Deserted
By My
Enemies: Vengeance as a Theme in the Writings of Jack Vance
part 3 -
Vance's fantasy
to part 1 -
introduction and The Demon Princes novels
to part 2 - Other Science Fiction
The Dying Earth books
The Lyonesse books
Religion
in Vance's works
Vengeance
Links
In these
pages, I stipulate that science fiction does not involve magic, whereas fantasy
usually does. (Magic is defined as "an
extraordinary power or influence seemingly from a supernatural source.")
This part of the document considers some of Vance's fantasy, which does involve
magic, by the above definition. If magic is available, then vengeance can take
forms unavailable to us in the real world, or even to Vance's characters in the
science fiction worlds that he has imagined for us. The most
spectacular vengeance
in Vance's science fiction, probably in anyone's science fiction, is in The
Face, when a moon is changed so that a whole ethnic group has to look at a
face belonging from a different culture, that they have judged to be inferior.
Green
Magic: The Fantasy Worlds of Jack Vance (New York: Tor, 1979) is a fine
collection of some short fiction by Vance. Two of the stories are also part of
the Dying Earth books covered below. None of the other stories center on
vengeance. In some of these stories, even retribution is hard to find. Although
the book is labeled "Fantasy Worlds," some of the books here are science
fiction, in that they speculate about alternate biology or metaphysics.
In Maske:
Thaery, (New York: Berkley, 1976) Ramus Ymph is a brutal, uncaring villain.
He himself is inclined to vengeance, and is described as “ruthless and
reckless; a man who never forgot an injury.” (Maske: Thaery, p. 147)
However, the vengeance finally taken in this book is taken on him. He wrongs
Jubal Droad by, among other things, destroying Droad House. More importantly, he
threatens to destroy the ecology/religion of the whole race of Waels. The Waels
take vengeance. They turn him into a tree. Jubal Droad also takes vengeance, in
a whimsical way. He erects a sign next to the tree, with a box affixed. The sign
reads:
On this site shall be erected a shrine befitting the memory of that indomitable
visionary: Ramus Ymph! His friends
and kinship, with all their connections …let them place a portion of their
wealth within this box…that a fitting memorial to Ramus Ymph may be erected!nbsp; (Maske: Thaery, 173)
But, as Droad puts
it, a pile of rocks, or a public toilet, would be a fitting shrine to the memory
of such a person as Ramus Ymph. He takes the money to use in the rebuilding of
Droad house. When questioned by a friend, he justifies himself:
“After all, we cannot know Ramus Ymph's mind. Perhaps he feels remorse and
endorses my efforts. Ramus! You in
the tree! Do you hear me? What is
your opinion? How should I spend this money?”
The tree gave back
no perceptible signal …(Maske: Thaery, 175)
The Dying Earth books
In “Ulan Dhor,”
(in The Dying Earth, New York: Pocket Books, 1977) the magician Rogol
Domedonfors awakes from a 5,000 year sleep, to find that the citizens of his
city, Ampridatvir, have not ceased their savage bickering. In a rage, he
destroys the city. In “T’Sais,” in the same book, a god returns Etarr's
face to him, after a beautiful but depraved witch has replaced it with that of
a monster. The witch gets an awful face in her turn, and T’Sais, a creature
made by a magician, but with the flaw that she cannot see anything as beautiful,
has the flaw repaired. The god says “To each who comes, justice is done.” (Dying
Earth, 66) However, Vance's characters aren't all out for vengeance.
Although justice is meted out, Etarr hasn't been seeking it, let alone revenge.
He just wanted his face back. He makes the following speech:
"What is revenge? I care nothing for it. Soon, when the sun goes out, men
will stare into eternal night, and all will die, and Earth will bear its
history, its ruins, the mountains worn to knolls--all into infinite dark. Why
revenge?" (Dying Earth, 57) Not the typical sentiments of a Vance
character!
There are three other books set in the far future of Vance's
Dying Earth. Rhialto, of Rhialto
the Marvelous, (New York: Baen, 1984) spends almost an entire book seeking
revenge against a fellow magician who has plotted to make him look as if Rhialto
has himself plotted against his fellow magicians. In the end, after many
tribulations and frustrations, Rhialto is vindicated, and the plotter is
stripped of his magic and made to work in a tannery. Cugel the Clever, of The
Eyes of the Overworld (New York: Ace Books, 1966) and Cugel’s Saga
(New York: Baen, 1983) spends two books trying to repay Iucounu, the Laughing
Magician, for various pranks on him. In the process, Cugel himself plays all
sorts of pranks, and is constantly trying to get ahead of others. Usually, he
ends up barely escaping with his life from his intended victims.
At least one character in The
Dying Earth renounces vengeance. Javanne is a witch who has given Etarr a face
that is so hideously repulsive that he wears a mask. T'sais asks him:
"And Javanne, do you wish to
revenge yourself against her?"
"No," answered Etarr, eyes far away across the moors. "What is revenge? I care
nothing for it. Soon, when the sun goes out, men will stare into the eternal
night, and all will die, and Earth will bear its history, its ruins, the
mountains worn to knolls -- all into infinite dark. Why revenge." p. 46, from "T'sais,"
pp. 32-54, in The Dying Earth, part of Tales of the Dying Earth.
