Hamlet
One of the dominant sources of imagery in the story is Shakespeare’s great tragedy, Hamlet. Anyone whose familiarity with the play is limited entirely to the musical version performed on an episode of Gilligan’s Island will pick up on the connection by page two with the first reference: the name of the spaceship inhabited by the two main characters: the Laertes.
“One day Max wanted to find out where the name ‘Laertes’ came from, and he used the ship’s computer to research it. He was absolutely delighted— delighted— when he discovered not only that ‘Laertes’ was taken from Hamlet, but the name of the ship’s computer, ‘Osric,’ was, too…He began learning Hamlet’s speeches whenever he had a down moment. It got to the point where I’d wake up hearing ‘To be or not to be.’”
Past and Future
It is not just Shakespeare where the imagery is constructed from a uniting of the past and the future. Throughout the book references to the state of the present day—our future—are notably connected to the past. For instance, there is a building sporting a very old-school sort of name. The imagery of its description is also a distinctive throwback:
“They fell in behind him, noticing how silently his feet moved across the plush royal blue carpet. They walked into a large, circular vestibule lined with ornate cornicing. The ceiling was painted like the sky and sloped down every twenty paces to a set of carved double doors, behind which they presumed was the Grand Central Hall…the Hall soared down in circular tiers, a futuristic round Camelot crossed with a majestic period theater. Gold stars adorned the ceiling above clusters of huge blue and white balconies, stacked on top of each other up to the roof, laid out in a vast ring, the full circumference of the room.”
Future Earth
Flashbacks reveal what lies in wait for the future of humanity on earth. It is actually a kind of Star Trek-like utopian feelgood federation of existing nation-states into an earth-encompassing society call Europia. Some of the laws are pretty insane, but the architecture can’t be beat:
“Smooth glass and steel structures erupted out of bricks and foundations from buildings long gone, their ghostlike shells preserved and structurally supported with all-new interiors. Here and there, the remains of narrow alleyways and tall, plastered walls jutted up and out, strengthened by steel girders. Inside, the ruins contained rooms formed from vast sheets of glass: a gleaming modernity Russian-dolled within fractured, ancient structures.”
Glamour Never Goes Out of Style
These two crazy star-crossed lovers floating in space just ninety minutes from death choose that particular moment to do what leads to the demise of every happy couple that ever existed: talk it over. Of course, this conceit also allows the novel to be more than just a short characterization of ninety minutes of doom. Flashback tell the story of the future and one aspect of that story is that old-fashioned Hollywood in the forties style glamour never—ever—completely goes out of fashion:
“Carys had made plans. She was playing this one old-fashioned: spoiling him with presents before a big night out, all done up in a type of glamour that harked back to an era when a woman dressed only to please a man. She didn’t care: it was a role-play for a special day…Painstakingly she painted her nails the palest blush pink, only stopping in panic to take the rollers from her hair before she became crowned with crazed ringlets. She pulled the curls into luxurious long Hollywood waves, all the while eyeing the dress hanging on her wardrobe door with apprehension. It was a brave choice.”
