Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
167
The Status Civilization
·
Robert Sheckley
145
"You
are
a
verbalizer,
Citizen
Honners?"
"I
am,
sir.
Though
perhaps
'author'
would
be
a
better
word,
if
you
don't
mind."
"Of
course.
Citizen
Honners,
are
you
presently
engaged
in
writing
for
any
of
the
periodicals
I
see
on
the
dissemination
stands?"
"Certainly
not!
These
are
written
by
incompetent
hacks
for
the
dubious
delectation
of
the
lower
middle
class.
The
stories,
in
case
you
didn't
know,
are
taken
line
by
line
from
the
works
of
various
popular
writers
of
the
twentieth
and
twenty-first
centuries.
The
people
who
do
the
work
merely
substitute
adjectives
and
adverbs.
Occasionally,
I'm
told,
a
more
daring
hack
will
substitute
a
verb,
or
even
a
noun.
But
that
is
rare.
The
editors
of
such
periodicals
frown
upon
sweeping
innovations."
"And
you
are
not
engaged
in
such
work?"
"Absolutely
not!
My
work
is
noncommercial.
I
am
a
Creative
Conrad
Specialist."
"Would
you
mind
telling
me
what
that
means,
Citizen
Honners?"
"I'd
be
happy
to.
My
own
particular
field
of
endeavor
lies
in
re-creating
the
works
of
Joseph
Conrad,
an
author
who
lived
in
the
pre-atomic
era."
"How
do
you
go
about
re-creating
those
works,
sir?"
"Well,
at
present
I
am
engaged
in
my
fifth
re-creation
of
Lord
Jim.
To
do
it,
I
steep
myself
as
thoroughly
as
possible
in
the
original
work.
Then
I
set
about
rewriting
it
as
Conrad
would
have
written
it
if
he
had
lived
today.
It
is
a
labor
which
calls
for
extreme
diligence,
and
for
the
utmost
in
artistic
integrity.
A
single
slip
could
mar
the
re-creation.
As
you
can
see,
it
calls
for
a
preliminary
mastery
of
Conrad's
vocabulary,
themes,
plots,
characters,
mood,
approach,
and
so
on.
All
this
goes
in,
and
yet
the
book
cannot
be
a
slavish
repeat.
It
must
have
something
new
to
say,
just
as
Conrad
would
have
said
it."
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