New York: Tom Doherty Associates Book, 1998.
The Lyonesse books
Retribution occurs
in several ways in the Lyonesse trilogy. (Lyonesse, New York: Berkley,
1983,The
Green Pearl, New York: Berkley, 1985, Madouc, New York, Berkley/Ace 1990, )
The overall story is this: the Elder Isles, a group of islands which are part of
Europe, as Vance imagined them, are ruled by many kings, dukes, etc. The islands
also contain a few powerful magicians. Murgen is the most powerful. Although
Murgen is not well characterized, his alter ego, or scion, Shimrod, is an
important character. Murgen has issued the Edict of Murgen, which states that no
magician, including Murgen himself, can intervene in the conflicts between the
kingdoms.
Casmir,
the king of Lyonesse, has a daughter, Suldrun, who does not wish to be a
pawn in her father's political games, married off so as to advance his
ambitions. She prefers to spend her time alone in a garden between the castle
and the sea. Aillas, nephew of the Troice king, is thrown off a ship by his
cousin, the king's son, because, unknown to Aillas, the king has died, and
Aillas' father is next in line, with Aillas as his heir. Aillas washes ashore,
and Suldrun rescues him, keeping his presence secret. They fall in love, marry,
and have a child. Umphred is a Christian priest who marries them, under threat
from Aillas. He keeps the knowledge of their
marriage to himself for many years, hoping to use it to further his ambitions.
Both Casmir and Umphred are portrayed as without scruple. Casmir frequently has
his own spies killed, for example.
Eventually,
Casmir finds that Suldrun is pregnant. He does not know Aillas' name, and
assumes him to be a low-born interloper. Aillas is thrown in a deep hole. He
eventually escapes. Before he escapes, his son, Dhrun, is spirited away. Twix, a
fairy of Thripsey Shee, exchanges her new-born daughter, Madouc, of a father she
does not know by name, for Dhrun. Dhrun matures rapidly, since time with the
fairies is not the same as human time. Madouc is eventually claimed by Casmir,
who at first believes her to be his granddaughter.
The
Witch, Desmei, who with Tamurello, opposes Murgen, seems to tire of life, and
distills parts
of her essence into three beings. One of them is Faude Carfilhiot, an evil man
seemingly devoid of conscience. He is eventually killed, but a green vapor
leaves the remains, and solidifies in the ocean as a green pearl. The second
result is the beautiful woman Melancthe. The third is described as a sump for
the worst aspects of Desmei.
In
Lyonesse, many of the
characters are clearly meant to be evil, and a few to be good. One of the most depraved is
Carfilhiot, who has carried out torture on hundreds. He is eventually brought to
justice by King Aillas, clearly a good man. Aillas neither tortures Carfilhiot,
nor allows his torturers to be tortured, in spite of clamor from the populace
that he do so. He merely has all of them expeditiously killed. Shimrod, an ally of Aillas, spends much of the book seeking to carry out
retribution on a thief who broke into his house, and tortured and killed a
favorite servant, and eventually achieves it. Shimrod begins to torture the
thief, but decides that he has “no real stomach for torment,” (Lyonesse,
365) so dispatches him.
The
Green Pearl introduces an unusual concept of
vengeance. The beautiful Melancthe, created from part of Desmei, reports
that she finds herself wanting--a mere husk, however beautiful, but lacking
human emotions and desires. It seems that this is a
deliberate vengeance of Desmei upon males: to create a female creature
greatly desirable, but not able to reciprocate.
The
Green Pearl also includes a situation where the Aillas, who has now become
the Troice king, deliberately
turns from possible vengeance. He does not seek vengeance on the Ska, a nation
of implacable warriors, but settles for an understanding that they and he will
leave each other alone. Vance often puts in episodes of vengeance just to tie up
loose ends. In chapter 14, section 1, there is an episode of vengeance, not
because it is necessary to the plot, but because, as he puts it, it
"otherwise might be lost in the spate of larger events." (p. 263) The
vengeance is that
prescribed by Aillas towards a certain innkeeper, Dildahl. The innkeeper had grossly
overcharged Aillas when he stayed at the inn in disguise, and his reputation is
that he always does this. Aillas sends agents and soldiers to take the inn
property from the miscreant, as he has taken property from others over the
years. A measured vengeance, consonant with the crimes. Tamurello, the evil
magician, turns himself into a weasel, after having swallowed the green pearl,
but Murgen captures him and keeps him under glass in his own residence.
Madouc
ties up all the loose ends of the trilogy. It turns out that Desmei has not
completely gone out of existence. Her various parts, somehow working with the
captured Tamurello, have been able to communicate, working against Shimrod,
Murgen and Aillas, but Shimrod and Murgen are able to have all of them finally
and completely destroyed. Casmir attempts to kill Dhrun and Aillas, but is
captured himself. Although he had been unjust to Suldrun and Aillas, as well as
to Madouc, Aillas does not take vengeance on him. He puts him in prison, and
plans to have him killed eventually. Umphred is executed. Twix and Madouc
discover that Shimrod was Madouc's father, and Madouc and Dhrun fall in love.
