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The Golden Book of Springfield
Fiction. Vachel Lindsay (1879-1931) was the most intensely romantic U.S. poet of his generation, a Prairie State populist called by Harriet Monroe of Poetry the most gifted and original poet we have ever printed. In this radically nonconformist dream of the future, the coffee houses, movie theatres, streets and parks of Springfield in the Mystic Year 2018 is the setting for a valient struggle to transform a village dominated by shady politicians, lynch mobs, commercialism and cocaine into a new paradise. THE GOLDEN BOOK offers no blueprint, but rather a poet's possibilities dreamed at the cross streets of vision.
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First published January 1, 1920
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Vachel Lindsay
202 books20 followersVachel Lindsay was an American poet responsible for pioneering modern singing poetry. His most famous work is "The Congo" which clearly exhibits his focus on sound in his poetry, using onomotopeia to imitate the pounding drums and chants of Congo's indigenous people.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 12, 2024
FIRST TIER: This first section, intended for those who want a "quick glance" summation of my thoughts without having to wade through the palaver below, is proving somewhat difficult to compose in this case. Truthfully, very few modern readers are going to consider reading this flawed book and those that do (like myself) will be attracted to it by its surface details - man in 1918 writes book about Springfield, Illinois in 2018. With 2018 nearly done, even that specific ardor will cool (are you rushing out to read something set in the far flung future of 1993?) and, as it turns out, is not really even the point of the exercise. The point of the exercise (visionary/religious cry for world peace through a patriotic lens) is even less likely to attract modern readers. And yet, it wasn't as if this was not interesting in its own, weird way, but that speaks more to my own particular predilections and interests than "the common reader". So, WHO WOULD LIKE THIS BOOK? - those interested in American sociopolitical and religious thought circa 1918, as clumsily filtered through the mind of a poet. Does that sound like you? I will quote myself from further in the review: "In truth, THE GOLDEN BOOK is that most common of literary occurrences, the 'Interesting Failure' " - but as to how "interesting" you may find it, that falls on YOU.
SECOND TIER: Because, as I said, despite taking place from March-November, 2018 this is not really a book about "the future" in any science fiction sense. Those reading it from that viewpoint (see Warren Fournier's review here, and I give him props for even reading the thing) will be disappointed, not the least of all by the book's clumsiness and atypical construction (it seems to start as one thing but eventually becomes another). And, when I make that accusation of clumsiness, I'm not the modern, circumscribed reader that finds anything without cell phones impossible to get through. A recent read like, say, Wagner the Werewolf from 1846 was more readable and better constructed - despite its endless Gothic meanderings - than this. So a failed book nearly a century old, who cares? Yet, there were interesting details to The Golden Book of Springfield, to be eked out by the patient and the attentive - some deliberate, some offhand, some accidental. So I can't call it a total mess. Proceed at your own risk.
THIRD TIER: And now, the meat of it. Which I have a lot to say about.
We are told how certain citizens of Springfield, Illinois in the year 1918 have visions of a glorious, miraculous event that occurs in the city in early November, 2018. Than, we zero in on one character who has an extended vision of "occupying/observing" the life of an artist in the city from March to November of 2018 (with his consciousness occasionally shifting to other characters), and from him we are given a current snapshot of the socioeconomic, religious and political situation of 2018 - conflicted and fraught by potential war. But our character is prone to religious visions, which then take over the book, as the political narrative is hastily wrapped up in a coda.
As I said above, reading this book for "this is what someone from 1918 thought the world would be like in 2018" would not prove particularly fruitful. Undeniably, the book has to acknowledge advancements and changes, but they serve mostly as minor, read-between-the-lines backdrop or the details of the "local politics" narrative (which appears to be the main point, until it is cast aside). In the minor arena, we get offhand mentions of "vacuum-cleaned streets" and "soot-eaters", little to no mention of cars (lots of healthy long walks) but personal airplanes are a thing (and a dispute over them leads to the nearly inconsequential "Flying Machine Riots"), there are what sound like high-powered bullet trains ("Corn Dragon Engines") and near-jet aircraft ("Dragon-Fly Flying Machines"), and despite a preponderance of "old school" styled military forces (horse-cavalry who parade wielding thin, flexible "Avanel Blade" swords) there *is* mention of the dangerous "lens gun" (which, reportedly, Singapore now has version of that is "two steps beyond"). Sociopolitically: More women vote than men, and women are now more widely employed in various jobs. Entertainment establishment owners, business owners and sports figures are ceded the same respect that doctors, lawyers & university heads got, but this is also true of junk dealers, cobblers, garbage handlers, patent medicine compounders, as well as sculptors, screenwriters and movie directors. Alcohol has been outlawed since prohibition and everyone frequents coffeehouses, motion picture houses (slapstick films still exist) and the disreputable "yellow dance halls" (dancing establishments, themed on or owned by Malaysians, where one can listen to wild music, indulge in "very daring" social dancing and surreptitiously buy alcohol or cocaine - so, there are still alcoholics & drug addicts). Newsstands still carry THE ATLANTIC, POETRY, VOGUE and VANITY FAIR. The Industrial Revolution still rages on with strikes, picketing, boycotts, blacklisting, massacres and "general annoyances" - but "unskilled laborer" is the lowest class (most people are employed in some field founded by their families or clans) and Springfield strives to be "democratic, artistic, religious and patriarchal." Relative to that, millionaires ("having a private fortune") are forbidden by the constitution to exist but they still do, and hide their money ("buried gold") while influencing politics. There is a World Government, but this seems more like a cross between Interpol and the United Nations, overseeing disputes and working towards the good of all (seemingly any nation can leave when they want and all members are still sovereign nations with their own flags and national pride). Since most religions have settled their differences in this future, national conflicts now arise because of clashes between Marxists and Hegelians and, because countries may take up many economic systems, these are then cast locally into racialist frames, so there is always conflict.
