A Voyage to Arcturus

infobox Book |
name = A Voyage to Arcturus
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = David Lindsay
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = England
language = English
series =
genre = Fantasy novel, Philosophical, Science fiction
publisher = Methuen & Co. Ltd.
release_date = 1920
media_type = Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
pages = 303 pp (first edition hardcover)
isbn = N/A
preceded_by =
followed_by = The Flight to Lucifer

"A Voyage to Arcturus" is a novel by the Scottish writer David Lindsay. First published in 1920, it combines fantasy, philosophy and science fiction in an exploration of the nature of good and evil and their relationship with existence. It has been described by the critic and philosopher Colin Wilson as the "greatest novel of the twentieth century" [http://www.scifidimensions.com/Nov03/arcturus.htm] and was a central influence on C.S. Lewis's Space Trilogy.

Plot Synopsis

The novel has very little, if any, science fiction. An interstellar voyage is depicted solely to provide a mostly superficial and perfunctory framework to the narration. The book was written at a time when it was no longer possible to conceive strange lands in the antipodes (as in Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels", or in Thomas More's "Utopia"), and so these have to be set at Tormance, an imaginary planet orbiting Arcturus, which, in the novel (but not in reality), is a double star consisting of stars Branchspell and Alppain. (The choice may have been inspired by the nonfictional "A Voyage to the Arctic in the Whaler Aurora" published in 1911 by an identically-named David Moore Lindsay.) The lands are used to represent philosophical systems, or states of mind, through which the main character, Maskull, passes on his search for the meaning of life.

Maskull is depicted as a man longing for adventures, who accepts an invitation from Krag, an acquaintance of his friend Nightspore, to travel to Tormance. The three set off from an abandoned observatory in Scotland but Maskull finds himself alone in Tormance. In every land he passes through he usually meets only one or two persons; these meetings often (though not always) end in the death of those he meets. He learns of his impending death, meets Krag again, and dies shortly after learning that he is Nightspore himself. The book concludes with a final revelation from Krag (who claims to be known on Earth as "Pain") to Nightspore about the origin of the Universe.

All characters and lands are types used to convey the author's critique of several philosophical systems. (That is why the inhabitants of Tormance are so few; they suffice to make the point they are intended for.) The author turns out to support a variation of the doctrine of the Demiurge, somewhat similar to that defended by some Gnostics.

Contents by chapter

Chapter 1 - The Seance A séance is organised in Hampstead to which someone invites two recent acquaintances, Maskull and Nightspore. Their late arrival is marked by a «supernatural» noise. The medium causes a smiling man to materialise. Krag arrives uninvited, kills the apparition, and calls Maskull and Nightspore (with whom he was acquainted) to the street.

Chapter 2 - In the Street Krag invites Maskull and Nightspore to come to Tormance, a planet orbiting Arcturus, whence the apparition comes. Maskull treats the proposal as a joke but accepts it when Krag shows him with a small but heavy and potent pocket telescope that Arcturus consists of two suns. Upon a question from Nightspore, Krag says that Surtur (unknown to Maskull) went ahead and they must go to follow him.

Chapter 3 - Starkness Maskull and Nightspore arrive on foot (after travelling by train) at the Scottish observatory of Starkness, where Krag was to meet them. The observatory is abandoned. Two bottles are found with «Solar back rays» and «Arcturian back rays». The first, unfastened, flies back to the sun because of the light rays trapped within.

Chapter 4 - The Voice Nightspore leads Maskull to a spot on the shore some miles off where a sort of drumbeat is heard, and tells him that if he hears it again he is to 'try always to hear it more and more distinctly'. Maskull attempts to climb the observatory tower but is unable to go beyond the first of the seven stories because of the heavy gravity. From the window he sees Arcturus again. He hears a voice saying that he is but an instrument and though he will go on the voyage, only Nightspore will return.

Chapter 5 - The Night of Departure Nightspore says the gravity in the tower is Tormance's and that Maskull will find death in Tormance. Krag arrives, enables Maskull and Nightspore to resist Tormance's gravity by spitting on a cut in their arms, and the three climb the tower, whose windows no longer magnify. They depart naked in a 'torpedo of crystal' propelled by Arcturian back rays. During the 19 hour voyage, Maskull sleeps.

