Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris is one
of the science fiction’s landmark works.
A philosophical and psychological study of a man confronting the
inherently unknowable, the imagery, events, and overall experience of the novel
lodge in the mind, begging questions for which one uncomfortably has no
immediate answer. So strange and
haunting, a person can only think of the main character’s experiences as the
most figurative representation of ‘alien’ possible. Bringing the idea closer to home corporeally
but no less existentially is Michael Bishop’s “Death and Designation among the
Asadi” (1973). The premise so fertile,
he revisited the novella years later, extending the story into the novel Transfigurations. Layers upon layers, it possesses the same
quest for understanding in an irrational scenario as Solaris, but adds an anthropological
element, tying in evolutionary and biological aspects. No less uncomfortably thought provoking,
Bishop’s novel is likewise a classic of the genre.
Transfigurations is the story of Thomas
Benedict. Living on Bosk Veld, he is in
regular contact with a friend, the anthropologist Egan Chaney, who is in the
field studying the mysterious aliens who inhabit the planet. Chaney’s notes
becoming more erratic as his experiences with the monkey/lion Asadi become
increasingly bizarre, Benedict begins to fear for his friend’s life. The Asadi openly copulating, having staring
contests with psychedelically pinwheel eyes, participating in randomly violent
acts, appearing subservient to a flying homunculus, and disappearing into the
jungle as soon as the sun sets every day, Benedict’s fears are
well-placed. Jaw-dropping descriptions
of a sacred pagoda the last word he gets from Chaney, all communication is
suddenly cut off. It thus takes the
appearance of Chaney’s daughter on Bosk Veld, a young woman named Elegy and her
chimpanzee biomodified to look like an Asadi to motivate Benedict to enter the
mysterious jungle and find his friend.
Benedict likewise becoming subsumed in the desire to explain the
behavior and doings of the Asadi, he soon finds himself stepping in familiar
footsteps. With Chaney’s notes as a
guide and the fresh discoveries of Elegy and her chimp opening doors, the
mysterious pagoda lies ahead.
