Anathem

Anathem

Cover of the hardcover first edition, featuring an analemma behind the author's name
Author	Neal Stephenson
Language	English
Genre	Science fiction
Publisher	William Morrow and Company
Publication date	2008-09-09
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardback)
Pages	928 pp
ISBN	ISBN 9780061474095 (first edition, hardback)

Anathem is a 2008 speculative fiction novel by Neal Stephenson.

Plot summary

Anathem is set on the planet Arbre. Thousands of years prior to the events in the novel, society was on the verge of collapse. Intellectuals entered concents, much like monastic communities but without the religious elements. Here, the avout—a term for intellectuals, fraa for monk and suur for nun—are given limited access to tools and technology and are watched over by officials answering to the outside world (known as the Sæcular Power). The concents are therefore slow to change, unlike the rest of Arbre, which goes through many cycles of booms and busts.

The narrator and protagonist Erasmas is a fraa at the concent of Saunt Edhar. His primary teacher, Orolo, discovers that alien beings are orbiting Arbre, which the Sæcular Power is attempting to cover up. Orolo secretly observes the aliens with an illegally obtained (according to concent law) camera, and enlists Erasmas to help collect this data. Erasmas is unaware of the content of the research until he deciphers it after Orolo is banished in the rite of "Anathem".

Several months pass, and Erasmas falls in love with suur Ala, another avout at Saunt Edhar. Immediately after this, the Sæcular Power removes her along with several other avout, requiring their help with a secret project. Erasmas, still upset about Orolo’s banishment, throws himself into his work. The presence of the alien ship soon becomes an open secret among many of the avout. Several weeks later, a laser shines down from the ship and illuminates part of Saunt Edhar. Now that the aliens have shown themselves openly, the Sæcular Power removes many avout from Saunt Edhar, this time including Erasmas.

Erasmas and the rest of the avout are told to travel to Saunt Tredegarh, another concent several thousand miles away. Erasmas instead desires to find Orolo, who had recently travelled to the isolated concent of Orithena, on the other side of Arbre. A mysterious fraa named Jad, who is seemingly hundreds of years old, tells Erasmas to find Orolo, suggesting that he has valuable information about the aliens, which by this time have come to be known as the Geometers because of graphical proof of Pythagoras' Theorem seen on the side of their ship.

After a dangerous journey, Erasmas arrives at Orithena. Orolo teaches Erasmas about mystic traditions among the avout, and how he believes that the Geometers are not simply from another planet, but from another cosmos which is influenced by Arbre. Orolo had signaled the Geometers using lasers, and a small spacecraft lands on Orithena. The female Geometer on board is dead of a recent gunshot wound. She brings with her four vials of blood—presumably that of the Geometers—and much evidence about their technology. Shortly thereafter, the Geometers propel a massive metal rod at a nearby volcano, destroying Orithena. Orolo sacrifices his life to rescue the dead Geometer's remains.

Erasmas soon arrives at Saunt Tredegarh, which is home to a joint conference of the avout and the Sæcular Power. This is one of the secret projects of the Sæcular Power, where many of the avout of Saunt Edhar (including suur Ala), have been taken. Much research is done on the Geometers, who come from four planets in four distinct cosmi: Urnud, Tro, Fthos, and Laterre (Earth). The conference is infiltrated by a Laterran linguist, Jules Verne Durand. He explains that the Geometers are experiencing internal conflict, but that the ruling faction intends to attack and raid Arbre for its resources. Durand offers to assist the avout in resisting the Geometers, believing that they can bring the situation to a peaceful conclusion.

Erasmas along with many others are given the training needed to board the Geometers' ship, the Daban Urnud, and disable its weaponry. They unknowingly bring with them tiny neutron bombs, which the Sæcular Power intends to use as a bargaining chip should part of their mission fail.

