The Cryptofictional Records Wing: July 2021

Friday, July 30, 2021

Liu's "The Three-Body Problem" (2006)

Serialized in 2006 and published as a book in 2008, Chinese sf writer Liu Cixin's novel The Three-Body Problem was eventually translated into English by Ken Liu and published in America in 2014. It won the Hugo award in 2015 and is currently in development as an adapted television series. Two sequels follow: The Dark Forest (2008) and Death's End (2010).

The novel contains elements of historical fiction (in particular about the Chinese Cultural Revolution), first contact narrative, mystery, espionage and fantasy (as portrayed in a cyberpunk videogame). It also touches on various scientific theories and assumptions related to astrophysics, environmentalism, nano-technology, computer architecture and higher-dimensional parallel universes. The following analysis contains spoilers.

The novel is divided into three sections.

In "Part I: Silent Spring", a young astronomer named Ye Wenjie witnesses the killing of her father during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, after which she becomes conflicted about mankind's abuse of nature. Later, she is recruited into a secret radio-astronomy project.
"Part II: Three Body" takes place in the modern day, where a rash of suicides among theoretical physicists prompts the government to recruit a nano-technology developer named Wang to infiltrate the secretive Frontiers of Science coalition (among whose members are the suicide victims). Wang is led to an online VR game named "Three Body", in which the player is confronted with an environment which alternates between "Chaotic Eras" and "Stable Eras". This situation is due to the fact that the planet is part of a triple-sun system. The Three Body Problem describes the seeming impossibility of predicting the flight path of objects interacting in a three-point gravitational system (such as a triple-sun system). It is eventually revealed that the Three Body game is a simulation of a real star system, Trisolaris (Alpha Centauri). The Trisolarans want to solve the Thre Body problem in order to predict the occurrences of recurring desert and ice ages (caused by the planet's varying proximity to one or more suns) so that they can better prepare for them. However, as no solution to the Three Body problem seems possible, they have decided to emigrate to a new planet.
"Part III: Sunset For Humanity" describes the beginning of the conflict between Earth and the Trisolarans. Many disgruntled/disillusioned scientists and intellectuals (led by Ye Wenjie) ally themselves with the Trisolarans and welcome their invasion fleet (which will arrive on Earth in 450 years). However, there is division amongst the group as to the extent of their future control (or extermination) of humanity. In the end, the Trisolarans demonstrate their contempt for humanity's chances.

A more detailed synopsis follows:

Part I: Silent Spring

1. The Madness Years: In 1967 China (during the beginning of the Cultural Revolution), Red Guard militants torture and kill intellectuals and frame science as tools of capitalism. A young woman named Ye Wenjie witnesses her physicist father being whipped to death.
2. Silent Spring: Two years later Ye Wenjie labors in the Greater Khingan Mountains. She reads Silent Spring, an English book about the effect of pesticides on the biosphere. She begins to think that mankind may need outside intervention in order to have a "moral awakening" with nature. She is soon arrested as an dangerous activist.
3. Red Coast I: Due to her background in astrophysics and her association with Yang Weining (one of her father's students), Ye is recruited into the secretive "Red Coast" project, located on Radar Peak, an area known by the locals for unexplained phenomena. There, she sees a giant radar dish lance out a beam of radiation at a mysterious target in the sky.

