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Αμερικανός συγγραφέας Paul Di Filippo
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για την αγγλική έκδοση του «επιστροφή στο μέλλον»
Στο περιοδικό: Fantasy & Science
Fiction (Ιουνίου 2008)
Curiosities
Return to the Future, by Diamandis Florakis (1973)
Ø 31,450,670. No, that's not a
mistranslated title to Alfred Bester's famous story, "5,271,009."
It's the actual name of the protagonist of the debut novel by a talented Greek
sf author who is, sadly, little-known in Anglophone territories. Diamandis
Florakis, still with us today, produced ten novels in his "Decalogy of
Eschatological Utopia," or, to employ his other series designation,
"Ten Romances of Existential Anarchy." (My thanks to friend and
editor Angelos Mastorakis for help with
this research.) If subsequent volumes rival the first, it's a monumental
accomplishment.
Our numerically named hero (colonized planets,
days of the week, and regions of the globe are all designated with equal
blandness) lives in "computer generation 2,354," an era thousands of
years removed from ours. Thanks to the discovery of the nexus of evil in the
human brain in generation 1,355 and the perfection of an operation for its
removal, a "utopia of ethical and material paradise" now reigns—at
least so believes the High Quotient, the leader of the human race. But if so,
why are suicides exponentially increasing, as the populace's "feeling
1" ratings plummet?
When 31,450,670 discovers that his operation was
faulty and that he possesses all the old vices—including murderousness—a battle
ensues for the soul of humanity.
With a definite Age of Aquarius vibe, the novel
still remains timely, pondering such eternal conundrums as this:
"Murdering, they spoke of peace; in envisioning peace, they warred."
Stylistically reminiscent of Zamiatin, Lem, Bunch, and van Vogt, the book reads
like the libretto for the next great rock opera by the Flaming Lips.
—Paul Di Filippo
