The Dancers at the End of Time
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|
| Author | Michael Moorcock |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction |
| Publisher | MacGibbon and Kee (1972) |
| Released | 1972 (collected edition 1981) |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 663 pages (paperback omnibus edition) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-583-13639-7 (paperback omnibus edition) |
The Dancers at the End of Time is a series of science fiction novels and short stories written by Michael Moorcock, the setting of which is the End of Time, an era "where entropy is king and the universe has begun collapsing upon itself".[1] The inhabitants of this era are immortal, decadent and amoral, creating flights of fancy using power rings which draw on energy devised and stored by their ancestors millions of years prior. Time travel is common, and throughout the series various different points in time are visited and revisited; while space travelers are also common, most residents of the End of Time find leaving the planet distasteful and cliché. The title of the series is itself taken from a poem by a fictitious 19th Century poet, Ernest Wheldrake, which Mrs. Amelia Underwood quotes in The End of All Songs.[2]
Three books make up the original trilogy: An Alien Heat, The Hollow Lands and The End of All Songs, which were published between 1974 and 1976.[3] The trilogy purports to tell the last love story in human history. Other books in the series include the novel The Transformation of Miss Mavis Ming (also known as A Messiah at the End of Time) which is a rewrite of the novella Constant Fire. Several short stories, some of which were included in the anthology Legends from the End of Time, were published in New Worlds 7-10 (the paperback revival of the magazine). Short stories featuring Elric (Elric at the End of Time), and Jerry Cornelius (The Murderer's Song) also feature characters and places from the End of Time.
Main characters in the series include Jherek Carnelian, a native of the End of Time, one of few to have been born naturally at the End of Time, rather than created, Mrs Amelia Underwood, a time traveler from the late 19th century, the enigmatic Lord Jagged and Miss Mavis Ming in the eponymous The Transformation of Miss Mavis Ming, which also features the Fireclown.
Contents |
[edit] The End of Time
The prologue of An Alien Heat calls it "a story of Jherek Carnelian, who did not know the meaning of morality, and Mrs. Amelia Underwood, who knew everything about it".[4] The novel begins with a discussion between Jherek Carnelian and his mother, the Iron Orchid, about the meaning of the word virtuous. Carnelian, who has looked the word up in an ancient dictionary, finds the concept "bewildering".
Jherek meets his future love, Amelia Underwood, at an extravagant party hosted by the Duke of Queens, the theme of which is "disaster". The main entertainment, however, falls rather flat; a mouldy-looking alien by the name of Yusharisp bores the guests when he warns them that the universe will soon collapse in universal armageddon. Jherek's disappointment, however, turns to delight when Mrs. Amelia Underwood, disgusted by the actions of My Lady Charlotina, who freezes Yusharisp for transport to her menagerie, exclaims "Let the poor creature go! Though he is neither human nor Christian, he is still one of God's creatures and has a right to his liberty!"
Emphasis on how lightly sex, including incest and homosexuality, is treated at the End of Time can be found in the early chapters of An Alien Heat. In the chapter A Conversation with the Iron Orchid Jherek has sex with his mother, and in the chapter Carnelian Conceives a New Affectation he has a homosexual encounter with Lord Jagged. When Jherek decides to fall in love with Mrs. Underwood, everyone applauds his original thinking.
[edit] Landscape
The landscapes at the End of Time are almost entirely artificial and are constantly being altered. In the first chapter of An Alien Heat, the Iron Orchid and Jherek Carnelian awaken to find that the sea has been turned a shade of cerise, and the cliff with two palm trees that had previously been behind them had been replaced by a twelve-story silver Pagoda.[5] Beneath the decoration, however, the Earth has actually become a sterile wasteland lit by a dim red sun.
In the short story Elric at the End of Time the inhabitants of the end of time attempt to entertain Elric (and amuse themselves) by creating an adventure to keep Elric occupied. Elric is no stranger to chaos and is completely convinced that he has in fact been transported to a realm of chaos. This is largely due to the unexpected, bizarre (and often instantaneous) changes which his hosts make to the landscape.
