Mermaids And Larry Rance II

An earlier post on Poul Anderson's contemporary fantasy novel, The Devil's Game (New York, 1980):

quotes "...Masterman York...is known with certainty to be descended from a mermaid" (p. 57);

links this reference to Anderson's historical fantasy novel, The Merman's Children;

also links the merfolk theme to the Devil's Game contestant, Larry Rance, because Lance's challenge, to swim two miles through sea containing sharks and barracuda, and his ambition, to use the million dollar prize money to build a schooner and cruise the world, are maritime in nature.

Well, blow me down if Anderson doesn't go on to make this second link later in the novel:

"Larry wouldn't settle down with us away from the sea. He's obsessed. Hear the mermaids singing to him, but they have shark teeth." (p. 241)

This may be only a small point but maybe also I am getting in tune with Anderson's texts if I can anticipate a connection before it becomes explicit.

Meanwhile, in the novel that I am currently reading, in this case for the first time, Perish By The Sword (New York, 1959), I recognize a moment on which I have commented in several of Anderson's problem stories. Yamamura is speaking but breaks off in mid-sentence:

"Yamamura's argument was cut off as if by an ax. Pereira saw him, not stiffen, but relax totally, so that dark slitted eyes filmed over and the long body almost slid from the chair." (p. 133)

Asked "What is it?," he does not reply but sits unmoving for an entire minute, then for longer. This is the moment of realization. The hero has solved the problem. The detective has identified the murderer. But he will not tell anyone yet. He will check the facts, confirm his suspicion, act accordingly and we will be told what we need to know in due course.

There is something odd and obviously significant about the surnames of two characters but I am no wiser about solving the mystery. Are detective novels like crossword puzzles? Do some readers guess the ending in advance? And get it right?

A Happy Ending

Poul Anderson's The Devil's Game (New York, 1980) ends with two contestants dead and one mad. However, the remaining two men and two women, at least temporarily forming two couples, experience positive outcomes, to our surprise and to that of Haverner who had expected to watch them disintegrate.

It is tragic that the good though misguided Cruz was killed but fitting that his low life murderer suffered the same fate. It is poetically just that the Christian Nordberg enters Hell: psychosis following the final challenge, a "bad trip" on LSD. "...poetically just..." does not mean that I would have wished this on him. What Nordberg (like many in the real world?) needs is a realization, however painful, of the significance of his attitudes and actions. I did not exhaust his faults or failings in a previous post. Of two other contestants, he thinks:

"I wouldn't put murder past them." (p. 195)

But he had ordered Cruz's murder! However, that is different, so he thinks, because the Lord knows that he is "...a merciful man who doesn't like it..." (p. 198). Here, Anderson rivals CS Lewis' ability to imagine and verbalize the innermost thoughts of a character who is fundamentally dishonest with himself.

Nordberg, wondering whether to "... have [Flagler] get rid of Gayle Thurner?", because she may threaten Nordberg's interests, reflects that she "...richly deserves death for her sins..." (ibid.) (The death penalty for unmarried sex?) However, apart from Nordberg being, as we have seen, a merciful man, it may be unnecessary to murder Thayer because she is so "timid" that he is "...reasonably sure that she can be frightened into silence." (ibid.) And this amoral pragmatism is all part of Nordberg's perpetual inner prayer to the Lord.

Thayer, the weakest link, quickly and easily eliminated from the contest, is abused and abused by two of the men. Allied to Flagler, then persuaded by Rance to spy on Flagler, then confessing this to Flagler when it is beaten out of her, she is more than once reduced to weeping defenselessness. Yet, despite Nordberg's judgment that she "...richly deserves death...," Samael thinks that she and the other three sane survivors might be approaching "...salvation." (p. 255) Haverner judges that she shows "...a measure of psychological independence." (p. 253)

When the wealthy surviving man proposes to her, she replies:

"'...don't you understand, Byron? After these horrors...I'm through chasing money. I am...I will not use you...We'll try for a year or two...No promises...No legal claims...I've got to become something I can respect. I've got to make sure I'm worth - not your money, but your time, your life - before I can take a promise from you.'" (p. 252)

A remarkable, almost miraculous, turnaround. And much the same happens with the, till now, scheming Julia Petrie. Winning the million dollars, she insists on "'...a seven-way split.'" (p. 250) - the last thing that Haverner had expected. Petrie keeps the seventh that would have gone to the dead murderer, Flagler, but, apart from that:

"'[Nordberg's] people can use his share if he is incapacitated. And if [Cruz] hasn't left any kin that can be traced, whatever village he came from can have his portion. I'm sure they need it.'" (ibid.)

