Rating: 
Summary: like a Joseph Campbell hallucination
Review: Most books are read for instruction or entertainment. Many challenge the wits or beliefs. Few question our very grasp on reality, or confront us with spiritual dilemma. The fact that the author ended his life prior to publication might place him in the rare club of suicidal artists (John Toole, Ian Curtis, Nick Drake) credited as having revealed a tortured emotion too beautiful to bear.
Like Hesse's Steppenwolf, Lindsay manages to draw out manageable manifestations of Jungian archtypes, but his imagery is far more expressive, discarding rather than merely augmenting day to day experience. His prose is not elegant, his sudden story changes are disorienting, and you finally leave the book with the feeling that, perhaps, the author has revealed great truths just beyond grasp.
A very fascinating exercise. Very cult worthy.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Theodicy
Review: My favorite myths are Midas, Prometheus, and Brave New World. I think Arcturus could enter this pantheon, particularly in our age, when we seem only to be able to think in terms of pastiches of myths. We get several different mythical ideas in the novel, and even at the end it's unclear whether a key epiphany is real or merely a "take" of someone overly influenced by Krag (just as, say, Joiwind's views are a "take" of someone overly influenced by Crystalman).The ideas of Crystalman and Krag guide the narrative journey. Although at first it's frustrating to get so many accounts of these "characters," these shifting accounts reflect how little we know of pleasure and pain, how many disparate experiences we group under these concepts. The Crystalman grin at death reminds me of those great Dickinson lines: The heart loves pleasure first
And then release from pain
And then a little anodyne
To ease the suffering And then-if it should be
The will of its inquisitor-
The privilege-
To die. Likewise, Krag/pain sets the whole narrative in motion, just as we would scarcely move on to higher achievements without pain of dissatisfaction at our present state. I love the idea of all friction, suffering, and pain being caused by the admixture of spirit and matter. The final triumph of materialism would indeed lead us to treat our bodies and moods entirely like machines and output readings; to manipulate each with any device or drug available (and thus to end the mixing of spirit and matter, and to banish all pain). The idea of the world of will created by partial absorption of spirit stream into Krystalman's matter recalls Virgil's account of metempsychosis in Hades in the sixth book of the Aeneid, where Anchises "explains the cosmos, death, and the afterlife. A divine spirit sustains the universe; mortal souls are its seeds imprisoned and contaminated by the mortal body:" Nor death itself can wholly wash their stains;
But long-contracted filth ev'n in the soul remains.
The relics of inveterate vice they wear,
And spots of sin obscene in ev'ry face appear.
For this are various penances enjoin'd;
And some are hung to bleach upon the wind,
Some plung'd in waters, others purg'd in fires,
...
But, when a thousand rolling years are past,
(So long their punishments and penance last,)
Whole droves of minds are, by the driving god,
Compell'd to drink the deep Lethaean flood,
In large forgetful draughts to steep the cares
Of their past labors, and their irksome years,
That, unrememb'ring of its former pain,
The soul may suffer mortal flesh again."
VI. 735-751 The Thomistic synthesis of Aristotelianism and Christianity tries to overcome this dualism....to endorse the mutual interdependence of souls and bodies. But of course, this kind of interdependence sometimes feels like imprisonment. (Our manner of) dancing can only exist in a world with gravity-but gravity must feel like a torment to the dancer. Similarly too death is a precondition for (our manner of) life. [I use "our manner" there very cautiously. The very comprehensibility of deathlessness renders relative our implicit assumption of death as a common fate. One of my favorite ideas in Arcturus is the dependence of our ideas and dispositions on our sense organs. Perhaps if we all had mind-reading "sorbs" like Joiwind, we'd be capable of achieving her level of empathy. Similarly, organs like those of Oceaxe's might speed us on our way to the brutality and egotism of Iffdawn.] But here's a paradox: what exactly is Krag's mission? Does he "pain" all beings in order to make them realize that they are-or harbor within them--something "higher" than material bodies, and the pleasures they enjoy? I think only a Buddhist or Hindu could wish to become one again with the Muspel stream-a nirvana-like state in which all sense of individual consciousness is lost and one merges with all existence. Christian and Muslim theology endorses an afterlife of embodied souls (but, of course, has not reconciled numerous paradoxes...as even Jesus recognized when asked about the place of second and third spouses in an afterlife that seemed to promise to restore not only individuals, but their happiest relations). There's one way in which this book is dated-the persistent identification of woman with matter, and man with spirit. Although the women in the book (Joiwind, Oceaxe, Tydomin, Sullenbode) are strong, they persistently "divert" the hero from his course (recalling Dido/Aeneas, Circe/Odysseus).