[edit] Plot
[edit] The Dancers at the End of Time
[edit] An Alien Heat
An alien named Yusharisp comes to Earth to warn its remaining inhabitants that the universe is coming to an end; his own planet already disappeared, and the Earth is sure to follow. Unphased by the news, Jherek, who is fascinated by the Victorian era, meets and falls in love with Mrs Amelia Underwood, a time traveller from Victorian England. Mrs Underwood, at first repulsed by the debauchery of the End of Time, eventually warms up to Jherek and starts teaching him about moral values. She evens falls for him, but just as she admits to loving him, she is sent back to her own time. Jherek, heartbroken, decides to go after her, and travels to 19th century London.
There, he is tricked by a thief into being his accomplice. The naive Jherek, however, proves to be a poor criminal, and is sent to jail. He is given a quick trial, and to his surprise, the judge seems to be none other than his friend Lord Jagged. However, he claims to be named Jagger, and not to know Jherek. Jherek is briefly reunited with Mrs Underwood who comes to testify, before being sentenced to death. He is completely oblivious to the gravity of the situation; the people of the End of Time are immortal, and death, for them, is always temporary. Jherek is hanged, only to wake up among his friends at the End of Time, who tell him that to them, he has only been gone for a second.
[edit] The Hollow Lands
Back at the End of Time, Jherek and his friends amuse themselves with parties and games until an alien ship lands and its occupants, the Lat, start chasing them. While running away, Jherek discovers a subterranean school built centuries ago. The time in the school is constantly recycled, and the same week happens again and again, keeping the children from growing up. The teacher, an old, dysfunctional robot, mistakes Jherek for a child, and keeps him at the school. When she realizes her mistake, she agrees to send him back to 1896.
Back in the 19th century, Jherek meets H. G. Wells, who offers to take him to Bromley, where Mrs Amelia Underwood lives. On the way, Jherek explains that he is a time traveller, and is ironically met with Wells's disbelief. Jherek is finally reunited with Mrs Underwood. A confrontation with Mr Underwood ensues, at the issue of which a reluctant Mrs Underwood runs away with Jherek. Chased by the police, the two are rescued by a journalist and meet Mr Jackson who, like Judge Jagger, bears a strong resemblance to Lord Jagged.
The police eventually find them, but their arrest is interrupted by the appearance of the Lat, soon followed by the Iron Orchid and a number of other End of Time residents. Chaos ensues as the police and the Lat start fighting, and the fabric of time itself seems to be disintegrating. The time travellers start vanishing, and Jackson, who finally reveals himself to be Lord Jagged, takes Jherek and Mrs Underwood to a time machine that will take them to the End of Time. Upon arrival, however, they realize the machine did not take them to the End of Time; it appears to be the Lower Devonian period.
[edit] The End Of All Songs
Jherek and Mrs Amelia Underwood, after spending some time alone in the Devonian, meet Una Persson and Captain Bastable, who introduce themselves as members of the Guild of Temporal Adventurers. They explain the notion of the multiverse as the combination of all simultaneously existing realities before sending Jherek and Amelia back to the End of Time. There, Jherek finds all his friends who had vanished from 1896 alive and well, except for Lord Jagged who has yet to return. Amelia is now more tolerant towards the people of the End of Time, though still occasionally revolted by their lack of morals. She and Jherek resume the life they lead in An Alien Heat, which is interrupted by the sudden arrival of a shell shocked, nearly insane Mr Underwood, Inspector Springer and a dozen of policemen, and the Lat.
Jherek, the Duke of Queens, the policemen, Amelia and Mr Underwood seek refuge from the Lat in one of the Lost Cities, which hold the energy used by the people of the End of Time to alter matter through their rings, and are surprised to find it crumbling, and the sun gone. They are joined by Yusharisp and the end-of-time resident Lord Mongrove, a manic-depressive gigant who explains that the apocalypse has begun, and that they are the sole survivors. The group realizes with horror that their energy rings are no longer working. In light of their impending doom, Amelia finally admits that her love for Jherek is more important to her than morals or convention.