The avout board the ship and the narrative of the novel splits several ways, in keeping with the book's theory of multiple parallel universes. Several avout trained in martial arts destroy the ship's main weapon, perishing in the attack. Jad, meanwhile, leads Erasmas into the command center of the "Daban Urnud", where it is revealed that the avout of one thousand years in the past used their incanting powers to summon the ship to their cosmos from another, parallel one. Later, Erasmas awakes in a hospital and is told that Jad died during their launch, despite his presence throughout the trip. It is unclear which (or how many) of these contradictory narratives is real and what may have happened in different world lines that have crossed and overlapped. However, Jad hints that the Incanters and Rhetors (avout skilled in a mysterious art of moving between parallel universes) were able to change records and memories, so that Jad may have survived in some world lines.

A funeral forms part of the signing of peace between the races, but with sæcular and avout now as equal powers. The avout inaugurate a "reconstitution", revising many of the rules restricting their work and lifestyle. The closing scene has Erasmas marrying Ala.

Philosophical and scientific content and influences

Large portions of the book are devoted to detailed discussions of mathematics, physics, and philosophy. Most of these discussions use fictional Arbran terminology, but treat ideas from actual science and philosophy. Stephenson acknowledges the work of author Julian Barbour as the source for much of this material.

A major theme of the novel is the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, which accounts for the various "worldtracks" and "narratives" explored by Fraa Orolo and manipulated by Fraa Jad. Another major theme is the recurring philosophical debate between characters espousing mathematical Platonic realism (in the novel called "Halikaarnians") and characters espousing mathematical formalism (in the novel called "Procians").

Stephenson cites the work of Roger Penrose as a major influence on the novel. Specific ideas from Penrose's work include: the idea that the human mind operates in certain fundamental ways as a quantum computer, espoused in Penrose's The Emperor's New Mind; Platonic realism as a philosophical basis for works of fiction, as in stories from Penrose's The Road to Reality; and the theory of aperiodic tilings, which appear in the Teglon puzzle in the novel. Stephenson also cites as an influence the work of Kurt Gödel, whom the character Durand mentions by name in the novel.

Much of the Geometers' technology seen in the novel is based on existing scientific concepts. The alien ship moves by means of nuclear pulse propulsion, a technique developed by ARPA.

As an appendix to the novel, Stephenson includes three "Calca", discussions among the avout of purely philosophical or mathematical content. The first is a discussion of a cake cutting procedure corresponding to the geometric problem of "doubling the square" presented in Plato's Meno. The second is a description of configuration spaces (in the novel called "Hemn spaces") as a way of representing three dimensional motion. The third is a discussion of a "complex" Platonic realism, in which several realms of Platonic ideal forms (in the novel called the "Hylaean Theoric Worlds") exist independently of the physical world (in the novel called the "Arbran Causal Domain"). The mathematical structure of a directed acyclic graph is used to describe the way in which the various realms can influence one other, and even the physical world can function as part of the realm of ideal forms for some worlds "downstream" in the graph.

Vocabulary

Anathem introduces many created terms. The following terms are used by the characters. A few are standard terms with standard definitions; a few are standard terms with non-standard definitions; most are adaptations or variations on standard terms.

Apert: A holiday celebrating the new year and held around the time of the autumnal equinox. During Apert, the gates of concents are opened for ten days and avout are allowed contact with the outside world. (From the Latin for "opening.")

ark: A church or temple.

aut: Both the performance of art and the action that the performance represents. Graduation is a real-world example of an aut. The closest real-world term would probably be "ritual."

avout: All persons that belong to the mathic world, regardless of whether they're currently in a concent. (The term is an antonym of "devout," which suggests an absence of religious or otherwise irrational devotion.)

Bazian: A member of an extramuros religious order, which is roughly equivalent to the Roman Catholic Church. There are also counter-Bazians, who are similar to Protestants.

burger: A member of the extramuros middle and upper classes. (Compare to burgher or bourgeoisie.)

calca: A formal lesson in theorics, so named because it typically occurs in a chalkhall. (Compare to calculation.)

cartabla: A navigation device similar to a GPS.

chalkhall: A classroom in a concent, oriented around a chalkboard.

concent: A walled campus (similar to a convent or monastery) housing one or more maths. Some historical background given within the story implies the term is descended from "concentration camp." (Compare to university.)

