The Eye of Purgatory

by Brian M. Stableford (Adapted By, Translator), Jacques Spitz

In The Experiment of Dr. Mops (1939), a man's vision is modified so that he can peer into the future at an accelerated rate, giving his entourage foreknowledge of events yet to come. Can the future be changed? And what will the subject see after his own death? The unhappy protagonist of The Eye Of Purgatory (1945) sees not the real future but an increasingly aging present, where death and decay became overpowering sights. This dark, introspective novel is a powerful reflection of the notion of time and aging, and is unique in the annals of science fiction. Jacques Spitz (1896-1963) was a grandmaster of French science fiction who penned eight groundbreaking novels between 1935 and 1945, becoming the worthy successor of Maurice Renard and J.-H. Rosny Aine, and heralding luminaries of the 1950s and 1960s such as Rene Barjavel, Jacques Sternberg and Pierre Boulle. In his fiction, Spitz used realistic, scientific details, his own wild and surrealistic imagination and pessimistic view of humanity, to craft tragicomic satires on a "cosmic" scale. His concerns anticipated the so-called "New Wave" and writers like J. G. Ballard and Thomas Disch by 30 years.

Genres: Science Fiction

244 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1945

About the author

Brian Michael Stableford was a British science fiction writer who published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped the middle initial and appeared under the name Brian Stableford. He also used the pseudonym Brian Craig for a couple of very early works, and again for a few more recent works. The pseudonym derives from the first names of himself and of a school friend from the 1960s, Craig A. Mackintosh, with whom he jointly published some very early work.

Reviews

[Rebecca Gransden]

Included are two short novels, both concerned with ways of seeing. The first, The Experiment of Dr. Mops, is an enjoyable musing on what it means to foresee future events.

The second is awesome. The Eye of Purgatory is a succinct exploration of existential dread, dressed in the threads of cosmological horror. I loved this story and would’ve read it in one sitting had I not interrupted myself. A young man begins to see unusual effects in the people and objects around him. Slowly the reason for this is revealed as the world he perceives rushes to an entropic vision. His perceptions entwine the present and future, and this painful duality illuminates his alarming circumstance.

This is a contender for the best thing I’ve read this year. I hope more of this author’s works are translated from the original french as I’m anxious to read his stories. If you can find a copy, this is highly recommended.

[Ed Erwin]

Contains translations of 2 early French SF novels with similar themes. In 'The Experiment of Dr. Mops' (1939), a man meets an eccentric scientist who has operated on his servant's brain giving him the ability to see progressively further into the future. He successfully predicts, for example, the drowning of the doctor's daughter and protagonist's girlfriend. Near the end of the novel there is a twist, making us doubt which parts actually happened.

In 'The Eye Of Purgatory' (1945), a painter is given, without his knowledge or consent, a treatment that causes him to see things only as they will be in the future. So, for example, he sees food as it will appear after he's eaten it, and people as older than they are, and eventually as skeletons or just dust. As you might imagine, this makes life difficult. The difference from the first novel is that we experience this vision from his point of view.

In both, the treatment of women by the protagonist is as problematic as the way the mad scientists treat their victims. For example, in the second book the protagonist boasts of the 299 women he's slept with (and yes, he counted).

The translation by Brian Stableford is fine. There are, however, quite a few typos such as "me" instead of "my".

[melo]

incuriosito da un articolo e una conferenza interessanti, per certi versi necessari, ho rimediato il titolo uscito in una vecchia edizione urania, con la voglia di fantascienza parzialmente soddisfatta, un senso di narrazione/traduzione incespicante, e uno sguardo altro sul mondo che alla fine rimane utile, spiazzante e necessario.