Onto that backdrop, we are given the narrative of the unnamed artist in Springfield, 2018, his romance with Avanel Boone, and his observations of the local political situation (Avanel is daughter of Black Hawk Boone - head of the powerful Board Of Education and opponent of corrupt mayor Kopensky, who is the underling of corrupt capitalist/manipulator/king-maker Dr. Mayo Sims and his entourage of lackeys). The art student suitor is berated and mocked by the strong-willed Avanel - she only seems to want his unending worship and respect, as she is haughty with "overwhelming vanity and unbreakable pride" - and yet still one of our positive "protagonists"! The romance, while given some space early on, later falls almost completely by the wayside. The local political conflicts (and their subterranean ties to the wily, scheming university professor "The Man From Singapore" - who may be named Kling - and his petulant, jealous, beautiful daughter Maya) take up a lot more of the book, but less as an important ongoing narrative (though it seems to be at the start) and more in a symbolic purpose as it allows a way of sketching the times and the moral/social conflicts of the situation. But saying it like that gives it more respect than it earns in the actual writing - you could just as easily say that Lindsay starts with the intention of sketching Springfield in 2018 through a number of characters, sets up the situation of these characters and gives us a focus figure, shows us the overly complicated situation, then quickly gets bored with the initial presumed conceit (a bunch of future character POVs), his focus character (the romance), and then even the local political conflict and decides that all the weight should fall on allegorical religious visions. So, for example, the "air machine riots" amount to almost nothing, and if I'm reading the ending correctly, )
Which is *fine* but not necessarily satisfying for a reader of any time period, and makes one feel that Lindsay treated this "novel" like poetry, creating as he went along and letting the spirit move him, abandoning direction as he saw fit, with little to no editing or care for his audience. There are no real "characters" (certainly not in the way modern readers demand, and barely even as expected at the time) with only Avanel taking on some shine from the narrative polish. And so what you are left with is an odd, curate's egg of a book, more interesting for strange details, accidental resonances and inadvertent connections than for its overall content. In truth, The Golden Book of Springfield is that most common of literary occurrences, the "Interesting Failure."
Which could serve as an ending to this overly long review, but not yet. There are two important mitigating factors that must be taken into consideration with all of the above - Lindsay's religious beliefs/approach and his American political viewpoint. The latter is probably the most difficult to grasp in this day and age (and I am no expert, nor do I even have much of a vague interest in the topic) but it must be said that the book is suffused with Lindsay's core beliefs in American Democracy (as he saw it) and the historical symbolic importance the country itself had for the rest of the world in upholding those beliefs. But given the time this was written, this "Americanism" does not synch with a modern, reductionist take of jingoistic "patriotism." Remember, this was written just after World War I and only a decade after a hideous race riot tore Springfield apart, and just before The Great Depression and World War II killed a lot of the nascent, grassroots spirit in America (when, for good reason, knowledge of the Holocaust and the threat of Bomb turned a good portion of the world into cynics). So here you have a poet who wants to extol the virtues of his home town and elevate its reputation to mythic proportions, while also acknowledging the changes concurrent in the world from his quasi-progressive point of view (and understand, I'm placing Lindsay into his historical context, so please spare me the Monday morning quarterbacking of so-called progressive millenials, who seem to spend all their time critiquing the past as not being up to their "enlightened" standards instead of, I don't know, organizing to stop the actual rise of fascism in the here and now. But then shooting fish in a barrel is easier than marching on a picket line...). So, its bound to be baffling, contradictory and weird even BEFORE we fold in the religious stuff. The "advanced" vision that Lindsay gives us here is an America where things are working and have moved forward (there is a great dedication to civic pride) but many faults remain (thus meaning that this is neither a Utopian or Dystopian novel) and particularly informed by his 19th Century, settler/romantic view of things. So, for example, American political and historical figures are elevated to religious sainthood (shrines for Abraham Lincoln, Johnny Appleseed, Hunter Kelly, etc.) and Springfield itself is imagined as a shining, walled (designed by Ralph Adams Cram, no less!) and rainbow-towered city, hosting a World's Fair in 2018, a beacon to the country and the world as a place where good is done and the future is made. So, in the finale, when great cosmic boats spread out across the Universe (yup!) emblazoned with the flag of Springfield and Illinois, this is not as weird as it may seem at first. And all this colors the intent of the book in such a way that, no doubt, those not expecting such elevated levels of promulgating civic evangelism may be turned off.
