NationMaster - Encyclopedia: The Player of Games

The Player of Games is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1988. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 381 Ã— 599 pixelsFull resolution (400 Ã— 629 pixel, file size: 84 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Scanned image of the 2005 Orbit Books reissue of The Player of Games. ... 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. ... For other uses, see Country (disambiguation). ... This article is about the country. ... 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 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... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... Macmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately-held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... â€œISBNâ€ redirects here. ... 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. ... 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. ... This article is about the literary concept. ... This article is about the country. ... 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. ...

Plot introduction

The second of the Culture novels. A brilliant, though decadent, game player (Gurgeh) from the Culture is entrapped and blackmailed to work as a Special Circumstances agent in the brutal Empire of Azad. Their system of society and government is entirely based on an elaborate strategy game, Azad. The Culture is a fictional anarchic, socialistic and utopian society created by the Scottish writer Iain Banks and described by him in several of his novels and shorter fictions. ... In the science fiction of Iain M. Banks, Special Circumstances (SC) is an organisation that exists within the anarcho-socialist civilisation known as the Culture (which forms the basis of several of his novels and shorter works). ... Azad is a fictional game played in the Empire of Azad in the book The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks. ...

Plot summary

Jernau Morat Gurgeh lives on Chiark Orbital, and is bored with his successful life. The Culture's Special Circumstances (SC) section suggests that he travel to participate in a games tournament in a distant and isolated alien civilization, the Empire of Azad. In the Empire, a complex game (also named Azad) is used to determine social rank and political status. At the same time, he is blackmailed by an ex-SC drone into accepting the assignment so that he can use SC's need of him as a lever to have the drone accepted back into Special Circumstances. This drone, Mawhrin-Skel, tempted Gurgeh into cheating on a game, using its records of Gurgeh's acquiescence as its weapon. Illustration of an orbital created by Giuseppe Gerbino. ... For other uses, see Blackmail (disambiguation). ...

The game itself is sufficiently subtle and complex that a player's tactics come to reflect their own political and philosophical outlook. As a Culture citizen, Gurgeh naturally plays with a style markedly different from his opponents, and gradually he finds that his (and, by extension, the Culture's) values make for an extremely successful strategy. As he plays against increasingly powerful Azad politicians, Gurgeh ultimately plays for the position of Emperor of Azad. Regardless of the game's outcome however, he can't become the Emperor because of the corruption of the Empire. Belatedly, he discovers that his participation is part of a Culture plot to overthrow the corrupt and savage Empire, and that he, the player, is in fact a pawn in a much larger game. The action climaxes in the final round of the game in which the Emperor of Azad attempts to kill Gurgeh and commit suicide symbolically to show his frustration with the hopelessness of his Empire to be able to survive the Culture's power influencing and reforming the society.

Although Gurgeh never discovers the whole truth, it is ultimately revealed to the reader that even the blackmail that forced him to accept the mission was almost certainly carried out with the knowledge and permission of some faction within Special Circumstances itself. The book therefore, like Excession, concerns a possible use or abuse of power within the Culture. Excession is a science fiction novel by Iain M. Banks and the fourth published to feature The Culture. ...

Characters

Chamlis is Gurgeh's old (drone) friend. Mawhrin-Skel is another drone that commits the blackmail. Flere-Imsaho is the young and impetuous drone who accompanies him on his long journey.

History

Literary significance & criticism

The Player of Games is considered by some the most immediately accessible of the Culture books, and therefore perhaps an easier introduction to the sequence than the earlier Consider Phlebas.

Banks was able to use the fast-paced science fiction thriller to make points about racism and sexism. The Azadians have three sexes, of which only members of the intermediate sex, the apices, stand a chance of succeeding in the game and advancing to high positions in society. The ultimate point of the book is seen as being the various levels of games being played by virtually every participant. The thriller is a broad genre of literature, film, and television. ... Racism is the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior or inferior to members of other races. ... This box: The sign of the headquarters of the National Association Opposed To Woman Suffrage Sexism is commonly considered to be discrimination and/or hatred against people based on their sex rather than their individual merits, but can also refer to any and all systemic differentiations based on the sex...

The fictional game Azad has some similarities with the fictional game Damage in Banks' earlier Culture novel, Consider Phlebas. Damage is a card game described in the science fiction novel Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks. ... Consider Phlebas is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1987. ...

Bibliography

External links

Categories: 1988 novels | Novels by Iain M. Banks | 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. ... 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. ... Look to Windward is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 2000. ... 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 16 February 1954 in Dunfermline, Fife) is a Scottish writer. ... For the record label, see Wasp Factory Recordings The Wasp Factory was the first novel by Scottish writer Iain Banks. ... Walking on Glass was the second published novel by the Scots author Iain Banks. ... The Bridge is a novel by Scottish author 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. ...