Suddenly, the Iron Orchid and Lord Jagged, by now assumed to be dead, appear. Lord Jagged reveals himself to be Jherek's father, and a time traveller from the 21st century. After learning of the Earth's impending destruction, he sought to preserve mankind by sending a "new Adam and Eve" to the beginning of time, thus creating a loop which would prevent mankind from spending thousands of years relearning the basics of civilization. For genetic reasons, he chose Jherek and Amelia and orchestrated their meeting. However, Amelia and Jherek's marooning in the Devonian was an accident and they did not, in fact, travel back in time, but too far into the future, after the end of the world. Upon realizing this, Jagged understood that time is circular, not linear as was previously assumed, and gave up on his plans. While his friends are devastated, he shows unwavering optimism and surprises everyone by creating a new sun with his energy ring. He proceeds to explain that energy can be drawn from any existing reality within the multiverse; this, combined with the technology that "recycled" time in the underground school, can be used to sustain the Earth forever.
Now reassured that the Earth is safe in a time loop and provided with a new source of energy, the End of Timers resurrect their friends who died in the aborted apocalypse, and rebuild their world. Amelia, now completely comfortable at the End of Time, becomes extremely popular. However, during a visit to Mr Underwood in the Lost City, she is faced with his conviction that she is damned when she tells him of her belief that God is dead. While she struggles with her conscience and her newfound atheism, her husband travels back to the 19th century and she decides to marry Jherek. When Lord Jagged offers to send both her and Jherek into the future, out of the time loop and after the end of the world to start a new civilization, they accept.
[edit] Legends from the End of Time
Pale Roses begins with the destruction of the rainbow part of Werther de Goethe's creation Rain by the Everlasting Concubine, Mistress Christia, and Werther's despair. After a short interlude, Werther discovers, by the use of a parachute that closely resembles a Hot air balloon, a child (Catherine Lily Marguerite Natasha Dolores Beatrice Machineshop-Seven Flambeau Gratitude) that is the fourteen year old daughter of two time travelers, and deigns to take on the role of her now deceased parents.
Following a masquerade with the theme of Childhood, Werther is passionately overcome and engages in sexual intercourse with Catherine. After the event, disgusted by what he perceives to be the enormity of his acts, he is even more disgusted in Catherine for having enjoyed what she describes as le petit mal. The story climaxes with Werther's suicide by jumping from his tower unaided by his parachute and his subsequent resurrection.
It is then revealed that Catherine is really Mistress Christia in disguise, the series of events being an attempt to reconcile after her having destroyed his rainbow.
White Stars: after discovering that he had inadvertently destroyed one of Lord Shark the Unknown's experiments with lichen, the Duke of Queens offers to duel with him in order to rid himself of his guilt.
In Ancient Shadows, a time traveler, Dafnish Armatuce, and her son, Snuffles, arrive at the End of Time, and become involved with Miss Mavis Ming.
[edit] The Transformation of Miss Mavis Ming
Chronicling the transformation of Miss Mavis Ming and the parts played by Doctor Volospion, his fellow residents at the End of Time, and Mr Emmanuel Bloom. The ending originally involved a scene where the main character, Mavis Ming, was whipped into submission by another character. This was later rewritten by the author.[6]
[edit] Elric at the End of Time
Elric at the End of Time is one of two Elric short stories included in the eponymous collection, Elric at the End of Time. Its characters include Elric, Una Persson, and Lord Jagged.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Jherek Carnelian
Jherek Carnelian, son of the Iron Orchid and an unknown father (later revealed to be Lord Jagged) is the protagonist of the novels An Alien Heat, The Hollow Lands and The End of All Songs. Jherek is almost unique among the natives of The End of Time, in that he was born, rather than created. Only Werther De Gothe is mentioned as also having been born, implying that this trait is something of a rarity in this time period.
