Jayaprakash Satyamurthy
Knivesout no more
In the last year, I have discovered a few authors who go against the grain of conventional fantasy, eschewing many of its standard tropes and settings to carve out completely original visions. I've already spken at some length about China Mieville and Jeff VanderMeer around these boards. Now it's Jeffrey Ford's turn.
I've only read two of his books so far - The Physiognomy and Memoranda, but I'm already hooked.
Ford has a clear, elegant prose style that is a delight to read. In addition, he is a writer who understands the value of brevity - each of these books is less than 250 pages long, but packs in enough ideas to fuel entire trilogies.
What does he write about? Well, these two novels are linked stories in a three-parter (I have yet to read the last book, The Beyond), which incidentally is not being marketed as a trilogy. There are certain common themes - memory, desire, loss, and the quest for redemption. The books have sparked comparisons to the likes of Franz Kafka and Gabriel Marquez, rather than genre writers, for the free flow of invention and the depth of concept behind it.
The Physiognomy tells of Cley, chief physiognomist to the brilliant, twisted scientist/mage, Drachton Below who has created and rules The Well-Made City, a city built to duplicate the stucture of his 'memory palace' , a mnemonic device wherein you create an imaginary building in your mind and link every object in it with a particular piece of information. The City, then, is an outward manifestation of Below's mind in a very literal sense.
Cley is sent on an obscure mission to an outlying town, where his arrogance leads him to destroy a beautiful woman's face. Disgraced, he is exiled to a very strange prison island where his only friend is a talking monkey. This whole section reminded me a lot of Kafka's 'Inside the penal colony'. After a time, Cley is pardoned and re-instated to his position of honour. However, his time in the mines on the prison island has taught him a lot about himself and Below. He falls in with a rebellion that eventually brings the City down and joins the people of the City in establishing the idyllic community of Wenau.
Some people interpret this story as anti-scientific, but it is specifically the false science of physioognomy (judging a person's character by the shape and size of their facial features) that is being rejected here. The message is against the false knowledge, I'd say, not science itself.
In Memoranda, Below reaches out to Wenau, sending a sleeping disease to which no one knows the cure. Cley travels back to the ruined City to find a cure. After a horrific journey, he is rescued by Misrix, a demon from the Beyond (a wilderness far beyond the regions that surround the City) who has been humanised by Below. Misrix reveals that Below himself has fallen prey to the disease. However, by means of Misrix' empathic powers, Cley undertakes a journey into Below's slumbering mind to find the memory of the antidote. His adventures in this virtual mindspace are the centrepiece of the story, and I won't even attempt to sum them up.
In the end, the cure is found, but it is not what anyone could have expected - the cure brings with it a terrible price. Shattered by all this, Cley joins Misrix on a journey to the Beyond, the detais of which form the third book, The Beyond.
I've just given you a bald outline of these two books- there is much more in there by way of plot, action, imagination and food for thought. If you're looking for an engaging, original fantastic journey to embark on, Jeffey Ford might well be the guide you are looking for.
I've only read two of his books so far - The Physiognomy and Memoranda, but I'm already hooked.
Ford has a clear, elegant prose style that is a delight to read. In addition, he is a writer who understands the value of brevity - each of these books is less than 250 pages long, but packs in enough ideas to fuel entire trilogies.
What does he write about? Well, these two novels are linked stories in a three-parter (I have yet to read the last book, The Beyond), which incidentally is not being marketed as a trilogy. There are certain common themes - memory, desire, loss, and the quest for redemption. The books have sparked comparisons to the likes of Franz Kafka and Gabriel Marquez, rather than genre writers, for the free flow of invention and the depth of concept behind it.
The Physiognomy tells of Cley, chief physiognomist to the brilliant, twisted scientist/mage, Drachton Below who has created and rules The Well-Made City, a city built to duplicate the stucture of his 'memory palace' , a mnemonic device wherein you create an imaginary building in your mind and link every object in it with a particular piece of information. The City, then, is an outward manifestation of Below's mind in a very literal sense.
Cley is sent on an obscure mission to an outlying town, where his arrogance leads him to destroy a beautiful woman's face. Disgraced, he is exiled to a very strange prison island where his only friend is a talking monkey. This whole section reminded me a lot of Kafka's 'Inside the penal colony'. After a time, Cley is pardoned and re-instated to his position of honour. However, his time in the mines on the prison island has taught him a lot about himself and Below. He falls in with a rebellion that eventually brings the City down and joins the people of the City in establishing the idyllic community of Wenau.
Some people interpret this story as anti-scientific, but it is specifically the false science of physioognomy (judging a person's character by the shape and size of their facial features) that is being rejected here. The message is against the false knowledge, I'd say, not science itself.
In Memoranda, Below reaches out to Wenau, sending a sleeping disease to which no one knows the cure. Cley travels back to the ruined City to find a cure. After a horrific journey, he is rescued by Misrix, a demon from the Beyond (a wilderness far beyond the regions that surround the City) who has been humanised by Below. Misrix reveals that Below himself has fallen prey to the disease. However, by means of Misrix' empathic powers, Cley undertakes a journey into Below's slumbering mind to find the memory of the antidote. His adventures in this virtual mindspace are the centrepiece of the story, and I won't even attempt to sum them up.
In the end, the cure is found, but it is not what anyone could have expected - the cure brings with it a terrible price. Shattered by all this, Cley joins Misrix on a journey to the Beyond, the detais of which form the third book, The Beyond.
I've just given you a bald outline of these two books- there is much more in there by way of plot, action, imagination and food for thought. If you're looking for an engaging, original fantastic journey to embark on, Jeffey Ford might well be the guide you are looking for.
