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A Memory Called Empire Q7: Desire
Characters' motivations in the book are a mix of rationality and base desire.
One Lightning and Thirty Larkspur want power. Six Direction wants immortality, settling for a legacy. Nineteen Adze becomes a Platonic philosopher-king, wielding power without desiring it; but she saves Mahit for no reason beyond not wanting to watch someone else die in agony. Yskander loved and lusted, as well as using those emotions as tools. Mahit and Three Seagrass are both xenophiles, as well as flirting with each other and trying to save their homes. Mahit feels Yskander's spillover love for Six Direction and Nineteen Adze. The Sunlit have no identity, having all their personality subsumed into the City's algorithm.
Do you think it an accurate portrayal of how politics is motivated and carried out? Were there wider forces at play than just what a few people wanted?
Comments
A peripheral thought about politics, triggered by a family conversation yesterday with no reference to A Memory Called Empire at all! (And I should add in case it's not obvious that my comments have to do with UK politics, not anywhere in North America).
Basically we felt that there were two kinds of politicians who were successful, irrespective of party affiliation or otherwise. The first kind was basically good at his or her job. Initially elected on the basis of talent, and maintaining that position often despite national shifts of political fortune. Often they are what we call a good "constituency MP" ie they have an authentic interest in the wellbeing of their constituents regardless of voting habits, and a good awareness of local issues and concerns. Our specific local MP here in Cumbria is a good example - he happens to be a Liberal Democrat, but has gained credibility with a large fraction of the population regardless of personal views because he seems genuinely to work hard and do a good job.
The second kind are those who have been elected, often with a surprisingly large majority, more because of national voting habits or the transient popularity of a party leader (in our case Boris Johnson) than because of any innate ability or personal popularity. Often these people are "parachuted in" to what is considered a good opportunity for them, perhaps to challenge a seat where the former MP has returned so the playing field is more level. These MPs may well have a larger majority in a given election than type 1, but they are equally likely to lose it when national mood swings the other way. I suspect that a lot of the Conservative MPs who gained seats in traditionally Labour areas at the last round of byelections are in this category - they got in because of enthusiasm for Boris (I am not being drawn on the issue of whether he deserves this enthusiasm) and disenchantment with Labour leadership.
Going back to the original starter thoughts, I through that the Sunlit (and by extension the whole role of the city AI) was an interesting digression. It showed a technological aspect to Teixcalaani culture - which had to be there because of space flight, world-girdling cities etc, but which was out of view for much of the novel. It was, if you like, a bit like the inclusion of a small bit of the opposite colour in a yin-yang symbol. This could have been balanced by a bit more focus on the artistic/creative facets of Stationer culture, but so far as I recall we didn't get much about this except insofar as the in-crowd like Mahit really wanted to absorb Teixcalaani art.
Good insight. Is this something about technocrats vs demagogues?
Relating the ideas to the novel, how would we categorise the various people we see? Eight Antidote, and to a lesser extent Six Direction, are technocrats (even if they used tactics of populism to come to power). One Lightning is going the demagogue route, but doesn't have the military victories to back it up.
What about Thirty Larkspur? He was appointed as an heir for factional reasons, but how is he mobilising popular support among the people in the City? The novel is based around Teixcalaan's "Westminster bubble" and we don't really see how affairs in the court are perceived by the wider populace.
I thought the Sunlit were interesting because of the Teixcalaanli concern over mental alteration. Given their disdain for cognitive enhancements, the literally-faceless and controlled Sunlit seem out of place. I wonder how the general people feel about them.
As for Stationer culture, we don't see much going from Lsel to Teixcalaan beyond the imago technology. In the sequel, there's a bit of Stationer manga, but not much else.
Something else that occurred to me about politics in the books. There are factions, but the book doesn't concern itself with them. Instead, it's concerned with the people who head those factions. Most obviously there's the Western Arm faction, represented by Thirty Larkspur. But there's the military faction, represented by One Lightning, and the "general populace" represented by Six Direction. This synecdoche is something I've found useful in gaming, as it gives players someone concrete to deal with rather than a faceless "faction." It seems it was useful in this book as well!
> Something else that occurred to me about politics in the books. There are factions, but the book doesn't concern itself with them. Instead, it's concerned with the people who head those factions. Most obviously there's the Western Arm faction, represented by Thirty Larkspur. But there's the military faction, represented by One Lightning, and the "general populace" represented by Six Direction. This synecdoche is something I've found useful in gaming, as it gives players someone concrete to deal with rather than a faceless "faction." It seems it was useful in this book as well!
Yes, good point. From a storytelling point of view it means you can present the person who is the leader/figurehead, and not have to try to describe some kind of manifesto, most of which would be meaningless to us readers... "lower taxes for class 14 residents of the Tlatla sector!"... "annexe the Pocatl isthmus now!!" and so on.
Of course there were wider forces at play, but there were enough in the key players to get the gist of what was going on. It felt right to me at any rate!