Gloucesterbook was the debut novel from Jonathan Bayliss. Published in 1992, the book itself didn't make reference to the fact that it is the first volume in his vast Gloucesterman tetralogy. This project is certainly one of the most ambitious undertakings by a contemporary author.
The world of Gloucesterbook is our own, but refracted through Bayliss's literary lens. Like the glaciers that have scraped back and forth across the land, Bayliss creates the area's geography anew. The names of American places and people have been replaced with references to ancient history or mythology. This telescopes time in a disconcerting manner: the setting is supposed to be New England in 1960, but the Massachusetts seacoast seems to share borders with Mesopotamian and Greek locales. Gloucester is now Dogtown, and mythical sites like Markland, Vinland and Atlantis are now part of our landscape.
The Gloucesterman world is, indeed, one of transformation. Geological forces have created the setting for the Dogtown theater, and genetic and chemical processes have created its dramatis personae. Human creation always involves transformation of the environment via means which result in often unforeseen consequences. Lumbermen have felled Cape Gloucester's trees for ships that fish the ocean until it's barren. The granite industry has taken the bedrock for cobblestones and curbs on the increasingly dangerous roads, buildings and monuments to celebrate a common purpose that no longer serves the community, and gravestones for its forgotten dead. Social systems constructed for noble aims evolve to serve purely material interests.
Mythology, too, has undergone transformation. The pool of knowledge in a society is supposed to explain natural phenomena as well as reinforce the value of social human endeavor to the society. Our scientific understanding has changed our perspective on the possibilities of our universe and the meaning we ascribe to what we know and do. The sun itself is no longer the symbol of rebirth and renewal that once shaped the cycles of our lives. Thermodynamics has redefined it as a fearsome fusion reaction, a constant reminder of the inevitability of entropy. With this new perspective, we no longer see the possibility of anything being transcendent or permanent. Our technology itself may hasten our return to chaos: by equipping the powerful with increasingly advanced weaponry and feeding the people's thirst for hollow entertainment and selfish amusement, technology has left the community utterly powerless against oppression.
Gloucesterbook begins the Gloucesterman saga by introducing Caleb Karcist. It has been five years since his return home from the West Coast, where his educational, artistic, and romantic plans ended in failure. Haunted by a fatherless childhood and his mother's dementia, Caleb is seeking father figures in various Dogtown personae fighting counterentropic crusades: Ipsissimus Charlemagne, a renegade poet/professor who deplores the vapid sentimentality of contemporary culture; Rafe Opsimath, a corporate predator determined to realize unlimited return-on-investment; Wat Cibber, a bitter ex-fisherman beached by the processed-fish industry; Petto DaGetto, a skirt-chasing sculptor; Prosper Ozone, a rich inventor whose legacy casts a long shadow over Dogtown; Dexter Keith, the city planner trying to revive the area's moribund fortunes; and Lance Duncannon, a pioneering priest reimagining the liturgy for the Atomic Age.
Several mysteries occupy Caleb. He's seeking the identity of his father, but his mother's feverish diaries confound more than they clarify about his origins. His analytical method is supposed to discover the secret of Parity Corporation, a prospect coveted by many in Dogtown. His dog Ibi-Roi is his only trustworthy companion throughout the long Dogtown winter, as he searches for meaningful contact and enlightenment.
The book is dedicated "To Lois Henderson," the author's mother. |
