Superb introduction. Icehenge is one of my favorite KSR books, and I've always found it to be really underrated—it doesn't seem to get mentioned in the same breath with the Mars Trilogy or Aurora, but I think it ought to be. You make a great case for it! And as a bonus you mention Wolfe's Fifth Head (which I personally suspect is not only structurally similar to, but was in fact a direct influence on, Icehenge). You make me want to reread the book. Anyway, terrific introduction, thanks for sharing it here.
PS: As for the easter egg in the title, I have a vague sense it's a snowclone of something, that is, that "X and the Yional imagination" is a famous title, but I can't remember what.
Ah yes, I'd forgotten KSR talked about that in the interview. My getting at it was the other way around, when I reread Wolfe having read KSR and thinking it must have been that way, especially with KSR's admiration for Wolfe.
And thanks for the Spufford reference. Red Plenty is one of my favorite books & I learned of it through the Crooked Timber seminar.
Superb introduction. Icehenge is one of my favorite KSR books, and I've always found it to be really underrated—it doesn't seem to get mentioned in the same breath with the Mars Trilogy or Aurora, but I think it ought to be. You make a great case for it! And as a bonus you mention Wolfe's Fifth Head (which I personally suspect is not only structurally similar to, but was in fact a direct influence on, Icehenge). You make me want to reread the book. Anyway, terrific introduction, thanks for sharing it here.
PS: As for the easter egg in the title, I have a vague sense it's a snowclone of something, that is, that "X and the Yional imagination" is a famous title, but I can't remember what.
It's a nod to Francis Spufford's "I May Be Some Time: Ice and the English Imagination." The Fifth Head was indeed an inspiration. Stan talks about this in passing here- https://www.programmablemutter.com/p/the-making-of-icehenge.
Ah yes, I'd forgotten KSR talked about that in the interview. My getting at it was the other way around, when I reread Wolfe having read KSR and thinking it must have been that way, especially with KSR's admiration for Wolfe.
And thanks for the Spufford reference. Red Plenty is one of my favorite books & I learned of it through the Crooked Timber seminar.
Stan's future economy in 2312 runs on "Spufford engines." So there is a lot of back-and-forth happening here!