Limes inferior
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Limes inferior (Latin for lower limit) is a social science fiction dystopian novel written in 1982 by Polish author Janusz A. Zajdel. Limes inferior, one of Zajdel most famous books, is a dystopia from the Iron Curtain, showing a grim vision of a future society governed by an electronic access card system, dealing with falsehoods of government and absurdities of total control.
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[edit] Setting
The story is set in a fictional 'Argoland'. All citizens in Argoland are divided into 7 social classes (numbered from 0 to 6) based on their IQ. The class of a citizen determins what job he gets, and his pay ('red, green and yellow points'). The 'points' (currency in this world) are kept on a 'Key' (which is similar to modern PDAs serving as an ID card, credit card, a watch, a calculator or biometric reader).
The hero, Adi Cherryson, also known as Sneer (named after one of Zajdel's fellow science fiction writers Adam Wiśniewski-Snerg), is a lifter who "helps" people cheat during the computer controlled IQ exams by giving them the correct answers through a micro-radio communicator or taking the exam for them. Sneer, who is officially only a level 4, could easily become the top level 0, but he prefers his medium level which doesn't attract much attention. In addition to lifters there are also downers (who use their low IQ to provide realistic 'stupid' answers for those who want to keep their class artificially low), chameleons (black market point dealers), key-makers (providing all sorts of illeagal, special purpose keys) and the whole gallery of black market and underground "professionals".
[edit] Plot summary
The story starts when Sneer looses his Key, and then finds it thanks to a mystery woman Alice. He is then hired by a government official to monitor a certain lab. Meanwhile his "lifter" friend Kral Pron tests a new Key, which gives the owner an unlimited amount of points. This Key was ordered by the group of '0's - who in fact work in the lab on which Sneer is now spying upon. When Sneer obtains the super Key he is taken to the meeting with top officials of the local government - where he learns that the social system of 'Argoland' is in fact an experiment imposed upon the humanity by the Aliens. With the help of Alice he plans to rebel and free the humanity.
[edit] Interpretation
As with much utopian and dystopian fiction in the former Soviet bloc countries, where open criticism of the government was dangerous and subject to censorship, this book was in fact a criticism of contemporary life in the People's Republic of Poland.
Many aspects of the 'Argoland' society, seemingly fictional to the book Western readers, represented an every-day situation in communist countries. For example in the shortage economy, luxury goods were available from a state-run chain of shops (like Pewex) selling products only for hard to obtain foreign currency.
[edit] Further reading
- Janusz Zajdel, Limes inferior, SuperNOWA, 1997, ISBN 83-7054-116-X