Add in that Lindsay is trying to wrestle with the social realities and debates of his time, again from his inclusive, quasi-progressive POV, and so you end up with a work that will please few modern readers. Those desiring a polemic about religion exploiting the masses will be disappointed (although the Evangelicals *are* tools of the corrupt Mayor), while those hoping for unbridled support of their particular creed will likely also leave the book wanting (Lindsay is not interested in being overly critical of religion, either, except the cocaine slavery of the Green Glass Buddha). Those looking for nationalist fervor will enjoy the patriotism but be puzzled by Lindsay's lukewarm treatment of the World Government - truly neither wholly beneficent nor an evil calculated to stamp out personal freedom, it remains instead an inevitability. Capitalist and Socialist alike will find little to make them happy - wealthy businessmen are mostly corrupt, manipulating events and people to their own end, but the working classes are all fiercely independent and clannish, constantly at odds with each other over minor details, and labor strife continues 100 years in the future. Lindsay, not surprisingly for his time, believes in patriarchal lineages, yet gives us many female figures of respect and might (the amazonian Avanel and Portia the Singing Aviatrix, to name two) and St. Friend preaches that all should adopt "the religion of honoring woman as a comrade citizen." Race, always problematic with Lindsay who was anti-slavery (but roundly criticized for his stated positions) is also a problem as presented here, in a strange mix of anti-racist and racialist thought (Blacks have gained respect in the community, the mingling of some races is good, but certain "pronounced race types" gain strength in staying separated - though this is not true of the white race, religious thought is tempered by a believer's race, etc.), And on and on. But none of this is actually the point of the thing, and occurs in the background and offhandedly.
The point of the thing (and the second factor mentioned above) is that along with being intended as a rousing championing of American Democracy, the book's vision of the future is bound up in a religious vision of mankind's ultimate fate, as predicted by the appearance of the miraculous, flying, "all things to all people" text of the Golden Book ("a friend of men, disposed to descend to its friends"), written in an abandoned Heaven (more later) by St. Scribe (who may have been Hunter Kelly or Johnny Appleseed) and propagated to us in November, 2018. This vision (which, with what little I know, sounds Ecumenical or, more so, Unitarian) proceeds from a 2018 in which most major religions seem to have settled their differences, acknowledged their similarities, and work in tandem towards the greater goal of bettering humanity (so, yeah, that prediction was total hogwash), even embracing the 20th Century founding of a matriarchal "religion of flowers and trees" (which essentially predicts the rise of Neo-Paganism). The book slowly, and then increasingly, becomes overrun with our narrator's religious visions which provide a commentary on the 20th Century (more on that in a moment) and a path to the eventual end ("The whole human race is the mystical body of Christ, soon to be raised from the dead"). This is even inclusive enough to acknowledge Buddhism, with the awkward shifting to our narrator inhabiting "The Thibetan Boy" and experiencing a vision of the edge of Space and Time where he sees Siddhartha, the Buddha, enact "The Great Going Forth From Home" and attaining cosmic consciousness. The ending of the book, which does not seem to be a vision but an actuality, has our narrator and Avanel ascending to an abandoned, overgrown heaven in a flying boat and overcoming their personal demon/devil figure (the Handsome Medicine Man: Devil's Gold). At that point, given the rather lumpen progress the narrative had traced, I wondered whether Lindsay himself had undergone (and was looking to record) these religious visions, or if perhaps he was an undiagnosed schizophrenic (I don't mean that as a slur against the religious visionary OR schizophrenics, honestly). And there is the final point and revelation, which unfortunately I could only fit into the first comment below, where I talk about the visions. But then "There are many earthly languages. There are many heavenly languages. There are many blazing, blinding tomorrows. But they all lead to the same glorious tomorrow at last."
So there's all that to contend with. And if it was woven together expertly, then The Golden Book of Springfield might be seen as some kind of classic oddity (like A Voyage to Arcturus, instead of forgotten, as it is. But it isn't woven together well at all, and could be seen as an example against visionary writing which does not simply embrace what it is and, instead, strives to present a narrative, without being interested in doing the needed work.
