Inversions (novel) - References To The Culture

References To The Culture

The initial hardback printing of the book contained the following "Note on the Text", which was omitted from subsequent paperback editions:

This Text, in two Parts, was discovered amongst the Papers of my late Grandfather. One Part concerns the Story of the Bodyguard to the then Protector of Tassasen, one UrLeyn, and is related, it is alleged, by a Person of his Court at the time, while the other, told by my Grandfather, tells the Story of the Woman Vosill, a Royal Physician during the Reign of King Quience, and who may, or may not, have been from the distant Archipelago of Drezen but who was, without Argument, from a different Culture. Like my much esteemed Grandfather, I have taken on the Task of making the Text I inherited more comprehensible and clear, and hope that I have succeeded in this Aim. Nevertheless, it is in a Spirit of the utmost Humility that I present it to the Society and to whoever might see fit to read it.

Some reviewers noted the joking reference to "Culture" in this.

DeWar's tales of Lavishia clearly parallel The Culture as it is described in Banks' other novels. He also tells of a pair of close friends who disagree about how their advanced society should manage contact with more primitive cultures:

Was it better to leave them alone or was it better to try and make life better for them? Even if you decided it was the right thing to do to make life better for them, which way did you do this? Did you say, Come and join us and be like us? Did you say, Give up all your own ways of doing things, the gods that you worship, the beliefs you hold most dear, the traditions that make you who you are? Or do you say, We have decided you should stay roughly as you are and we will treat you like children and give you toys that might make your life better?

It is evident that Vosill and DeWar are these two alien friends, now no longer in contact with each other, who have both come to the medieval planet and are independently attempting to do the "right thing" in their own differing ways, with Vosill being active and DeWar reactive.

Doctor Vosill also spoke of a dagger (a disguised Culture knife missile) she habitually carried as having been useful in "uncultured places," and the Epilogue contains this suggestive passage:

the Doctor had been invited to dine with the vessel's captain that evening, but had sent a note declining the invitation, citing an indisposition due to special circumstances.

Special Circumstances is the name given to the "black ops" division of the Culture's Contact unit.