Editing The Postman

{{short description|1985 novel by David Brin}}
{{about|the 1985 novel|the 1997 film|The Postman (film)|other uses|Postman (disambiguation)}}
{{More citations needed|date=November 2006}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox book <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
| name          = The Postman
| title_orig    = 
| translator    = 
| image         = ThePostman(1stEd).jpg
| caption       = Cover of first edition (hardcover)
| author        = [[David Brin]]
| cover_artist  = 
| country       = United States
| language      = English
| series        = 
| genre         =[[Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction|Post-apocalyptic]] [[dystopia]]n
| publisher     = [[Bantam Books]]
| release_date  = 1985
| media_type    = Print ([[hardcover]] and [[paperback]])
| pages         = 294
| award         = [[Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel]] (1986)
| isbn          = 0-553-05107-5
| dewey         = 813/.54 19
| congress      = PS3552.R4825 P6 1985
| oclc          = 12215763
}}
'''''The Postman''''' is a [[Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction|post-apocalyptic]] [[dystopia]]n [[science fiction]] novel by [[David Brin]]. It is about a man wandering the desolate [[Oregon]] countryside who finds a [[United States Postal Service]] uniform, which he puts on and then claims he is a mail carrier and federal inspector for the "Restored United States of America". His mail service and claims about the return of a central government gives hope to the people, who are threatened by a murderous, [[Neo-feudalism|neo-feudalist]] militia.

The first two parts were published separately as "The Postman" (1982) and "Cyclops" (1984). In 1997, [[The Postman (film)|a film adaptation]] of the novel was released starring [[Kevin Costner]] and [[Will Patton]].

==Plot==
Despite the post-apocalyptic scenario and several action sequences, the book is largely about civilization and its symbols.  Each of the three sections deals with a different symbol.

The first is the Postman himself, Gordon Krantz, who takes the uniform solely for warmth after he loses almost everything to bandits. He wanders amongst small communities performing scenes from [[William Shakespeare]] plays in return for food and shelter. Originally a drama student at the [[University of Minnesota]], he  traveled west to Oregon in the aftermath of the worldwide chaos that resulted from several [[electromagnetic pulse|EMPs]], the destruction of major cities, and the release of [[bioweapons]]. Taking shelter in a long-abandoned postal van, he finds a sack of mail and a postal uniform. He wears the uniform and takes the mail  to a nearby community to barter for food and shelter. His initial claims to be a real postman start not because of a deliberate fraud (at least initially) but because people are desperate to believe in him and his claim that he represents the "Restored United States".

Later, in the second section, he encounters a community, [[Corvallis, Oregon]], which is led by Cyclops, who is apparently a [[sentience|sentient]] [[artificial intelligence]] created at [[Oregon State University]] which survived the cataclysm. In reality, however, the machine ceased functioning due to damage from a Luddite mob, and a group of scientists maintain the pretense of its working to try to keep hope, order, and knowledge alive. The scientists also claim to use Cyclops' advice and predictions to solicit contributions of food from citizens, an approach that Gordon compares to the [[Oracle at Delphi|Delphi Oracle]].

Eventually, in the third section, as the Postman joins forces with Cyclops's scientists in a war against an influx of "hypersurvivalist militia", the Postman begins to find that the hypersurvivalists are being pressed from Oregon's [[Rogue River (Oregon)|Rogue River]] area to the south as well. The hypersurvivalists are more commonly referred to as Holnists, after their founder, Nathan Holn, an author who championed a violent, misogynistic, and militaristic society. Holn was lynched sometime before the events in the novel, but in the time following what should have been a brief period of civil disorder, Holn's followers' attacks prevented the United States from recovering from the war and the plagues that followed.

As the story comes to a climax, the Postman allies with a tough tribal group made up of descendants of ranchers, loggers and Native Americans from Southwestern Oregon's [[Umpqua Valley]] region who are led by a Native American who is a former member of an airborne regiment of the U.S. military. The Umpqua people have developed a warrior culture similar to Native Americans of the [[Old West]] and are bitter enemies of the Holnists; they have defeated the Holnists at every turn, but until the Postman's arrival they were not inclined to help the "weak" townsfolk of the [[Willamette Valley]] against the Holnists. At the end of the novel, the Postman discovers the Holnists have another organized enemy to the South, identified only by the symbol they rally behind: the [[Flag of California|Bear Flag]]. The final scenes of the novel give the impression that the groups (symbols) may come together in an effort to revive civilization.

