View source for Roderick (novel)

{{Short description|1980 science fiction novel by John Sladek}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox book | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
| name          = Roderick, or The Education of a Young Machine 
| title_orig    = 
| translator    = 
| image         = File:RoderickNovel.jpg
| caption       = First edition
| author        = [[John Sladek]]
| cover_artist  = 
| country       = United Kingdom
| language      = English
| series        = 
| genre         = [[Science fiction]]  
| publisher     = [[Granada plc|Granada]]
| release_date  = 13 November 1980
| media_type    = Print ([[Hardcover]] & [[Paperback]])
| pages         = 352   
| isbn          = 0-246-11437-1
| dewey         = 813/.54 19
| congress      = PS3569.L25 R64 1980
| oclc          = 8412449
| preceded_by   = 
| followed_by   = [[Roderick at Random]]
}}

'''''Roderick, or The Education of a Young Machine''''' is a [[1980 in literature|1980]] [[science fiction]] novel by American writer [[John Sladek]]. It was nominated for a [[Philip K. Dick Award]] and was followed in [[1983 in literature|1983]] by '''''Roderick at Random, or Further Education of a Young Machine'''''. The two books were originally intended as a single longer novel, and were finally reissued together in [[2001 in literature|2001]] as ''The Complete Roderick''. It was included in [[David Pringle]]'s book ''[[Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels]]''.

==Plot summary==
The title character is an intelligent [[robot]], the first to be invented. The opening chapters describe the creation of Roderick and show his mind (at first consisting of a bodiless computer program) developing through several stages of awareness. Finally, Roderick is given a rudimentary body and, through a series of misadventures, finds himself alone in the world. Due to his sketchy understanding of human [[Norm (sociology)|customs]], and intrigues surrounding the project that created him, he unwittingly becomes the center of various criminal schemes and other unfortunate events.

==Major themes==
Though the ''Roderick'' books are in many ways serious examinations of philosophical issues surrounding the idea of intelligent machines, their plot is (typically for Sladek) propelled by energetic [[farce]] and [[satire]]. Nearly every human institution, particularly [[academia]] and [[government]], is portrayed as grievously incompetent (the Roderick project itself is originally an elaborate [[fraud]]), and the growing [[computer]]ization of modern society causes no end of trouble for people&mdash;though Roderick is able to turn it to his advantage. A [[running gag|running joke]] throughout is that although Roderick is not particularly human-looking, people are unable to believe that he is a robot or simply fail to notice, and treat him instead as an insane man or a disabled child; but, like [[Candide]] or Prince Myshkin (from ''[[The Idiot]]''), he never complains and always seeks to please.

The story is also peppered with Sladek's usual [[pun]]s and word games, and satirical jabs at other science fiction themes, particularly [[Isaac Asimov]]'s [[Three Laws of Robotics]].

==External links==
* {{isfdb title|id=1287|title=Roderick or The Education of a Young Machine}}
* {{isfdb title|id=1288|title=Roderick at Random}} (Not to be confused with Roderick Random, a [[Middle Ages]] novel by [[Tobias Smollett]])
*[http://rodericke.com/complete-roderick Complete Roderick]
* [http://errorbar.net/nits/Roderick Annotations for ''Roderick'' and ''Roderick at Random'' at Nitbar]

[[Category:1980 British novels]]
[[Category:British science fiction novels]]
[[Category:1980 science fiction novels]]
[[Category:Fictional robots]]


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