I usually have a terrible time sleeping on buses, and a recent trip home was no exception. I try to keep a movie ready to watch on my laptop, but this time the Power-Cut Gods conspired to ensure that it wasn’t charged. So remembering the recommendation of a friend, I procured a copy of Genesis by Bernard Beckett and read it on my way home. It looks like I owe the Power-Cut Gods one.
It’s tough to categorize this book into a single genre. It’s science fiction for sure, but with a heavy dose of philosophy and ethics. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, it describes the rise and fall of a dystopian society, “The Republic” set on an isolated island. The story is told from the point of view of a civilization on the same island that descended from The Republic.
The first thing that drew me to the book was its style and its means of exposition. Set a few decades after the fall of the Republic, the book follows a student Anaximander (Anax) over the course of a single oral examination, as she seeks to enter an elite institution known as The Academy- a shadowy organization that wields enormous influence over the policymakers of the island. While this style did initially come across as a bit weird, it quickly grew on me, and I found it to be an excellent way to tell two inextricably linked stories- one of Anax’s examination, and one of the Republic. It also serves as a great way to keep the tension up in the book – Anax seems constantly afraid to make mistakes, or to voice opinions, implying that unacceptable views could be severely punished, even by death.
The world in which Genesis is set is also interesting. As the first hour of Anax’s examination unfolds, we learn about the background of The Republic. The early 21st century was a terrible time for humanity. Wars, natural disasters, the effects of climate change, the future looked bleak to a businessman named Plato. He moved to an isolated island in the Southern Ocean during the mid 21st century and used his money and power to gain influence over the inhabitants. He accurately foresaw a terrible biological war between the two great powers of the time- The United States and a China-Japan alliance, and sought to get as far away from it as he could. True to his predictions, a great plague wiped out much of the world’s population, and from the point of view of the residents of the island, they were the only place on Earth safe from the plague. Plato was seen as a messianic figure to the Islanders, but what followed next were policies of extreme xenophobia and oppression.
All communication to the outside world was cut off. A massive sea fence was built around the island. Refugee sea and aircraft approaching the island were destroyed on sight – even civilian craft carrying obviously unarmed people. Within the Republic, free speech and individual thought were curtailed. Parents were forcibly separated from their infant children, and were executed if they refused. Genomic testing was performed to decide a person’s future occupation, and under-performing candidates were exterminated. A strict social hierarchy was followed, with four levels- the Labourers, the Warriors, the Technicians, and the Philosophers, with very limited mobility between the classes, roughly analogous to the Indian caste system. The lower classes were constantly fed misinformation in order to keep them servile, and to keep power concentrated in the hands of a cabal of Philosophers.
Into this world was born a soldier, Adam Forde, the main subject of Anax’s examination and a character of great intrigue. From the point of view of the reader, Adam is a completely unknown character. But the people of the new civilization speak about him almost with reverence, and throughout the book, references are made to Adam’s pivotal role in the fall of the Republic. Until the climax of the book, we know next to nothing about the new civilization, save from a few stray impressions gathered from fleeting glimpses of Anax’s thoughts, and from her recounting of Adam’s life.
Another gripping aspect of this book, besides its main storyline, is the ethical and philosophical dilemmas it poses to Anax, and by extension to the reader. The book is heavily inspired by Ancient Greek philosophers. The very name of the initial civilization- The Republic, founded by Plato, is a play on words referring to the book “The Republic”, by the philosopher Plato. This work by Plato deals with the characteristics of a good city-state, an integral theme throughout Genesis. Indeed, the very style of the book- dialogues between Anax and the Examiners, and also between Adam Forde and the robot Art – is similar to the Socratic/Platonic Dialogue used by Plato. Even the names of various characters- Anaximander, Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, and Pericles were those of Greek philosophers.
And finally, the best part of the book. The climax. Without spoiling anything, the last five pages of the book are the some of the most intense text I have ever read. As the tension rises to the culmination of the book – the coming together of the two storylines of past and present and the exact origin of the new civilization- the significance of what was transpiring in that exam room really hit me. It made me do something I have never done before. Finish the book, then start again from the first page. And the book was even better on the second pass, reading it from a fresh perspective. Throwaway lines spoken by all characters, slightly peculiar turns of phrase ignored on the first reading, even the title of the book, take a whole new significance. It was like reading a completely different book.
I honestly could not recommend this book enough. It’s a short book- maybe 100 pages long, but more than makes up for the lack of quantity with quality. It has a bit of something for everyone. Whether you’re interested in philosophy, post-apocalyptic stories, artificial intelligence, ethics- this book will interest you. So next time you have two hours to spare (or four, if you do what I did and read the whole thing twice), give this book a read!
– Deepak