To Your Scattered Bodies Go
| To Your Scattered Bodies Go | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Cover of first edition (hardcover) |
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| Author(s) | Philip José Farmer |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Riverworld |
| Genre(s) | Science Fiction |
| Publisher | Putnam Publishing Group |
| Publication date | June 1971 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| ISBN | 9-997-51198-0 |
| Followed by | The Fabulous Riverboat, 1971 |
To Your Scattered Bodies Go (1971) is a science fiction novel and the first book in the Riverworld series of books by Philip José Farmer. It won a Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1972 at the 30th Worldcon.[1] The title is derived from the 7th of the "Holy Sonnets" by English poet John Donne:
- At the round earth's imagin'd corners, blow
Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise
From death, you numberless infinities
Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
The novel begins with adventurer Sir Richard Francis Burton waking up after his death on a strange new world made up of one ongoing river. He discovers that he is but one of billions of previously dead personalities from throughout Earth's history stretching from the Neolithic age through 2008 AD also 'resurrected'. At first the resurrectees are primarily focused on survival, though their basic needs for food are mysteriously taken care of; but eventually Burton decides to make it his mission to find the headwaters of the River and discover the purpose and intention of humanity's resurrection. Along the way he is enslaved and then, after being partnered with Nazi war criminal Hermann Göring, discovers the existence of a mysterious organization responsible for the resurrection of humanity, and is recruited by a rogue member of this group to take down their carefully laid plans.
[edit] Plot
British adventurer Richard Francis Burton dies on Earth. He then wakes up in an alien place. He is floating in mid air in a vast dark room filled with uncountable numbers of human bodies, some of which are only half formed. Before Burton can do anything he is confronted by men in a flying vehicle who blast him with a weapon.
He next awakes upon the shores of a mysterious river. He is naked and hairless. All around him are other people in a similar situation. No one knows where they are or why they have been brought here although it is soon established that the people there had all died. Shortly after they awaken there is a thunderous roar and a nearby structure, similar to a gigantic stone table, emits a massive blast of electricity. They discover that this structure, nicknamed a grailstone, causes food and other supplies to appear in the grails, metal buckets which everyone found with them upon resurrection. Burton quickly attracts a group of companions to him: the neanderthal Kaz, the science fiction author Peter Jairus Frigate and Alice Liddell the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland. The strangest of these is the extraterrestrial Monat Graatut. Monat explains that he had been part of a small group of beings from Tau Ceti who had arrived on Earth in the early 21st century. When one of their number was accidentally killed by humans, their spaceship automatically responded with a death ray which killed all the people on Earth. Frigate and a few others who were alive at the time confirm Monat's story.
Retreating into the nearby woods for safety, Burton's party attempt to relax by chewing some gum provided by their grails. They discover, however, that this gum is a powerful hallucinogen. Under its influence Burton and Alice make love, something which Alice, at least, later regrets.
As days and weeks pass society begins to reform. People's physical wants are provided for by the grails, which eventually produce a set of cloths which can be used for clothing. Rumors reach Burton's region that the river continues on seemingly forever. One night, Burton is visited by a mysterious cloaked figure. This being, who Burton dubs The Mysterious Stranger, explains that he is one of the beings who has constructed this world and resurrected humanity on its shores. However, he disagrees with his people's agenda, which he insists to Burton is sinister. He tells Burton to head towards the headwaters of the river.
The Mysterious Stranger's agenda meshes nicely with Burton's own inability to stay still for long and he enlists the locals to help his group build a boat with which to travel upriver. After setting off, his group encounters many adventures, becoming much closer in the process. One day, however, they are captured by a riverbank kingdom run by the Nazi Hermann Goering. Goering's new kingdom is built on slavery and Burton and his crew soon find themselves enslaved as well. Burton unites with other slaves in the kingdom and leads a successful revolt. Goering himself is murdered by Alice, who had been kept as a concubine by the Nazi. After the revolt Burton is part of the nation's ruling council. He and Alice become closer and eventually become lovers. However, one day they discover a person among them whom they conclude is an agent of the beings who created this world. Before the man can be questioned, however, he dies of no apparent cause. An autopsy reveals a small device planted in the man's brain which apparently allowed him to kill himself at will. Burton is visited by the Mysterious Stranger and is warned that the beings who created this world, to whom the Stranger refers as "Ethicals", are close to capturing Burton. Desperate to escape, and unwilling to expose his companions to danger, Burton resorts to the "suicide express" and kills himself so that he will be resurrected somewhere else in the river valley. Burton continues to wander the river, killing himself whenever he is about to be discovered.
Along the way he often finds himself resurrected in the vicinity of Hermann Goering, who undergoes a moral and religious conversion and joins the pacifist Church of the Second Chance. After several years on the suicide express, Burton finds himself resurrected not in the river but in the Dark Tower which legend says lies at the headwaters. Burton is brought before a council of people who explain that they run Riverworld. They explain that one of their number is a traitor and interrogate Burton to discover the identity of this traitor, Burton's "Mysterious Stranger." They inform him that his "suicide express" trick should not have worked since they can put a hold on an individual's resurrection. The Mysterious Stranger had hacked their computer in order to make it impossible for them to track Burton. After fruitlessly questioning him, the Ethicals inform him that they will return him to the river valley but with the memory of his unusual experiences wiped. When Burton awakes he discovers that the Ethicals have returned him to the same area where his friends are. However, the Mysterious Stranger has prevented them from wiping his memory.
[edit] Publication history
This novel, and the Riverworld series itself, is based on Farmer's earlier, unpublished novel Owe for the Flesh. It was originally serialized as two separate novellas: "The Day of the Great Shout", which appeared in the January 1965 issue of Worlds of Tomorrow, and "The Suicide Express", which appeared in the March 1966 issue of Worlds of Tomorrow.
[edit] References
- ^ "1972 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1972. Retrieved 2009-10-05.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- To Your Scattered Bodies Go at Worlds Without End
- Audio review and discussion of To Your Scattered Bodies Go at The Science Fiction Book Review Podcast
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