The Country of the Kind

Infobox short story
name = The Country of the Kind
author = Damon Knight
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Science fiction
published_in = The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
publication_type = magazine
publisher =
media_type = Print (Paperback)
pub_date = February 1956

"The Country of the Kind" is a science fiction short story by Damon Knight, the founder of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. It was first published in 1955 and later collected in "The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume One, 1929-1964", an anthology of the “greatest science fiction (short) stories” prior to 1965, published in 1970.

Plot

The story is set in a future world in which violence and crime have been almost entirely eradicated. The main character is an apparent mutant who is capable of antisocial behavior and who considers himself “the king of the world.” He is allowed to do what he wishes, take what he wants and go where he pleases without reprisal, so long as he does no violence to another human being. The “humane, permissive” society in which he lives has adopted a threefold solution for someone who is, by their standards, insane. The first is excommunication - no one is to interact with him or even acknowledge his existence, other than by the apparent world-wide directive identifying him and calling for this punishment. Secondly, he is thrown into an epileptic seizure whenever he attempts to commit violence against another human. Thirdly, his body and waste give off a highly offensive odor, undetectable by him, to identify him, warn of his presence and drive others away.

The story ends with a desperate plea from the protagonist for someone, anyone to join him in his rebellion against what he perceives as a wholly passive society, which has lost any spark of creativity or will to achieve greatness, but the story implies that he has an atavistic capacity for violent action. A world in which humans have culturally and physically moved beyond violence is incapable of sympathizing with him.

The story also links violence to artistic expression. The protagonist "invents" drawing and sculpture, only later realizing, from old books, that these things had existed in the past, and notes that all great artists had lived in especially violent times.

External links

*isfdb title|id=41525