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The Business (novel)
Encyclopedia
The Business is a novel
by the Scottish writer Iain Banks
, published in 1999.
The Business is a powerful (yet democratic) multinational
commercial organisation, secretive (but not too sinisterly so), and very long-lived. It predates the Roman Catholic Church
, and descends from a consortium of merchants in the Roman Empire
which it even owned for sixty-six days (it hired a man to become emperor, but he lasted less than a month before being assassinated). It is now considering taking over a country in order to gain a seat at the United Nations
.
The story follows the heroine, Kate Telman, who is 38 and lusts after Stephen Buzetski, who is married. Starting from poverty, she has risen through the Business under the tutelage of her mentor, who adopted her at an early age, and her 'uncle Freddy', the man who invented the portable milk container (named the "chilp").
She is investigating a possible case of someone stealing from the company, starting with strange happenings at a silicon chip
manufacturing plant. In Business-speak, they suspect they are being Couffabled, a term explained in chapter four. Although she discovers evidence of wrong-doing at a high level in the Business, she continues to believe in what they are doing as an organisation:
"We're not a cover for the CIA. They're the Company, not the Business."
She travels the world, at one point being summoned by a weapon-collecting higher-up in Nebraska
to talk his nephew out of writing an incendiary anti-Islam
ic screenplay
. A scene of the book takes place on a ship on its way to be broken up at a shipyard in Sonmiani Bay
. She has several telephone conversations with her therapy
-damaged friend Luce in California
, who provides a cynical, suspicious, foul-mouthed counterpoint to Kate's goodheartedness. She is given a DVD
of Stephen's wife having extramarital sex
in an attempt to influence her.
She also becomes involved in the acquisition of the small Himalayan
country of Thulahn. Small and underdeveloped, bleak and vulnerable, the football pitch doubles as the airport
, "the royal palace is heated by yak dung" and the "national sport is emigration". It resembles an exaggerated version of Bhutan
.
Under the Business's plan, Thulahn would be utterly changed, if not destroyed, and its people thrust into the modern world. Kate is given the job of negotiating with Thulahn's Crown Prince
Suvinder Dzung, who falls in love with her.
, Whit
, and Against a Dark Background
, Banks uses a female protagonist here.
Part of Kate's job is to keep up to date with current technological developments, and Banks mentions lots of contemporary gadgets. Car
s in particular (Freddy has a fine collection of vintage ones), and technology in general, are celebrated and described in detail here. References to DVD technology and flying on Concorde
combine to date this book to a very narrow period. (In this it is like Dead Air
). At one point, Telman tortures a Ferrari 355's engine to force a villain to confess, and rents an Audi A3
.
Kate's gradual falling in love with the place she is tasked to change beyond recognition is reminiscent of the 1983 film Local Hero
.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by the Scottish writer Iain Banks
Iain Banks
Iain Banks is a Scottish writer. He writes mainstream fiction under the name Iain Banks, and science fiction as Iain M. Banks, including the initial of his adopted middle name Menzies...
, published in 1999.
Plot introduction
Kate Telman is a 'level 3' executive in the Business, a vast business empire. During her sabbatical year, she comes to suspect that some of her colleagues are stealing from the organisation, and investigates.Plot summary
The book starts with a 4:37 a.m. phone call from Mike Daniels to Kathryn (Kate) Telman. He has been drugged, and about half of his teeth randomly and expertly extracted, just before an important meeting in Japan.The Business is a powerful (yet democratic) multinational
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
commercial organisation, secretive (but not too sinisterly so), and very long-lived. It predates the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, and descends from a consortium of merchants in the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
which it even owned for sixty-six days (it hired a man to become emperor, but he lasted less than a month before being assassinated). It is now considering taking over a country in order to gain a seat at the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
.
The story follows the heroine, Kate Telman, who is 38 and lusts after Stephen Buzetski, who is married. Starting from poverty, she has risen through the Business under the tutelage of her mentor, who adopted her at an early age, and her 'uncle Freddy', the man who invented the portable milk container (named the "chilp").