Subterranean Press, Marc Simonetti

Part II: Three Body

4. The Frontiers of Science: In the present day, a nano-tech developer named Wang Miao is brought to a secret military meeting where he is informed that members of a scientific think tank named the "Frontiers of Science" have been committing suicide upon some critical scientific discovery. The military commander, General Chang, convinces Wang to infiltrate the Frontiers of Science. Chang also implies that they have been waging a kind of "secret war" with them.
5. A Game of Pool: Wang visits Ding Yi, the fiance of Yang Dong, one of the suicide victims. Using a pool shot as an example, Ding demonstrates to Wang that particle acceleration experiments are producing random, unpredictable results, thus implying that the laws of physics are all false. This shocking realization had driven Yang Dong to suicide.
6. The Shooter and the Farmer: In the ensuing days, Wang begins to see a strange countdown in the corner of his eye. When he consults Shen Yufei, a member of the Frontiers of Science, she tells him to stop his nano-tech research. He does this and the countdown image disappears. He thinks of the "shooter/farmer" analogy, in which unexplained phenomena are the result of forces outside of mankind's perception. Nonetheless, Wang maintains that he is a victim of an "illusionist", and demands that Shen provide him concrete proof of the higher power she attributes these phenomena to. Shen tells Wang that in three days the universe will flicker.
7. Three Body: King Wen of Zhou and the Long Night: Wang returns home and logs in to "Three Body", a VR game website which he had seen Shen logged into at her house. In the game, he meets character avatars derived from ancient Chinese dynasties. After traveling to a gigantic pyramid ruled by King Zhou, he witnesses the world go through unpredictable heat waves and ice ages. In the end, the world freezes over and a prompt states that "Civilization Number 137 was destroyed by the extreme cold. This civilization had advanced to the Warring States Period before succumbing." As he departs the game, he sees three stars in the sky.
8. Ye Wenjie: Wang visits Yang Dong's mother, who turns out to be Ye Wenjie, now retired from a teaching career. She seems content with her life, but regrets having exposed her daughter to such deep scientific thoughts (leading to her suicide). She puts Wang in contact with some microwave radiation technicians so that Wang can confirm Shen's prediction.
9. The Universe Flickers: At the Miyun Radio Astronomy Observatory, Wang and the technician on duty are stunned to see the background microwave radiation level of the universe fluctuate. Wang notices that the wavelength fluctuations amount to Morse code values matching the continuing countdown he had seen before.
10. Da Shi: Afterwards, Wang runs into Da Shi, General Chang's brusque, ex-police enforcer. Shi states that he does not know what his superiors know, but suspects that some anti-technology agent (or agency) is creating "disturbances" (sabotage) among the scientific community in order to discourage further developments (or provoke them into suicide).
11. Three Body: Mozi and Fiery Flames: Wang reenters the Three Body VR game site and witnesses the Earth destroyed by fire from a gigantic sun. He believes that the game is hiding clues about what is happening in the real world. Afterwards, he visits Ye Wenjie, who offers to tell him about her time on the Red Coast project.
12. Red Coast II: In 1969 at the Red Coast Base, Ye Wenjie is told that the radar dish fires a beam of microwave radiation at foreign space targets in order to destroy them. However, as she rises in position, she learns that this is only a cover story.
13. Red Coast III: Declassified documents describe the true purpose of the Red Coast Base: to search for the possible existence of extraterrestrial intelligence and if found, attempt contact and exchange.
14. Red Coast IV: In the present, Ye tells Wang that their efforts at alien contact were unsuccessful, and as far as she knows, only Earth contains intelligent life. The Red Coast Base was ultimately decommissioned, after which Ye went into academia.
15. Three Body: Copernicus, Universal Football, and Tri-Solar Day: Back in the Three Body VR game, Wang finds himself in an environment modelled after the European High Middle Ages. He explains to some of the scientific leaders of that age that the unstable periods of heat and cold are apparently due to the fact that the planet is being passed around like a football in a 3-star (tri-solar) system. While in orbit around a single sun, the planet experiences a "Stable Era". When the planet is being passed between suns, a Chaotic Era occurs. The conference is destroyed in a blaze of fire (due to the appearance of all three suns in close proximity), but the game end message states the a second level has been reached.
16. The Three-Body Problem: Wang visits Da Shi's police headquarters where Wei Cheng (Shen Yufei's husband) describes how his intimate understanding of the Three Body problem (to define a formula to predict the movements of a planet in a tri-solar system) brought him into Shen's Frontiers of Science circle. One day, Wei had been ordered by some members of the Frontiers of Science to stop his Three Body problem research or he will die. However, Shen insisted that he continue. Da Shi decides to go to Shen's house to interrogate her. At Shen's house, they discover that she has been shot dead. Wei tells Da Shi that Shen had recently been arguing with her Frontiers of Science colleague, environmentalist Pan Han.
17. Three Body: Newton, Von Neumann, the First Emperor, and Tri-Solar Syzygy: When Wang next enters the Three Body VR world, he meets physicist Isaac Newton and computer theorist John von Neumann, and tells them that they should build a computer to predict the motion of the three suns. They approach Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang, who allows them to use his army to create a "human computer system". Unfortunately, just as the computer's results are about to bear fruit, the three suns line up in a syzygy, causing everything on the planet to be sucked up into the nearest sun. After exiting the game, Wang is invited to a player get together by a game administrator.
18. Meet-up: The meeting is led by Pan Han, the prime suspect in Shen's murder. He tells the seven participants that the game is a simulation of a real world named Trisolaris (although the Trisolarans do not necessarily appear human). He asks the group how they would feel if the Trisolarans came to Earth. Five members welcome the effect they would have on mankind, feeling that this would improve man's morality. The other two (who are more wary of this idea) are dismissed.
19. Three Body: Einstein, the Pendulum Monument, and the Great Rip: On his next trip to Three Body, Einstein tells Wang that Newton's computer had failed because it had not included Einsteinian mathematics in its predictions. Even worse, there is no possible solution to the Three Body problem. Wang also learns that Trisolaris has broken up into two planets due to extreme gravitational forces, and will eventually be consumed by one of the suns. Thus, the Trisolarans have decided to seek out a new home.
20. Three Body: Expedition: When Wang next enters the game, he sees the Trisolaran Interstellar Fleet launch into outer space, its mission to reach a nearby star and investigate the possibilities of emigration.