Convox: A large gathering of representatives from throughout the mathic world. Traditionally held every thousand years, or in very unusual circumstances at the request of the Sæcular Power. (Compare to convocation.)

Deolater: A religious believer.

Diax's Rake: A philosophical maxim, meaning that things are not true simply because one wishes them to be so. In Anathem the term originates from the early days of the mathic world when Saunt Diax used a rake to chase intellectual pretenders from a temple. (Compare to Jesus and the money changers.)

drummon: A large truck or lorry.

Gardan's Steelyard: Another philosophical maxim. It states that the least complicated (or lighter) idea will rise on a scale (steelyard) when weighed against more complicated (or heavier) ideas. (Compare to Occam's Razor)

Evocation or Voco: An aut performed when the Sæcular Power summons a suur or fraa from a concent. The person summoned almost never returns to their concent of origin.

extramuros: The world outside of a concent. (From the Latin for "outside the walls.") Avout call people living in the extramuros world "extras."

Feral: Avout (or former avout, in the case of those who are Thrown Back) who try to continue following the mathic Discipline while living alone in the extramuros world. See also "Peregrine."

fetch: A van, pick-up, or sport utility vehicle.

fid: A junior avout who studies under a senior.

fraa: A male avout. (From the Latin for "brother." Also, compare to fraternity.)

Ita: A member of the technician caste that lives and works inside the walls of a concent but is not truly part of the mathic world. The Ita are responsible for maintaining the concent's clock, gates, observatory, and other machinery, because such work often requires tools that are forbidden to the avout. The Ita and the avout are not allowed to mingle with one another. (Compare to IT administrator.)

jeejah: A personal communication device similar to a smartphone or PDA, forbidden by the mathic Discipline.

math: A group of avout, typically organized by how frequently they have contact with other maths and the non-mathic world: Unarian (once a year), Decenarian (every ten years), Centenarian (every hundred years), or Millenarian (every thousand years). Even different maths within the same concent are restricted in their contacts with each other. (Compare to colleges.)

mathic: Dedicated to the study of pure theorics, without technological application or outside influences.

mobe: An automobile.

phototype: A photograph.

plane: To destroy an opponent's argument through logical analysis or debate.

Peregrine: A journey through the extramuros world undertaken by a group of avout, either during Convox or for some other emergency. While traveling, the avout depend on each other to maintain the mathic Discipline and they limit their use of praxis (technology) as much as possible.

praxis: Technology (in general) forbidden by the mathic Discipline.

reticule: A network of two or more syndevs. (From the Latin for "net.")

Sæcular Power: The governing authority of the non-mathic world. The term is used generically because the avout are supposed to be unconcerned with who is in power at any specific time. Also known as The Powers That Be.

saunt: Short for "savant," applies to historic figures in the mathic world who have contributed theories judged to be of exceptional merit. (Compare to saint.)

sline: Short for "baseline," a person without education or prospects of same. Derogatory term.

speely: A film or video.

speelycaptor: A digital camera, forbidden by the mathic Discipline.

suur: A female avout. (From the Latin for "sister." Also, compare to sorority.)

suvin: An extramuros school, typically only for the children of burgers. (From the Latin for "under the vines.")

syndev: Short for "syntactic device," a computer, forbidden by the mathic Discipline.

theorics: A generic term for all areas of science, mathematics, and philosophy. Anyone can study theorics, but given how the mathic and non-mathic worlds have evolved over thousands of years, the practical reality is that only the avout do so in any depth.

Thrown Back: Expelled from the mathic world by the aut of Anathem. Such punishment is reserved for extreme violations of the mathic Discipline that could irrevocably disrupt an entire math or concent.

Vale-lore or vlor: Martial arts, as studied by the avout of the Ringing Vale concent. (Compare to kung fu.)

Warden Fendant and Warden Regulant: The secondary members of a concent's hierarchy who are responsible for administering the mathic Discipline. The Warden Fendant (most likely derived from "defend") is responsible for liaising with the Sæcular Power and the extramuros world. The Warden Regulant (most likely derived from "regulate") is responsible for enforcing the Discipline's many rules of behavior.

