Worlds Apart

2 stars, Metaphorosis Reviews

Summary
George Cringe is a figment of Zil Bryn's imagination. Or is it the other way around.

Review
I became a fan of Richard Cowper, as I suspect many did, with his White Bird of Kinship trilogy – an excellent, carefully constructed piece of post-apocalyptic fiction. Not all of his earlier novels worked as well for me, but I've enjoyed several, and been quite taken with his short fiction. That's why this novel (published just before Kinship) is such a surprise.

To be blunt, this is not a good book. It's not bad, but it's not far from it. It's not only a familiar idea, but one better suited to a short story. Here, even at just over 100 pages, it feels far over-extended. It doesn't work as satire, comedy, or farce. There are a handful of nice elements to it, but it mostly fails.

Gollancz makes a point that e-books have allowed them to bring older works back to life, and I heartily approve. However, this is one book that I think no one would have missed. By all means, read Richard Cowper – you'll be well rewarded. Just don't start (or end) with this.

This is a delightful book that sadly seems to have been out of print since it was first published by Victor Gollancz in 1974, apart from the Readers Union edition that I managed to buy second-hand in 2002 (having read a library copy many years before). However, I'm pleased to find that it's now available in a Kindle edition, which I promptly bought as a supplement to my paper copy.

It tells the story of George Herbert Cringe, “parent, breadwinner, and Junior Science teacher at Bagshot Road Comprehensive School”, who is thoroughly sick of his dead-end life and unsuccessful marriage, and finds occasional relief in writing a story about the imaginary and exotic world of Agenor, his central character bearing the name of Zil Bryn.

Meanwhile, on the extremely distant world of Chnas, a being named Zil Bryn (also a teacher, though a happier one) is writing a story about the imaginary and exotic world of Urth, his central character bearing the name of Shorge Gringe.

A mysterious rift in the fabric of the universe permits George and Zil to meet briefly and to realize with equal astonishment that their imaginary worlds each appear to be real in some sense. The effects of their meeting are somewhat beneficial to both.

The book paints a vivid picture of how a certain type of downtrodden Englishman lived in the early 1970s, and an equally vivid (though rather brief) picture of life on the remarkable and wonderful world of Chnas.

It's a short novel, and I suppose a minor novel in some sense; but it's a great minor novel. I come out of it with much sympathy for poor George and a wistful regret that I'll see no more of Chnas and the Chnassians.

I also feel much sympathy for the late Richard Cowper (1926-2002), who wrote this lovely book and probably earned next to nothing from it.

Incidentally, George's story is read only by himself; but Zil's story is acclaimed on Chnas as a masterpiece of comic fantasy: the inhabitants of Urth are incredibly insane and their antics hilarious.

The only quibble I have with this book is that I like happy endings; and the ending of this one is somewhat happy, but unconvincing. George's unlovable wife Marge has a personality change and they presumably live happily ever after. I don't believe it. At least, I don't believe it would last.I think the problem is that Cowper was born in 1926 and may have felt in his bones that marriage should be for life and one should try to make it work, however difficult it may be.If I'd been writing this book, I'd have allowed George to have a more successful fling with Jennifer. She wasn't the type to settle down with him, but I think he deserved a brief happy affair; and his wife deserved a bit of a shock if she found out about it. The shock she actually receives in the book strikes me as more contrived and less plausible.Furthermore, the ending deliberately leaves open the possibility of a sequel in which George once more establishes communication with distant non-humans. In the hypothetical sequel, he might learn something useful from them, become wealthy and better respected, and start to encounter a wider choice of women. Being George, he would find this situation confusing and would make mistakes in dealing with it; but he could plausibly find his way to happiness in the end, in the hands of a generous author.