She is investigating a possible case of someone stealing from the company, starting with strange happenings at a silicon chip
Integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
manufacturing plant. In Business-speak, they suspect they are being Couffabled, a term explained in chapter four. Although she discovers evidence of wrong-doing at a high level in the Business, she continues to believe in what they are doing as an organisation:
"We're not a cover for the CIA. They're the Company, not the Business."
She travels the world, at one point being summoned by a weapon-collecting higher-up in Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
to talk his nephew out of writing an incendiary anti-Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
. A scene of the book takes place on a ship on its way to be broken up at a shipyard in Sonmiani Bay
Sonmiani Bay
Sonmiani Bay is located on the Arabian Sea in Lasbela District, Balochistan, Pakistan....
. She has several telephone conversations with her therapy
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
-damaged friend Luce in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, who provides a cynical, suspicious, foul-mouthed counterpoint to Kate's goodheartedness. She is given a DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
of Stephen's wife having extramarital sex
Sex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
in an attempt to influence her.
She also becomes involved in the acquisition of the small Himalayan
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
country of Thulahn. Small and underdeveloped, bleak and vulnerable, the football pitch doubles as the airport
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
, "the royal palace is heated by yak dung" and the "national sport is emigration". It resembles an exaggerated version of Bhutan
Bhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
.
Under the Business's plan, Thulahn would be utterly changed, if not destroyed, and its people thrust into the modern world. Kate is given the job of negotiating with Thulahn's Crown Prince
Crown Prince
A crown prince or crown princess is the heir or heiress apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The wife of a crown prince is also titled crown princess....
Suvinder Dzung, who falls in love with her.
Literary significance & criticism
The Business has been described as a science fiction book set in the present day. As in Canal DreamsCanal Dreams
-Introduction:Famous Japanese cellist Hisako Onoda boards a supertanker en route to her concert in Rotterdam, as she is afraid to fly. The ship is trapped in the Panama Canal as a result of an international crisis and anchors in Gatun Lake...
, Whit
Whit
Whit, or, Isis amongst the unsaved is a novel by the Scottish writer Iain Banks, published in 1995. Isis Whit, a young but important member of a small, quirky cult in Scotland, narrates...
, and Against a Dark Background
Against a Dark Background
Against a Dark Background is a science fiction novel by Scottish writer Iain M. Banks, first published in 1993.It was his first science fiction novel not to be based or set in the Culture.-Plot summary:...
, Banks uses a female protagonist here.
Part of Kate's job is to keep up to date with current technological developments, and Banks mentions lots of contemporary gadgets. Car
Čar
Čar is a village in the municipality of Bujanovac, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the town has a population of 296 people.-References:...
s in particular (Freddy has a fine collection of vintage ones), and technology in general, are celebrated and described in detail here. References to DVD technology and flying on Concorde
Concorde
Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport . It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation...
combine to date this book to a very narrow period. (In this it is like Dead Air
Dead Air
Dead Air is a novel by the Scottish writer Iain Banks, published in 2002.-Plot introduction:The book revolves around the life of Ken Nott, a radio DJ on a London station called Capital Live!-Plot summary:...
). At one point, Telman tortures a Ferrari 355's engine to force a villain to confess, and rents an Audi A3
Audi A3
The Audi A3 is a small family car produced by the German automaker Audi since 1996. Two generations of A3 exist, both based on the Volkswagen Group A platform, which they share with several other models such as the Audi TT, Volkswagen Golf, Volkswagen Caddy and Volkswagen Touran as well as SEAT...
.
Kate's gradual falling in love with the place she is tasked to change beyond recognition is reminiscent of the 1983 film Local Hero
Local Hero
Local Hero is a 1983 Scottish comedy-drama film starring Peter Riegert and Burt Lancaster. It was directed by Bill Forsyth and produced by David Puttnam....
.