Anathem

Anathem is a 2008 speculative fiction novel by Neal Stephenson. Anathem is set on the planet Arbre. Thousands of years prior to the events in the novel, society was on the verge of collapse. Intellectuals entered concents, much like monastic communities but without the religious elements. Here, the avout—a term for intellectuals, fraa for monk and suur for nun—are given limited access to tools and technology and are watched over by officials answ... more

Anathem is a 2008 speculative fiction novel by Neal Stephenson. Anathem is set on the planet Arbre. Thousands of years prior to the events in the novel, society was on the verge of collapse. Intellectuals entered concents, much like monastic communities but without the religious elements. Here, the avout—a term for intellectuals, fraa for monk and suur for nun—are given limited access to tools and technology and are watched over by officials answering to the outside world (known as the Sæcular Power). The concents are therefore slow to change, unlike the rest of Arbre, which goes through many cycles of booms and busts. The narrator and protagonist Erasmas is a fraa at the Concent of Saunt Edhar. His primary teacher, Orolo, discovers that alien beings are orbiting Arbre—a fact that the Sæcular Power is attempting to cover up. Orolo secretly observes the aliens with an illegally obtained (according to concent law) camera, and enlists Erasmas to help collect this data. Erasmas is unaware... less