In the “introduction” to the account of Joenes’ journey across America in the 21st century, the “editors” of the text describe how it is culled together in the future from sparse and fragmentary records-“these are: ‘Lum’s Meeting with Joenes’ from the Book of Fiji, Orthodox Edition, and ‘How Lum Joined the Army,’ also from the Book of Fiji, Orthodox Edition” (viii). In a similar but less radical manner as George Alec Effinger’s What Entropy Means to Me (1972), Sheckley subverts the notion of narrative truth and by so doing explores the complex nature of storytelling. (1959) and The Status Civilization (1960)-is a wildly successful episodic novel that plays to his strengths as a short story author. Robert Sheckley’s third novel Journey Beyond Tomorrow (1962)-after Immortality, Inc. But even those that are considered allegorical are representative of the spirit and temper of the times” (vii). Some of the tales do not appear to be factual accounts, but rather, moral allegories. “Beyond a doubt, Joenes himself was an actual person but there is no way of determining the authenticity of every story told about him.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |