Old Sins Cast Long Shadows: February 2017

Sunday, February 19, 2017

A Few Thoughts on STAR (PSI CASSIOPEIA) by C. I. Defontenay.

This post is a break from what this blog is usually concerned with – 19th century supernatural fiction. First of all, Star (Psi Cassiopeia) is not so much supernatural as much as extraterrestrial. And, second, this work is a translation from the original – French, no less. This is mid-19th century science fiction!

On the appointed day, Farnozas' sectarians harangued for the last time by their chief, after having successively vociferated formidable curses against the earth, the sea, and the heavens, pushed the old men, women, and children into the gulf with fury, and, in their turn, to the last man hurled themselves from the height of the promontory' cliffs. Ramzuel, overwhelmed with sorrow, soared up to the highest heavens, seeking another world for humanity, dispossessed of the earth! (Page 65)

C.I. Defontenay's Star (Psi Cassiopeia) written in 1854, was translated into English for the first, and I believe only, time in 1975 for this DAW Books edition.[i]

Defontenay was a medical doctor and a leading pioneer in the field of plastic surgery. Star (Psi Cassiopeia) is the only work of fiction Defontenay wrote (that we are aware of) as he would pass away in 1856, two years after its publication.

Defontenay employs a creative twist to the "found manuscript" plot device by having the manuscript literally fall out of the sky in front of the narrator. There are several possible voices in the text and it was a particular challenge determining just which one I was reading! First and foremost is Defontenay himself, as the author who wrote in French. Second is the narrator/Starian translator who is the principal voice in the text. And finally, there is P. J. Sokolowski who translated this work from French into English. But this rather confusing degrees-of-separation issue must be kept in mind when reading this DAW edition.

In a fascinating side note, this work was almost lost to time. It sat in obscurity until republished in France in 1972. Incredibly, the author of the Introduction to this edition, Pierre Versins, noted that:

. . . this Defontenay novel was completely unknown to the French themselves. Just think—in 1966, when I wrote a long analysis of it, only five copies could be found. Two were stashed in major public libraries and I own one of the remaining three.

Star makes for dry reading. In many ways it has more in common with a modern world history text – informative but not very interesting. However, the true worth of this book lay in what it conveys about the time in which it was written.[ii]

Due to the unique nature of this work and its presentation, I feel it necessary to provide a more detailed plot summary than is my usual style.

A man, the narrator, is climbing the Himalayan Mountains with his Indian guide when he sees what he calls a "bolide" (an exploding meteor). Falling out of the sky, the meteor strikes a mountain top and crashes, killing his guide. Examining the crash site, the man comes across some kind of wreckage. He comes across a chest filled with papers and books in an utterly unknown language. After two years of diligent work, the unknown language is deciphered and the papers and books translated. The remainder of the work consists of the translation of these items.

The narrator, by means of his translation (and his imagination), guides the reader across interstellar space to the home of the beings that wrote the books, their planet called "Star" and the inhabitants, the Starians. The solar system in which Star was the principal world possessed four suns. Ruliel was the primary and central stellar body. Altéther and Erragror were secondary stellar bodies. The smallest, Urrias, actually orbited Star like one of its four moons.

Following an in-depth discussion of the flora and fauna of the planet Star and the mythological origins of Starian ancient history, the work traced the political and social evolution of the Starian people. After over a thousand years of peace, the "Age of Evil" came to Star – a long period of earthquakes, other natural disasters and famine. At the end of this tumult, came the "Slow Plague," a terrible and slow, degenerating and excruciatingly painful sickness. The plague's torment was so horrendous that the only means to ease the suffering was thought to be suicide.

Very quickly, a cult rose whose prophet claimed that the only way to defeat the plague was for the entire Starian race to commit mass suicide. A Starian named Ramzuel opposed this drastic action and built an interplanetary vessel called an abares. With a few other refugees, they took to the air and left Star after the final mass suicide of the Starian people.

By means of the abares space ships, the few survivors travel to Star's nearest moon, Tassul. Finding a hospitable welcome from the natives and a compatible environment, the survivors settled down.

After several centuries pass, living space grew short with both the natives and the growing population from Star spreading across the moon. So the descendants of the Starian survivors built many more abares ships and journeyed to the second moon of Star, Lessur. As before, another hospitable welcome and a compatible environment lead to a stay of some time. And, as before, space becoming tight, another migration was prepared for the third moon, Rudar. However, this time the attempt failed. The environment of Rudar was too hostile to Starians.

After the attempt to colonize the third moon, Rudar, the explorers pressed on to the last moon of Star, Élier. They find it very hospitable and welcoming. During their time there, they hear rumors of a desire among the other descendants of Starian refugees to reclaim their home world. They leave Élier and return to the other moons and join the endeavor. After ten years of diligent work, thousands of abare vessels were constructed and made available for the great effort.

It had been 800 years since Ramzuel with a few refugees left Star. Now, the descendants of the original Starian refugees have returned home.

The narrator/translator of the Starian manuscripts returns to the narrative at its closing for a brief comment on the origin of the manuscripts and how, he believes, they made their way across space to Earth.

Frankly, I am in awe of the imagination and creativity of Defontenay. This tale was originally written, in French, in 1854! That is seven years before the start of the American Civil War. Jules Verne's Journey to the Moon was published in 1865. H.G. Wells' First Man on the Moon dates from 1901. Defontenay, not only set his work in an unimaginably distant locale and established the details of the Starian solar system, Psi Cassiopeia, but he also created the entire history of the Starian people including examples of their literature and poetry.

Verne and Wells travelled to the moon, Defontenay journeyed to the stars!

