A Voyage to Arcturus

[blissblogger]

Has anyone here read this?

Just finished it - one of the strangest novels I've read. By David Lindsay, published in 1920. Not exactly science fiction, nor fantasy, but a tortured religious vision. Absurd, yet with a unsettling quality of reality and gravity that takes it out of that zone of the Marvelous a.k.a. make-it-up-as-you-go-along cobblers.

The attitude to all things worldly, fleshly and pleasure-giving reminds me of peak-delirium K-punk's Spinozist scorn for "sad passions".

Harold Bloom was such a fan of Arcturus (he claimed to have read it hundreds of times!) that he tried to write a sort of an extension of it, The Flight to Lucifer: A Gnostic Fantasy (1979).His only attempt at a novel.

 

[IdleRich]

I've read it, some little while back. I believe that I read The Space Trilogy (or some of it) by CS Lewis at around the same time which was a big mistake cos they mingle somehow in my head.

 

[WashYourHands]

 

[HMGovt’s Glorious Return!]

Read it ~20 years ago, still have a copy. I came to it via Colin Wilson's books of my life.

 

[blissblogger]

There's a metal band called Arcturus but maybe they got it from being into astronomy

 

[IdleRich]

I've read it, some little while back. I believe that I read The Space Trilogy (or some of it) by CS Lewis at around the same time which was a big mistake cos they mingle somehow in my head.

Just looking at their respective wikipedia pages to refresh my memory and I see this

The other main literary influence was David Lindsay's A Voyage to Arcturus (1920): "The real father of my planet books is David Lindsay’s A Voyage to Arcturus, which you also will revel in if you don’t know it. I had grown up on Wells's stories of that kind: it was Lindsay who first gave me the idea that the ‘scientifiction’ appeal could be combined with the ‘supernatural’ appeal."

So perhaps it's not that surprising that I am mixing them up. I assume that's why I read them at the same time too, I used to have quite a big thing about joining up dots... I watch a film and realise that it's based on a book so I read the book and discover it was inspired by another book so then I read that and... well, that sort of thing. So no doubt that was why I read these two things at the same time and as a result can't really remember which was which.

 

[IdleRich]

When I was little I lapped up loads of classic adventure novels - I'm talking King Solomon's Mines or Journey to the Centre of the Earth type gear - and nine times out of ten they would begin with a group of gentlemen, either at dinnner or gulping down brandy and cigars afterwards. Over the course of the evening, strong personalities would emerge and undoubtably they would argue, an argument that would utlimately lead to the framing of the story that was about to follow. Come to think of it I think that there was at least one Tintin thing that began like this too, or if there isn't then there bloody well should be..

The arguments almost always revolved about science and the natural world, one person would be making incredible claims for what is or would soon be possible while a sceptic wuold delight in pouring the coldest possible water on to their words. Ultiimately the former person - who was also usually the host - would move from the general to the specific; perhaps he would insist that his new detecting invention had located an island where dinosaurs still lived or maybe he had teleported someone to a place in darkest Africa where they had discovered a legendary lost treasure - and now of course, as a result, things would grow really heated, factions would develop. And finally, at the end the host would produce his trump card; a piece that could have clearly only come from the legendary lost treasure or maybe the body of a small dinsoaur that had perished in the last few days. Everyone's eyes would goggle and the game would now be very much afoot.

The mindblowing revelation of the trump card (whatever it might be) would inevitably become the catalyst for the forming of an expedition that would aim to find the long los city of golden dinosaurs. The host would go and the sceptic who had argued with him would have to be part of it to ensure that no trick was pulled. Our narrator who is effectively Dr Watson would blandly go along too and not really do anything beyond recording the adventure but some of the other diners would turn out to be big game hunters and mad scientists and so on. The group would be endowed with all kinds of skills that would no doubt be crucial when they had to hypnotise the mad witch Gagool etc etc

Anyway, the point is, I love books that begin liike that. Of course it's a cliche and one might say that it has become a very boring and unimaginative way to kick things off, but I don't agree. For me, starting a book that begins like that is like stepping into a comfy pair of slippers. They make you comfy and happy and you know what is going to happen next - basically you are guaranteed a boys own adventure type thing, you don't know if it will be in space or in the sea or whatever but you know it's gonna be somewhere crazy and a lot of cool shit is going to happen.

