In chapter nineteen we’re back in the real world with a vengeance, and the consequences of Marta’s willfulness have become apparent…
The scene in the desert owes much to Wim Wenders classic arthouse film Paris, Texas, and the line ‘…her eyes fixed on her own far horizon’ is adapted from the lyrics of a song I wrote in the 1980’s while under the spell of that particular movie.
The landscape of Alpha 5 again becomes a character in its own right, with the scale and implacability of the landscape contrasted with the insignificance, frailty and sheer ephemerality of individual human lives.
A friend of mine recently said to me, ‘…I wish we could all go to your planet!’ and she hits the nail on the head, Alpha 5 is a means of escape (for me as much as anyone!), from a scary and increasingly hostile world; but I would like to make the point that although A5 is a refuge (both metaphorically and literally!), the ‘real world’ is still presented in this novel (most notably in chapter twelve), and the likely future consequences of our present actions are laid bare…
But this, after all, is the role of science fiction (or it should be!), the genre providing an escape from the real world, while at the same time commenting on it…
We can also glimpse the power relationships within the world of the Children, and it is clear that (in the absence of Marta) Priya, although the youngest, is the dominant personality.
The first two sections of Recovery are a fairly conventional search and rescue drama, but what surprised me is how much it moved me when I was re-reading it for the purposes of online publication. The eagle-eyed among you will have noted that Priya uses an outmoded version of CPR when reviving Marta after the rescue ’plane crash-lands. This is because the chapter was written before the new guidelines emerged; I’m minded to keep it that way, it’s my world after all!
In section three we return to the subjectivity of Marta’s unconscious mind. In essence this is a continuation of Sleeping Beauty; our heroine’s physical body may have been rescued, but her mind is still away with the fairies!
Section three, appropriately enough, uses a three part structure:
i) Marta’s debates the nature of Time with ‘the serpent’
ii) Marta as Goddess transcends the Cosmos
iii) Marta (as her childhood self) rides the very-slow-moving train and receives her gift from the Dark Lady
I’d like to acknowledge two influences here; firstly, the late Iain Banks’ wonderful second novel The Bridge, which has had a hold on my imagination since first reading; and secondly, Lewis Carroll (if you haven’t noticed that Marta takes the role of Alice in her exchanges with the serpent, then you haven’t been listening!).
Our sojourn in Marta’s unconscious ends when she wakes…
Another influence, which has only just occurred to me (even ‘though I actually quote his lyrics in Sleeping Beauty), is Jimi Hendrix’s 1983, which can be found on Electric Ladyland.
In section 4, we (and Marta), are back in the real world, and our heroine is finally facing up to the consequences of her actions…
There is some foreshadowing here (in Jorge’s reaction to Marta’s dream), and some bitter self-knowledge on her part; but Jorge’s love for her is able to transcend the barriers that have sprung up between them…
But then we always knew it would…
Bye for now