The blurb on the book cover for Report on Probability A should contain the following warning:
Conceptual Fiction, Story Without Plot or Action, SF New Wave Novel as Complete Head Game
For a sense of what's going on here, listen to a clip from a composition by composer Simeon ten Holt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-4bh...
Keep in mind this musical composition lasts 2 1/2 hours! I suspect some, like myself, will perceive a unique beauty in this music but some other listeners might be driven up a wall.
Same goes for Brian Aldiss and his short novel Report on Probability A. Although I count myself among the few who are captivated by the repetition of small events and the layering of observation, I can appreciate many readers, even those usually drawn to New Wave SF, find this one of a kind novel both frustrating and boring.
Turning to the work itself, we have a tale in the form of a report (more details below) separated into two basic levels:
Level One: It's an overcast January day and we're in an English suburb, on the grounds of writer Mr. Mary and his wife, Mrs. Mary. Three ex-employees - gardener G, secretary S, chauffeur C - sit in their respective outbuilding on the grounds and watch the movements (through the windows) of Mr. and Mrs. Mary along with the couple's comings and goings, a keen watching as if something terrible is about to happen.
Level Two: Two men, Domoladossa and Midlakemela, read a report called 'Probability A' about Mr. & Mrs. Mary and the three watchers. Secure in their remote location, via advanced technology, these two gents are also watching the couple and the three watchers. Meanwhile, via other advanced technology, Domoladossa and Midlakemela are being watches by a group of 'Distinguishers,' who are, in turn, being watched by men in New York, who are, in turn, being watched by watchers in a warehouse.
As you can see, lots of watchers and watching going down here. So, keeping the above framework in mind, let's immediately turn to a number of themes and questions surrounding this weird novel:
Alain Robbe-Grillet and the French New Novel
Brian Aldiss acknowledges the influence of Nouveau Roman on Report. Indeed, the British author takes his time in describing objects and happenings in precise detail. Here's a snip on G's lodgings in relation to the main house: "The wooden bungalow had been constructed facing the north-west side of the house. It did not face it squarely, but at an angle of some twenty degrees, in the direction of east-south-east." Sound familiar? So vintage Alain Robbe-Grillet Jealousy and Le Voyeur.
Uncertainty, Anyone?
Brian Aldiss also stated directly his idea for Report came from German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and its corollary that "observation alters what is observed." We believe you, Brian! So many watchers watching in your short novel. Also, to juice up the uncertainty, those groups of watchers are probably each on a different level of reality, as in parallel universes, as in many-world theory, as in the multiverse. In this way, fans of New Wave SF will be reminded of Moocock's Cornelius Quartet and PKD's Ubik.
Window on the World
At one point, Midlakemela says, "Probability A is an entirely new continuum - we can take nothing for granted. The laws of our universe may not obtain there." The question then looms: What assumptions must be dropped in one continuum for a second continuum to be seen accurately? Is such objectivity even possible? In other words, are we as humans forever trapped in a shell of subjectivity, doomed to interpret events through a specific lens, a specific perspective?
Painting Popping Up All Over
Curiously, the world of art is added to the mix - many watchers, G, S, C included, own a reproduction of The Hireling Shepherd by Pre-Raphaelite artist William Holman Hunt. Ha! We can ask: What's the difference between viewing this artwork scientifically or aesthetically? If aesthetically, is a viewer lifted to another realm of perception, one possessing greater value?
Privileged Character
One of my favorite lines in the entire novel: "As he read, Domoladossa felt a sense of privilege." What does it mean to view the world (or worlds) from a privileged position? What would be the criteria for deciding who has such privilege and who does not? Would privilege derive primarily from a more inclusive continuum? From the woman or man having specific knowledge or 'higher' consciousness?
Report
The novel begins with these words in italics: The Report begins:. Does the report consist exclusively of the events and happenings in a English suburb on that overcast January day? Or, does the report embrace all of the watchers and watching; in effect, the entire novel we are reading? Either way, are we as readers of this novel given the ultimate privileged position? Would our privilege be enhanced if we read this work aesthetically, opening ourselves to all of its literary flavors and rasa? Questions, questions, questions - such a provocative work. Thank you, Brian Aldiss.
British author Brian Aldiss, 1925-2017
"Let us call this continuum we are studying - the one containing Mr. Mary and his wife - Probability A. We know it is closely related to our continuum, which I like to think of as Certainty X. Nevertheless, even superficially, Probability A reveals certain basic values that differ widely from our own." - Brian Aldiss, Report on Probability A
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