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UID:74@sciencefictionbookclub.org
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20120910T190000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20120910T220000
DTSTAMP:20240924T171236Z
URL:https://www.sciencefictionbookclub.org/events/34483532/
SUMMARY:The Separation - Christopher Priest
DESCRIPTION:In 1999\, history author Stuart Gratton is intrigued by a minor
  mystery of the European war which ended on 10 May 1941. The British-Germa
 n armistice signed that month has had far-reaching consequences\, includin
 g a resettlement of European Jews in Madagascar.\n\nIn 1936\, the identica
 l twin brothers Joe and Jack Sawyer win a rowing medal for Britain in the 
 Berlin Olympics: it's presented to them by Rudolf Hess. The brothers are s
 eparated not only by a twin's fierce need "to be treated as a separate hum
 an being"\, but by sexual rivalry and even ideology. When war breaks out J
 ack becomes a gung-ho bomber pilot\, Joe a conscientious objector. Still t
 hey're inescapably linked\, and sometimes confused. Both suffer injuries a
 nd hauntingly similar ambulance journeys. Churchill writes a puzzled memo 
 (later unearthed by Gratton) about the anomaly of a registered-pacifist Re
 d Cross worker flying planes for Bomber Command. Hess has significant\, ev
 entually incompatible meetings with both men. Contradictions are everywher
 e.\n\n\n\n\n\nAWARDS:\n\n2002 — Best novel: The Separation SF ga Yomitai
  (Japan)\n\n2008 — Best foreign novel published in Japan: The Separation
  (translated by Yoshimichi Furusawa) Prix Utopia (France)\n\n2001 — Life
 time achievement award Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire (France)\n\n2005 — L
 e roman étranger: La séparation (The Separation) Nominations:\n\nSidewis
 e Award for Alternate History\n\n2002 — Finalist: The Separation Locus P
 oll\n\n2003 — Nominated best novel: The Separation Christopher Priest ex
 cels at rethinking SF themes\, lifting them above genre expectations into 
 his own tricky\, chilling\, metaphysically dangerous territory. The Separa
 tion suggests an alternate history lying along a road not taken in World W
 ar II. But there are complications.\n\nAs in his magical 1995 novel The Pr
 estige Priest is fruitfully fascinated by the legerdemain of twins\, doubl
 es\, impostors\, symmetrical roles. Churchill's double briefly appears. So
  does the famous conspiracy theory that the Hess who flew to Britain with 
 his quixotic peace deal wasn't the real Hess ring true? Clearly The Separa
 tion was impressively\, extensively researched. Its evocations of bombing 
 raids--from either side of the bomb sites--are memorable.
LOCATION:The Gladstone\, 64 Lant Street\, Borough\, London\, SE1 1QN\, Unit
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