So some of the money that Cruz would have invested in revolution will be used to alleviate the poverty in which he grew up. And Rance's yacht will be used not only to cruise the world but also to research oceanic pollution. The survivors approach their salvation, which may be what Samael had intended.

The structure of the narrative requires that each of the characters narrates a chapter but that Petrie narrates the one in which Nordberg goes psychotic. Thus, we do not see his madness from the inside. I cannot stop analyzing Nordberg. He approves of a passage from Zephaniah in which the Lord expresses his "indignation," "fierce anger" and "jealousy." (p. 191) Nordberg would interpret such terms with anthropomorphic literalness, thus inferring a deity that is morally inferior to the best of mankind. Other Biblical theists need to elucidate such passages as expressing a higher, not a lower, morality.

The Remaining Challenges

Nordberg, eating nuts: eliminates Rance, who is allergic to nuts;

Nordberg (second challenge), Maths: eliminates Shaddock.

Remaining contestants:

Nordberg and Petrie, who must still make a challenge.

Remaining problems:

Flagler, who shot Cruz for Nordberg;
Thayer, who is an accessory to murder.

Possible outcomes:

Flagler kills Petrie and her partner, Rance;
Flagler and Thayer blackmail Nordberg;
He pays someone else to kill them.

Haverner and Samael seem pleased that the contestants are degenerating into violence. Has the purpose been to use greed and conflict to strip away civilization and reveal barbarism?

Still 45 pages to read but it is time to turn in.

Cruz And Norberg

Poul Anderson displays the innermost thoughts of the seven contestants in The Devil's Game (New York, 1980), including a fascinating contrast between Orestes Cruz and Ellis Nordberg.

The murdered Communist, Cruz, is a far more sympathetic character than his Christian murderer, Nordberg. Anderson, a political conservative, shows us why some men have become Communists. He often wrote with sympathetic understanding of religion in general and Christianity in particular but also understood the inhumane mindsets of some Christian traditions.

Some of Cruz's teeth rotted in childhood; others were "'...knocked out in prison...'" (p. 33)

"'...my brothers are being shot, flogged, clubbed in the testicles, left starving among lice and cockroaches...I am going to spend the money on guns and propaganda and liaison with my brothers in Cuba, Africa, around the world.'" (ibid.)

We each make our own response to Cruz's speech but it is to Anderson's credit that he gives us that speech and then later writes Nordberg's self-serving prayers:

"'You want me to prosper, for an example of your mercy and to become able to do your work in this world.'" (p. 191)

Well, Nordberg wants Nordberg to prosper so, of course, the Lord must want this as well.

Of Haverner, who offers the prize of a million dollars, Nordberg thinks:

"I gather he's not a Christian. Nevertheless the Lord has seen fit to make him mighty upon the earth, even as Cyrus was made mighty to free Israel, as Augustus was so there'd be a Roman peace wherein the words of our Saviour could be heard. My Cyrus, my Augustus." (p. 194)

Thus, Nordberg modestly compares himself both to Israel and to the Savior! I find that first sentence irritating. Everyone must first be classified as to whether they are "a Christian" or "not a Christian." That makes about as much sense as classifying every science fiction writer as either "Poul Anderson" or "not Poul Anderson."

(For Cyrus, see Anderson's Time Patrol story, "Brave To Be A King"; for Augustus, see Neil Gaiman's Sandman story, "August.")

Nordberg wonders how someone:

"(...can be religious and not rejoice that we're afflicted with one less godless Communist.)" (p. 195)

The subject of this wonderment is one of the servants whom Cruz had gone out of his way to befriend.

