A Voyage to Arcturus

by David Lindsay

Then, to his astonishment, he discovered that it was not a window at all but a lens.... The sky was not a wide expanse of space

containing a multitude of stars, but a blurred darkness, focused only in one part, where two very bright stars, like small moons in size, appeared in close conjunction; and near them a more minute planetary object, as brilliant as Venus and with an observable disk. One of the suns shone with a glaring white light; the other was a weird and awful blue. Their light, though almost solar in intensity, did not illuminate the interior of the tower.

Maskull knew at once that the system of s...

he was gazing was what is known to astronomy as the star Arcturus.... He had seen the sight before, through Krag's glass, but then the scale had been smaller, the colors of the twin suns had not appeared in their naked reality.... These colors seemed to him most marvellous, as if, in seeing them through earth eyes, he was not seeing them correctly.... But it was at Tormance that he stared the longe...

had been promised him that he would set foot, even though he might leave his bones there. The strange creatures that he was to behold and touch w...

"Don't you understand, Maskull, that you are only an instrument, to be...

"It is not a bad thing to hear voices," said Krag, "but you mustn't for a minute imagine that all is wise that comes to you out of the night world."

"Oh, you missed your opportunity," said Krag, grinning. "If you had finished your climb then, you would have seen heart-expanding sights. From the fifth window, for example, you would have seen Tormance like a continent in relief; from the sixth you would have seen it like a landscape.... But now there's no need."

Maskull beheld with awe the torpedo of crystal that was to

convey them through the whole breadth of visible space. It was forty feet long, eight wide, and eight high; the tank containing the Arcturian back rays was in front, the car behind. The nose of the torpedo was directed toward the south-eastern sky. The whole machine rested upon a flat platform, raised about four feet above the level of the roof, so as to encounter no obstruction on starting its flight.

"Where have you come from, with this awful blood?" "From a world called Earth.... The blood is clearly unsuitable for this world, Joiwind, but after all, that was only to be expected. I am sorry I let you have your way." "Oh, don't say that! There was nothing else to be done. We must all help one another. Yet, somehow—forgive me—I feel polluted."

Surtur—or Shaping, as he is called here—he

Your God is a dreadful Being—bodyless, unfriendly, invisible. Here we don't worship a God like that.

a new primary colour, as vivid as blue, red, or yellow, but quite different. When he inquired, she told him that it was known as "ulfire." Presently he met with a second new colour. This she designated "jale." The sense impressions caused in Maskull by these two additional primary colors can only be vaguely hinted at by analogy. Just as blue is delicate and mysterious, yellow clear and unsubtle, and red sanguine and passionate, so he felt ulfire to be wild and painful, and jale dreamlike, feverish,

and voluptuous.

"We don't eat living things. The thought is horrible to us." "I have nothing to say against that, theoretically. But do you really sustain your bodies on water?" "Supposing you could find nothing else to live on, Maskull—would you eat other men?" "I would not." "Neither will we eat plants and animals, which are our fellow creatures. So nothing is left to us but water, and as one can really live on anything, water does very well."

'poigns.'

to understand and sympathise with all living creatures." "What advantage do you derive from that, Joiwind?" "The advantage of not being cruel and selfish, dear Maskull."

"Yes, I wish to be pure," he muttered. "Without that what can I ever be but a weak, squirming devil?"

'magn,'"

"By means of it what we love already we love more, and what we don't love at all we begin t...

time mirage."

"It is right for man to pray," said Maskull. "Good and evil in the world don't originate from nothing. God and Devil must exist. And we should pray to the one, and fight the other." "Yes, we must fight Krag." "What name did you say?" asked Maskull in amazement. "Krag—the author of evil and misery—whom you call Devil."

One person he met believed the

universe to be, from top to bottom, a conjurer's cave."

What I don't quite understand is how you manage to pass your days without ennui." "That's a strange word. It means, does it not, craving for excitement?" "Something of the kind,"

said Maskull. "That must be a disease brought on by rich food." "But are you never dull?" "How could we be? Our blood is quick and light and free, our flesh is clean and unclogged, inside and out.... Before long I hope you will understand what sort of question you have asked."