Characters

Erasmas: The protagonist of Anathem; a Decenarian fraa from the Concent of Saunt Edhar. The neglected son of slines, he was Collected by the concent at the age of eight.

Orolo: A Decenarian fraa from the Concent of Saunt Edhar. He is an eminent cosmographer and Erasmas's mentor at the concent, but he's later Thrown Back for using forbidden technology to observe the Geometers before their existence is officially confirmed by the Sæcular Power.

Arsibalt: A Decenarian fraa from the Concent of Saunt Edhar and one of Erasmas's friends. The estranged son of a Bazian prelate, he seeks to reconcile religion with theorics.

Lio: A Decenarian fraa from the Concent of Saunt Edhar and one of Erasmas's friends. He's known as an absent-minded eccentric and is interested in military history, Vale-lore, and unusual gardening techniques.

Jesry: A Decenarian fraa from the Concent of Saunt Edhar and one of Erasmas's friends. Unlike Erasmas, Jesry is from a prosperous burger family, and he is bored with the routine of mathic life preceding the arrival of the Geometers. He becomes famous for going into space with the Warden of Heaven, the head of the Sæcular Power, to investigate the Geometers' ship.

Ala: A Decenarian suur from the Concent of Saunt Edhar and later a major organizer of the Convox. Although they disliked each other as children, she and Erasmas become romantically involved in the course of the story.

Jad: A Millenarian fraa from the Concent of Saunt Edhar. Jad is evoked in the same aut as Erasmas and accompanies him to Bly's Butte in search of Orolo. He later reappears at the Convox.

Cord: Erasmas's half-sister and a machinesmith who lives extramuros near the Concent of Saunt Edhar. She accompanies Erasmas on his search for Orolo.

Sammann: An Ita from the Concent of Saunt Edhar who accompanies Erasmas on his search for Orolo.

Production

The novel was partly inspired by Stephenson's involvement with The Clock of the Long Now project, to which he contributed three pages of sketches and notes. A separate compact disc, entitled IOLET: Music from the World of Anathem, containing eight experimental vocal compositions by David Stutz, will be sold separately through CD Baby and the Long Now Foundation, with profits going to The Clock of the Long Now project .

To create the world of Arbre, Stephenson created an entirely new vocabulary. In order to familiarize the reader with the new words, many of which are analogous to English words and ideas, he put a glossary at the end of the book. Each chapter begins with a definition of one of these words, which usually relates to the chapter in some way. In addition, the Orth language spoken by the characters was created by Jeremy Bornstein at the author's request, and has been documented. The title of the book takes its name from anathem, a mathic ritual by which one is expelled from the mathic world. The word is a portmanteau of "anthem" and "anathema."

Reception

Anathem received mostly positive reviews. Paul Boutin wrote in The Wall Street Journal that "the lasting satisfaction of Anathem derives … from Mr. Stephenson's wry contempt for today's just-Google-it mindset. His prose is dense, but his worldview contagious." On Salon.com, Andrew Leonard described the book as "a page turner and a philosophical argument, an adventure novel and an extended existential meditation, a physics lesson, sermon and ripping good yarn."

Michael Dirda of the Washington Post disagreed, remarking that "Anathem will certainly be admired for its intelligence, ambition, control and ingenuity", but describing it as "fundamentally unoriginal", "grandiose, overwrought and pretty damn dull." The novel entered the The New York Times Best Seller list for Hardcover Fiction at number one, and achieved the rare distinction for a novel of being reviewed in Nature.

Anathem won the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 2009, and collected nominations for both the Arthur C. Clarke, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards the same year. In 2008, the novel had received a nomination for the British Science Fiction Award.

References

• "But enough about you - Neal Stephenson" - initial blog entry which broke the story
• "Plot of New Neal Stephenson Novel Revealed", io9, March 31 2008

External links

• Anathem on Stephenson's website.
• Anathem at Worlds Without End