Of Cruz, he thinks:

"(...I hope you enjoy yourself, Orestes Cruz, looking up from hell)." (p. 194)

I have encountered this in some Evangelicals, genuine gloating at the supposed future damnation of their opponents. I was indoctrinated in an admittedly different Christian tradition where we were told that we must "judge not." We do not know how anyone else stood with God and cannot say where they are in the hereafter.

According to Nordberg, an adulteress is:

"That whore, that slut, that bitch, that tramp, that abomination in the sight of the Lord." (p. 200)

No, man, she is just an adulteress. However, she, another of the contestants, shows every sign of being as manipulative and self-seeking as Nordberg himself. Hence, his antipathy towards her. Bizarrely, he even imagines forcing sex on her as a way of bringing down her pride and showing her that she "...is less than dust in the sight of the Lord." (p. 197) And one reason for deciding against this is that he might suffer the embarrassment of impotence. (Anderson has created an extraordinarily complicated character.)

That "It is a sin" is another reason against. (ibid.) But not a big reason. As I understand this version of Christianity, a man, once saved, cannot be lost. He will, of course, be punished by being made to feel bad about his "sins" but that is as far as it goes.

I could write even more about Nordberg's mental contortions but that is plenty. By contrast, the "godless" Cruz is refreshingly straightforward and honest.

POV And Death

In Poul Anderson's The Devil's Game (New York, 1980), I have read as far as p. 155 (of 255), a turning point. So far, four contestants have offered five challenges. I list below the contestant, the challenge and the outcome -

Rance, swimming: eliminated none;
Thayer, sitting: eliminated none, but she failed it;
Shaddock, climbing: cliff eliminated Thayer, tree eliminated Flagler, which means he can't make a challenge although I see that he nevertheless has a chapter later;
Cruz, sun-bathing (sitting naked all day in the lethal sun): should eliminate all except Cruz, the only black man present, but the challenge is ended early by his murder.

Unrealistically, Cruz not only, like the others, narrates his own challenge chapter in first person, present tense but also continues narrating until the moment of his death:

"Yankee, go home, and I say this not in hatred but in love, because crash..." (p. 155)

Interval Six, Part One, back to third person, past tense explains the crash, a bullet to the brain. If Cruz's entire chapter is narrated by him, then he hears the crash. Or are we to understand that crash is the sound of the impact that ends his consciousness so that the last word narrated by him is "...because..."?

Point of view matters and here Anderson, like CS Lewis in That Hideous Strength, stretches it to and beyond its limit.

A murder should end the game but Haverner has said that he is above the law on his island.

A Gripping Psychological Novel

I had misunderstood the rules of The Devil's Game (New York, 1980). Each contestant is not limited to presenting only a single challenge. S/he can present any number of different challenges between sunrise and sunset of his/her day although, in fact, the first two contenders, Larry Rance and Gayle Thayer, do each present only one. Neither of their challenges has eliminated any of the seven.

Rance could have eliminated three contestants but decided against it. Thayer fails her own challenge, to sit entirely still all day, but, as the one who brought the challenge, she can end it at any time. Thayer's chapter confirms that, so far, each contestant narrates his/her chapter in the present tense. Sitting still, she thinks a lot, thus informing the reader about her life.

During Interval Three, Haverner presents an excellently accurate character dissection of the contestant, Ellis Nordberg, ending:

"'I could go on, but no need. Either you do or you do not have a capacity for self-examination.'" (p. 88)

Samael appears in different ways. The first time, Haverner saw his own reflection moving independently and addressing him. During Interval Four, words appear on a screen. When the words refuse to provide requested information, Haverner speculates:

"'...you could not exist, Samael, except in a hidden part of my own brain, and be unwilling to admit it...'" (p. 112)

Samael replies that, if the words on the screen come from outside Haverner, then they are being recorded and can be played back or printed out. Haverner erases whatever was on the disc. Bad move, Haverner. Don't you want to know?

Mermaids And Larry Rance

"Your [Caribbean] Islandman has seen, or has heard of and accepted, many things beyond explaining. Masterman York, who has the sawmill, is known with certainty to be descended from a mermaid."
- Poul Anderson, The Devil's Game (New York, 1980), p. 57.