Rating: 
Summary: Non-intellectual book review
Review: Reading 'scholarly' book reviews is a lot like swallowing razor blades- it's always painful and you really don't learn much from it, except not to make that mistake again. I will try to avoid using words like 'evocative' (ouch), or 'dualism' (double ouch). I read this book several times in my 20's and was struck (not literally) by the intensity of the experience of being drawn in to such an imaginative and desperate journey which to me implied that the author was as lost as I, but was much better at expressing his condition (couched {groan} as a novel) than most people could ever hope to. The fact that he later committed suicide means that his desperation finally overcame him. Just be glad we didn't see a series of hackneyed 'knock-offs' of these characters the way we did with our other favorite manic-depressive, Robert E. Howard, after his death.
Rating:
Summary: Classic of the Fantastic
Review: The book is a classic of fantastic literature. In Blakean tradition, with A Voyage to Arcturus, Lindsay has invented his own mythology to express his ideas, revealing a powerful artistic imagination. The story follows Maskull's journey through an alien landscape that reflects the tension between Apollonian and Dionysian forces within humanity. Lindsay's work is a true original. By integrating his own philosophical ideas with those of Nietzsche and Blake, in A Voyage to Arcturus, Lindsay provides a meditation on what he considers the driving forces of the human condition -- pleasure and pain.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful 20th Century Fable
Review: The only reason that "A Voyage to Arcturus" is classified as a science fiction book is that it takes place on another planet that required a rocket ship for our hero to reach it. The fact is Tormance, the planet revolving around the binary star Arcturus, could have easily have been another "realm" or "dimension" that could have been accessed by a looking glass or a pair of ruby slippers. This story is basically a philosophical parable is which Lindsay's hero, Maskull, journeys through the world of Tormance in search of the truth. During his travels, he meets several interesting individuals, each of whom represent a different lesson. And as Maskull meets these people, he goes through a series of spiritual transformations that sometimes manifest themselves as physical changes to his body. Lindsay skillfully uses the philosophies of Calvinism, Shamanism and Buddhism (and probably some others, too) to set up some interesting questions. And like all good philosophers, he leaves it to us to determine our own answers. I found his ideas on gender relationships, truth, nature and good and evil to be very thought-provoking. I also had fun trying to read into some of the names he gave his people and places. For instance, a character whose core philosophy is based on self-loathing is called "Hator" ("hater"?). Could "Tormance" refer to a series of "torments" that one must go through to find the truth? Only the author, who passed away many years ago, knows for sure. Word of warning: I have to agree with the reviewer who complained about this particular edition's proof-reading. There was at least one typo on every other page. Most of them are easy to spot..."me" is typed as "mc"..."far" comes out as "fat"...etc. But it does make me wonder if any of the errors were subtle enough to change the meaning of the story. This is an enjoyable book that tells an imaginative story and encourages you to think. and I highly recommend it...if you like that sort of thing.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful 20th Century Fable
Review: The only reason that "A Voyage to Arcturus" is classified as a science fiction book is that it takes place on another planet that required a rocket ship for our hero to reach it. The fact is Tormance, the planet revolving around the binary star Arcturus, could have easily have been another "realm" or "dimension" that could have been accessed by a looking glass or a pair of ruby slippers. This story is basically a philosophical parable is which Lindsay's hero, Maskull, journeys through the world of Tormance in search of the truth. During his travels, he meets several interesting individuals, each of whom represent a different lesson. And as Maskull meets these people, he goes through a series of spiritual transformations that sometimes manifest themselves as physical changes to his body. Lindsay skillfully uses the philosophies of Calvinism, Shamanism and Buddhism (and probably some others, too) to set up some interesting questions. And like all good philosophers, he leaves it to us to determine our own answers. I found his ideas on gender relationships, truth, nature and good and evil to be very thought-provoking. I also had fun trying to read into some of the names he gave his people and places. For instance, a character whose core philosophy is based on self-loathing is called "Hator" ("hater"?). Could "Tormance" refer to a series of "torments" that one must go through to find the truth? Only the author, who passed away many years ago, knows for sure. Word of warning: I have to agree with the reviewer who complained about this particular edition's proof-reading. There was at least one typo on every other page. Most of them are easy to spot..."me" is typed as "mc"..."far" comes out as "fat"...etc. But it does make me wonder if any of the errors were subtle enough to change the meaning of the story. This is an enjoyable book that tells an imaginative story and encourages you to think. and I highly recommend it...if you like that sort of thing.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing is greater than Love, Pain and Pleasure
Review: The reviewers who are fascinated/ intoxicated by this book have fallen into the authors trap and missed the point! "A Voyage to Arcturus" is an absolute, no-holds-barred rejection of the world, in which everything in life - compassion, pleasure, love, performance of ones duty, the thrill of controlling others, the simple life, beauty both artistic and natural, and all philosophies and viewpoints are seen as delusions, distractions set up by a spiritual enemy to entrap souls and drag them from their higher origins - the 'sublime' represented by Muspel. Lindsay purposefully places the most sympathetic characters -Joiwind and Panawe- at the beginning of Maskulls journey, along with a landscape of colour and beauty, in order to trap his readers into ENJOYING Tormance.In the final chapter of the book, Lindsays message of renunciation becomes explicit - "Once for all, there is nothing worth seeing on Tormance" - and the true nature of the planet that has so fascinated the naive reader is revealed. Since Tormance is really a metaphor for Earth, Lindsay is serving to warn his readers against an intoxication with life by reproducing in microcosm our own tendency to worship the World in all its pleasurable aspects - including the pleasure of reading "A Voyage to Arcturus".