Even though the good characters have the power to do terrible harm to the evil
ones, they don't. The evil characters, throughout the book, are not so
scrupulous.
Religion
in Vance's writing
There are many other religions, beside Christianity, practiced in the trilogy.
Umphred, and, by implication Christianity, are pictured as scheming and
fraudulent, preying on the gullible. Vance usually puts some sort of religious
group, or more than one, in his works, and they are never a positive force. As a
Nick put it
in a posting to an on-line bulletin board: "Why would it matter if Vance
supported one particular religion? That is a personal choice and (like his
politics) is irrelevent to the enjoyment [of] his books. Secondly, I believe
that he does hold very strong views on religion, he thinks it is absurd, and
never tires of lampooning organised religion. I would put him in the Richard
Dawkins camp of evangelical atheists." A
three-sentence review
of Emphyrio characterizes
the religion of that planet as "unforgiving."
A
page on Vance's writing
quotes Vance's imaginary Baron Bodissey, writer of the multi-volume work,
Life: "If religions are diseases of the human psyche, as the philosopher
Grintholde reckons, the religious wars must be reckoned the resultant sores and
cankers infecting the aggregate corpus of the human race. Of all wars, they are
waged for no tangible gain, but only to impose a set of arbitrary credos upon
another's mind."
Vengeance
As the King James
Bible puts it, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord,” The NIV,
less memorable, but more modern, puts Romans 12:19 more plainly: “Do
not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written:
‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.” I have no reason to
believe that Vance was deliberately trying to illustrate this passage, but what
happens to his characters does, indeed, illustrate it. Vengeance enacts a toll
upon the avenger.
I close by saying a little
about the essay by David Langford, cited near the beginning of the first part of
this essay. Langford analyses the theme of vengeance in Vance's works
thoroughly. He believes that Vance's treatment of vengeance changed with
time--the later works tend to have their vengeance enacted by authority figures
or older adults, not by Vance's typical twenty-something male heroes. Langford
quotes the same passage that I have used for my title, and also the same passage
of scripture that makes up the background of this page. How could he not?
Langford doesn't deal with all of Vance's works. The Tschai books, and others,
are ignored. But he does cover the Demon Princes and Throy series, and others,
very well. I shall close with a quote from Langford:
We can hope that Vance's work
enjoys the fate of his creation Baron Bodissey's philosophical masterwork Life,
which when first published is pulverised by the literati, but in books set many
centuries later has become a much-quoted classic and school text. For an author,
there is no better final revenge. (David Langford, "Growing Up, Striking Back:
Revenge in the Work of Jack Vance," pp. 99 - 114 in Jack Vance:
Critical Appreciations and a Bibliography, edited by A. E. Cunningham.
Boston Spa and London: 2000. Quote is from p. 113.)
I have noted, in web pages on
the writings of Robert Silverberg and
Patricia McKillip, that, lest there be any doubt,
fantastic literature doesn't have to include wrathful vengeance. Both of them
have leading characters who forgive, or at least don't take vengeance. The same
is true of some of Orson Scott Card's works. In his Shadow Puppets
(New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2002) p. 336, Bean, the leading character,
decides that he must kill Achilles, who is the villain in more than one of
Card's Ender books. He gets no joy from it, he just does it because it has to be
done.
Links
"Unrighteous
Indignation" by Frederica Mathewes-Green in Christianity Today,
October 23, 2000. She says "Perhaps there are time-and-place situations in
which war can be just. But there's never a situation when it's right to gloat in
revenge. There's never a time to cultivate delicious anger just for the thrill
of it."
"Uprooting
the Seeds of Violence", by Bernice A. King (Martin Luther King,
Jr.'s
daughter) in The Other Side, Sept-Dec 1997. King says that "Revenge
and retribution can never produce genuine healing. They can only deprive
survivors of the opportunity for forgiveness and reconciliation that is needed
for the healing process." The excerpt is mostly about the death penalty,
with a little about personal vengeance. (As of 1/22/05, This resource is not
available. A Google search for The Other Side led to a page that was not
available, either.)
The
Jack Vance Information Page
A
Vance bibliography, copyrighted by Al von Ruff
There is an on-line periodical,
Cosmopolis, exploring
many aspects of Vance's writing. It is associated with the
Vance Integral Edition, a project to
reprint all of Vance's work in a unified high-quality series.
A
page examining Vance's use of language, with several quotes, copyrighted by
Owlcroft house.
Jack
Vance: Portrait of the Artist as a Mad Poet, by Tim Eagan
"Lord
of Language, Emperor of Dreams," by Nick Gevers
The Blog,
Visions of Paradise, has
recently (beginning late 2004) featured summaries/reviews of some of Vance's
novels.
A language graduate student has
analyzed Vance's The Languages of Pao
"Green
Magic," a short story by Vance
Review of
the Lyonesse books by Peter D. Tillman
To my page on vengeance
in Patricia A. McKillip's writing
to my
home page
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
The purpose of this is NOT to prevent use by others, but to prevent other users
from restricting free use. I claim no ownership of materials in the above
material which are quotations from other sources.