''The Squares of the City'' is a
science fiction novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
by British writer
John Brunner John Brunner may refer to:
* Sir John Brunner, 1st Baronet (1842–1919), British industrialist and Liberal Member of Parliament
* John L. Brunner (1929–1980), Pennsylvania politician
* Sir John Brunner, 2nd Baronet (1865–1929), British Libera ...
, first published in 1965 (). It was nominated for the
Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1966.
It is a sociological story of urban class warfare and political intrigue, taking place in the fictional
South American capital city of Vados. It explores the idea of
subliminal messages
Subliminal stimuli (; the prefix ' literally means "below" or "less than") are any sensory stimuli below an individual's threshold for conscious perception, in contrast to stimuli (above threshold). A 2012 review of functional magnetic resonance ...
as political tools, and it is notable for having the structure of a famous 1892
chess game between
Wilhelm Steinitz and
Mikhail Chigorin. The structure is not coincidental, and plays an important part in the story.
Reception
Algis Budrys found the novel to be more artifice than fiction, saying "this is a confusing, overpopulated, almost-unidentifiable-with story set in a city which seems to have been created for the sole purpose of having Brunner set a 'human chess game' in motion upon it. . . . There is nothing in particular here to catch and hold the reader's involvement".
, however, found ''Squares'' "an impressive piece of work" with "complexities
hatadd richness rather than spread confusion." She noted, however, that the demands of the novel's "elaborate structure" weakened it by impelling Brunner to sacrifice character development in order to depict "interpersonal exchanges."
["Books", '' F&SF'', April 1966, p.35]
References
Sources
*
External links
The Steinitz-Chigorin game
Novels by John Brunner
1965 British novels
1965 science fiction novels
Novels set in South America
Novels about chess
Ballantine Books books
{{1960s-sf-novel-stub