The phrase, "...with certainty...," is ironic, especially since the quoted passage is immediately followed by:

"On his mother's side.
"She was a Philpotts." (ibid.)

However, Anderson readers can make another connection. The same author's historical fantasy novel, The Merman's Children, ends when merpeople driven from Europe by Christian exorcists in the fourteenth century set out to cross the Atlantic...

In The Devil's Game, seven characters have gathered on a Caribbean island to play Follow the Leader for the prize of a million dollars tax free. The first of the seven, Larry Rance, wanting to build a schooner and cruise the world, decrees that he and his fellow contestants will swim two miles through water that might contain sharks or barracuda. Thus, both his ambition and his challenge are closely linked to the merman theme.

The chapter about the swimming competition, an endurance test, not a race, is headed LARRY RANCE and is unexpectedly narrated in the present tense by Larry himself. I have to read on to learn the course and outcome of this contest and also whether each of the contestants in turn narrates the chapter about his or her challenge. However, since the time here is now 12.20 am, the book will wait faithfully until some time tomorrow when my other planned activities include driving my son-in-law to his doctor and exercising in the gym.

Samael

In Poul Anderson's The Devil's Game (New York, 1980), what does the "demon," Samael, want?

When Haverner asks this question, Samael's answer is:

"'An associate who can act for me and with me in the human world."(p. 46)

How does Haverner, by enriching himself, act for Samael? Maybe Samael is studying humanity, particularly in the psychological tests that Haverner, when he has acquired sufficient resources, conducts?

What is Samael? Every possible answer is considered:

a demon;
a magical being;
an extraterrestrial;
a time traveler from the future;
part of Haverner's mind.

Thus, the novel may be fantasy, science fiction or psychological fiction. Samael does not act like a traditional demon. He:

does not require that Haverner sign away his soul;
even questions whether Haverner has a soul, thus implying his own agnosticism about the supernatural;
does not object to Haverner taking religious precautions against demonic influence;
is not adversely affected by hearing the divine name.

He does seem to "'...have knowledge of the minds as well as the doings of men...'" (p. 49)

- so maybe he is Haverner's ESP personified?

Two Contemporay Novels

Poul Anderson's first contemporary mystery novel, Perish By The Sword, has just (26 Sept) arrived by post but meanwhile I had started to reread his contemporary fantasy novel, or contemporary novel with a fantasy element, The Devil's Game (New York, 1980).

In ...Game, an old, rich guy, Sunderland Haverner, has had a life long deal either with a literal demon or with a demon-like being that goes by the name of Samael. (In Neil Gaiman's The Sandman: Lucifer's name before he fell.)

Haverner, inspired by his demon, induces seven disparate characters, all badly needing money, to play Follow the Leader, the winner or winners to receive one million dollars, tax free thanks to an ingenious legal loophole. The reader has to keep track of eight major human characters plus the supporting cast of Haverner's servants.

As far as I remember, from having read the novel only once when bought, the seven interact without any demonic influence so that the central narrative is not fantasy. Perhaps the Haverner-Samael dialogues are the framing device? The game is designed to draw out the worst from its contestants so that some unpleasant passages are to be expected. The chapters are unnumbered but not innominate:

SAMAEL
THE ISLAND
INTRODUCTIONS
INTERVAL ONE
SUNDERLAND HAVERNER
INTERVAL TWO
LARRY RANCE
INTERVAL THREE
GAYLE THAYER
INTERVAL FOUR
BYRON SHADDOCK
INTERVAL FIVE
ORESTES CRUZ
INTERVAL SIX PART ONE
PART TWO
PART THREE
ELLIS NORDBERG
INTERVAL SEVEN PART ONE
MATTHEW FLAGLER
INTERVAL SEVEN PART TWO
JULIA PETRIE
FAREWELLS
SUNDERLAND HAVERNER

This structure is unusually elaborate, with a three-part Interval Six and the two parts of Interval Seven separated by the sixth of the seven contestants. As expected, Samael and Haverner bracket the contestants.