I do not recall the last time I read any sci-fi book which was not published a recently or was not considered a classic by many (like Asimov, Clarke, Verne, Wells.) I admit I never heard of James Gunn , so I could not considered his works classic earlier. But now, having read The Listeners, from 1972 I can say that this stood the test of times for several reasons.
The novel’s central plot is about trying to receive a signal or message from extraterrestrial intelligence and when it arrives react to it. The talk of gadgets, science and computer is minimal; that maybe one of the reasons it reads fresh even today. The title of the books is not The Message or ET, but The Listeners. Accordingly the book is more about humanity, about us, than about what’s beyond us. It is an introspective look of what we have been listening to and why.
When I say “we” I mean it in multiple sense. For several years I was one of millions of people who let their computers’ down cycles to be used to analyze signals from space in hope to find patterns, indicating intelligence. (Via SETI) There members could explain why they are doing it. Those justifications reminded me of the discussion in the first half of the book, where the members of the team, who actually sit and listen to the radio signals discuss their motivations and the future of the project. These discussions in the book are really deep and go around all the possible pros and cons. It was almost like reading a scientific paper, which I really enjoyed.
The author did not limit the “we” to the team members, but used countless, paragraph length quotes to share what others–throughout human history, but mostly in the preceding decades of the writing–thought of non-Earth-based intelligent life. Every second chapter consisted of almost nothing else than these quotes. Typographically they were distinguished by being italicized. Interspersed were all capital texts, which gave additional details of the plot in the form of news report segments.
First, these mixed chapters annoyed me, because stylistically they were so different than the rest of the book. Then I took it as a test. If the heroes of the book could listen to decades of noise just to find that one pattern, which may not even exist, then I can listen/read a few pages of quotes of smart people. In a why the book helped to redefine what listening can mean. In today’s society, where short attention-span is becoming the norm–where we vehemently flip tv channels, where we are upset if a webpages does not load in 3 seconds—listening, really listening to someone or something outside of ourselves is becoming a rare gift and ability. It is kind of a lost art in members of younger generations. If for nothing else, this reminder was a good reason for me to like the book.
But, I belong to a younger generation myself, with degraded knowledge compares to previous one. I was reminded of that, as the protagonist–whose original occupation was a linguist, but now is the director of The Project whose mission is to find ET life via listening to radio signals from space—uses quotes from classical literature in 5-6 languages. I could make out the meaning of the quotes in several of them, by being somewhat familiar with German and French and being able to decipher Latin and Italian if I have to. But I am not as familiar with classical literature that I could quote from it, or recognize a quote’s origin. I believe that many more people had that kind of education in the past than today, when other enjoyable distractions are so readily available.
Another reason I liked the book was its vision of the future. Starting with the outlandish idea that the president of the USA was an African-American man. I am so happy that what belonged to the realm of imagination 35 years ago, in a few weeks can become a reality. Then the book also shows an interregnum of peaceful years, where people could slow down to enjoy life and they do. This, of course, happened after all the major problems of the world (poverty, hunger, energy, war, health, crime, pollution…) were solved.
A problem which was not mentioned in the book, thus not solved is gender inequality. It was more than that; all women got an unfavorable treatment on the book. If I could change anything in this work this would be it. Otherwise I recommend it whole heartedly who wants to think through what listening means, and enjoy a tight novel about multi-generational act of meaningful listening.