Résumé
Résumé de A Voyage to Arcturus
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
For readers who love fantasy that asks big questions, dream-like journeys and encounters with opposing beliefs, and for anyone curious about the roots of modern science fiction.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
A Voyage to Arcturus is a novel by the Scottish writer David Lindsay, published in 1920. It begins in a London drawing room and ends on a distant planet. On the way it becomes a hard, strange quest for the truth about the universe. Lindsay wrote it as his first book, after years working as a clerk at Lloyd's in London. It sold poorly in his lifetime, yet later writers of fantasy and science fiction came to prize it for its daring.
The story follows a man named Maskull, who sets out for a planet called Tormance, which circles the star Arcturus. He does not travel for treasure or adventure. He goes because a mysterious figure named Krag has promised him something far larger than that. On Tormance the land, the sky and even the body keep changing, and each person Maskull meets holds a different idea of what is good. You will get the shape of that journey here, and a sense of how odd and serious it is. Let us begin with the strange evening that starts it all.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A séance opens the wayFree
- 2Maskull wakes alone on Tormance
- 3Each meeting offers a different creed
- 4Pleasure, pain and a trail of the dead
- 5Two powers behind the world
- 6A story told like a dream
Point clé 1 sur 6
A séance opens the way
The novel opens at a séance in London. A medium is about to call up a spirit, and among the guests is a man named Maskull, a large, restless fellow. With him is his friend Nightspore. A third man, Krag, is also in the room, and he cuts the evening short in a way that sets the tone for all that follows.
The evening is odd, a mix of the ordinary and the unsettling. Lindsay writes the scene with a plain eye, so that the supernatural arrives without fuss. This matters, because the book will keep asking you to accept the impossible as simply what is there.
After the séance, Nightspore and Krag speak to Maskull about a journey. They tell him of a place called Tormance, the planet of Arcturus. It is a world where the answers that Earth hides may be found. Maskull is curious, and he is also headstrong, so he agrees to go without knowing what he is getting into.
The departure is arranged for a Scottish tower called Starkness. Lindsay gives the whole thing a cold, remote feel. It is not a rocket story in the way later science fiction would be. The trip is more like a leap out of the world than a flight through it, and you sense from the start that the real destination is not a place on a map.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Maskull
- A large, impulsive man from Earth, he travels with Nightspore and Krag in search of truth beyond ordinary life.
- Nightspore
- Maskull's enigmatic friend accompanies him to the London séance and joins Krag on the journey to Tormance.
- Krag
- A stern, mysterious figure, he draws Maskull and Nightspore toward Tormance with the promise of a greater reality.
- Joiwind
- A gentle inhabitant of Tormance and Panawe's wife, she welcomes Maskull with warmth and generous concern.
- Panawe
- Joiwind's husband is an inhabitant of Tormance who meets Maskull early in his travels across the planet.
- Oceaxe
- A forceful woman of Tormance, she offers Maskull a vision of life that values power rather than tenderness.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 95,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 6 h 20 min
- Listening time10 h 30 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary; paperback, hardcover and large print at cost
- LanguagesEnglish and 13 other languages
Questions about A Voyage to Arcturus
What is A Voyage to Arcturus about?
It follows a man named Maskull who travels from Earth to Tormance, a planet of the star Arcturus. There he meets people with opposing beliefs and searches for the truth behind the universe.
What are Muspel and Shaping in A Voyage to Arcturus?
They are two opposed ideas in Lindsay's myth. Muspel stands for a pure, original reality, while Shaping is the force that makes the world of bodies, desires and pains that we know.
When was A Voyage to Arcturus written?
It was published in 1920 and was David Lindsay's first novel. It is fiction, not a true story, though it carries a serious philosophical view of the world.
Is A Voyage to Arcturus hard to read?
The prose is plain, and the plot is a chain of strange meetings. Readers who like dream-like, thoughtful fantasy often find it rewarding.
Is A Voyage to Arcturus science fiction or fantasy?
It mixes both. It uses a journey to another planet, as science fiction does, but its aims are mythic and philosophical. It is often seen as an early and influential work of imaginative fiction.