***

References

Defontenay, C. I., Translated by P. J. Sokolowski. Star (Psi Cassiopeia). DAW Books, Inc: New York, 1975.

ISFDB. "Star (Psi Cassipeia)." Accessed 01 February 2017. http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?95221

LibraryThing. "Star (Psi Cassiopeia) by C. I. Defontenay." 30 June 2014. Accessed 01 February 2017. http://www.librarything.com/topic/172698#4750663

Silverberg, Robert. "Reflections: Star (Psi Cassiopeia)." Asimov's. October/November 2015, page 7-9. Accessed 14 December 2016. http://www.asimovs.com/assets/1/6/Reflections_Star-OctNov15.pdf

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. "Defontenay, C I." 14 January 2017. Accessed 01 February 2017. http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/defontenay_c_i

Vintage Pop Fictions. "Star, or Psi Cassiopeia." 31 December 2012. Accessed 14 December 2016. http://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2012/12/star-or-psi-cassiopea.html

Wikipedia. "C. I. Defontenay." Accessed 01 February 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._I._Defontenay

[i] My comments and thoughts are based solely on the translator's work and his words.

[ii] Note: this applies to supernatural horror as well!

Sunday, February 5, 2017

A Brief Consideration of TALES OF UNEASE by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

While exploring nineteenth-century supernatural horror, I came across this presentation of suspenseful and supernatural horror in Tales of Unease which highlight Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's mastery of these genres.

Tales of Unease by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is a collection of fifteen short tales written between 1883 and 1921 and presented in no particular order. This edition was published in 2008 by Wordsworth Editions and is part of the Tales of Mystery and the Supernatural series. A fine series of reprints and collections which, as I have stated in previous posts, I wholeheartedly endorse.

The General Editor of the Wordsworth's Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural series is David Stuart Davies, a noted expert on Sherlock Holmes. Davies also wrote the Introduction to this volume.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the world famous creator of Sherlock Holmes, was also a strong figure in the genre of supernatural horror fiction from the late 19th through the early 20th century. In addition to these already considerable accomplishments, later in life Doyle became a leading supporter and advocate of Spiritualism. He saw Spiritualism as a complement or maybe even a modern substitute for what he believed were out-of-date religions.

In his introduction to this collection, Davies wrote:

The idea of ghosts, of course, come close to Conan Doyle's unswerving belief in Spiritualism and the existence of a shadowy realm beyond death. . . . In this collection several stories deal in different ways with the world of the Spiritualist.[i]

A few of the tales possess strong supernatural elements, having to do with ghosts and other such things. Others have nothing supernatural about them at all. In most cases, the tales fall into several thematic groups:

~Ancient Egypt

~Vengeance

~Found Manuscript

~Spiritualism

Below is a listing of the stories contained in this collection, together with a few comments and observations which I thought pertinent.

List of tales in this collection:

"The Ring of Thoth" (1890) – A supernatural love story with strong Ancient Egyptian elements.

"The Lord of Chateau Noir"(1894) – A vengeance tale of a father; very Poe-like.

"The New Catacomb" (1898) – Another vengeance tale. Also very Poe-like, "The Cask of Amontillado" vibe.

"The Case of Lady Sannox" (1893) – Another vengeance tale, again with strong Poe-like feeling.

"The Story of the Brazilian Cat" (1898) – Another Poe-like tale. Calls to mind Holmes' "The Speckled Band": a creature of nature harnessed by greed of family member to secure inheritance.

"The Story of the Brown Hand" (1899) – A ghost story with a happy ending, again highlights Spiritualist beliefs.

"The Horror of the Heights" (1913) – A found manuscript story, like modern found footage story, with a strong sci-fi feeling.

"The Terror of Blue John Gap" (1910) – Another found manuscript story with strong crypto-zoological elements. It uses science to attempt to explain the weird and mysterious.

"The Captain of the Polestar" (1883) – Conan Doyle makes use of the literary tool of telling the tale via journal entries. I view this as a variation of the found manuscript type. Or, perhaps, vice versa. Further, in many tales of this sort, the supernatural element is assumed present but never really confirmed. However, the setting, the environment, and their role in establishing the mood of the tale contribute to make the tale truly "weird."

"How It Happened" (1913) – A very powerful tale as recorded by a medium. What happens immediately after the moment of death? Strong endorsement of Spiritualism.

"Playing with Fire" (1900) – Another tale highlighting the power of Spiritualism. The unexpected occurs during a séance. The result of an occult experiment suggested by a Frenchman.

"The Leather Funnel" (1902) – Tale with strong Spiritualistic elements as well as presenting occult truths.

"Lot No. 249" (1892) – Ancient Egypt and occult scholar vs. scientific contempt of protagonist. Who wins?

"The Los Amigos Fiasco" (1892) – The arrogance and blind faith in science and technology, while foolishly ignoring the Spiritualistic and occult leads to unforeseen outcomes.

"The Nightmare Room" (1921) – All is not as it seems in this last offered and latest written tale in this collection. I suspect that Doyle is playing with his audience in this expertly presented exercise in building drama.

At the conclusion of his introduction, Davies stated that:

There can be no doubt that the fifteen stories in this collection are among the best of their genre. The reasons that they may not have been recognized as such by the general reading public is probably because they have been lost . . . under the dominating shadow of his most potent creation: Sherlock Holmes.[ii]

In all these stories, whatever the setting or theme, there is always a powerful sense of uncertainty for both the reader and the central characters. . . . Hence the title of this collection.[iii]

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed these selected short stories from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

References

Print Resources

Doyle, Arthur Conan. Tales of Unease. Wordsworth Editions: Hertfordshire, 2008.