(CONTINUED IN FIRST COMMENT)
SECOND TIER: Because, as I said, despite taking place from March-November, 2018 this is not really a book about "the future" in any science fiction sense. Those reading it from that viewpoint (see Warren Fournier's review here, and I give him props for even reading the thing) will be disappointed, not the least of all by the book's clumsiness and atypical construction (it seems to start as one thing but eventually becomes another). And, when I make that accusation of clumsiness, I'm not the modern, circumscribed reader that finds anything without cell phones impossible to get through. A recent read like, say, Wagner the Werewolf from 1846 was more readable and better constructed - despite its endless Gothic meanderings - than this. So a failed book nearly a century old, who cares? Yet, there were interesting details to The Golden Book of Springfield, to be eked out by the patient and the attentive - some deliberate, some offhand, some accidental. So I can't call it a total mess. Proceed at your own risk.
THIRD TIER: And now, the meat of it. Which I have a lot to say about.
We are told how certain citizens of Springfield, Illinois in the year 1918 have visions of a glorious, miraculous event that occurs in the city in early November, 2018. Than, we zero in on one character who has an extended vision of "occupying/observing" the life of an artist in the city from March to November of 2018 (with his consciousness occasionally shifting to other characters), and from him we are given a current snapshot of the socioeconomic, religious and political situation of 2018 - conflicted and fraught by potential war. But our character is prone to religious visions, which then take over the book, as the political narrative is hastily wrapped up in a coda.
As I said above, reading this book for "this is what someone from 1918 thought the world would be like in 2018" would not prove particularly fruitful. Undeniably, the book has to acknowledge advancements and changes, but they serve mostly as minor, read-between-the-lines backdrop or the details of the "local politics" narrative (which appears to be the main point, until it is cast aside). In the minor arena, we get offhand mentions of "vacuum-cleaned streets" and "soot-eaters", little to no mention of cars (lots of healthy long walks) but personal airplanes are a thing (and a dispute over them leads to the nearly inconsequential "Flying Machine Riots"), there are what sound like high-powered bullet trains ("Corn Dragon Engines") and near-jet aircraft ("Dragon-Fly Flying Machines"), and despite a preponderance of "old school" styled military forces (horse-cavalry who parade wielding thin, flexible "Avanel Blade" swords) there *is* mention of the dangerous "lens gun" (which, reportedly, Singapore now has version of that is "two steps beyond"). Sociopolitically: More women vote than men, and women are now more widely employed in various jobs. Entertainment establishment owners, business owners and sports figures are ceded the same respect that doctors, lawyers & university heads got, but this is also true of junk dealers, cobblers, garbage handlers, patent medicine compounders, as well as sculptors, screenwriters and movie directors. Alcohol has been outlawed since prohibition and everyone frequents coffeehouses, motion picture houses (slapstick films still exist) and the disreputable "yellow dance halls" (dancing establishments, themed on or owned by Malaysians, where one can listen to wild music, indulge in "very daring" social dancing and surreptitiously buy alcohol or cocaine - so, there are still alcoholics & drug addicts). Newsstands still carry THE ATLANTIC, POETRY, VOGUE and VANITY FAIR. The Industrial Revolution still rages on with strikes, picketing, boycotts, blacklisting, massacres and "general annoyances" - but "unskilled laborer" is the lowest class (most people are employed in some field founded by their families or clans) and Springfield strives to be "democratic, artistic, religious and patriarchal." Relative to that, millionaires ("having a private fortune") are forbidden by the constitution to exist but they still do, and hide their money ("buried gold") while influencing politics. There is a World Government, but this seems more like a cross between Interpol and the United Nations, overseeing disputes and working towards the good of all (seemingly any nation can leave when they want and all members are still sovereign nations with their own flags and national pride). Since most religions have settled their differences in this future, national conflicts now arise because of clashes between Marxists and Hegelians and, because countries may take up many economic systems, these are then cast locally into racialist frames, so there is always conflict.
Onto that backdrop, we are given the narrative of the unnamed artist in Springfield, 2018, his romance with Avanel Boone, and his observations of the local political situation (Avanel is daughter of Black Hawk Boone - head of the powerful Board Of Education and opponent of corrupt mayor Kopensky, who is the underling of corrupt capitalist/manipulator/king-maker Dr. Mayo Sims and his entourage of lackeys). The art student suitor is berated and mocked by the strong-willed Avanel - she only seems to want his unending worship and respect, as she is haughty with "overwhelming vanity and unbreakable pride" - and yet still one of our positive "protagonists"! The romance, while given some space early on, later falls almost completely by the wayside. The local political conflicts (and their subterranean ties to the wily, scheming university professor "The Man From Singapore" - who may be named Kling - and his petulant, jealous, beautiful daughter Maya) take up a lot more of the book, but less as an important ongoing narrative (though it seems to be at the start) and more in a symbolic purpose as it allows a way of sketching the times and the moral/social conflicts of the situation. But saying it like that gives it more respect than it earns in the actual writing - you could just as easily say that Lindsay starts with the intention of sketching Springfield in 2018 through a number of characters, sets up the situation of these characters and gives us a focus figure, shows us the overly complicated situation, then quickly gets bored with the initial presumed conceit (a bunch of future character POVs), his focus character (the romance), and then even the local political conflict and decides that all the weight should fall on allegorical religious visions. So, for example, the "air machine riots" amount to almost nothing, and if I'm reading the ending correctly, )
Which is *fine* but not necessarily satisfying for a reader of any time period, and makes one feel that Lindsay treated this "novel" like poetry, creating as he went along and letting the spirit move him, abandoning direction as he saw fit, with little to no editing or care for his audience. There are no real "characters" (certainly not in the way modern readers demand, and barely even as expected at the time) with only Avanel taking on some shine from the narrative polish. And so what you are left with is an odd, curate's egg of a book, more interesting for strange details, accidental resonances and inadvertent connections than for its overall content. In truth, The Golden Book of Springfield is that most common of literary occurrences, the "Interesting Failure."