Maskull's first day in Tormance

Chapter 6 - Joiwind Maskull awakes alone in a desert in Tormance and finds that he has new organs in his body, such as a tentacle stemming from the heart. A woman comes to him and exchanges blood with him (making it easier for him to live in Tormance, and harder for her), and says: that she is called Joiwind, her husband Panawe, and both live to the North in Poolingdred; that she understands his speech thanks to a forehead organ that reads minds; that Surtur is called Shaping, or Crystalman, and created everything (she also implicitly says that he is God); that they do not eat, out of respect for living things, but drink gnawl water; and that the tentacle is used to increase love for other creatures. While journeying home they worship Shaping in a shrine, and upon arriving they meet Panawe.

Chapter 7 - Panawe Panawe suggests that Maskull may be «a man (...) who stole something from the Maker of the universe, in order to ennoble his fellow creatures». He says that life in Tormance has many different forms because the planet is still new, that human beings resemble earthlings because «all creatures that resemble Shaping must of necessity resemble one another», and that Alppain is visible only to the North. Panawe tells his story to Maskull; he travelled in the Wombflash forest (from where he saw Swaylone's island), Ifdawn Marest, and Poolingdred.

Chapter 8 - The Lusion Plain Maskull sets out to further explore Tormance and gets to the Lusion Plain, where he meets a man.

:"Maskull, look well at me. Who am I?"

:"I think you are Shaping."

:"I am Surtur."

Surtur asserts the beauty of his world, claims Maskull is there to serve him, and disappears. Maskull continues his journey and meets a woman, Oceaxe, from Ifdawn, who instead of a tentacle has a third arm. She is rude, shows interest in having him as lover, and gives him a stone to convert his tentacle into a third arm.

Maskull's second day in Tormance

Chapter 9 - Oceaxe When Maskull wakes up he finds his tentacle has been transformed into the third arm, which causes lust for what is touched. He travels to Ifdawn with Oceaxe, who wants him to kill one of her husbands, Crimtyphon, and take his place. Maskull is revolted at the idea, but does kill Crimtyphon when he sees him using his will to force Sature to become a tree.

Chapter 10 - Tydomin Tydomin, another wife of Crimtyphon's, shows up and uses her will to force Oceaxe to commit suicide and Maskull to follow her to her home in Disscourn, where she will take possession of his body. On the way they find Joiwind's brother Digrung who says he will tell her everything; to prevent this, and encouraged by Tydomin, Maskull absorbs Digrung, leaving his empty body behind. At Tydomin's, he goes out of his body to become the apparition of the séance where he met Krag, but when he is killed he goes back to his body before Tydomin can possess it, and awakes free of her mental power.

Chapter 11 - On Disscourn Maskull takes Tydomin to Sant, to kill her. In Sant no women are allowed, but only men, who go there to follow Hator's doctrine. On the way Maskull and Tydomin meet Spadevil, who proposes to reform Sant by amending Hator's teaching with the notion of duty. He turns Maskull and Tydomin into his followers by getting them two forehead organs.

Chapter 12 - Spadevil Catice, the guardian of Hator's doctrine in Sant, who has only one forehead organ, cuts off one of Maskull's to test Spadevil's arguments. Maskull accepts Hator's ideas and kills Spadevil and Tydomin. Catice says he will leave Sant to meditate on Spadevil's arguments, claims that Shaping is not Surtur, and sends Maskull away to the Wombflash Forest, in search of Muspel, our home.

Maskull's third day in Tormance

Chapter 13 - The Wombflash Forest Maskull awakes in the Wombflash Forest with a third eye as his only foreign organ, hears the drumbeat, follows it, and meets Dreamsinter, who tells him that it was Nightspore whom Surtur brought to Tormance and that he, Maskull, is wanted to steal Muspel-light. Maskull then sees a vision in which Krag kills him while Nightspore follows a light, and faints.

Chapter 14 - Polecrab Maskull reawakes and proceeds to the shore of the Sinking Sea, from which Swaylone's Island can be seen. There he meets Polecrab, a fisherman, married to Gleameil.

Chapter 15 - Swaylone's Island Maskull goes to Swaylone's Island, where Earthrid plays a musical instrument called Irontick by night, and from where no one who heard it ever returned. Maskull is accompanied by Gleameil, who is ready to leave her family because of the attraction of the music. Earthrid warns Gleameil that the music he plays may kill her, but she stays and dies. Maskull then plays Irontick; Earthrid dies and Swaylone's Island is destroyed.

