When I lived in Llanelli, its bountifully-stocked public library had a lot of Oxford Edition nineteenth-century novels. I read all of them. I loved the editions for their clarity, but even more for their explanatory notes. Satirical works in particular need a lot of notation if they are to survive beyond their immediate period: how can you appreciate them properly if you don't know what it is that they're mocking?
It strikes me that Charlie Stross' novels will need copious editorial help to be understood, say, thirty years from now. Currently I'm enjoying The Fuller Memorandum. Even apart from the mildly specialist ITgeek and mathmo content, it's scattered thickly with allusions to current environments and less current literature, and post-Industrial Revolution history. I happily pick up on "Person from Porlock" and various references to H. G. Wells' opera; I've seen extracts of Blavatsky and read Wheatley novels[0], and know enough 20th-century political history to follow the passages which deal with that; I get the joke about the weaver's son running off with a spinster called Jenny, and the faux-Pepysisms. It all adds to the richness and liveliness of the work. These references will probably still be known and understood in 2050 (well, apart from Wheatley), but what about the mention of C&A (already defunct in England) or the Cult of Jobs[1]?
And now I'm wondering if the novels would benefit from notes right now. What tasty titbits might have I missed?
[0] Yes, yes, poor taste: but I was only 12 or 13 at the time!
[1] In a hilarious couple of pages about buying a new phone, including a delicate swipe at the mobile phone industry and its main customer base.
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