One of the key passages in the book is the meeting between Panawe and a 'guru' figure in the form of the sorcerer Slofork. Slofork's vision of a "Nothing" which is greater than Love, Pain, Pleasure (the rewards of a life on Tormance); a Nothing which is also "Something", is simply unavailable to Panawe, who is intoxicated by a philosophy of kindness and sentiment. But Slofork himself, while he has realised the futility of that which is not Nothing (i.e. Everything) can only escape the world by suicide (shades of the neo-Platonic philosopher Porphyry). This is grim, but it is probable that Slofork is being represented as having fallen into the trap of an intoxication with his own insight into the true nature of things. Like Hamlet, he thinks too well. At the end of the book, Crystalmans "trump card" is revealed as an ability to ensnare with the idea of renunciation itself. It is this final warning of Lindsay's which puts the book beyond its apparent Gnosticism, a "Nothing" which is also "Something" containing within it its own corrective.
It has to be said that no-body could live out these ideas in practice. Lindsay was once visited by a friend who had admired his novel, and who noted that the author was enjoying a meal. "It is clear", he said "that you do not follow your own theories". "Only the unimaginative follow their own theories" was Lindsay's response.
There is some similarity with Buddhism here - Nightspore as a Boddhisatva figure in his willingness to be reborn voluntarily, Nirvana as the "Nothing" represented by transcendent Muspel. Christ's saying about losing ones life in order to find it also has relevance.
Lindsays point seems to be that everything must be rejected, even rejection itself, before one can really begin, begin again with the truth, a truth unavailable to the senses, including the emotional and mental senses with which we respond to and examine the world as it impacts on us. One must die before one dies..... to escape dying into Crystalman.
Rating:
Summary: Very, very special
Review: This book is often classified as science fiction. While this is perhaps appropriate given the fantastical nature of the story, such a categorization is hardly all-encompassing. I have never cared for science fiction at all and this is my all-time favorite book. Others have detailed the plot as well as possible so I will not get into that. I only wish to say that the images from this book are very far-reaching and the messages are virtually innumerable. But the thing that is so marvelous about the way it is put together is that these lessons are not put forth in any kind of straightforward or didactic manner. They are given to the reader however he chooses to take them (well, with just a bit of help from the author). It is definitely one of the least manipulative books I have ever read, and it assumes great intelligence of its reader. This is very refreshing and fairly rare, in my opinion. Some would say this book is not for everyone. I disagree. I think it is for anyone, provided that the reader just puts in a bit of concentration and a whole lot of imagination. It is not a book that can be read in an evening or digested in a week. It can even be slow going at times, given the reader's mood, and it's true that David Lindsay's writing is far from flawless. Yet even with these faults, there is no question in my mind that it is a five-star book. It is the only book to which I come back year after year, just to keep certain parts of my brain open. David Lindsay was a unique and fearless writer and there is no other book quite like this one. (Good luck finding it, I don't even have my own copy, I just borrow the same sad dog-eared copy from the library every year.)
Rating:
Summary: Journey to the Center of the Mind
Review: This is among the most amazing books I have ever read. Some professional reviewers have complained about Lindsay's writing style as being too rough. That is like complaining that Michaelangelo did not smooth the rough edges off his sculpture "Men Tearing Themselves Out of Stone". Lindsay's vision is far more important than his style, but I think his style heightens the effect. As one reads the book it becomes apparent that all of this is "going on in his head", and that is the significance of the name Maskull; but is there really anything in a skull. It might as well be said that only what happens is real, and the thoughts of the hero are merely reflections of reality. This book is very complex. Many different levels or layers of meaning. Lindsay was indeed a genius of a high order. I have read others of his books, which have been unfavourably compared with this one. They do not quite approach this one, but all of them I have read are good.
Rating:
Summary: Journey to the Center of the Mind
Review: This is among the most amazing books I have ever read. Some professional reviewers have complained about Lindsay's writing style as being too rough. That is like complaining that Michaelangelo did not smooth the rough edges off his sculpture "Men Tearing Themselves Out of Stone". Lindsay's vision is far more important than his style, but I think his style heightens the effect. As one reads the book it becomes apparent that all of this is "going on in his head", and that is the significance of the name Maskull; but is there really anything in a skull. It might as well be said that only what happens is real, and the thoughts of the hero are merely reflections of reality. This book is very complex. Many different levels or layers of meaning. Lindsay was indeed a genius of a high order. I have read others of his books, which have been unfavourably compared with this one. They do not quite approach this one, but all of them I have read are good.
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