To Your Scattered Bodies Go
Encyclopedia
To Your Scattered Bodies Go (1971) is a science fiction
novel
and the first book in the Riverworld
series of books by Philip José Farmer
. It won a Hugo Award for Best Novel
in 1972 at the 30th Worldcon
. The title is derived from the 7th of the "Holy Sonnets" by English poet John Donne
:
waking up after his death on a strange new world made up of one ongoing river. He discovers that he is but one of billions of previously dead personalities from throughout Earth's history stretching from the Neolithic age through 2008 AD also 'resurrected'. At first the resurrectees are primarily focused on survival, though their basic needs for food are mysteriously taken care of; but eventually Burton decides to make it his mission to find the headwaters of the River and discover the purpose and intention of humanity's resurrection. Along the way he is enslaved and then, after being partnered with Nazi war criminal Hermann Göring
, discovers the existence of a mysterious organization responsible for the resurrection of humanity, and is recruited by a rogue member of this group to take down their carefully laid plans.
adventurer Richard Francis Burton
dies on Earth. He then wakes up in an alien place. He is floating in mid air in a vast dark room filled with uncountable numbers of human bodies, some of which are only half formed. Before Burton can do anything he is confronted by men in a flying vehicle who blast him with a weapon.
He next awakes upon the shores of a mysterious river. He is naked and hairless. All around him are other people in a similar situation. No one knows where they are or why they have been brought here although it is soon established that the people there had all died. Shortly after they awaken there is a thunderous roar and a nearby structure, similar to a gigantic stone table, emits a massive blast of electricity. They discover that this structure, nicknamed a grailstone, causes food and other supplies to appear in the grails, metal buckets which everyone found with them upon resurrection. Burton quickly attracts a group of companions to him: the neanderthal
Kaz, the science fiction author Peter Jairus Frigate
and Alice Liddell
the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland. The strangest of these is the extraterrestrial Monat Graatut. Monat explains that he had been part of a small group of beings from Tau Ceti who had arrived on Earth in the early 21st century. When one of their number was accidentally killed by humans, their spaceship automatically responded with a death ray which killed all the people on Earth. Frigate and a few others who were alive at the time confirm Monat's story.
Retreating into the nearby woods for safety, Burton's party attempt to relax by chewing some gum provided by their grails. They discover, however, that this gum is a powerful hallucinogen. Under its influence Burton and Alice make love, something which Alice, at least, later regrets.
As days and weeks pass society begins to reform. People's physical wants are provided for by the grails, which eventually produce a set of cloths which can be used for clothing. Rumors reach Burton's region that the river continues on seemingly forever. One night, Burton is visited by a mysterious cloaked figure. This being, who Burton dubs The Mysterious Stranger, explains that he is one of the beings who has constructed this world and resurrected humanity on its shores. However, he disagrees with his people's agenda, which he insists to Burton is sinister. He tells Burton to head towards the headwaters of the river.
The Mysterious Stranger's agenda meshes nicely with Burton's own inability to stay still for long and he enlists the locals to help his group build a boat with which to travel upriver. After setting off, his group encounters many adventures, becoming much closer in the process. One day, however, they are captured by a riverbank kingdom run by the Nazi Hermann Goering. Goering's new kingdom is built on slavery and Burton and his crew soon find themselves enslaved as well. Burton unites with other slaves in the kingdom and leads a successful revolt. Goering himself is murdered by Alice, who had been kept as a concubine by the Nazi. After the revolt Burton is part of the nation's ruling council. He and Alice become closer and eventually become lovers. However, one day they discover a person among them whom they conclude is an agent of the beings who created this world. Before the man can be questioned, however, he dies of no apparent cause. An autopsy reveals a small device planted in the man's brain which apparently allowed him to kill himself at will. Burton is visited by the Mysterious Stranger and is warned that the beings who created this world, to whom the Stranger refers as "Ethicals", are close to capturing Burton. Desperate to escape, and unwilling to expose his companions to danger, Burton resorts to the "suicide express" and kills himself so that he will be resurrected somewhere else in the river valley. Burton continues to wander the river, killing himself whenever he is about to be discovered. Along the way he often finds himself resurrected in the vicinity of Hermann Goering, who undergoes a moral and religious conversion and joins the pacifist Church of the Second Chance. After several years on the suicide express, Burton finds himself resurrected not in the river but in the Dark Tower which legend says lies at the headwaters. Burton is brought before a council of people who explain that they run Riverworld. They explain that one of their number is a traitor and interrogate Burton to discover the identity of this traitor, Burton's "Mysterious Stranger." They inform him that his "suicide express" trick should not have worked since they can put a hold on an individual's resurrection. The Mysterious Stranger had hacked their computer in order to make it impossible for them to track Burton. After fruitlessly questioning him, the Ethicals inform him that they will return him to the river valley but with the memory of his unusual experiences wiped. When Burton awakes he discovers that the Ethicals have returned him to the same area where his friends are. However, the Mysterious Stranger has prevented them from wiping his memory.