Part III: Sunset for Humanity

21. Rebels of Earth: Later, Wang attends a full gathering of the ETO (Earth-Trisolaris Organization). The Commander of the ETO is revealed to be Ye Wenjie. She has Pan Han (an Adventist) executed for killing Shen without express orders. She then tells Wang that the Red Coast Project had never ended.
22. Red Coast V: In 1971 at the Red Coast base, Ye learns that a signal to space can be amplified if bounced off the sun, thus finally making it strong enough to reach extraterrestrials. Although politically forbidden, she surreptitious makes a test transmission.
23. Red Coast VI: Nine years later, while monitoring the dish receiving monitor, Ye detects a message from Alpha Centauri. The message is from a Trisolaran pacifist who warns Ye not to make further transmissions, otherwise the Earth will be detected and invaded. Disgusted with the Cultural Revolution and what mankind in general has done to her own planet, Ye sends out a transmission inviting the Trisolarans to come to Earth and take over. The next day she learns that she is pregnant.
24. Rebellion: Back in the present, Ye explains that the ETO want Wang to halt his nano-tech research in order to prevent the development of space elevators, which would allow mankind to build space defenses. At that moment, Da Shi's police forces attack the building, and after a brief standoff involving a nuclear bomb, the members of the ETO are all arrested.
25. The Deaths of Lei Zhicheng and Yang Weining: During an interrogation, Ye recounts how her superior Lei Zhicheng had found out about the response from the pacifistic Trisolaran (but had not yet known that she had replied). He tells her not to reply. The next day, she arranges for Lei's death in an accident. Unfortunately, she is forced to kill her husband Yang Weinig in the same incident.
26. No One Repents: As the Cultural Revolution winds down, Ye returns to the city and begins to think twice about her "betrayal of mankind". However, when she confronts the Red Guards who had killed her father, they do not repent. Ye's feelings about humanity's need for an outside invasion harden.
27. Evans: One day while helping a team search for a spot to build a radio astronomy observatory, Ye meets Mike Evans, a wealthy idealist who wants to save the endangered species of Earth. Later, when Evans expresses despondency over mankind's continued penchant for environmental destruction, Ye tells him about the Trisolarans and they form a partnership.
28. The Second Red Coast Base: Three years later, a secret helicopter brings Ye to a ship named Judgement Day. She learns that Evans has built this ship to be a second Red Coast. Evans informs her that the Trisolarans will arrive in 450 years, and makes her the Commander-in-Chief of the Earth-Trisolaris Movement.
29. The Earth-Trisolaris Movement: In the ensuing years, the ETO grows to large numbers, made up mostly of intellectuals. The Three Body game is developed as a recruitment tool for the lower classes. During this time, the world powers begin waging a "secret war" against the ETO. Also, three factions arise in the ETO: The Adventists (who simply want humanity destroyed), the Redemptionists (who want to save the Trisolarans by solving the Three Body problem), and the Survivors (who hope to capitulate to the Trisolarans and thus survive the invasion).
30. Two Protons: Ye tells her interrogator that the Adventists have messages from the Trisolarans from 4 years ago, after which all transmissions then stopped. As a Redemptionist, Ye would like to destroy the Adventists' HQ (Judgement Day), but cannot risk losing the final Trisolaran messages. She also states that the Trisolarans had successfully accelerated 2 protons to the speed of light so that they could hit the Earth. She hints that this act somehow puts a "lock" on the development of technology on Earth.
31. Operation Guzheng: The world's military gathers in order to formulate a plan to retrieve the data from Last Judgement before it can be erased by defeated Adventists. Using a plan devised by Da Shi, a web of nano-filament is stretched across the Panama Canal. When the Last Judgement passes through it, it is sliced to pieces, killing everyone on board but preserving the data.
32. Trisolaris: The Listener: 1975: On Trisolaris, a "listener" (one of thousands) receives Ye's Red Coast test transmission. Fearing that a Trisolaran emigration will result in mankind's extinction, he sends back a warning. When the Trisolaran Princeps (king) learns of these events, he exiles the listener and then has his fleet launch immediately, even though they do not have a precise fix on the message's point of origin.
33. Trisolaris: Sophon: Nine years later, the Trisolarans receive Ye's invitation answer. They then decide that for their invasion to be successful they must halt mankind's technological development, and the best way to do that is to have Earth agents emphasize the negative environmental effects of scientific development. Trisolaris must also convince humanity that studying physics is a futile waste of time. In order to accomplish this, the Trisolarans develop AI supercomputers which can be contained in protons (encased in higher dimensional space). Two of these super-computer protons - Sophons - are sent to Earth where they enter partical accelerators to create unaccountable test results (initiating the wave of physicist suicides). They can also create retinal images (causing Wang's "countdown" to appear). They can also blanket the Earth and vary their permeability in order to create "flickering" in the background microwave field. Finally, due to quantum entanglement, they can communicate with paired Sophons on Trisolaris in realtime in order to coordinate communications with the ETO. When General Chang tells the general assembly that they are now aware of the Sophons and the Trisolarans' plans, everyone suddenly receives a retinal image message stating "You're bugs!".
34. Bugs: Wang and Ding Yi fall into despondency, but Da Shi points out that even after thousands of years mankind has been unable to eliminate the problem of bugs on Earth. They cheer up.
35. The Ruins: Ye visits the desolate ruins of Red Coast and sees her last sunset, comparing it to the last sunset of humanity.

The Dark Forest

Sunday, July 25, 2021

Hodgson's "The House On the Borderland" (1908)

Arkham House 1946, Art: Hannes Bok

William Hope Hodgson's 1908 novel The House on the Borderland is one of the earliest examples of "cosmic horror" ever published. H.P. Lovecraft describes Hodgson and The House on the Borderland in his essay "Supernatural Horror In Literature" (1927, 1933 - 1935) below:

"Few can equal him in adumbrating the nearness of nameless forces and monstrous besieging entities through casual hints and insignificant details, or in conveying feelings of the spectral and the abnormal in connection with regions or buildings... The House on the Borderland (is) perhaps the greatest of all Mr. Hodgson's works -- it tells of a lonely and evilly regarded house in Ireland which forms a focus for hideous otherworld forces and sustains a siege by blasphemous hybrid anomalies from a hidden abyss below. The wanderings of the Narrator's spirit through limitless light-years of cosmic space and Kalpas of eternity, and its witnessing of the solar system's final destruction, constitute something almost unique in standard literature. And everywhere there is manifest the author's power to suggest vague, ambushed horrors in natural scenery. But for a few touches of commonplace sentimentality this book would be a classic of the first water."

Panther Books 1972, Art: Ian Miller

As is common in many fantasy/supernatural works of this period and the late 19th century, the main story is presented as "found footage" to the reader (using diary entries instead of the modern equivalent of video footage). The main "manuscript" comes across as three main sections:

Chapters 1-13: The narrator defends his house from an invasion of "swine-things" which emerge from underground.
Chapters 14-23: The narrator experiences the acceleration of time, and eventually has an "out of body experience" where he travels to the core of the galaxy and sees the solar system's destruction.
Chapters 24-27: An invisible (and seemingly radioactive) monster attacks, and the narrator's body and mind are slowly taken over by its "corruption".

Holden & Hardingham 1921, Art: W. Otway Cannell

One of the fascinating devices Hodgson employs here is the "damaged transcription" concept, in which part of the story is missing due to missing pages or illegibility of the handwriting (Chapter 14). Even by the end of this book these missing blanks are never filled, thereby giving the entire affair a greater sense of "authenticity". However, tantalizing hints are later mentioned in order to keep the reader's imagination going.

Many of these ideas would reverberate in the works of "weird fiction" writers to come, and its influence can be conceivably be detected even in modern sf/fantasy works such as Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and David Lynch's Twin Peaks (in particular the "cosmic" sequences in Twin Peaks: The Return).

Néo 1988, Jean-Michel Nicollet / Grafton 1990, Louis Rey

A detailed synopsis follows:

Foreword & Introduction and to the Manuscript: The Foreword notes that the manuscript was found in 1877 in some ruins located in western Ireland. Hodgson then puts down some of his feelings about the author's report and the "reality" of the manuscript he relates. He also suspects that the "celestial globes" described in Chapter 20 may lend credence to his theory that "thoughts and emotions" can manifest in physical phenomena.

Chapman & Hall 1908
The Finding of the Manuscript: While on a fishing trip in the Irish countryside with his friend Tonnison, the author (a man named Berreggnog) follows a river which leads to a giant pit. Hanging above the pit (suspended on a jutting rock structure) are the ruins of a house (its remaining walls). While digging around, they discover a manuscript buried in some debris. However, they also begin to hear some faint wailing. Frightened, they quickly return to their fishing camp, after which they begin reading the manuscript (which follows).
The Plain of Silence: The narrator (referred to by Hodgson as "the Recluse") and his sister move into a strange, circular-walled house, purchased at a low price due to its bad reputation (as being "built by the devil"). Several years pass with nothing remarkable happening, but one night a reddish glow fills his room and the narrator finds himself being carried out into space. Eventually, he arrives on a planet lit by a black-red sun and dominated by a great red plain. He floats across this landscape towards a chain of mountains.
The House in the Arena: After passing through a chasm, the narrator emerges into a vast arena. In the center is an enlarged, jade-green duplicate of his own house. Surrounding the arena are gigantic living statues of beast-like figures out of mythology and nightmare. A pig-headed creature is seen attacking the house, but the creature soon begins chasing after the narrator - fortunately the visitor is somehow borne back out into space, and the red plain fades away.
The Earth: The narrator is borne back towards Earth and after a brief moment of unconsciousness wakes up in his study. When he looks at the time he realizes that a day and a half has passed.
Swan River 2018, Art: John Coulthart
The Thing in the Pit: A few days later, he and his dog Pepper hear a strange sound in the great pit near his house. When they descend into the pit to investigate, a mysterious swine-like creature injures his dog and then escapes. That night, the narrator spots the swine-creature from his earlier "vision" outside his window. He goes outside and hunts around for it with his rifle, but it is nowhere to be found.
The Swine-Things: The next day a small explosion of some sort occurs in the pit, after which a few of the swine-things emerge. The narrator flees back to his house and secures all of the locks. A few of the swine-creatures try to get in, but they fail to break down the locked door. They then wait for reinforcements to arrive from the pit.
The Attack: That night, the Things begin another attack. While perched in one of his wall towers the narrator kills a few with his shotgun. When a few manage to break through the barred windows he shoots them as well. A couple others are killed when the narrator pushes one off his drainpipe and crushes another with the collapse of a porch roof. Eventually the Things cease their attack.
After The Attack: The next day, the narrator futilely tries to comfort his traumatized sister and searches for any signs of the Things outside. Although he hears nothing, he decides it may be a trap and stays indoors.
In The Cellars: While surveying the cellar, the narrator discovers a trap door with an iron rung. With great difficulty he manages to open the door and sees a bottomless well. When he seems to hear some faint cackling from below he reseals the trap door and weighs it down with some rocks.
The Time Of Waiting: For the next six days, the narrator stays inside his house, caring for his sister and his dog Pepper.
Flame Tree 2021 / Gollancz 2002
The Searching Of The Gardens: Eventually deciding to go outside, the narrator confirms that the Swine-things have departed his garden area. When he visits the pit from which they came from, he notices that a cave has appeared at the apex of a new chasm. Wary of this mysterious hole in the ground, the narrator returns home.
The Subterranean Pit: Despite his fears, the narrator is unable to resist investigating the cave. The cave reveals a passageway which ends in another pit (which happens to lie directly below the narrator's house). When a torrential rain causes the outer chasm to begin flooding, a wave of water flows into the passageway. The narrator barely makes it out of the cave with his life.
The Trap In The Great Cellar: A little while later, the narrator discovers that the pit has been filled with water (it is now more like a lake), and assumes that the danger of more Swine-things appearing has gone. Later, he decides to open the trap door in his cellar again and, to his dismay, realizes that it leads directly to the pit underneath his house (which is now a drain for the lake waters). Nonetheless, the narrator is unwilling to abandon his house for some reason.
The Sea of Sleep: One day, the narrator finds himself somehow transported to a shore bordering a silent sea with black cliffs in the background. A vision of a woman appears above the waters. The woman enraptures the narrator, but an invisible barrier prevents his approach. Suddenly, he finds himself approaching the Solar System from interstellar space, and can somehow see the planets revolving around the sun in "sped-up" time (this section of the manuscript and its following pages are partially damaged beyond legibility).
The Noise In the Night: The manuscript picks up several months later. One night, the narrator hears a whirring noise in the sky. Afterwards time speeds up, with hours flying by in seconds, then days in minutes, then years in seconds. During this experience Pepper turns to dust (from age) and the narrator himself feels himself growing feeble. Eventually he loses consciousness.
Ace 1962, Art: Ed Emshwiller
The Awakening: The narrator awakes and discovers that time's passage has only increased. Not only that but he can see his own moldering corpse lying in the dust. Outside, he sees the sun's color grow dull and realizes that he is now a million years into the future.
The Slowing Rotation: The area around his house soon becomes surrounded by a plain of snow, and the sun grows increasingly dark. The narrator then detects a decrease in the speed of the rotation of the Earth around its pole, and eventually the darkened sun hangs still in the sky.
The Green Star: The sun soon burns out and the world is covered in darkness. However, in time the Solar System begins to approach a massive green star, whose eerie light illuminates both the flat plains of Earth as well as the dead surface of the sun.
The End of the Solar System: At one point the now-dead sun obscures the green star and the Earth is covered in darkness once again. The narrator then hears the Swine-things coming from somewhere in the ruins of his house and he flees across the plain. From a distance, he sees his old house swarmed by the Swine-things. Next, a gigantic flame bursts out of its center, and the entire structure soon falls into the pit underneath. The narrator then floats into the sky as the Earth falls into the dead sun. Eventually the dead sun in turn falls into the green star. The narrator wonders if the green star is actually the central core of the universe, into which all dead stars eventually fall.
The Celestial Globes: A river of infinite "celestial globes" appears, with each seeming to have the shadow of a face inside. The narrator floats into one of these globes and then suddenly finds himself back at the Sea of Sleep. Although wary of the "Formless Thing" on the shore (apparently described earlier in one of the "indecipherable" parts of the manuscript), he reunites with the woman who had enraptured him before.
The Dark Sun: In short order, he is whisked away from the Sea of Sleep and again faces the green star. He theorizes that the glowing orb illuminating the Sea of Sleep is actually the green star as seen from another dimension. He then notices that sparkles of light are shooting out from the central core and wonders if these might be messengers of "the Eternal". Another dark, gigantic object begins to eclipse the green star, and he realizes that the green star and another black star make up a binary star system ("two Central Suns").
Necropolis Press 2011 Monica Veraguth
The Dark Nebula: A black nebula floats in between the narrator and the Central Suns, filled with red celestial globes. Each of the globes contains a sad, blind face. The narrator finds himself floating into one of these globes and is then suddenly transported to the plain he had seen in his first "excursion", where a ring of mountains comprised of monstrous gods forms an arena around a giant green duplicate of his old house. He eventually floats into the house.
Pepper: The narrator suddenly finds himself waking up in his study, with the morning sun rising outside the window. He looks for Pepper, but only finds a pile of dust (the ancient remains of the dog).
The Footsteps In the Garden: Weeks pass and the narrator adopts a new dog (although he misses Pepper). One night he and the new dog are spooked by an invisible entity which has entered the house from the garden. After a glowing hand reaches out and sets his sister's cat aflame, the entity then departs.
The Thing From the Arena: The next day the narrator's dog is still alive, but has some kind of hand-shaped burn mark on his body. The dog licks his hand but will not eat. In the evening, the narrator sees a swine-face peering through the window, this one adorned with a green flame above its head. Seemingly mesmerized, the narrator begins to unlatch the bolts securing his front door. After a great mental struggle, he passes out, but the door remains locked. In preparation for the next evening, he drives nails into his door to prevent its unlocking.
The Luminous Speck: That night he notices a glowing patch on his hand where his dog had licked him. In the ensuing days, the area around the hand becomes infected with some kind of bizarre growth ("corruption") which eventually consumes the entire right side of his body. He considers taking his own life. That night, he hears the trap door in the cellar open by itself. After noting the sound of approaching footsteps the manuscript breaks off in mid-sentence.

Panther 1969, Alan Aldridge / Freeway Press, 1974
Conclusion: The author (Berreggnog) and his friend Tonnison wonder if there is any truth to the manuscript. The next day they make inquiries in the nearby village and confirm that an elderly man and woman had once lived in a great house in the forest many generations past, but the house had one day simply disappeared, leaving the great chasm and its remaining ruins.

"Grief": A poem stuck inside the manuscript's flyleaf expresses the author's grief at being separated by his loved one (apparently the woman of the "Sea of Sleep").

Wiki Entry
Online at Project Gutenberg
2007 BBC Radio Adaptation
Board Game
"Supernatural Horror in Literature" By H. P. Lovecraft
Music by Jon Muller for Swan River 2018 edition

Sunday, July 18, 2021

Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1896)

Robert Louis Stevenson's short 1896 novel (novella) The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde introduced a unique Victorian-style take on the good and evil "dual-identity" concept. This story would be revisited again and again in many forms of media, with the best of the film adaptations probably being the 1931 Rouben Mamoulian production featuring Fredric March in the title role(s).

Interestingly, Stevenson's original novel differs from the film versions in that it is actually structured as a collection of three distinct "testimonials". The first comes from Jekyll's lawyer, Mr. Utterson, who describes some mysterious "incidents" occurring in London. These brief episodes center around his friend Doctor Jekyll and a stranger named Hyde, who is apparently blackmailing Jekyll. The second testimonial comes from Jekyll's old laboratory partner, Lanyon, and describes an evening in which Lanyon is accosted by Mr. Hyde and soon witnesses a physical transformation which defies belief.

Finally, Jekyll's own testimony describes the true narrative underlying the entire sequence of events, and fills in the blanks left open by the two earlier reports. This three-stage "unveiling" is a fascinating way to present the Jekyll and Hyde "case". Unfortunately, because the reputation of the book pretty much always precedes the experience of reading the actual novel, the total effect is blunted. Nonetheless, it's a rich work and well worth reading.

Synopsis

Story of the Door: While passing by a dark cellar door on a London street, a man named Enfield tells his friend Utterson about an earlier incident in which a smallish, strangely repulsive ("troglodytic") man named Hyde had trampled over a little girl near the door's entrance. Threatened by witnesses, Hyde had then written a check to the girl's parents in order to appease their anger. The check however, bears the signature of a well-respected man, Dr. Henry Jekyll. As Jekyll's lawyer, Utterson recognizes the door as the back entrance to Jekyll's laboratory and believes that Hyde must have forced Jekyll to sign the check under duress.
Search For Mr. Hyde: As Jekyll's lawyer, Utterson also knows that Jekyll's will names Hyde as the financial benefactor upon Jekyll's death (or disappearance). He also learns that Jekyll's old scientific colleague Lanyon considers Jekyll to be out of control. Curious about Hyde's appearance, he waits by Jekyll's laboratory cellar door and finally meets the evasive man. Coming away with a troubled impression and suspecting Hyde of blackmailing Jekyll for favors, he resolves to help his doctor friend defeat his oppressor in some way.
Dr. Jekyll Was Quite At Ease: Utterson visits Jekyll and tries to get to the bottom of Hyde's hold over his doctor friend. Jekyll reassures Utterson that he can handle Hyde and makes the lawyer promise that he will execute the contents of his will to the letter.
The Carew Murder Case: One day, a maid witnesses Hyde murder an elderly gentleman named Carew, who had in his pocket a letter addressed to Utterson. When Utterson hears the news, he leads the police to Hyde's apartment. The room appears to be recently ransacked, and no signs of Hyde himself can be found.
Incident of the Letter: When Utterson visits Jekyll, the doctor reassures him that he will have nothing more to do with Hyde, and also hands Utterson a letter written by Hyde absolving Jekyll of any crimes by association. Utterson brings this letter to his friend Mr. Guest in order to get some advice on the matter. During this visit a dinner invitation arrives from Jekyll, and Guest notices that the handwriting on Hyde's note matches that of Jekyll's letter. Utterson becomes alarmed when he realizes that Jekyll has forged the Hyde note.
Incident of Dr. Lanyon: A couple months pass during which Jekyll exhibits a much more positive attitude, and even renews his friendship with Lanyon. However, one day Utterson finds that Jekyll has gone into seclusion and that Lanyon has broken off with Jekyll once again. Already ill, Lanyon soon dies, but leaves a mysterious letter with Utterson, to be read only upon Jekyll's death or disappearance.
Incident At the Window: One day, Utterson and Enfield spot Jekyll sitting at his upper floor window. At first glad to see his friends, Jekyll suddenly falls into a terror and slams down the window.
The Last Night: One night, Jekyll's butler summons Utterson to the house in a panic. He tells Utterson that the voice coming from Jekyll's laboratory is not Jekyll's own, and he suspects foul play. When they hear the voice of Hyde behind the door, they decide to break down the door. However, before they break through, Hyde consumes some kind of fatal chemical mixture and dies. In the lab, the men discover a letter from Jekyll, asking Utterson to first read Lanyon's final letter, and then to read Jekyll's own testimonial (attached).
Dr. Lanyon's Narrative: In Lanyon's letter, he describes one day receiving a note from Jekyll, begging him to retrieve some potions from Jekyll's lab and then to return home - Lanyon complies. Later that night, he is visited by a stranger (Hyde). Hyde takes the potion obtained by Lanyon and transforms into Jekyll (to Lanyon's horror). Jekyll swears Lanyon to secrecy.
Henry Jekyll's Full Statement of the Case:

In Jekyll's last testimonial, he describes having always lived with a "dark side" to his personality, although this side only surfaces from time to time in the form of "undignified behaviors". He eventually develops a formula by which he believes he can separate the two sides and "dethrone" one of them. After he drinks the solution, he physically and mentally transforms into a small, repugnant version of himself, exhibiting all of his darker nature and none of the good. Using a second formula, he is able to return to his normal state.
In the ensuing weeks, Jekyll uses the formula to engage in sordid nightly outings as "Edward Hyde", leaving Jekyll safe from prosecution in the morning. However, one night he goes to bed as Jekyll, but wakes as Hyde. Jekyll is horrified to realize that this "unprovoked" transformation can only mean that Jekyll is becoming more dominant within his psyche.
For the next two months, Jekyll refrains from the Hyde formula, but one night succumbs to temptation. Having been bottled up for so long, Hyde emerges with gusto, and ends up murdering of Carew. After destroying Hyde's apartment, Jekyll resolves to never again become Hyde.
A few weeks later Jekyll spontaneously transforms into Hyde in broad daylight. Fearing arrest for the murder of Carew, Hyde surreptitiously has Lanyon retrieve his potions so that he can return to his Jekyll form.
In the following days Jekyll hides in his lab, constantly fighting back transformations into Hyde. When Hyde does manage to emerge, he remains in the lab for fear of being discovered and arrested. Eventually, Jekyll runs out of chemicals for his reversal solution and realizes that he will soon become Hyde forever. In his last hour as "himself", he writes out his testimony to Utterson. He also believes that Hyde will take his own life before allowing himself to be captured (and executed for the murder of Carew).

An online version can be read here.

Fables (1901)

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was also published in 1901 with a collection of shorts previously appearing in the book Fables:

“The Persons of the Tale”
“The Devil and the Innkeeper”
“The Penitent”
“The Yellow Paint”
“The House of Eld”
“The Four Reformers”
“The Man and His Friend”
“The Reader”
“The Citizen and the Traveller”
“The Distinguished Stranger”
“The Cart-horses and the Saddle-horse”
“The Tadpole and the Frog”
“Something in It”
“Faith, Half-faith and No Faith At All”
“The Touchstone”
“The Poor Thing”
“The Song of the Morrow”

An online version can be read here. Summaries of these shorts can be read here.

The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Robert Louis Stevenson (2012)
Due to its brief length, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is frequently published in Stevenson anthology collections. One modern collection is 2012's The Collected Supernatural and Weird Fiction of Robert Louis Stevenson, which includes these stories:

"Olalla" (1885)
"The Beach of Falesá" (1892)
"The Body Snatcher" (1884)
"The Isle of Voices" (1893)
"The Poor Thing" (1895, from Fables)
"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1896)
"The Waif Woman" (1914)
"Thrawn Janet" (1881)

Two of these stories were originally published in the Stevenson collection Island Nights’ Entertainments, 1893:

“The Beach of Falesa” (1892)
“The Bottle Imp” (1891)
“The Isle of Voices” (1893)

Two others first appeared in The Merry Men and Other Tales and Fables (1887):

“The Merry Men” (1882)
“Will o’the Mill” (1878)
“Markheim” (1885)
“Thrawn Janet” (1881)
“Olalla” (1885)
“The Treasure of Franchard” (1883)

Summaries of the shorts included in these books can be found through the above linked titles.

Thursday, July 15, 2021

The Purple Cloud (M.P. Shiel, 1901)

Chatto and Windus 1901

M.P. Shiel's novel The Purple Cloud is sometimes cited as one of the best of the early "last man on Earth" novels. Written in the "Decadent style" (featuring long run-on sentences and structured with an excessive, free-wheeling prose style), it was initially published as an abridged serial in The Royal Magazine from January to June 1901, but then published in September of that year by Chatto and Windus as a book with the unabridged text (Shiel slightly edited it again when the book was published in a Gollancz edition in 1929).