Jherek's childhood and adolescence subsequently provided a great deal of novelty and interest for the Iron Orchid and her clique, and left Jherek with a notable childlike freshness and creativity, compared to the majority of his contemporaries. This makes him something of a trend-setter among his peers. In particular, his fascination with the past has made him a recognised expert in the field - the nearest thing The End of Time has to a historian. He is particularly interested in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A million or more years of lost records and misinformation have taken their toll, however, and Jherek's attempts to recreate elements of the era are often comically inaccurate.
Jherek's entire existence is later revealed to be part of a complicated scheme of Lord Jagged's to survive the End of Time by selectively breeding a race of humans whose DNA renders them immune to the Morphail Effect - the tendency for time to heal itself by rejecting time travelers who journey to the past, and flinging them forward to their point of origin, or beyond.
Jherek may be an incarnation of Moorcock's recurring character Jerry Cornelius.
[edit] Mrs. Amelia Underwood
A denizen of 19th century Bromley, she arrives at a party hosted by the Duke of Queens under mysterious circumstances after she is kidnapped from her own age. She is married to the stuffy Mr. Underwood, who becomes a comic presence in the second and third books. She is a lovely young woman and, although her Victorian upbringing has made a strict moralist of her, she gradually begins to thaw under Jherek's influence. In her childhood, she traveled with her father, a missionary, into exotic locations: these experiences planted the seeds of tolerance.
At first, her sense of duty makes her tolerate Jherek, despite his vexing romantic blandishments; she tells herself that, as a good Christian, she must indoctrinate him into the mysteries of Virtue. Later, her personality begins to blossom, and she realizes she loves Jherek.
[edit] Lord Jagged
Lord Jagged is a time traveler, and, unlike Jherek and the Iron Orchid, is not a native to the End of Time. He is the father of Jherek by the Iron Orchid, and is later shown to be manipulating various events that occur in the series.
In the short story, Elric at the End of Time, Lord Jagged assumes the persona of the chaos Lord Arioch, returning Elric to his own realm. Una Persson later compliments him on the imitation, saying:[7]
| “ | Your disguise was wonderful, Jagged. How did you manage to imitate that character so thoroughly? It convinced Elric. He really thought you were whatever it was—a Chaos Duke? I mean, it's almost as if you were this fellow 'Arioch'... | ” |
Lord Jagged, however, does not reply to this. Instead, he "[puffs] on his pipe and [smiles] a secret and superior smile".[7]
[edit] Werther de Goethe
Werther de Goethe is named for the main character of Goethe's novel The Sorrows of Young Werther and for Goethe himself, and is likewise angst ridden. He features as the main character in the short story Pale Roses.
[edit] Duke of Queens
The Duke of Queens is known throughout the End of Time for his outrageous creations. His first appearance is in An Alien Heat. After having adjusted the geography where the Iron Orchid and Jherek lunched and turning the sea into a deep pink, described as almost cerise, he is shown to be once more experimenting with artificial wings, to the chagrin of Iron Orchid, who wonders why he insists that they are a success.
[edit] Miss Mavis Ming
Miss Mavis Ming appears in the short story Ancient Shadows, playing host to Dafnish Armatuce and her son, Snuffles, and also in the novel The Transformation of Miss Mavis Ming, where she is a pawn in the machinations of Doctor Volospion. She has a small role in Moorcock's spy novel parody The Chinese Agent (1970), where she describes herself as a one-quarter Chinese former exotic dancer who used to perform a striptease under the name "Dawn Flower Ming, the Geisha Gusher".
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ Steven Wu. "Dancers at the End of Time, The", review. Retrieved on April 13, 2006.
- ^ Omnibus edition, Granada. The End of All Songs, 650. “So shall they dance, till the end of time”
- ^ Ian Davey. Bibliography of works by Michael Moorcock. Retrieved on April 13, 2006.
- ^ An Alien Heat, viii.
- ^ An Alien Heat, 3.
- ^ A Messiah At The End of Time. Q&A with Michael Moorcock. Retrieved on April 14, 2006.
- ^ a b Elric at the End of Time, 68.