'gnawl water',"

His poigns explored actively the inward nature of everything in his immediate vicinity. His magn touched Joiwind, and drew from her person a stream of love and joy. And lastly by means of his breve he exchanged thoughts with her in silence.

"Has there been a man in your world who stole something from the Maker of the universe, in order to ennoble his fellow creatures?" "There is such a myth, The hero's name was Prometheus." "Well, you seem to be identified in my mind with that action—but what it all means I can't say, Maskull." "Accept it as a good omen, for Panawe never lies, and never speaks thoughtlessly." "There must be some confusion. These are heights beyond me," said Maskull calmly, but looking rather

contemplative. "Where do you come from?" "From the planet of a distant sun, called Earth." "What for?" "I was tired of vulgarity," returned Maskull laconically. He intentionally avoided mentioning his fellow voyagers, in order that Krag's name should not come to light. "That's an honourable motive," said Panawe. "And what's more, it may be true, though you spoke it as a prevarication."

"It came out of my husband." "That's what I thought, but I couldn't believe it. But what is it?" "I don't know that it has either name or use. It is merely an overflowing of beauty." "Beauty?" Joiwind smiled. "If you were to regard nature as the husband, and Panawe as the wife, Maskull, perhaps everything would be explained."

"men like Panawe are called artists, poets, and musicians. Beauty overflows into them too, and out of them again. The only distinction is that their productions are more human and intelligible." "Nothing comes from it but vanity," said Panawe, and, taking the crystal out of Maskull's hand, he threw it into the lake.

this is like a sci fi pilgrim's progress

Life on a new planet, Maskull, is necessarily energetic and lawless, and not sedate and imitative. Nature is still fluid—not yet rigid—and matter is plastic. The will forks and sports incessantly, and thus no two creatures are alike."

"But what I don't grasp is this—if living creatures here sport so energetically, how does it come about that human beings

wear much the same shape as in my world?" "I'll explain that too," said Panawe. "All creatures that resemble Shaping must ...

"Then sporting is the blind will to become...

The jale-coloured blossoms of a crystal bush were emitting mental waves, which with his breve he could clearly distinguish. They cried out silently, "To me To me!" While he looked, a flying worm guided itself through the air to one of these blossoms and began to suck its nectar. The floral cry immediately ceased.

The sound appeared to him to belong to a different world from that in which he was travelling. The latter was

mystical, dreamlike, and unbelievable—the drumming was like a very dim undertone of reality. It resembled the ticking of a clock in a room full of voices, only occasionally possible to be picked up by the ear.

His body was trilateral: he had

mountains of madness

three legs, three arms, and six eyes, placed at equal distances all around his head.

'To lie is to sleep, to sit is to dream, to stand is to think.'

Then I too learned for the first time the object of our journey. I was a prodigy—that is to say, I was

without sex. My parents were troubled over this, and wished to consult the wisest of men.

left hand of darkness

Every man and woman among us is a walking murderer. If a male, he has struggled with and killed the female who was born in the same body with him—if a female, she has killed the male. But in this child the struggle is still continuing.'

"'That was spoken, not selfishly, but magnanimously. Therefore the male must have spoken it, and you need not trouble further.

some sexism

I have come to the conclusion that, wisest of men as he was, he still did not see quite straight on this occasion. Between me and my twin sister, enclosed in one body, there never was any struggle, but instinctive reverence for life withheld both of us from fighting for existence. Hers was the stronger temperament, and she sacrificed herself—though not consciously—for me.

has anyone in LGBTQ theory written about this book?

the two lower ones served his understanding, the upper one his will. That is to say, with the lower eyes he saw things in clear detail, but without personal interest; with the sorb he saw nothing as self-existent—everything appeared as an object of importance or non-importance to his own needs.

some qabala junk

"Yesterday I saw Surtur, and from today I am serving him." "Did you speak with him?" she