The main story describes how an expedition to the North Pole somehow triggers a mass extinction event in the form of a toxic, world-spanning cloud. Only one man, Adam Jeffson, survives this apocalypse, and during the middle part of the book he goes somewhat mad. He ends up building a great palace as a tribute to himself, but also goes on trips around the world destroying famous cities with explosives. Eventually, he stumbles across another survivor (a young girl, of course), and the remainder of the novel describes their evolving relationship and how they decide the future of mankind.

Aside from the survival and mass extinction aspects of the narrative, there is also a somewhat metaphysical layer in which Jeffson hears the advice of a "White" entity opposing a "Black" entity in his head. These two voices essentially place a "good and evil/life or death" struggle on the shoulders of the main character. However, it's never clear exactly whether these voices are "real" or symptom of schizophrenia...

Gollancz 1978

One of the fascinating things about Shiel's book is that it is told as a diary, written over a span of about 20 years by the protagonist, Adam Jeffson (the obvious Christian name is attached to a surname possibly meant as a play on "Jehovah's son"). His testimony starts out in the language of a writer-scientist, but as the years of isolation take their toll on him, his prose becomes more and more "manic". In the final third of the book, after he has met the woman Leda, his narration becomes almost Biblical in nature. All of these transformations help to maintain the verisimilitude of the book's premise as a collection of personal notes written intermittently over decades.

However, the published book actually begins with an "Introduction", in which the author (Shiel) describes a letter and some notebooks which he has just received from his dying friend, Dr. Browne. In the letter, Browne describes a hypnosis patient of his named Mary Wilson. Although now deceased, during her trances Wilson had been able to travel into the past and the future and recite books she had found there. Browne's package includes three notebooks, each containing lengthy Wilson transcriptions. The third notebook is titled "The Purple Cloud", and the remainder of the novel is presented as the contents of this document. Over the next several years, Shiel would publish the contents of the second and third of these "future books" under the titles The Last Miracle (1906) and The Lord of the Sea (1901).

Penguin Classics 2012

Below is a synopsis of the book, followed by a gallery of illustrations from original serial publication in The Royal Magazine, as well as from its reprinting in Famous Fantastic Mysteries in 1949. The original serial in The Royal Magazine appeared in 6 installments, but the expanded novel has no chapters at all (since it is presented as a "personal journal", written intermittently over 20 years). However, in order to better appreciate the structure of the narrative, I organized the below synopsis into 15 chapters and gave them unofficial chapter titles.

