The Infinite Cage and the Escape from Middle Earth

I had occasion to re-read another book, THE INFINITE CAGE, by Keith Laumer, and again to compare what shallow youth recalled versus what older eyes perceive.

This book was one of those rare cases where not only did I not remember the ending, I misremembered it, thinking some matter of my own unintentional invention was in the text when it was not. Here was my greatest surprise, for normally I have a very crisp and accurate memory of books I’ve read, as accurate as my memory for people I meet is vague, shabby, and neglectful.

A smaller surprise, but one more interesting to comment upon, was the unrelenting grimness, cynicism, and sourness of the tale. This was something which made no impression on my sunny youthful mind, who had neither taste for misanthropic pessimism nor, apparently, any ability to recognize or notice it. At the time, I also thought innocence was the same as naivety. It is not; they are nearly opposites. More on this later.

Laumer is a treat to read. Other writers try to put conflict and tension in their works, but end up lumbering along. Laumer defines conflict and tension. There are no wasted scenes and hardly a wasted word, and some dramatic thing happens each easy-to-turn page. His works written after 1971 might lack this quality; none from before do. I will not say he is in top form, because all his books are written with this same sparse prose, vivid turns of phrase, and lean, fast-paced action.

The novel is short and to the point. It concerns the tragic misadventures of an mind-reading superman with perfect memory, apparently infinite intelligence, but possessing at first no selfhood nor self-awareness, and, later, a simplistic and naïve personality, utterly innocent and trusting.

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Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.