Another message of the plot deals with the backstory of the post-apocalyptic world: specifically, that it was not the electronics-destroying [[Electromagnetic pulse|EMPs]], the destruction of major cities, or the release of various [[biological war|bio-engineered plagues]] that completely destroyed society, but rather it was the Holnists, who preyed on humanitarian workers and attacked communities during this difficult period.

==Reception==
[[David Langford|Dave Langford]] reviewed ''The Postman'' for ''[[White Dwarf (magazine)|White Dwarf]]'' #83, and stated that "The story is complicated by Krantz's intersection with another myth in the making, and then by a muddle of battle, murder and enhanced super-guerillas, all a bit of a needless distraction, but never mind. It's nicely written, sometimes moving, and ends as it should. Well worth reading."<ref name="WD83">{{cite journal  | last =Langford | first =Dave | author-link =David Langford | title =Critical Mass  | journal =[[White Dwarf (magazine)|White Dwarf]]  | issue =83  | pages =8   | publisher =[[Games Workshop]]  | date = November 1986  }}</ref>

Both of the initial parts were nominated for a [[Hugo Award for Best Novella]].<ref name="Hugo-1983">{{cite web| url = http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/1983-hugo-awards/ | title = 1983 Hugo Awards| work = The Hugo Awards| date = 26 July 2007| access-date=2020-12-31}}</ref><ref name="Hugo-1985">{{cite web| url = http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/1995-hugo-awards-2/ | title = 1985 Hugo Awards| work = The Hugo Awards| date = 26 July 2007| access-date=2020-12-31}}</ref> The completed novel won the [[John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel]] and the [[Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel]], both for 1986.<ref name="WWE-1986">{{cite web| url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1986 | title = 1986 Award Winners & Nominees| work = Worlds Without End| access-date=2009-07-17}}</ref> It was also nominated for the [[Hugo Award for Best Novel]] for 1986.<ref name="Hugo-1986">{{cite web| url = http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/1986-hugo-awards/ | title = 1986 Hugo Awards| work = The Hugo Awards| date = 26 July 2007| access-date=2020-12-31}}</ref>

Brin has suggested that he wrote ''The Postman'' as a rebuke to the celebrations of mayhem in the many derivative post-apocalyptic fictions that appeared in the wake of the popular ''[[Mad Max (franchise)|Mad Max]]'' movies.<ref>John Hay, "The American ''Mad Max'': The Road Warrior versus the Postman," ''Science Fiction Film and Television'', vol. 10, no. 3 (2017), p. 320.</ref>

==Film adaptation==
The novel was [[The Postman (film)|adapted]] as a 1997 American [[adventure film]] produced and directed by [[Kevin Costner]], who plays the lead role. It was written by [[Eric Roth]] and [[Brian Helgeland]], and also features [[Will Patton]], [[Larenz Tate]], [[Olivia Williams]], [[James Russo]], and [[Tom Petty]].

==See also==
*''[[Lucifer's Hammer]]'': After the comet strike, Harry, the senator's local mailman, becomes very important as someone recognized by different communities of survivors.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{ISFDB title|id=1375|title=The Postman}}
* [http://davidbrin.com/postmanmovie.htm The Postman: The Movie, An Impression by the Author of the Original Novel] by David Brin
* [http://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?ID=207 ''The Postman''] at Worlds Without End

{{Locus Award Best SF Novel}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Postman, The}}
[[Category:1985 American novels]]
[[Category:1985 science fiction novels]]
[[Category:American science fiction novels]]
[[Category:American post-apocalyptic novels]]
[[Category:American alternate history novels]]
[[Category:Dystopian novels]]
[[Category:Survival fiction]]
[[Category:Novels set in Oregon]]
[[Category:Novels about the United States Postal Service]]
[[Category:American novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:Science fiction novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:John W. Campbell Award for Best Science Fiction Novel–winning works]]
[[Category:Locus Award–winning works]]
[[Category:Novels by David Brin]]