NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Look to Windward

Look to Windward is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 2000. It is Banks' sixth published novel to feature The Culture. Image File history File links IainMBanksLooktoWindward. ... Iain Menzies Banks (born on February 16, 1954 in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland) writes mainstream novels as Iain Banks and science fiction as Iain M. Banks. ... Motto: (Latin for No one provokes me with impunity)1 Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official language(s) English, Gaelic, Scots 2 Government Constitutional monarchy - Queen of the UK Queen Elizabeth II - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The Culture is a fictional anarchic, socialistic and utopian society created by the Scottish writer Iain M. Banks and described by him in several of his novels and shorter fictions. ... Some notable science fiction novels, in alphabetical order by title: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke 334 by Thomas M. Disch An Age by Brian Aldiss The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton The Atrocity Exhibition by J.G. Ballard... Orbit Books a British publisher which specialises in Sci-Fi and Fantasy books. ... A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) book is bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth or heavy paper) and a stitched spine. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... The Business is a 1999 novel by Iain Banks. ... Dead air is a phenomenon whereby a broadcast which normally carries audio or video unintentionally becomes silent or blank (also known as unmodulated carrier). ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative in prose. ... Motto: (Latin for No one provokes me with impunity)1 Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official language(s) English, Gaelic, Scots 2 Government Constitutional monarchy - Queen of the UK Queen Elizabeth II - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification... Iain Menzies Banks (born on February 16, 1954 in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland) writes mainstream novels as Iain Banks and science fiction as Iain M. Banks. ... The Culture is a fictional anarchic, socialistic and utopian society created by the Scottish writer Iain M. Banks and described by him in several of his novels and shorter fictions. ...

Plot introduction

After an unsuccessful intervention into its politics by the Culture, the Chelgrian civilisation collapsed into a civil war which killed 5 billion Chel. Some years later, a faction of Chelgrians plots revenge. Mahrai Ziller is a Chelgrian composer living in exile on a Culture orbital; Major Quilan, a Chelgrian veteran, is sent to the orbital, officially to persuade him to return. The Chelgrians are a fictional race in the Culture universe created by Iain M. Banks. ... A civil war is a war in which parties within the same culture, society or nationality fight for political power or control of an area. ... EXILE is a 6-member Japanese pop music band. ... Illustration of an orbital created by Giuseppe Gerbino. ... A veteran (from Latin vetus, meaning old) is a person who is experienced in a particular area, and is particularly used to refer to people in the armed forces. ...

Plot summary

Despite the passage of time, Major Quilan still suffers grief and bereavement from the death of his wife, killed during the Chelgrian civil war when both were soldiers. Offered the chance to avenge the Chel, Quilan is inducted into a plot to strike back at the Culture. To guide him on the way, the mind of a long-dead Chelgrian general is emplaced into his soulkeeper, a device normally used to protect and store its owner's personality in case of death. His memory selectively blanked until he reaches his target, Quilan is then sent to Masaq Orbital ostensibly to persuade Ziller to return to his native Chel.

On Masaq, Ziller lives in self-imposed exile, having renounced his privileged position in Chel's caste system. A feted composer, he has been commissioned to compose music to mark the Idiran-Culture War. Upon hearing of Quilan's visit, and his reason for travel, Ziller scrupulously avoids him, reluctant to return to a civilisation that repels him. A privilegeâ€”etymologically private law or law relating to a specific individualâ€”is an honour, or permissive activity granted by another person or a government. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... The Idiran-Culture War is a fictional conflict in the midst of which Iain M. Banks science fiction novel Consider Phlebas is set. ...

Meanwhile, the GSV Lasting Damage, now the Mind controlling Masaq Orbital, assists Ziller in the preparations for the performance of his composition. However, it has its own secrets stretching back to the Idiran-Culture War, and wrestles with its own demons over its role then. The GSV Lasting Damage was a fictional General Systems Vehicle belonging to fictional society The Culture. ... In Iain M. Banks Culture novels, starships, planets and orbitals have their own Minds: self-conscious, hyperintelligent machines originally built by humanoid species but which have evolved, redesigned themselves, outsmarted their creators by several orders of magnitude since then. ...

The end of the novel shows the hard and vengeful side to the Culture. A wry epilogue set tens of millions of years after the events in the novel hints at the (extreme) long-term fate of the Culture.