Which could serve as an ending to this overly long review, but not yet. There are two important mitigating factors that must be taken into consideration with all of the above - Lindsay's religious beliefs/approach and his American political viewpoint. The latter is probably the most difficult to grasp in this day and age (and I am no expert, nor do I even have much of a vague interest in the topic) but it must be said that the book is suffused with Lindsay's core beliefs in American Democracy (as he saw it) and the historical symbolic importance the country itself had for the rest of the world in upholding those beliefs. But given the time this was written, this "Americanism" does not synch with a modern, reductionist take of jingoistic "patriotism." Remember, this was written just after World War I and only a decade after a hideous race riot tore Springfield apart, and just before The Great Depression and World War II killed a lot of the nascent, grassroots spirit in America (when, for good reason, knowledge of the Holocaust and the threat of Bomb turned a good portion of the world into cynics). So here you have a poet who wants to extol the virtues of his home town and elevate its reputation to mythic proportions, while also acknowledging the changes concurrent in the world from his quasi-progressive point of view (and understand, I'm placing Lindsay into his historical context, so please spare me the Monday morning quarterbacking of so-called progressive millenials, who seem to spend all their time critiquing the past as not being up to their "enlightened" standards instead of, I don't know, organizing to stop the actual rise of fascism in the here and now. But then shooting fish in a barrel is easier than marching on a picket line...). So, its bound to be baffling, contradictory and weird even BEFORE we fold in the religious stuff. The "advanced" vision that Lindsay gives us here is an America where things are working and have moved forward (there is a great dedication to civic pride) but many faults remain (thus meaning that this is neither a Utopian or Dystopian novel) and particularly informed by his 19th Century, settler/romantic view of things. So, for example, American political and historical figures are elevated to religious sainthood (shrines for Abraham Lincoln, Johnny Appleseed, Hunter Kelly, etc.) and Springfield itself is imagined as a shining, walled (designed by Ralph Adams Cram, no less!) and rainbow-towered city, hosting a World's Fair in 2018, a beacon to the country and the world as a place where good is done and the future is made. So, in the finale, when great cosmic boats spread out across the Universe (yup!) emblazoned with the flag of Springfield and Illinois, this is not as weird as it may seem at first. And all this colors the intent of the book in such a way that, no doubt, those not expecting such elevated levels of promulgating civic evangelism may be turned off.
Add in that Lindsay is trying to wrestle with the social realities and debates of his time, again from his inclusive, quasi-progressive POV, and so you end up with a work that will please few modern readers. Those desiring a polemic about religion exploiting the masses will be disappointed (although the Evangelicals *are* tools of the corrupt Mayor), while those hoping for unbridled support of their particular creed will likely also leave the book wanting (Lindsay is not interested in being overly critical of religion, either, except the cocaine slavery of the Green Glass Buddha). Those looking for nationalist fervor will enjoy the patriotism but be puzzled by Lindsay's lukewarm treatment of the World Government - truly neither wholly beneficent nor an evil calculated to stamp out personal freedom, it remains instead an inevitability. Capitalist and Socialist alike will find little to make them happy - wealthy businessmen are mostly corrupt, manipulating events and people to their own end, but the working classes are all fiercely independent and clannish, constantly at odds with each other over minor details, and labor strife continues 100 years in the future. Lindsay, not surprisingly for his time, believes in patriarchal lineages, yet gives us many female figures of respect and might (the amazonian Avanel and Portia the Singing Aviatrix, to name two) and St. Friend preaches that all should adopt "the religion of honoring woman as a comrade citizen." Race, always problematic with Lindsay who was anti-slavery (but roundly criticized for his stated positions) is also a problem as presented here, in a strange mix of anti-racist and racialist thought (Blacks have gained respect in the community, the mingling of some races is good, but certain "pronounced race types" gain strength in staying separated - though this is not true of the white race, religious thought is tempered by a believer's race, etc.), And on and on. But none of this is actually the point of the thing, and occurs in the background and offhandedly.
