Olga Ravn

"Is this a human problem? If so, I'd like to keep it. The crew of the Six-Thousand Ship consists of those who were born, and those who were made. Those who will die, and those who will not. When the ship takes on a number of strange objects from the planet New Discovery, the crew is perplexed to find itself becoming deeply attached to them, and human and humanoid employees alike start aching for the same things: warmth and intimacy. Loved ones who have passed. Shopping and child-rearing. Our shared, far-away Earth, which now only persists in memory. Gradually, the crew members come to see their work in a new light, and each employee is compelled to ask themselves whether they can carry on as before-- and what it means to be truly living. Structured as a series of witness statements compiled by a workplace commission, Olga Ravin's crackling prose is as chilling as it is moving, as exhilarating as it is foreboding. Wracked by all kinds of longing, The employees probes into what it means to be human, emotionally and ontologically, while simultaneously delivering an overdue critique of a life governed by work and the logic of productivity."--

A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century

The Employees

Krystal

I know without a doubt that I’m real. I may have been made, but boss i’m making myself. 

so much here about museum culture/the process of acquisition and display. 

Clark Louis

I've heard her disdainfully call this part of the ship a museum, a prison, a brothel, and a nursery.

Jemima Scott

‘You made me, you gave me language, and now I see your failings and deficiencies. I see your inadequate plans.’

‘I'm not sure I still feel pride in my humanity.’

‘Only a fool should believe that silence is consent.’

The Employees quotes

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