Sublime and magnificently ornate visions. A startling voyage through bizarre and fantastic imagery. Reminded me of the film Fantastic Planet, and of cSublime and magnificently ornate visions. A startling voyage through bizarre and fantastic imagery. Reminded me of the film Fantastic Planet, and of course Out of the Silent Planet. I also thought it bore some similarity to the expansive scope of Starmaker by Olaf Stapledon.
A beguiling allegory about Man's search for meaning. The differing forms of God in the book are thought-provoking, as are the pagan and surprising forms of worship employed by the disparate aliens the protagonist encounters. He must change himself to survive the shifting environment, not only physically, but mentally and spiritually. His spiritual understand becomes a viscous stew of self-doubt and burgeoning love for extraterrestial mores. Is love a universal constant or a physiological survival mechanism? Is gender malleable? The author asks these questions by presenting a dreamlike landscape of fascinating interactions. Each character is idiosyncratic, and as an outside observer, Maskull makes judgments on their beliefs and characteristics. While his journey to understand them one by one is not always successful, but they add to him somehow, contributing to his development as a Man or into whatever else he is becoming.
Lindsay sought to delve into the human psych while splattering the page with gorgeous and memorable images. C. S. Lewis took many of the themes and applied them to his Space Trilogy, roving about on other planets while accosting intelligent species who live in wholly spectacular and surprising ways. These meetings might be likened to European nations confronting what were then called savage tribes. The lack of empathy and respect for their ways of life led to tragedy. Only by uncovering our own flaws can we truly love others, they seem to say. Ultimately, the authors point the characters and reader toward God, however, the allegory is at times opaque and beset with the frills of a survival story.
This would make a spectacular animated movie in the vein of Laloux's film. I'll have to re-read this one....more
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