Historically, the specific subgenre of SF has mattered less to the Clarke than the ideas that writers advance within their chosen forms, and how well a given book’s form harmonizes with its content.
Green Jay and Crow is an idea-driven novel, a narrative filled with what Darko Suvin calls nova, new ideas that here burst forth almost at once, and then continually.
A Bond Undone's nested, even playful, structure is in perfect keeping with the rest of the novel’s balance between serious, deadly conflict and humorous dialogue.
Contrary to dominant post-apocalyptic literature and film, underprivileged groups are likelier to look forward, towards a future time when all they have ever known will change for the better and they can dare to look beyond basic existence and relatedness needs and push for growth. Privileged groups, however, are likelier to yearn more for a return to the old ways, to a time when they were more advantaged. Because the fall from grace will be long and hard for them, this yearning and desire will likelier be top-of-mind and come off stronger in the film and literature presenting these scenarios.
With Gilliam’s mad dream to adapt a thousand-page book about a knight-errant, his brave quest to see the story through, his drubbing by the giants and bandits of the film industry, his tilting at personal windmills, there’s only one word to describe the whole project: Kafkaesque.
