Distress (novel)
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Distress is a 1995 science fiction novel by Greg Egan.
[edit] Gender Roles
Egan uses his hypothetical future to postulate the existence of not just one but five new genders, and for illustration or perhaps just literary clarity's sake introduces a highly useful set of new pronouns to designate each one. One of the central characters of the novel, Akili Kuwale, provides a brilliant demonstration of this change and its implications, together with excellent characterization. As an asexual human, Akili has had all reproductive organs removed entirely, distinct from hermaphrodites who possess both. Within the scope of the novel, Egan uses the pronouns 've', 'ver', and 'vis' to represent Akili's definitive gender neutrality, a literary move seen in few, if any, other works of fiction or nonfiction.
[edit] Plot summary
It describes the political intrigue surrounding a mid-twenty-first century physics conference, at which is to be presented a unified Theory of Everything. In the background of the story is an epidemic mental illness, related in some way to the imminent discovery of the TOE. The action takes place on an artificial island called "Stateless", which has earned the wrath of the world's large biotech companies for its pilfering of their intellectual property. The novel contains a great deal of satirical commentary on gender identities, multinational capitalism, and postmodern thought. It also features Egan's usual playful exploration of physical, metaphysical, and epistemological theories.
The novel is prefaced by a poem, Technolibération, by the fictional character Muteba Kazadi.
"It is not true that the map of freedom will be complete
with the erasure of the last invidious border when it remains for us to chart the attractors of thunder
and delineate the arrhythmias of drought to reveal the molecular dialects of forest and savanna
as rich as a thousand human tongues and to comprehend the deepest history of our passions
ancient beyond mythology's reach.
So I declare that no corporation holds a monopoly on numbers
no patent can encompass zero and one
no nation has sovereignty over adenine and guanine
no empire rules the quantum waves.
And there must be room for all at the celebration of understanding
for there is a truth which cannot be bought or sold imposed by force, resisted or escaped."[citation needed]
