The Dark Tower (1977 novel)
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The Dark Tower is a textual fragment attributed to C. S. Lewis that appears to be the beginning of an abandoned science fiction novel intended as a sequel to Out of the Silent Planet. Perelandra instead became the second book of Lewis' Space Trilogy, concluded by That Hideous Strength. Walter Hooper, Lewis' literary executor, titled the fragment and published it in the 1977 collection The Dark Tower and Other Stories. Lewis scholar Kathryn Lindskoog has challenged the authenticity of the work.
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[edit] Plot
The story deals with time travel, or perhaps an early rendition of interdimensional travel. Lewis himself takes the role of the protagonist, and Elwin Ransom appears as a supporting character. The story begins with a discussion of time travel among several professors at a university during summer vacation. They conclude that it is impossible to violate the laws of space-time in such a way. However, after the discussion, one of the men unveils an invention he believes allows people to see through time. The group uses this "chronoscope" to observe an alien world they call "Othertime", where a group of human automatons work to construct a tower at the bidding of the story's villain, the Unicorn, a devilish character with a single horn growing out of his forehead. During one viewing session, one of the professors stumbles into the field of the chronoscope and switches bodies with the Unicorn. The remainder of the text deals with his experiences in Othertime, as well as his colleagues' attempt to hunt down the Unicorn in this world.
[edit] Origin
In his introduction to The Dark Tower and Other Stories, Hooper states that he rescued an untitled manuscript containing Lewis' handwritten draft of the story from a bonfire of the author's writings early in 1964, several months after Lewis' death. Apparently, the 64-page manuscript originally had at least 66 pages, but two of these are missing. If the text did at one time continue past the 66th page, these additional pages are also lost. As it stands, the narrative contains two gaps and comes to an abrupt end. The Dark Tower is an unfinished work, and there is no sign Lewis intended to finish it.
Judging from the story's setting, Hooper surmises that Lewis wrote it immediately after he finished Out of the Silent Planet, in about 1939. Hooper reports that the late Gervase Mathew told him that he heard Lewis read The Dark Tower to the Inklings around that time. Inklings scholar John D. Rateliff suggests that the story could have been written some years later, in about 1946, pointing to a reference in a letter by Lewis's friend J.R.R. Tolkien to a story by Lewis that could be The Dark Tower.
[edit] Authenticity and relation to the published novels
The uncertain provenance of the surviving text is problematic, leading Kathryn Lindskoog and others to claim that it is a forgery, as portions of Hooper's story have been shown to be questionable [citation needed]. Lindskoog advanced the theory that the story is a forgery written by Hooper or at his behest. Indeed, Lindskoog claims that much of the work bearing Lewis's name that has appeared since his death in 1963 and is edited by Hooper is highly suspect. She claims that The Dark Tower resembles stories by other writers, including A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (1962) and The Planet of the Dead by Clark Ashton Smith (1932). The story also features a villain named the Unicorn who stabs a horn growing out of his forehead into the lower back of his victims. Lindskoog claims that this act is suggestive of homosexual sex, and that Lewis would not create a character with "homoerotic overtones".
Others accept that the story is by Lewis, as the author's estate and the publishers assert by publishing it under his name. The oppressive atmosphere of the book is reminiscent of Lewis's own That Hideous Strength (1945) and David Lindsay's A Voyage to Arcturus (1920), which Lewis acknowledged as an influence. That the plot and characterization are not satisfactory seems unsurprising in a story abandoned by its author in an unfinished state. Lewis did create at least one character with homosexual overtones, a minor villain in That Hideous Strength named Miss Hardcastle who exhibits lesbianism and sadism. Both she and the Unicorn are described in entirely negative terms. Also, the Unicorn's victims are of both sexes.
The Dark Tower does differ from the published novels in the so-called Space Trilogy, in style, characterization, setting, and subject matter (for example, Ransom becomes a marginal character, and the action takes place partly in an alternate universe). However, it is not clear whether Lewis intended The Dark Tower to be a part of this sequence of novels, and there is in any case a marked shift of mood and focus between Perelandra and That Hideous Strength, the latter being more loosely and broadly plotted, much longer, and different in focus: less intent on presenting a science fiction story with a Christian theological slant, and more intent on tackling specific religious and social issues.
[edit] References
- Hooper, Walter. "Introduction". The Dark Tower and Other Stories. Harvest Books, 1977. ISBN 0-15-623930-2
- Lewis, C. S. The Dark Tower. The Dark Tower and Other Stories. Harvest Books, 1977. ISBN 0-15-623930-2
- Lindskoog, Kathryn. Light in the Shadowlands: Protecting the Real C. S. Lewis. Multnomah Pub., 1994. ISBN 0-88070-695-3
- Lindskoog, Kathryn. The C. S. Lewis Hoax. Multnomah Pub., 1988. ISBN 0-88070-258-3