, and "The Suicide Express", which appeared in the March 1966 issue of Worlds of Tomorrow.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
and the first book in the Riverworld
Riverworld
Riverworld is a fictional planet and the setting for a series of science fiction books written by Philip José Farmer . Riverworld is an artificial environment where all humans are reconstructed. The books explore interactions of individuals from many different cultures and time periods...
series of books by Philip José Farmer
Philip José Farmer
Philip José Farmer was an American author, principally known for his award-winning science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories....
. It won a Hugo Award for Best Novel
Hugo Award for Best Novel
The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...
in 1972 at the 30th Worldcon
30th World Science Fiction Convention
The 30th World Science Fiction Convention was L.A.con I, which was held in Anaheim, California, US from September 1 to September 4, 1972. The venue for 30th Worldcon was the International Hotel. The organising committee was co-chaired by Charles Crayne and Bruce Pelz.The convention had 2,007...
. The title is derived from the 7th of the "Holy Sonnets" by English poet John Donne
John Donne
John Donne 31 March 1631), English poet, satirist, lawyer, and priest, is now considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are notable for their strong and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs,...
:
- At the round earth's imagin'd corners, blow
Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise
From death, you numberless infinities
Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go.
Synopsis
The novel begins with adventurer Sir Richard Francis BurtonRichard Francis Burton
Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS was a British geographer, explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia, Africa and the Americas as well as his...
waking up after his death on a strange new world made up of one ongoing river. He discovers that he is but one of billions of previously dead personalities from throughout Earth's history stretching from the Neolithic age through 2008 AD also 'resurrected'. At first the resurrectees are primarily focused on survival, though their basic needs for food are mysteriously taken care of; but eventually Burton decides to make it his mission to find the headwaters of the River and discover the purpose and intention of humanity's resurrection. Along the way he is enslaved and then, after being partnered with Nazi war criminal Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
, discovers the existence of a mysterious organization responsible for the resurrection of humanity, and is recruited by a rogue member of this group to take down their carefully laid plans.
Plot
BritishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
adventurer Richard Francis Burton
Richard Francis Burton
Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS was a British geographer, explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia, Africa and the Americas as well as his...
dies on Earth. He then wakes up in an alien place. He is floating in mid air in a vast dark room filled with uncountable numbers of human bodies, some of which are only half formed. Before Burton can do anything he is confronted by men in a flying vehicle who blast him with a weapon.
He next awakes upon the shores of a mysterious river. He is naked and hairless. All around him are other people in a similar situation. No one knows where they are or why they have been brought here although it is soon established that the people there had all died. Shortly after they awaken there is a thunderous roar and a nearby structure, similar to a gigantic stone table, emits a massive blast of electricity. They discover that this structure, nicknamed a grailstone, causes food and other supplies to appear in the grails, metal buckets which everyone found with them upon resurrection. Burton quickly attracts a group of companions to him: the neanderthal
Neanderthal
The Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...