The point of the thing (and the second factor mentioned above) is that along with being intended as a rousing championing of American Democracy, the book's vision of the future is bound up in a religious vision of mankind's ultimate fate, as predicted by the appearance of the miraculous, flying, "all things to all people" text of the Golden Book ("a friend of men, disposed to descend to its friends"), written in an abandoned Heaven (more later) by St. Scribe (who may have been Hunter Kelly or Johnny Appleseed) and propagated to us in November, 2018. This vision (which, with what little I know, sounds Ecumenical or, more so, Unitarian) proceeds from a 2018 in which most major religions seem to have settled their differences, acknowledged their similarities, and work in tandem towards the greater goal of bettering humanity (so, yeah, that prediction was total hogwash), even embracing the 20th Century founding of a matriarchal "religion of flowers and trees" (which essentially predicts the rise of Neo-Paganism). The book slowly, and then increasingly, becomes overrun with our narrator's religious visions which provide a commentary on the 20th Century (more on that in a moment) and a path to the eventual end ("The whole human race is the mystical body of Christ, soon to be raised from the dead"). This is even inclusive enough to acknowledge Buddhism, with the awkward shifting to our narrator inhabiting "The Thibetan Boy" and experiencing a vision of the edge of Space and Time where he sees Siddhartha, the Buddha, enact "The Great Going Forth From Home" and attaining cosmic consciousness. The ending of the book, which does not seem to be a vision but an actuality, has our narrator and Avanel ascending to an abandoned, overgrown heaven in a flying boat and overcoming their personal demon/devil figure (the Handsome Medicine Man: Devil's Gold). At that point, given the rather lumpen progress the narrative had traced, I wondered whether Lindsay himself had undergone (and was looking to record) these religious visions, or if perhaps he was an undiagnosed schizophrenic (I don't mean that as a slur against the religious visionary OR schizophrenics, honestly). And there is the final point and revelation, which unfortunately I could only fit into the first comment below, where I talk about the visions. But then "There are many earthly languages. There are many heavenly languages. There are many blazing, blinding tomorrows. But they all lead to the same glorious tomorrow at last."
So there's all that to contend with. And if it was woven together expertly, then The Golden Book of Springfield might be seen as some kind of classic oddity (like A Voyage to Arcturus, instead of forgotten, as it is. But it isn't woven together well at all, and could be seen as an example against visionary writing which does not simply embrace what it is and, instead, strives to present a narrative, without being interested in doing the needed work.
(CONTINUED IN FIRST COMMENT)
January 2, 2019
According to this weird piece of sci-fi, the Golden Book is supposed to be revealed in November 2018. Well, as it so happens, it was November 2018 when I stumbled upon this almost forgotten vision of the future by American poet Vachel Lindsay. Sheer, morbid curiosity compelled me to finish this bizarre rambling of a novel.
Let me preface by admitting that I am a big fan of scifi literature from the oughts to the 30s. These works, though sometimes hard to digest, are rife with insight into not only the culture and politics of those decades, but of the roots of our contemporary sociopolitical and scientific issues. Usually, these stories can be quite ahead of their time and poignant today. However, what I keep seeing in these so-called "utopian" fantasies popular in the era is how sheltered the opinions and politics are of these otherwise well-educated and brilliant writers--a product of hob-nobbing in intellectual and influential circles, their own cozy academic pursuits, and the popular opinions and fears of European culture of the mid-to-late 19th Century. I have enjoyed and appreciated these works, but they take on very progressive airs, full of anti-racism and sympathy for the working classes, while being littered with their own brand of racism and affection for plutocracy. H. G. Wells, despite his humble beginnings, has several examples of these problems throughout his illustrious career. One gets the sense that these writers all understood things were strangely broken in the world, but they themselves became too engrossed in the very culture they criticized to think completely out of the box. Thus they could never fully escape their own prejudices and elitism, and can come across as either hypocritical or well-meaning eccentrics.
This novel paints a prime illustration of the folly of progressive science fiction of the era. America is in conflict, once again, with a "Yellow Peril," keeping in the tone of Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu and Francis Phillip Nolan's Anthony (Buck) Rogers villains. Like the aforementioned utopias of Wells, I can and have enjoyed vintage sci-fi and adventure despite these inherent issues of the times they were written. But in this case, I couldn't tell if Lindsay was spoofing this trend of his generation or attempting to mimic it. As a piece of "enlightened" mysticism that was supposed to change the world, I had a little bit of an issue with Lindsay's possible lack of self-awareness here. Most bizarrely, instead of a mighty China, little Singapore is singled out as the threat in this outing. Though Singapore was only a Crown Colony at the time this book was written, Lindsay has the Malay island somehow buying up half the world by 2018, its power and wealth largely coming from its trade in cocaine. Yes, cocaine. Not opium.
