter relationship.) Yes, I am. What can I say? I am a book-lover. A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is truly a book to be loved. Given that I can't have one of my own, The Diamond Age is the next best thing.

Blog review.

Wow. I feel like I was set up on a blind date with this book, but instead of ending with me plotting an escape fueled by misery and loathing, I actually had a good time. I’m completely shocked, but also thrilled that I had the opportunity to read something so engaging and so unusual that I never would have picked up had it not been recommended to me.

The first half of the book was much stronger than the second half—I definitely felt like there was a specific moment when my interest started waning, and from that point on I think Stephenson struggled to wrap things up. Overall, I found myself engrossed by the story in the same way that I fall in love with a Miyazaki movie; however, that childlike amusement is frequently interrupted by the kind of scenes you might expect to find in BioShock in a way that inexplicably works. I can’t even describe this book, but that’s one of the things I find so entertaining about it.

I don’t usually read sci-fi, so this was a big departure for me, but one that I thoroughly enjoyed. I think if Stephenson had approached the second half of the story with a more discerning eye, this would have been a 5 star review. I found the ending unsatisfying, and I think the book as a whole almost reads like a collection of short stories all woven together by two characters, but in a way that still feels a bit disjointed. This might be one of those books you need to read twice before you can fully appreciate its complexities.

I loved this book, especially the Neo-Victorian culture. I did feel that some parts lagged and I did flick forward a bit midway. Neal Stephenson is one of my favourite authors, and I do give him credit for each of his books being based on a completely different paradigm.
Beautifully written but not quite on the same level as Snow Crash or Anathem for instance.

3.5 stars. Review originally posted at www.fantasyliterature.com.

Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age is set in a near future that is unrecognizable in some ways and disturbingly familiar in other ways. Nations have dissolved and people now tend to congregate in tribes or “phyles” based upon their culture, race, beliefs or skills. Nanotechnology has upended society, and even the poorest people have access to matter compilers that create clothing, food and other items from a feed of molecules. Still, the lack of education and opportunities for the underclass has created a wide division between them and a wealthy phyle like the Neo-Victorians, who have adopted the manners and society of the British Victorian age.

John Hackworth is a brilliant nanotechnologist who lives with and works for the neo-Victorians. He is approached by one of the leaders of the clan, Lord Finkle-McGraw, to secretly create an interactive smart book for Finkle-McGraw’s young granddaughter. Lord Finkle-McGraw fears that the neo-Victorian society is too hidebound and commissions Hackworth to use his skills to create a children’s book that will develop a more educated and inquiring mind. Hackworth develops this book, the “Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer,” but can’t resist the temptation to (illegally) create a copy of it for his own young daughter.

Unfortunately for Hackworth, Dr. X, the Chinese black market engineer whose compiler Hackworth used to create the copy of the Primer, wants a copy of the book for his own purposes as well. Hackworth is mugged on his way home with the Primer by a gang under Dr. X’s direction, but the young thug who grabs the book gives it to his 4-year-old sister Nell rather than to Dr. X. The education Nell gets from the interactive Primer ends up changing her life drastically. While Nell’s life is benefited immeasurably by the Primer, Hackworth runs into serious trouble, caught between the pressures exerted by both Lord Finkle-McGraw and Dr. X, both of whom are aware of his crime and both of whom are using Hackworth for their own interests and goals.

The first half of The Diamond Age was fascinating, alternating between Hackworth’s adventures and Nell’s, interspersed with stories told to Nell by the Primer that pull from Nell’s own life (her stuffed animals and toys play a major teaching role in the stories) and encourage her to think in new ways. Stephenson has created an intricate and marvelous future world, with both amazing achievements and alarming pitfalls. Stephenson’s writing doesn’t coddle the reader, but he writes so well that even when his future world is confusing, it’s still entrancing.

At about the halfway mark, the plot weakens as it digresses to some new, less appealing plot lines (the Drummers, who create a subconscious hive mind through sexual orgies) and abandons some interesting characters and plots, such as the humorous but ruthless Judge Fang and his assistants, and the mysterious, powerful CryptNet organization.

The ending of The Diamond Age was even weaker, as yet another group, the Chinese Fists of Righteous Harmony, takes center stage and reenacts the Boxer Rebellion, putting Nell and other characters in grave danger. Then the novel abruptly ends, answering a few questions but leaving most of the threads hanging and the fate of the characters unclear. It’s an inconclusive and disappointing ending.

Overall, despite its weaknesses, The Diamond Age is still a worthwhile read for those who appreciate brain-challenging science fiction.

5 stars for the first half. 2 to 2 1/2 stars for the second half. 3.5 stars overall.

Content notes: rape and near-rape. Some F-bombs and rough language. Brief but explicit description of an orgy.

Stephenson is undoubtedly a good writer. I feel as though that's a trite thing to say, but I'm not talking about the overall story, I'm talking about the way each sentence is crafted. Also, I felt the need to read the book with a dictionary next to me, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I suppose. As far as the overall story, there's a lot to like, plenty of varied characters, several story lines that are more closely woven than one might originally think, and plenty of action. There's a kind of girl power aspect to it all that's especially nice.

While it is set in what Stephenson imagines to be the not-too-distant future, it also has fairy tale elements that mostly stem from the Primer itself, although also from the very concept of a young girl embarking on adventures alone. There were also times (mostly near the end) when I was also reminded of The Wizard of Oz--without the cheesy "moral" we get in the film--and even Buffy--without the super powers. The Diamond Age very much seems to fit in with a long history of children's fantasy literature. Except this is for adults (think Guillermo Del Torro).

If Charles Dickens climbed in an H.G. Wells time machine and went forward in time and he decided to create a post cyber-punk, progressively dystopian bildungsroman novel with a strong female lead and with a fascinating glimpse of a future that expands on the world begun in Snow Crash, he would have written this novel.

This is Great Expectations with nanotechnology.

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson is to post-modernist science fiction thought as what Dickens was to his era: a smart, entertaining and groundbreaking new literature. In this work I also see the inspiration for such books as Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One and Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Windup Girl. In fact I think a study could be made to determine how many works Stephenson may have influenced from this remarkable 1995 publication that won both the Hugo and Locus award for best novel.

** 2018 - I need to read more from Neal Stephenson, this book was so cool and sophisticated, so rich with new ideas and fresh thoughts. His illustration of nanotechnology has been highly influential and his writing seems to be the state of the market for SF. Good stuff.