Kaz, the science fiction author Peter Jairus Frigate
Peter Jairus Frigate
Peter Jairus Frigate is a fictionalized version of the science fiction author Philip José Farmer, which appeared in his Riverworld series of novels....
and Alice Liddell
Alice Liddell
Alice Pleasance Liddell , known for most of her adult life by her married name, Alice Hargreaves, inspired the children's classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, whose protagonist Alice is said to be named after her.-Biography:...
the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland. The strangest of these is the extraterrestrial Monat Graatut. Monat explains that he had been part of a small group of beings from Tau Ceti who had arrived on Earth in the early 21st century. When one of their number was accidentally killed by humans, their spaceship automatically responded with a death ray which killed all the people on Earth. Frigate and a few others who were alive at the time confirm Monat's story.
Retreating into the nearby woods for safety, Burton's party attempt to relax by chewing some gum provided by their grails. They discover, however, that this gum is a powerful hallucinogen. Under its influence Burton and Alice make love, something which Alice, at least, later regrets.
As days and weeks pass society begins to reform. People's physical wants are provided for by the grails, which eventually produce a set of cloths which can be used for clothing. Rumors reach Burton's region that the river continues on seemingly forever. One night, Burton is visited by a mysterious cloaked figure. This being, who Burton dubs The Mysterious Stranger, explains that he is one of the beings who has constructed this world and resurrected humanity on its shores. However, he disagrees with his people's agenda, which he insists to Burton is sinister. He tells Burton to head towards the headwaters of the river.
The Mysterious Stranger's agenda meshes nicely with Burton's own inability to stay still for long and he enlists the locals to help his group build a boat with which to travel upriver. After setting off, his group encounters many adventures, becoming much closer in the process. One day, however, they are captured by a riverbank kingdom run by the Nazi Hermann Goering. Goering's new kingdom is built on slavery and Burton and his crew soon find themselves enslaved as well. Burton unites with other slaves in the kingdom and leads a successful revolt. Goering himself is murdered by Alice, who had been kept as a concubine by the Nazi. After the revolt Burton is part of the nation's ruling council. He and Alice become closer and eventually become lovers. However, one day they discover a person among them whom they conclude is an agent of the beings who created this world. Before the man can be questioned, however, he dies of no apparent cause. An autopsy reveals a small device planted in the man's brain which apparently allowed him to kill himself at will. Burton is visited by the Mysterious Stranger and is warned that the beings who created this world, to whom the Stranger refers as "Ethicals", are close to capturing Burton. Desperate to escape, and unwilling to expose his companions to danger, Burton resorts to the "suicide express" and kills himself so that he will be resurrected somewhere else in the river valley. Burton continues to wander the river, killing himself whenever he is about to be discovered. Along the way he often finds himself resurrected in the vicinity of Hermann Goering, who undergoes a moral and religious conversion and joins the pacifist Church of the Second Chance. After several years on the suicide express, Burton finds himself resurrected not in the river but in the Dark Tower which legend says lies at the headwaters. Burton is brought before a council of people who explain that they run Riverworld. They explain that one of their number is a traitor and interrogate Burton to discover the identity of this traitor, Burton's "Mysterious Stranger." They inform him that his "suicide express" trick should not have worked since they can put a hold on an individual's resurrection. The Mysterious Stranger had hacked their computer in order to make it impossible for them to track Burton. After fruitlessly questioning him, the Ethicals inform him that they will return him to the river valley but with the memory of his unusual experiences wiped. When Burton awakes he discovers that the Ethicals have returned him to the same area where his friends are. However, the Mysterious Stranger has prevented them from wiping his memory.
Publication history
This novel, and the Riverworld series itself, is based on Farmer's earlier, unpublished novel Owe for the Flesh. It was originally serialized as two separate novellas: "The Day of the Great Shout", which appeared in the January 1965 issue of Worlds of TomorrowWorlds of Tomorrow (magazine)
Worlds of Tomorrow was an American science fiction magazine published from 1963 to 1967, after it was merged into If. It briefly resumed publication in 1970 and 1971. The magazine was edited by Frederik Pohl in its first period of publication, and by Ejler Jakobsson in the second. It has published...
, and "The Suicide Express", which appeared in the March 1966 issue of Worlds of Tomorrow.