A Voyage to Arcturus
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Average rating3.4
A stunning achievement in speculative fiction, A Voyage to Arcturus has inspired, enchanted, and unsettled readers for decades. It is simultaneously an epic quest across one of the most unusual and brilliantly depicted alien worlds ever conceived, a profoundly moving journey of discovery into the metaphysical heart of the universe, and a shockingly intimate excursion into what makes us human and unique.øAfter 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 and its inhabitants like no other, where gender is a victory won at dear cost; where landscape and emotion are drawn into an accursed dance; where heroes are killed, reborn, and renamed; and where the cosmological lures of Shaping, who may be God, torment Maskull in his astonishing pilgrimage. At the end of his arduous and increasingly mystical quest waits a dark secret and an unforgettable revelation.øA Voyage to Arcturus was the first novel by writer David Lindsay (1878?1945), and it remains one of the most revered classics of science fiction. This commemorative edition features an introduction by noted scholar and writer of speculative fiction John Clute and a famous essay by Loren Eiseley.
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I honestly don't even know what I just read, but I find myself pleased with the result nonetheless.
Written in 1920 with all the turgid prose of the era when the author is trying to be formal and profound. It's an exploration of religion and philosophy and moral values set in a metaphorical trip to another planet.
The protagonist meets many different people with whom he debates morality, every day a new person and a new topic. Ironically he leaves several of them dead in his wake. With many he commits himself to their point of view but tomorrow changes his mind with the next interlocutor.
The end of his journey is marked by his acceptance of ultimate disillusionment.
Summary: In this work of science fiction, Maskull, the main character, travels to the planet Tormance. When he gets there, he meets a being named Joiwind who tells him about Surtur, who, according to Joiwind, created all things. Maskull goes in search of Surtur, and, as he does, he passes through lands that contain different creatures who have varying moral codes. This book explored different philosophical systems of belief and being.
