''334'' is a science fiction novel by American author

Thomas M. Disch Thomas Michael Disch (February 2, 1940 – July 4, 2008) was an American science fiction author and poet. He won the Hugo Award for Best Related Book – previously called "Best Non-Fiction Book" – in 1999, and he had two other Hugo nomination ...

, written in 1972. It is a dystopian look at everyday life in New York City around the year 2025. The dust cover design for the first edition was by

Michael Hasted Michael Hasted (born 1945) is a British artist, writer and director for the theatre and photographer. Early life Michael Hasted was expelled from school at the age of 16 for spending more time backstage at his local repertory theatre, The Ever ...

Title

Most of the novel's characters live in a huge housing project at 334 East 11th Street, in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. The title also refers to the year 334 AD, during the later years of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

; numerous comparisons are made between the decline of Rome and the future of the United States.

Plot summary

The future in ''334'' has brought few technological advances except for new medical techniques and

recreational drugs Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasur ...

. There have been no dramatic disasters, but

overpopulation Overpopulation or overabundance is a phenomenon in which a species' population becomes larger than the carrying capacity of its environment. This may be caused by increased birth rates, lowered mortality rates, reduced predation or large scal ...

has made housing and other resources scarce; the response is a program of compulsory birth control and

eugenics Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior o ...

. A

welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equita ...

provides for basic needs through an all-encompassing agency called MODICUM, but there is an extreme

class division Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differently ...

between welfare recipients and professionals. The novel consists of five independent novellas (previously published separately) with a common setting but different characters, and a longer sub-novel called "334" whose many short sections trace the members of a single family forward and backward in time. The sections are as follows: * "The Death of Socrates": A high-school student finds that, due to poor scores on his

Regents Examinations In New York State, Regents Examinations are statewide standardized examinations in core high school subjects. Students are required to pass these exams to earn a Regents Diploma. To graduate, students are required to have earned appropriate credi ...

and his father's health history, he has been permanently forbidden to have children; he searches for ways to get extra credit. * "Bodies": Porters at

Bellevue Hospital Bellevue Hospital (officially NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and formerly known as Bellevue Hospital Center) is a hospital in New York City and the oldest public hospital in the United States. One of the largest hospitals in the United States ...

moonlight as body-snatchers catering to a necrophiliac brothel. Their task is complicated by the desire of some patients to be cryonically preserved for a better future. * "Everyday Life in the Later Roman Empire": A privileged government worker, trying to decide where to send her son to school, pursues a parallel existence in a

hallucinogen Hallucinogens are a large, diverse class of psychoactive drugs that can produce altered states of consciousness characterized by major alterations in thought, mood, and perception as well as other changes. Most hallucinogens can be categorize ...

-assisted role-playing game set in the year 334. * "Emancipation: A Romance of the Times to Come": A young professional man and woman face marital conflicts and parenthood, with several twists unique to the 2020s. * "Angouleme": A group of highly educated prepubescent children decides to commit a gratuitous murder in

Battery Park The Battery, formerly known as Battery Park, is a public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City facing New York Harbor. It is bounded by Battery Place on the north, State Street on the east, New York Harbor to ...

. * "334": Vignettes of the Hanson family from 2021 to 2025.

Characters

* Mrs. Hanson: An elderly widow living at 334. Mother to Lottie, Shrimp, and Boz. * Lottie Hanson: An unemployed single mother living at 334. * Shrimp Hanson: Considered genetically desirable for her unusual intelligence, therefore has a free pass from the government to have children, although she is actually motivated by a fetish for artificial insemination. * Boz Hanson: Unemployed, former resident of 334, managed to leave by marrying Milly. * Milly Holt: A professional sex demonstrator for the high schools. Was Birdie's girlfriend, now married to Boz. * Ab Holt: Manages the morgue at Bellevue Hospital. Milly's father. * Birdie Ludd: A high-school student living as a "temp" in a stairwell of 334. * Frances Schaap: A prostitute living at 334. Like many people in the 2020s, she has lupus. * Alexa Miller: A MODICUM administrator, responsible for the Hansons. * Tancred Miller: Alexa's son. * Amparo Martinez: Lottie's daughter. * Bill Harper, aka Little Mister Kissy Lips: Son of a television executive, classmate of Tancred and Amparo.

