[close] A stunning achievement in speculative fiction, A Voyage to Arcturus has inspired, enchanted & unsettled readers for decades. It is simultaneously an epic quest across one of the most unusual & brilliantly depicted alien worlds ever conceived, a profoundly moving journey of discovery into the metaphysical heart of the universe & a shockingly intimate excursion into what makes us human & unique.
After a strange interstellar journey, Maskull, a man from Earth, awakens alone in a desert on the planet Tormance, seared by the suns of the binary star Arcturus. As he journeys northward, guided by a drumbeat, he encounters a world with inhabitants like no other, where gender is a victory won at dear cost; where landscape & emotion are drawn into an accursed dance; where heroes are killed, reborn & renamed; & where the cosmological lures of Shaping, who may be God, torment Maskull in his pilgrimage. At the end of his arduous & increasingly mystical quest waits a dark secret revelation.
A Voyage to Arcturus was the first novel by David Lindsay. It remains one of the most revered classics of science fiction. This commemorative edition features an introduction by noted scholar & writer of speculative fiction John Clute & an essay by Loren Eiseley.
David Lindsay (1874-1945) was a successful British businessman who turned to writing after World War I. Unfortunately, A Voyage to Arcturus, proved to be a commercial disaster at the time of its release. He spent the rest of his writing career struggling to achieve commercial success, with little result. A Voyage to Arcturus is a remarkable book on many levels. The Encyclopedia of Fantasy calls it "dazzlingly brilliant", a "masterpiece." Without doubt, it is a work for which Lindsay will be remembered. It is an allegorical fantasy, an adventure novel, an interplanetary romance & an exploration of humanity & sexuality from a time when such topics were largely taboo. It provides more than a few fascinating insights into human nature thru social Darwinism. And, although Philip Jose Farmer is largely credited with the introduction of sex into science fiction with his groundbreaking 1940s pulp SF story, "The Lovers," Lindsay navigated these waters decades earlier. [close]