The Luckiest Man in Denv (Discussion Article)
Back in the ‘80s when the NFL’s Raiders were playing in L.A., a fierce rivalry formed between that city and another in the Rockies. The other city of which I speak is Denver, Colorado, and the enemy was, of course, the Broncos. Season after season there was a battle for supremacy in the West.
Some things, as they say, never change. Turning our sights to SF we find a future time when L.A. and Denver have traded in one type of bomb for another. Instead of lobbing a Hail Mary they’re lobbing plutonium. It all takes place in C.M. Kornbluth’s short story “The Luckiest Man in Denv,” an intriguing tale of many interweaving threads that captures diverse hues of the human condition.
WHO’S THE MAN?
Well, of course it’s May’s man Reuben, of the eighty-third level, Atomist.
Kornbluth’s story begins with the introduction of Reuben and quickly reveals
the environment in which he lives. His home, Denv, is a towering building that
serves as a war center in the city’s ongoing battle with “the crazy city by
the ocean.” The Angelos—residents of Ellay—take turns with Denv lobbing nuclear
missiles at one another in a war who’s purpose no one remembers. It’s just always
been that way.
Reuben at first seems to be a naive, kindly young man, but by the end of the story comes to represent the duplicity of the human soul. Scheming and conniving are par for the course in Denv, a place that is reminiscent of the Soviet social structure during the days of Stalin.
In addition to Reuben we come to know several other characters: Selene, a vivacious redhead whose only goal is the acquisition of creature comforts; May, the aging general under whom Reuben serves; Rudolph, an opposing general who wishes to
Latest Articles