And now I come to think of it, I reckon that A Voyage to Arcturus was one such book. So it must have been good, obviously. There may have been some philiosophical stuff and musings about humanity and how it might adjust to aliens and so on in there somewhere too towards he back.

 

[HMGovt’s Glorious Return!]

I recall it gets into the phenomenon of seeing entirely new colours while in alien form, and he has a good go at describing them. Maybe lustrous green pink. Grink.

I might dust it off and read again between Christmas and New year, or make it the next bedtime story for my son.

 

[HMGovt’s Glorious Return!]

I also recall it did begin as you described. The book opens in the parlour before he moves to the garden where it's safer to ASCEND unimpeded by Edwardian cornices and light fittings.

 

[luka]

i didnt know about this but i do know there is a contemporary group of cultists or pranksters or mythmakers centred around Arcturus called the Starseeds

 

[luka]

Arcturian Starseed​

Arcturians are born leaders with strong personalities, and they form part of the most advanced civilization in our known universe


Originating from Arcturus inside the Bootes constellation, it is said that Arcturians built a prototype of how life should be lived on Earth within their own star system.


It is believed that this prototype is light years ahead of where Earth is now in terms of evolution.


These mystical beings are emotionally, mentally and physically far more advanced than we are, existing in 5th dimension only.

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Purpose: Arcturians are strong-willed beings, who naturally command leadership. They are known as the builders, the architects and the planners of the world.


They are here to advance and innovate, to move the world into a brighter, better future. Pioneers, they are incredibly dedicated to their soul mission.


These souls are most likely to work in logical thinking roles; science, technology, architecture, city planning, coding etc.


Surprisingly, Arcturians also possess emotional abilities. Many Arcturians are natural healers and possess the innate ability to become a Shaman, should they feel a calling.


They’re also incredibly gifted at divination and channelling.


Arcturian Starseed traits:

• Drawn to Arcturus star system
• Natural born leaders
• Very charismatic
• Incredibly telepathic, can receive information via the mind
• Highly passionate about their work
• Logical thinkers
• Organisers and planners of the world
• Great public speakers
• Love attention, extroverted
• May seem big-headed or egotistical if out of alignment
• Highly intelligent and motivated
• Often will climb a ‘corporate’ ladder on Earth (tendency to rise to the top)
• Often found in fields such as: mathematics, data, science, communication, technology, medicine, engineering, architecture
• Interested in how things work
• Can be compassionate, but very guarded with their emotions
• May seem callous as they’re not in tune with other people’s emotions
• Gifted at the art of divination/tarot
• Good channelers
• Interested in the mathematical side of spirituality e.g. sacred geometry, natal charts (signs, degrees etc)
• Often very confident, with a high drive for success
• Wants to live in a world where spirituality and science can blend
• Shows anger when they’re upset

 

[blissblogger]

Nah, it's nothing like King's Solomon's Mines or Jules Verne. It starts with a seance or spiritualist type meeting in an Edwardian living room, there are three gentlemen yes... but then quickly.... well, it's hard to say what proceeds from that, paraphrase wouldn't quite convey.... logic and plausibility quickly disappear without any loss of a sense of reality or grim seriousness... it's a slightly barmy religious vision that you can't shake off. The outer space location (Tormance, a planet around Arcturus) is by the by really...

 

[Mr. Tea]

Not sure whether to recommend this course to @luka, or to ask if he's teaching it:

 

[sus]

I always wondered what and who I was, I never quite understood or related to my fellow "humans"... but looking at the list of character traits, it is clear I was an Arcturian Starseed all along!

 

[Mr. Tea]

I always wondered what and who I was, I never quite understood or related to my fellow "humans"... but looking at the list of character traits, it is clear I was an Arcturian Starseed all along!

Clearly far superior to being one of those rather humdrum Indigo Children one used to hear about.