"Ralküt" by Erika Lientzen (ʁəlkʏt)

CW: child death mention

Written and, initially, self-published by Erika Lientzen, Ralküt is a novella which critiques the effect of industrialisation on the workforce. Lientzen, who had been a machinist in a munitions factory during the Mage War, distributed hand-bound copies to her coworkers, before the story was picked up for mass publication in 5.922.

Synopsis

Factory worker Anselm Ralküt is an operator in charge of a machine making an unknown item referred to as abbauki ('objects'). Working brutally long shifts, Ralküt becomes convinced that the machine he operates is speaking to him. By meeting the machine's initial requests, Ralküt is able to increase his productivity, but the machine responds by increasing its demands.
Over the course of the book, Ralküt lays waste to his home and garden bringing gifts to the machine, offering flowers, artwork, books, and music. He stays later and later, skipping breaks and working weekends in order to be able to operate the machine. He fantasises about the machine when he's with his wife, becoming disgusted by her emotional and physical needs. During a row sparked by his criticisms of her perceived imperfections, Ralküt attempts to silence his wife, with fatal consequences. Feeing no remorse but aware that prison will separate him from the factory, Ralküt feeds his wife's body to the machine. His step-son begins to question where his mother is, so Ralküt kills him and feeds his body to the machine, too.
Without his family to 'distract' him, Ralküt is able to devote himself totally to the machine. He stops eating, drinking, and sleeping in order to keep the machine fed. Finally, struggling under the machine's ever-increasing appetite, Ralküt finally breaks and feeds himself into the machine.
The story ends with one of Ralküt's coworkers finding his remains on the factory floor, revealing that Ralküt's innards are made of machine parts.

Historical Details

Background

Written in response to the author's experiences working in a munitions factory during and after the War and seeing the wartime pace of manufacture maintained into peacetime. Lientzon wanted to draw attention to the normalisation of brutal wartime working conditions and the mechanisation of industry at the expense of the workers' health and livelihoods.

Public Reaction

Ralküt tapped into a growing dissatisfaction with working conditions and, upon publication, the novel was banned in Alcesbia and Dalia, and Lientzen arrested for sedition. Her sentence was commuted to house arrest after an appeal by the Literary Freedom Committee.
Despite efforts to crack down on the book's distribution, illegal copies are still widely available and the novel has been published in four languages, though Lientzen is only infrequently credited as the author.

Legacy

The word 'ralküt' or has come to mean a person-like automaton capble of carrying out complex instructions but ultimately unable to think for itself. Workers in the 5.924-5 Ophoné railway engineers' strike refered to themselves as "ralkes" to illustrate their working conditions.

Type

Text, Literary (Novel/Poetry)

Medium

Paper

Authoring Date

5.920