The Primal Urge, by Brian Aldiss, **5/8

I had fun with this book, a strange dystopian England from the '60s in which Emotional Registers (ERs) that 'illuminate' sexual desires are affixed in the middle of Britishers' foreheads. On the first page, our lead character comes home with his, and the tale ensues, as he's no longer able to hide his attractions to others. All sorts of interesting questions arise from this, and I didn't find that they'd gotten at all stale in the forty years since the book was written. If anything, I have to imagine our society is more obsessed with sex than 1960s England (although maybe we're not as repressed), and so the ideas suggested about what kind of effect this would have on society are still reasonable ones to consider.

I purchased the book on the recommendation of a bookstore owner, Jamie Fraser of Jamie Fraser Books in Toronto (magnificent store!), whom I asked for suggestions of literate authors I might enjoy considering my enjoyment of Gene Wolfe's writing. Fraser also indicated his preference for shorter novels, saying "there's no reason that an author can't say what they have to say in 250 pages", or something to that effect. Being a proponent of extremely long novels and epic experiences in the past, I didn't immediately agree with him on this point, but after reading two shorter novels in the last couple of weeks (this one and Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness), I understand what he's saying. Not that I think he's right, but both of these books are focused and still explore a range of ideas very thoroughly. Primal Urge is the right length, and it explores a simple premise extremely effectively. I particularly like the formal structure, which falls into place quite easily as a result of the premise, but still has lots of surprises that occur naturally within the story. There are a couple of coincidences that make the massive city of London seem rather small, but the comedic nature of the story makes these coincidences okay for me. (My general rule for coincidences is that they're a major problem for dramas that strive for realism, but not so much of a problem for comedies, especially satires. These comedic coincidences shrink their worlds somewhat, and might not be the best of solutions, but they don't invalidate the stories for me as coincidences do in highly dramatic stories.) I'll likely read more by Aldiss sometime down the line after more research into his work.

Quotes:
pg. 50: "There was no beauty like the indulgence of the flesh..."
pg. 116: "...it was good to be reminded at intervals that the world was not man's, that he was nothing more than the temporarily dominant species on an enduring planet."
pg. 120: "Just as I don't believe in Heaven but am fully cognizant of hell, I don't believe in progress but fear stagnation."
pg. 129: "I try to care. But I don't. I'm a materialist bastard; I don't really want it, but I've swallowed the materialist bribe, swallowed it whole. New clothes, a smart woman, a car, wine ’Äì God I've fallen for the lot and I never really meant to."
(Winter 2004)

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