References to other works

*The killing of a hospital patient by adjusting life-support equipment is referred to as "burking", a reference to the murderers

Burke and Hare The Burke and Hare murders were a series of sixteen killings committed over a period of about ten months in 1828 in Edinburgh, Scotland. They were undertaken by William Burke and William Hare, who sold the corpses to Robert Knox for dissection ...

. *The children in "Angouleme" name their intended victim Alyona Ivanovna, after Raskolnikov's first victim in ''

Crime and Punishment ''Crime and Punishment'' ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Преступление и наказание, Prestupléniye i nakazániye, prʲɪstʊˈplʲenʲɪje ɪ nəkɐˈzanʲɪje) is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. ...

''. *Miss Kraus, the delusional sign-carrying woman who frequents Battery Park in "Angouleme", was an actual person alive at the time Disch wrote the novel.

Critical reception

''334'' was selected by

David Pringle David Pringle (born 1 March 1950) is a Scottish science fiction editor and critic. Pringle served as the editor of '' Foundation'', an academic journal, from 1980 to 1986, during which time he became one of the prime movers of the collective whi ...

as one of the 100 best science-fiction novels written since World War II. Samuel R. Delany's ''The American Shore'' (1978) is a book-length critical essay on the novella "Angouleme"; Delany argues that despite the lack of any scientific themes in "Angouleme", its speculative setting makes it inherently science fiction. The novel was nominated for a 1974 Nebula Award. Previously, the novella "334" won a

Locus Poll Award The Locus Awards are an annual set of literary awards voted on by readers of the science fiction and fantasy magazine ''Locus'', a monthly magazine based in Oakland, California. The awards are presented at an annual banquet. In addition to the pl ...

in 1973. In the 9th chapter of "Neon Genesis Evangelion" 334 is the shelter number that Kensuke and Toji are in.

Other

Shrimp watches 54 movies at home. Besides existing films, Disch lists some proposed future works including ''

Leaves of Grass ''Leaves of Grass'' is a poetry collection by American poet Walt Whitman. Though it was first published in 1855, Whitman spent most of his professional life writing and rewriting ''Leaves of Grass'', revising it multiple times until his death. T ...

'', '' Melmoth'', ''

Stanford White Stanford White (November 9, 1853 – June 25, 1906) was an American architect. He was also a partner in the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, one of the most significant Beaux-Arts firms. He designed many houses for the rich, in addition ...

'', '' The Confessions of St. Augustine'', ''

Pale Fire ''Pale Fire'' is a 1962 novel by Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is presented as a 999-line poem titled "Pale Fire", written by the fictional poet John Shade, with a foreword, lengthy commentary and index written by Shade's neighbor and academic co ...

'', ''

The Three Christs of Ypsilanti ''The Three Christs of Ypsilanti'' (1964) is a book-length psychiatric case study by Milton Rokeach, concerning his experiment on a group of three males with paranoid schizophrenia at Ypsilanti State Hospital in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The book deta ...

'', and ''The Hills of Switzerland''; the last is the title of one of Louis Sacchetti's books in '' Camp Concentration''. Several usages of future slang in early editions of the novel were "corrected" to standard spellings in the 1999 Vintage Books edition. Two of these, "mickeymouse" and "sexlife", were contractions indicating the increasingly casual usage of the phrases; another, "gorillas" for members of the

Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

, was changed to "guerrillas", but may have been an intentional pun due to the black masks worn by the soldiers. The novel is dedicated to "Jerry Mundis, who lived here."

Release details

* Original publication of novellas: ** "The Death of Socrates": as "Problems of Creativeness", in ''

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher ...

'', April 1967 ** "Bodies": in '' Quark/'' #4, 1971 ** "Everyday Life in the Later Roman Empire": in ''Bad Moon Rising'', 1973. ** "Emancipation": in ''New Dimensions'' #1, 1971 ** "Angouleme": in '' New Worlds'', 1971 ** "334": in '' New Worlds'', 1972 * 1972, UK, MacGibbon & Kee, , hardcover * 1974, US, Avon Books, paperback * 1974, UK, Sphere, paperback * 1976, US, Gregg Press, hardcover * 1981, Australia, Magnum, paperback * 1987, US, Carroll & Graf, paperback * 1999, US, Vintage Books/Random House, , trade paperback

References

External links

* {{isfdb title , id=2481 , title=334
334 annotations at Nitbar
1972 American novels 1972 science fiction novels American science fiction novels Dystopian novels Fiction set in 2025 Novels by Thomas M. Disch Novels set in Manhattan Overpopulation fiction MacGibbon & Kee books