Maskull's fourth day in Tormance

Chapter 16 - Leehallfae Maskull crosses the sea on a tree and reaches Matterplay, where living beings sprout and disappear before his eyes. He goes up a stream and meets Leehallfae, a human being neither man or woman, but of a third sex, who is looking for the underground country of Threal, where a god called Faceny (which may be another name for Shaping) is to be found.

Chapter 17 - Corpang They reach Threal by entering a cave. Leehallfae dies. Corpang appears and says this is because Threal is not Faceny's world, but Thire's. Thire, Faceny, and Amfuse are the creators of three worlds of existence, relation and feeling. Corpang has come to Threal to follow Thire, and leads Maskull to three statues of these divinities. There Maskull has a vision of their power, and hears a voice saying he is to die in a few hours, after which the statues are seen with faces like a corpse's. Realising that he has been worshipping false gods, Corpang follows Maskull to Lichstorm, where he hears the drum beats.

Chapter 18 - Haunte Maskull and Corpang meet Haunte, a hunter who travels in a boat that flies thanks to masculine stones which repel earth's femininity. Haunte takes them to Sullenbode, a faceless woman who acquires facial features from a man, killing him in the process. Haunte dies in this wise.

Chapter 19 - Sullenbode Maskull desires Sullenbode and she desires him, thereby becoming alive permanently (without killing him) as long as he loves her. Maskull, Sullenbode and Corpang proceed in a direction to which someone looking for Muspel once went, but Corpang goes eagerly ahead, and Maskull stops when he has a vision of Muspel-light. Since he has thus lost interest in Sullenbode for a moment, she dies.

Maskull's fifth day in Tormance

Chapter 20 - Barey Maskull proceeds to Barey where he meets Krag again, and then Gangnet, who defends Shaping and his creation. Since Gangnet is unable to send Krag away, they travel together to the ocean and then take to the sea on a raft. When Alppain rises, Maskull sees in a vision Krag causing the drum beat by beating his heart, and Gangnet, who is Shaping, dying with Muspel-fire. Back on the raft, Krag tells him he is Nightspore, and he dies.

Chapter 21 - Muspel Krag and Nightspore arrive at Muspel, where there is a tower similar to that in Starkness. From the windows of its several stories Nightspore sees that Shaping uses what comes from Muspel to create the world for his sole pleasure, thus preventing that Muspel matter from going back to its source as it would, and thereby causing suffering. Krag acknowledges that he is Surtur and is known on Earth as pain. Nightspore goes back with him to reincarnate and spread knowledge about Surtur, Shaping, and Muspel.

Geography of Tormance

No systematic effort to establish a geography of Tormance is ever found. Maskull travels from South to North and the lands he passes through seem to be the only possible choice, since he never stops to wonder in which direction he will go next.

The direction is symbolic: the light of the second sun, Alppain, is seen to the north; the southern countries are illuminated only by Branchspell, the first sun, which is a sun whose colors are like those of Sol, earth's sun. Maskull travels always in the direction that puts behind him earthly sights and things, seeking the other world illuminated by Alppain.

Names

Just like nearly everything else in this book, names of characters and places are symbolic. Meanings and significations are subject to dispute.

Adaptations and Sequels by Others

The famous critic Harold Bloom, in his only attempt at fiction writing, wrote a sequel to this novel, entitled "The Flight to Lucifer". Bloom has since disowned the book and will not associate his name with the novel.

Student filmmakers created a 71-minute film adaptation of the novel in 1970. [http://web.archive.org/web/20021017195212/www.violetapple.co.uk/pages/dl_vta_film.html] The film, unavailable for many years, was independently restored, re-edited and color-enhanced [http://web.archive.org/web/20050312002614/gothedistancedoc.com/page0006.html] to be redistributed on DVD-R in 2005. [http://www.customflix.com/205188]

Jazz composer Ron Thomas recorded a concept album inspired by the novel in 2001 entitled "Scenes from a Voyage to Arcturus". [http://www.ronthomasmusic.com/voyageArcturus.htm] Music from the album is featured in the 2005 restoration of the 1970 student film.

External links

* [http://www.selparis.com/SciFiTexts/sf0009.html "A Voyage to Arcturus"] — on-line edition.
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1329 "A Voyage to Arcturus"] — Project Gutenberg e-text
*Trailer for the 1970 student film from [http://www.createspace.com/Store/Trailer.jsp?id=205188 CreateSpace]
*A review of the 1970 student film from [http://www.mysticalmovieguide.com/mmlist.pl?exact=Voyage%20to%20Arcturus,&index=1&findwhere=allsyn&year=1970 mysticalmovieguide.com]