Ironically, Lindsay's fantasy about the rise of the future Singapore is prophetic. In today's reality, the city-state is credited with ascending from the 3rd world to the 1st world in a single generation, and the UN ranks it as having the 3rd highest GDP per capita. But the Singapore Lindsay knew in 1920 was certainly having problems with opium, which largely impacted and victimized its own population; whereas, cocaine was touted, applauded, and abused in the Western world by Popes, Presidents, and famous explorers, thinkers, and writers from largely South American sources. It is possible Lindsay wouldn't have known the difference between cocaine and opium anyway--but he certainly knew that, by 1920, Americans were wild about their good cocaine, and the Yellow Peril was a popular antagonist in film and literature at the time.
Lindsay was proud of being anti-racist, but has been criticized for "romantic racism." I can see where this criticism is valid in this novel, which is loaded with unnecessary comments that Lindsay probably thought was endearing to "the noble savages" but which are really cringe-worthy, such as having his New Springfield "Negroes" worshipping in Baptist churches decorated in jungle themes... because... whatever.
The whole book is a disjointed mess. Mostly, characters are just walking around, drinking coffee, and talking about politics, but then will inexplicably be transported on a cloud to a hill of daisies to talk to a gnome, or to the edge of space-time to see the real Buddha. People are lynched or killed with poor or no explanation. Few people are introduced with any clear motivation or purpose. Confusing references to Amaranth-apples and Golden Gateway trees are abundant, yet you are never really offered an explanation of their importance. And most baffling of all, you never really understand what's in the Golden Book or why Springfield is such an important center for all this mysticism and world struggle at all. These flaws can't seem to be attributed to misunderstood allegory, poetic license, or genius. In fact, sometimes I felt I was reading the product of a mind suffering from untreated manic illness.
Mixed among long, preachy tirades about religious unity, the sexual cause of racism and nationalist wars, mystical acid trips, Swedenborgian lingo, and just general nonsense is a fair share of typical sci-fi elements, though they are rather oddly placed and undeveloped. There's the One World Government that Lindsay seems ambivalent towards at best. There's sword-wielding Amazon women from the magical land of Cairo, Illinois and descended from Daniel Boone who seem quite powerful, yet who do nothing but parade and dance. There's a brief flying machine fight between two competing factions (the Robins and the Snobs), and "lens gun" battles that are only referenced second-hand. There's some prophetic controversy over a scheme to bring in undocumented aliens to the city to manipulate voting demographics. New Springfield itself is a place that requires an entrance exam for citizenship and is encased in a wall and adorned in glass towers with spectacular views of whatever is left of the Illinois prairies in 2018.
And speaking of Springfield, the author clearly was obsessed with his hometown in an unnatural way, and the inspiration for much of this work seems to come from romanticizing legendary figures from Illinois history. If you read about his upbringing, you might understand why this could be. But nevertheless, you will get quite sick of hearing about Johnny Appleseed, John Kelly, and Abraham Lincoln, among others, who are practically and literally canonized in this book. Much like my criticism of many of the more political works of this era, I find the discrepancy between what is preached vs the overall tone of the work either amusing or jarring. I am not interested in a work with an ideology I completely support, nor do I want to spend time reading something I can agree with on every point, but I do expect just some consistency in the narrative and message. In Lindsay's case, he seems to want to steer the reader towards empathy of a more global and universal system in a work that is at heart very populist.
But Lindsay himself barely ever left Springfield in his lifetime. Springfield was all he knew. And it shows in this very shallow work with an expansive ego.
Check it out primarily for its historical value, as there is a lot going on here to explore further in your private studies.
Let me preface by admitting that I am a big fan of scifi literature from the oughts to the 30s. These works, though sometimes hard to digest, are rife with insight into not only the culture and politics of those decades, but of the roots of our contemporary sociopolitical and scientific issues. Usually, these stories can be quite ahead of their time and poignant today. However, what I keep seeing in these so-called "utopian" fantasies popular in the era is how sheltered the opinions and politics are of these otherwise well-educated and brilliant writers--a product of hob-nobbing in intellectual and influential circles, their own cozy academic pursuits, and the popular opinions and fears of European culture of the mid-to-late 19th Century. I have enjoyed and appreciated these works, but they take on very progressive airs, full of anti-racism and sympathy for the working classes, while being littered with their own brand of racism and affection for plutocracy. H. G. Wells, despite his humble beginnings, has several examples of these problems throughout his illustrious career. One gets the sense that these writers all understood things were strangely broken in the world, but they themselves became too engrossed in the very culture they criticized to think completely out of the box. Thus they could never fully escape their own prejudices and elitism, and can come across as either hypocritical or well-meaning eccentrics.
This novel paints a prime illustration of the folly of progressive science fiction of the era. America is in conflict, once again, with a "Yellow Peril," keeping in the tone of Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu and Francis Phillip Nolan's Anthony (Buck) Rogers villains. Like the aforementioned utopias of Wells, I can and have enjoyed vintage sci-fi and adventure despite these inherent issues of the times they were written. But in this case, I couldn't tell if Lindsay was spoofing this trend of his generation or attempting to mimic it. As a piece of "enlightened" mysticism that was supposed to change the world, I had a little bit of an issue with Lindsay's possible lack of self-awareness here. Most bizarrely, instead of a mighty China, little Singapore is singled out as the threat in this outing. Though Singapore was only a Crown Colony at the time this book was written, Lindsay has the Malay island somehow buying up half the world by 2018, its power and wealth largely coming from its trade in cocaine. Yes, cocaine. Not opium.