The Purple Cloud

A Race to the North Pole: When a financial tycoon dies and leaves his assets to the first man to reach the North Pole, several expeditions are mounted. However, in the following years all of them unexpectedly fail for one reason or another. Eventually, a proselytizing parson named Mackay begins to preach that mankind is not meant to reach the North Pole, and that the difficulties thus far encountered are, in fact, a warning (from God). Nonetheless, the author-narrator - an English writer-naturalist named Adam Jeffson - is able to find a place amongst the crew of the Boreal, the latest expedition to try for the Pole. However, his inclusion in the crew roster had actually been obtained through "underhanded" means - his ambitious fiancée had earlier poisoned one of the originally chosen crew members so that Jeffson could take his place. In this opening sequence, Jeffson also describes a lifetime of hearing two distinct disembodied voices in his head, which he has come to characterize as the voices of "White" and "Black" (roughly, Good and Evil).
Vanguard Press 1930
The Journey Begins: Sometime after the Boreal launches (from St. Katherine's Docks in London), an old acquaintance of Jeffson's named Wilson hints that Jeffson's placement on the mission is the result of his fiancée's propensity for lethal action. This precipitates a duel, in which Jeffson kills Wilson. Wilson's death is also fortunate for Jeffson because it gives him Wilson's place in the exclusive group chosen to sled north to the Pole (of which one will be rewarded with the inheritance money).
The North Pole: Almost two years later (the journey is long and arduous), the Boreal reaches solid ice, and the three lucky men chosen to continue north (including Jeffson) disembark and continue on dogsleds. Nearing the Pole, they discover crystalline meteorites dotting the area. One night, during a sudden earthquake, Jeffson abandons his fellow explorers and takes off alone towards the Pole. When he reaches it, he discovers a mysterious lake with a pillar made of ice standing in the center. On the pillar is carved a name and a date, both of which Jeffson cannot decipher (John Clute notes that this impious act of seeing the "forbidden name" is the crime against God which precipitates the extinction of mankind). With his goal reached, he heads back towards his camp. He soon discovers that the other two men in his party had been killed in the earthquake.
Panther 1969
Sighting the Purple Cloud: Continuing south, Jeffson sees a purple cloud in the sky, which carries the scent of peaches - however, the vapors also cause him to feel very ill. Fortunately, the wind blows the cloud away from him and he recovers. As he continues south, Jeffson begins seeing many dead animals lying on the ground. After many long months, he eventually comes across the Boreal, but only finds its crew dead and its decks covered with a layer of purple ash. He deduces that the purple cloud must have contained a form of cyanide, but - fortunately for him - the cloud has now dispersed (probably out to space). In the ensuing weeks, he continues down the coast on the Boreal and discovers many more ships, but all of them contain dead crewmen, stricken down in mid-action.
Flight of the Dead: Reaching Norway, Jeffson heads inland but discovers only a city filled with crowds of dead bodies, apparently caught in the middle of a rush to flee northwest. Returning to the sea, Jeffson sails further south and comes across a flotilla of dead ships (apparently struck down while heading north trying to seek refuge of some sort).
World Publishing Co. 1946, Art: Soshensky
The Blight in Northern England: Eventually Jeffson reaches northern England, although he fears what he might discover. In Dover, he finds more victims of the cloud, consisting of peoples from many lands. He soon discovers a newspaper which describes a cloud-borne wave of death which had swept the globe for 3 months (as of its printing), leading to chaos and panic. Reaching the main train station, he refuels one of the abandoned engines and heads towards London. While stopping in Canterbury, he sees houses in which the inhabitants had tried to save themselves by sealing themselves away from the vapor - but had then suffocated. He also notes that the gas has acted as a preservative on the dead, preventing rot and decay from setting in (the bodies are essentially "mummified"). Although most animals are dead, insects, fishes and frogs seem to have escaped death.
Searching For Survivors in London: In London, Jeffson finds a report theorizing that the purple cloud had been created by a volcanic eruption in the southern hemisphere, spewing forth clouds of toxic gas, which had then traversed the globe as the planet rotated on its axis. He then takes a boat up the Thames to search for any signs of life, hoping that some people might possibly have survived in the deep mines. After he completes several fruitless journeys into the mines, he spends some time in a house in Cornwall Point, which turns out to be the home of the poet Arthur Machen (stricken down whilst composing a final poem). Later, he discovers a hospital where some people had tried to seal themselves in from the vapor, but then died from suffocation. Without exposure to the preserving purple vapors, these bodies had rotted, so Jeffson burns the building in disgust. This inspires him to head back to London with the intention of burning the entire city.
Allison & Busby 1986, Art: William Holman Hunt
Descent Into Madness - The Burning Begins: Back in London Jeffson finally revisits his old home and discovers the corpses of his maid and fiancée. After impulsively clothing himself in the dress of a Turkish nobleman, he concocts the idea of creating a grand palace for himself - but first he begins building timed explosive devices. One day, he is surprised to find a lighted street. In front of a store he ironically spots finds the last lighted words of civilized man: "Drink Roborol". In the ensuing days, he sets timed explosives all over London (although he does save a few pieces of artwork from the National Gallery such as 'Vision of St. Helena,' Murillo's 'Boy Drinking,' and 'Christ at the Column'). One the evening of the city's detonation, he has a feast and watches London burn from a secluded townhouse, located a safe distance away from the blast area. Afterwards, he returns to the Boreal and then sails for France.
Moving to France: In France, Jeffson makes his home at La Chartreuse de Vauclaire in Périgord, a monastery villa. However, he also goes on several excursions across the country so that he can burn a few French villages. Eventually haunted by guilt, he decides that he must devote himself to building the great palace he had envisioned earlier, otherwise he will go mad (madder). He decides to build it on the island of Imbros (off the coast of Turkey).
Heyne 1982, Art: Giuseppe Festino
A Palace on Imbros and the Burning of More Cities: In the next 17 years, Jeffson builds his palace, but also takes many around the world excursions to go on city burning sprees. One day while sailing south, he encounters volcanoes spewing more of the toxic purple vapor, and barely manages to escape the area. Later, he comes across a French ship, whose log records that 10 volcanoes in the south seas had suddenly erupted, spewing the toxic gas on the exact same day that Jeffson had reached the North Pole and sighted the mysterious pillar (which at one point had been hinted to be related to the Forbidden Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden).
A Survivor Is Discovered in Turkey: After his palace on Imbros is completed, Jeffson's mood pivots back and forth between narcissistic mania and despondent loneliness. Soon the White and Black Voices return (which had disappeared decades ago when the purple cloud had appeared). In an attempt to fight off his encroaching madness, Jeffson decides to journey to Constantinople on another city-burning mission. After Istanbul is destroyed, Jeffson departs the city, but is soon shocked when he comes across a naked young girl in the outlying forest. He initially tries to kill her (possibly in order to eat her), but a bolt of lightning strikes his upheld knife before it strikes her. When Jeffson awakens, he tries to leave the girl behind, but she persistently follows him wherever he goes.
Bison Books 2000, Art: R. W. Boeche
The Girl's Story: Eventually, the two of them settle in a nearby mansion where Jeffson reluctantly tries to care for the girl. One day, the girl leads him to the Sultan's palace in Constantinople (Istanbul). In the cellar (opened to the air by Jeffson's explosives), Jeffson finds the skeleton of the Sultan's wife. He deducts that the Sultana had been imprisoned in the cellar as some kind of punishment, but then never freed due to the death of the Sultan and his court from the purple cloud. The Sultana had then given birth to a girl, and both had then survived on the supplies found in the storeroom. After the death of the Sultana, her daughter had continued to survive underground until Jeffson's detonations had freed her.
Return to Imbros and the Girl's Education: Jeffson soon comes to believe that White's wish is to have the two of them restart the human race. However he refuses to comply, believing that mankind is not worthy of being resurrected. Nonetheless, the appearance of the girl seems to immediately restore his sanity after the previous 17 years of manic palace-building and city-burning. Eventually, Jeffson allows the girl to join him at his palace on Imbros, although he forces her to wear a veil so that he will not be tempted by her beauty, and they live in separate buildings. In the following year, he teaches her how to read and speak English. In time, she also learns how to cook and play music. At one point, she argues that mankind should return to its place on the Earth, but Jeffson maintains that mankind is not worthy of coming back.
Resisting Temptation in France: One day, an earthquake strikes Imbros, sending Jeffson's palace into the sea. With no reason to stay on the island, Jeffson and the girl - now calling herself Leda - head westwards across Europe on various refurbished trains. During this time, Jeffson eventually admits to himself that he does have feelings for the girl. Nonetheless he resists the urge to disrupt their platonic relationship, and in France, at the Chillon Castle, Jeffson tells Leda that they can both live in the same domicile, but that they can no longer see each other - still, he cannot resist socializing with her from time to time. When he feels that he can no longer bear the temptation of a carnal relation, he threatens her with a gun, but she ends up injuring herself with it.
The Future of Mankind: Eventually, Jeffson brings Leda to the French city of Havre, where he shows her how to use a telephone. He then departs alone on a ship to Portsmouth, England. There he tests the telephone to make sure that they can still communicate over the water. After several months, Jeffson is tempted to rejoin Leda, but stops himself at the last minute. Resolved to kill himself in order to prevent the inevitable, he is halted when Leda tells him that she sees another purple cloud approaching in the distance. Jeffson immediately rejoins Leda, accepting her as his wife. Although Leda's purple cloud never materializes, weeks later they still remain at the Château-les-Roses (in Normandy), where Jeffson resolves to continue the human race with Leda, hoping that it will follow her example as a decent human being.