Hyperion

Coming back from my trip with my family to Sabah, Malaysia. Aside from various precious memories, what struck my mind most is the reading experience of Dan Simmons's Hyperion, the first of his four-volume space opera. To be specifically, it's the Priest's Tale in its very beginning. Though the novel is structured like Chaucer's Cantebury Tales, his Priest Tale does leave a strong impression. I would say a certain sense of sublimity is successfully created in that tale. Yet the following two tales are not so attractive and fall into a clear category of sci-fi space novel. The written signs, so to speak, simply designate things to communicate in those two tales, while in the first one the signs signify something that is beyond simple things and transport the reader's mind to a place where communication is brought to a failure. The novel, at least up to now, has demonstrated before my eyes what kind of literature is appealing to me and, to my thinking, should be coming near the greatness that can stand firmly against temporary reading consumption and instant post-reading amnesia. There's a kind of literature that will never leave you in peace, but violently make an encounter with you, an unforgettable encounter that will keep disturbing you for years, or eons of years. That's the literature i am seeking and want to write about.