Although I like the book, “The City and The City” definitely has some problems with verisimilitude that have been bothering me since I began reading it. The first is that it is supposed to be set on Earth in the current day and the second is the idea that the two languages of the cities are reasonably similar while one is supposed to be Indo-European and the other Afroasiatic.
In “The City and The City” there are two cities, which are directly on top of each other. One of which (Beszel) is supposed to be a post-soviet state, while the other (Ul Qoma) is supposed to be an Arab state. The residents of both cities do their best to “unsee” that is entirely ignore things in the other city. Not doing so results in a mystical organization known as “Breach” coming and making you disappear.
My first problem is the idea that this could ever happen on current day earth. In the book it is said that having a map without clear indication of which places are in each city is not allowed and yet a simple google search of a satellite image could easily provide one. Now there is obviously some merit to setting it on Earth in that with everything else being normal the idea of breach becomes far odder. However, in my opinion, the lost immersion is definitely not worth it.
Now my second problem is far more specific because it’s something that I personally am more interested in. This is the idea that Besz the language of Beszel and Illitan the language of Ul Qoma are reasonably closely related to each other. This is almost entirely unreasonable, though, based on the fact that Besz is supposed to be Indo-European (In terms of a map this is the languages of Europe and India as well as a path between them that goes through Russia. Think English, Hindi, and Russian.), and Illitan is supposed to be Afroasiatic (in terms of a map this is the Middle East and Northern Africa. Think Arabic, Ancient Egyptian, and Somali). This may sound reasonable, due to their geographic proximity but this is the linguistic equivalent of finding life on Mars and assuming that it’s related to life on earth because they are both alive.
Other than these few slight problems, however, I’m finding the book quite enjoyable and would definitely recommend it.
In terms of the linguistics: Because they occupy the same "place" in different dimensions, they could not have different linguistic roots? Am I understanding that right?
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like this book isn't aiming for the strict verisimilitude of realism. Is it veering more into what theater people call "Magical no-time?" Yes, it's modern, but we assume a world without computer technology. Or do they HAVE our current technology? That would be more confusing.