Ironically, Lindsay's fantasy about the rise of the future Singapore is prophetic. In today's reality, the city-state is credited with ascending from the 3rd world to the 1st world in a single generation, and the UN ranks it as having the 3rd highest GDP per capita. But the Singapore Lindsay knew in 1920 was certainly having problems with opium, which largely impacted and victimized its own population; whereas, cocaine was touted, applauded, and abused in the Western world by Popes, Presidents, and famous explorers, thinkers, and writers from largely South American sources. It is possible Lindsay wouldn't have known the difference between cocaine and opium anyway--but he certainly knew that, by 1920, Americans were wild about their good cocaine, and the Yellow Peril was a popular antagonist in film and literature at the time.
Lindsay was proud of being anti-racist, but has been criticized for "romantic racism." I can see where this criticism is valid in this novel, which is loaded with unnecessary comments that Lindsay probably thought was endearing to "the noble savages" but which are really cringe-worthy, such as having his New Springfield "Negroes" worshipping in Baptist churches decorated in jungle themes... because... whatever.
The whole book is a disjointed mess. Mostly, characters are just walking around, drinking coffee, and talking about politics, but then will inexplicably be transported on a cloud to a hill of daisies to talk to a gnome, or to the edge of space-time to see the real Buddha. People are lynched or killed with poor or no explanation. Few people are introduced with any clear motivation or purpose. Confusing references to Amaranth-apples and Golden Gateway trees are abundant, yet you are never really offered an explanation of their importance. And most baffling of all, you never really understand what's in the Golden Book or why Springfield is such an important center for all this mysticism and world struggle at all. These flaws can't seem to be attributed to misunderstood allegory, poetic license, or genius. In fact, sometimes I felt I was reading the product of a mind suffering from untreated manic illness.
Mixed among long, preachy tirades about religious unity, the sexual cause of racism and nationalist wars, mystical acid trips, Swedenborgian lingo, and just general nonsense is a fair share of typical sci-fi elements, though they are rather oddly placed and undeveloped. There's the One World Government that Lindsay seems ambivalent towards at best. There's sword-wielding Amazon women from the magical land of Cairo, Illinois and descended from Daniel Boone who seem quite powerful, yet who do nothing but parade and dance. There's a brief flying machine fight between two competing factions (the Robins and the Snobs), and "lens gun" battles that are only referenced second-hand. There's some prophetic controversy over a scheme to bring in undocumented aliens to the city to manipulate voting demographics. New Springfield itself is a place that requires an entrance exam for citizenship and is encased in a wall and adorned in glass towers with spectacular views of whatever is left of the Illinois prairies in 2018.
And speaking of Springfield, the author clearly was obsessed with his hometown in an unnatural way, and the inspiration for much of this work seems to come from romanticizing legendary figures from Illinois history. If you read about his upbringing, you might understand why this could be. But nevertheless, you will get quite sick of hearing about Johnny Appleseed, John Kelly, and Abraham Lincoln, among others, who are practically and literally canonized in this book. Much like my criticism of many of the more political works of this era, I find the discrepancy between what is preached vs the overall tone of the work either amusing or jarring. I am not interested in a work with an ideology I completely support, nor do I want to spend time reading something I can agree with on every point, but I do expect just some consistency in the narrative and message. In Lindsay's case, he seems to want to steer the reader towards empathy of a more global and universal system in a work that is at heart very populist.
But Lindsay himself barely ever left Springfield in his lifetime. Springfield was all he knew. And it shows in this very shallow work with an expansive ego.
Check it out primarily for its historical value, as there is a lot going on here to explore further in your private studies.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 16, 2025
The year 2018 may have come and gone...but it was certainly nothing like it was depicted herein. This book never really appeared in November of 2018. Also, calling it the "book of Springfield" is lazy and unoriginal, mainly because not only is Springfield a city in Illinois, but there are so many cities in the United States under the name of Springfield, and it's almost hard to identify just which one and why (unless it really is the Illinois location). On that topic, there are in fact places of that same name as this book outside of the United States, located in Canada, Belize, Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand, England, Wales, Australia, and even the Virgin Islands. It's like naming it "The Book of John Smith". The only reason I read it was just to experience the vision of the future as funny as it may have seemed, but that's about it. It is not really worth the read. And it's clearly not golden.
December 25, 2021
Audiobook. It is hard to criticize someone for having a view of the future so deeply rooted in their present, but Lindsay’s ideas about everything from the roles of women to the importance of apples seem to lack imagination and have absolutely no awe or whimsy.
August 8, 2008
And there's a reason Springfield doesn't hail Lindsey's name...and it's not his politics.
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