Track Changes Reviewed at Locus
By 
Oh, how the tables have turned. Now it is the reviewer who is reviewed! Happily, the reviews thus far for my collection Track Changes: Selected Reviews have been quite positive, and perhaps none more so than this one by Ian Mond at Locus, the long-running venue for news, interviews, and criticism on the fields of science fiction and fantasy. I mentioned this review, which appeared in the August issue, in my recent appearance on the Critical Friends podcast, and I’m glad to now be able to share it in full online.
In her introduction, Nussbaum explains that the title, Track Changes, captures the book’s intent – to not only ‘‘track changes in the world – in the fields of science fiction and fantasy, [but also] my own growth as a writer and critic.’’ To achieve this, the book is structured into five sections – ‘‘Space’’, ‘‘Systems’’, ‘‘Places’’, ‘‘Bodies’’, and ‘‘Tales’’ – with the reviews in each section placed in chronological order. I want to say that I saw significant shifts in Nussbaum’s style and concerns across the decade and a half these pieces cover. But the reality is that Nussbaum appeared on the scene fully formed. Her voice, her approach, and her interests are as evident in a review of Nova Swing by M. John Harrison, published in 2006, as it is in a piece on The Moonday Letters by Emmi Itaranta, which came out 16 years later (the review that caps off the section ‘‘Space’’). I’m sure Nussbaum can point to numerous tweaks to how she structures up an argument; she might even disagree with those earlier reviews – view them as naïve or not fully fleshed out. But that’s not how I read them. If anything, Nussbaum has always been a mature, thoughtful voice, never falling prey to the latest bit of literary clickbait – unless she can embed it into her criticism as she does with her terrific review of Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker, where she brilliantly weaves in a provocative piece by Edward Docx about Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane.
The point I’m making is that Nussbaum has always viewed genre from a political and social conscience, starting with the question: what does this work say, if anything, about the world we live in? Or, to put it another way, while Nussbaum will talk about the aesthetics of a novel, she’s far less interested in structure and voice – unless it speaks to the broader theme. When Nussbaum quotes, it’s not to pick out a gorgeous turn of phrase but to reinforce the argument she, or the work in question, is making. That focus on the political and social should, to some degree, ‘‘date’’ these reviews. But it says something about how reactionary Western polities have become that her views on marginalisation, the environment and late-stage capitalism are still as urgent and relevant as ever.
Take her piece on Interstellar, a decade-old movie that I happened to love but that Nussbaum picks apart with precision, pointing out the way it ignores the collapse of Earth’s environment for the sense of wonder of space exploration. Why fix our planet when we can find a home elsewhere? Or her touching review of Simon Jimenez’s The Vanished Birds – a novel I’ve not read, but one Nussbaum loves – where she discusses how capitalism (not so dead) shapes the universe in which it’s set. Or her enlightening review of Arrival, a film I also enjoyed, but which Nussbaum compares to the source material, Ted Chiang’s ‘‘Story of Your Life’’, and shows, again with an elegance and clarity that’s utterly compelling, how the story’s subtle, nuanced treatment of free will is lost when converted into film. All these reviews put the social and political front and centre and are all the more fascinating and intellectually satisfying because of it.
It was genuinely thrilling to see such a generous, thoughtful of both the book and my work as a critic. Track Changes is available in ebook and paperback at the Briardene Books shop and on Amazon (US, UK).