Literary significance & criticism

In some respects it serves as a loose sequel to the first Culture novel, Consider Phlebas : the GSV Lasting Damage fought in the Idiran-Culture War, and Ziller specially composes a work to commemorate the arrival of light from a supernova triggered during the war. Both titles are derived from a couplet in T.S. Eliot's poem, The Waste Land (which appears in this work as an epigraph): Consider Phlebas is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1987. ... The speed of light in a vacuum is an important physical constant denoted by the letter c for constant or the Latin word celeritas meaning swiftness. It is the speed of all electromagnetic radiation in a vacuum, not just visible light. ... Multiwavelength X-ray image of the remnant of Keplers Supernova, SN 1604. ... Thomas Stearns Eliot (September 26, 1888 - January 4, 1965), was a major Modernist Anglo-American poet, dramatist, and literary critic. ... T. S. Eliot (by E. O. Hoppe, 1919) The Waste Land (sometimes mistakenly written as The Wasteland) is a highly influential 433-line modernist poem by T. S. Eliot. ... In literature, an epigraph is a quotation that is placed at the start of a work or section that expresses in some succinct way an aspect or theme of what is to follow. ...

This book deals with the themes of exile, bereavement, religious justification of mass violence against humanity/sentience in war, and the mores associated with life within a technologically and energically unlimited anarchist utopia. The book also notably deals with the Sublimed and with their construction of a heaven. Sad redirects here; for the three letter acronym, see SAD. Suffering is any unwanted condition and the corresponding negative emotion. ... A war is a conflict between two or more groups that involve large numbers of individuals. ... Anarchism is a generic term describing various political philosophies and social movements that advocate the elimination of hierarchy and imposed authority. ... Left panel (The Earthly Paradise, Garden of Eden), from Hieronymus Boschs The Garden of Earthly Delights. ... The Sublimed are those alien civilisations in the science fiction works of Iain M. Banks (specifically his novels about The Culture) who have left the material universe behind to take up an immaterial existence. ... Heaven is an afterlife concept found in many religions or spiritual philosophies. ...

Many contemporary literary journals reviewed Look to Windward favourably, and critics consider the author as one of the prime motivators for the return to the mainstream of contemporary UK fiction and science fiction. The Three Graces, here in a painting by Sandro Botticelli, were the goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility in Greek mythology. ...

Bibliography

Look to Windward, Iain M. Banks, London: Orbit, 2000, ISBN 1-85723-981-4 (paperback), ISBN 1-85723-981-4 (C-format), ISBN 1-85723-969-5 (hardback)

External links

Categories: 2000 novels | Iain M. Banks books | Science fiction novels | The Culture Iain Menzies Banks (born on February 16, 1954 in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland) writes mainstream novels as Iain Banks and science fiction as Iain M. Banks. ... Consider Phlebas is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1987. ... Cover of an early edition of the book The Player of Games is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1988. ... Use of Weapons is a science fiction novel by Iain M. Banks, and the third to deal with the Culture, his fictional technological utopia. ... The State of the Art is a collection of short fiction, mainly science fiction, by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1991. ... Against a Dark Background is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1993. ... Feersum Endjinn is a science fiction novel by Iain M. Banks; unlike most of his science fiction, it does not feature the Culture. ... Excession is a science fiction novel by Iain M. Banks and the fourth published to feature The Culture. ... Cover of an early edition of the book Inversions is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1998. ... The Algebraist, a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first appeared in print in 2004. ... Iain Menzies Banks (officially Iain Banks, born on February 16, 1954 in Dunfermline, Fife) is a Scottish writer. ... The neutrality of this article is disputed. ... Walking on Glass was the second published novel by the Scots author Iain Banks. ... This article is about the novel by Iain Banks. ... Espedair Street is a rock and roll-based novel by Iain Banks. ... Canal Dreams is a novel by Scottish writer Iain Banks, published in 1989. ... The Crow Road is a novel by the Scottish writer Iain Banks, published in 1992. ... This article is about the novel by Scottish author Ian Banks. ... Whit, or, Isis amongst the unsaved is a novel by the Scottish writer Iain Banks, published in 1995. ... Cover of an early edition of the book Spoiler warning: A Song of Stone is a novel by Scottish writer Iain Banks, published in 1997. ... The Business is a 1999 novel by Iain Banks. ... Dead air is a phenomenon whereby a broadcast which normally carries audio or video unintentionally becomes silent or blank (also known as unmodulated carrier). ... Raw Spirit: In Search of the Perfect Dram is a nonfiction book by Iain Banks first published in 2003. ... The Steep Approach to Garbadale is a forthcoming novel by the Scottish writer Iain Banks, to be published in 2007. ...