SF Review; Isaac Asimov, The Caves of Steel (1954) & The Naked Sun (1957)

With the exception of the Foundation series, these two novels are probably Asimov’s most famous and acclaimed. They form a part of the ‘Robot Series,’ and feature heavy use of the ‘Three Laws of Robotics’ as a theme and backbone to the mysteries our detective hero must solve. These books are, essentially, crime novels set in a future society where humans on Earth have evolved to live in overcrowded, underground cities, uncomfortable but safely mothered by their environment; their lives only antagonised by the apparently perfect Spacers, humans who broke away centuries ago to live seemingly enlightened lives alongside robots away from Earth. The jealous enmity that Earthlings feel for their self-proclaimed superiors form the background, and most interesting part of these novels, for the crimes and the mysteries associated with them never really gripped me.

The Caves of Steel is set entirely in a future New York, entombed under the steel of the title, and it is a wonderful setting that Asimov elaborates brilliantly as we follow detective Elijah Bailey on his case; sweaty, grimy and packed with people living off yeast byproducts in tiny apartments with communal showers. Their existence is endlessly uncomfortable and selfish, but each of them loves it in a way, comforted by the walls and the busy, constant noise like babies wrapped in blankets. Bailey’s comfort in broken, however, by a shocking murder in the usually peaceful Spacer encampment; one that the Spacers insist must have been committed by a New York Earthling. Bailey is forcibly partnered with a robot, Daneel Olivaw, who cannot be told apart from a human, and with a combination of Bailey’s human instinct and Olivaw’s robotic logic they form an effective and entertaining ‘odd couple’ to solve the case. Bailey’s inherent, instinctive dislike and suspicion of Olivaw is the greatest acheivement of the novel, and the situations that result from it are extremely memorable. However, while getting to the solution of the murder is entertaining and thematically interesting; the solution itself is not particularly accomplished. It’s fairly obvious who Asimov is establishing as the culprit, even if you can’t figure out how, and the final piece of evidence is a little rediculous, but nevertheless, it’s a very good novel.

The Naked Sun sees Bailey and Olivaw reunite, but this time Bailey is forced to face his eternal fear of leaving his beloved city, and being reborn into the outdoors on a Spacer world where robots outnumber humans by thousands to one, and yet still a murder was commited, something the robotic laws should strictly forbid. The theme elaborated on here is the specifics of those laws, and again, it’s extremely entertaining and successful to watch Bailey think his way around these apparently irrefutable truths. His reaction to the naked sun is also well realised, if a little conveinient in places, and his dealings with humans who have been taught never to interract, apart from with robots, are also brilliantly conceived. Once again, however, the actual murder investigation itself is left wanting, the killer easily identified and accused as, seemingly, an after thought.

Asimov does an awful lot right with these books, but he isn’t perfect either. For starters, he is clearly very left-brained, and the way he writes humans is a little bit simplified, each character confirming to his or her role all too perfectly; Earthling humans are all as rough and antiquated as the next; Spacer humans are steralised and aloof; every individual reduced to a product of their society. Asimov treats character as a social science. Not only that, but women get a particularly short shrift, being either sexually provocative, lustful waifs, or worrying, motherly, panicy idiots. It’s an understandable shortcoming for a writer working in the early 50’s, yet still jarring for a 21st Century reader. There are other naive assumptions about the future as well; Asimov’s far-future Earth is profoundly overcrowded to bursting, but he states that it only contains 8bn people, where at last count we were already up to 6.5bn, and we’re nowhere near to moving underground. Also, a continuing use of things like glasses suggests a not particularly forward thinking future, but I suppose it was only the mid-20th century. Bless ‘em.

Overall these books are good reads and enjoyably retro sci-fi, required reading but really only for the presentation of robots and of the womb-city. The scene where Bailey is reborn into the comforting arms of steel covered New York is worth it alone. Just don’t be too dissapointed by the detective stories tacked on to get Asimov’s themes across.