Sylvia Engdahl

This Star Shall Abide by Sylvia Engdahl

Noren was a heretic. He defied the High Law and had no faith in the Prophecy’s fulfillment. But was defiance enough, or could some way be found to make it come true?

The back cover blurb is certainly intriguing.

This Star Shall Abide was first published in 1972, and is the opening book of a trilogy. It is dystopian fiction with a major difference.

When it was first appeared on the shelves, the School Library Journal issued the following comment:
“Superior future fiction concerning the fate of an idealistic misfit, Noren, who rebels against his highly repressive society…. Although there is little overt action, the attention of mature sci-fi readers will be held by the skillful writing and excellent plot and character development.”

In a nutshell, This Star Shall Abide is the story of an intelligent teenager named Noren, who feels compelled to rebel against the repressive society in which he has grown up, and by degrees comes to declare openly that he believes the central tenet of the people’s religion (the future appearance the Mother Star) and an accompanying prophecy to be deliberately fabricated by the Scholar (or High Priest) Class to keep everyone else under their control.

In 1973, it won the Christopher Award, bestowed for “affirmation of the highest values of the human spirit.”

There are aspects of this book which some readers have objected to. An example is that the society in which Noren lives is clearly sexist, which some may feel is not in accord with modern standards for Young Adult fiction. On her website, though, the author explains that this is just a part of the repressive nature of a society which has reverted to primitive conditions after the loss of all high technology. Certain readers have also misunderstood the values held by the author, imagining that she is somehow in favor of autocratic regimes. However, concluding that anything a writer describes in his or her work must be something that they support or advocate seems exceedingly odd to me. On the contrary, the very opposite is quite often true.

Specific themes which were present in Enchantress from the Stars and The Far Side of Evil appear again in this novel. Examples are, how important should the pursuit of truth be to the individual, to what extent and in what situations do ultimate ends justify the taking of drastic and even unfair action, and whether symbolism can be considered a valid method for expressing truths indirectly. Also, the idea that expansion into space is essential to the survival of humanity is once more alluded to. (Note: In Engdahl’s books ‘humanity’ does not necessarily refer to people originating from the planet Earth, but to any humanoid species.)

After reading three of her books, I must confess that I am already thinking of Sylvia Engdahl as one my favorite authors.

Below are some quotes from book which epitomize the general tone and flavor:

“I don’t want my faith restored,” he said heatedly. “I want to know the truth. The truth is the most important thing there is, Talyra. Don’t you care about finding it?” “I already know what’s true,” she maintained vehemently.

“That’s blasphemous; I won’t listen.” “No, I don’t suppose you will. I can see how fraud has greater appeal than truth from your standpoint.”

That was the difference between himself and the others: he cared about the truth, and they did not.

We can’t be forced to do or to believe anything against our will.

...he was sorry for all of them, sorry because they truly did not understand the thing they were lacking. They could not see that there was more to life than working, eating, and making love.

“I respect it too much to believe anything merely because some book or some person tells me I should. I want to really know! Maybe you’d rather accept stories that make you feel comfortable about the way things are, but I care more for truth than for comfort.”

He would undoubtedly be hurt in the City; in the end he would be killed; but as long as he kept on caring, nothing could touch the freedom of his inner thoughts.

“It’s not enough just to learn what there isn’t; we need to know what there is. . .”

They will never change me, Noren promised himself grimly. No matter what they do or what they threaten, I will not deny the truth; I will not become like that man; I will not recant!

“Knowledge is worthless apart from truth. It’s the truth I really value, but if I recanted, I’d be lying. Truth belongs to everybody; to recant would be to accept your right to keep it from the other villagers.”

"Truth, Noren, can be quite terrible. Not everyone can face it."

“If we don’t give people symbols for the truths we cannot express openly,” he explained, “in time they’ll fall prey to superstition."

“Societies, like people, cannot be controlled without destroying their ability to grow and develop.”

“Truth is truth, and it’s more important than what people think of me.”
… (plus d'informations)