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| Orion/Millenium 1993, Art: Mark Reeve |
Aside from Elric of Melniboné, Moorcock's most well-known creation (at least, outside the U.S.) is probably Jerry Cornelius, whose first appearance in novel form was in The Final Programme (1968). Although the second major Cornelius novel, A Cure For Cancer, didn't come out until 1971, Moorcock had already begun publishing stand-alone Cornelius short stories - sometimes characterized as Cornelius "apocrypha" - as far back as in 1968 (and interspersed amongst A Cure For Cancer episodes in some cases). In 1971, some of these shorts were first collected in the anthology The Nature of the Catastrophe (which also included Cornelius stories written by other authors inspired by Moorcock's outrageous creation). This core anthology has been tinkered with, rearranged, expanded and updated over the years as The Lives and Times of Jerry Cornelius (1976), The Cornelius Chronicles Vol. II (1986), The New Nature of the Catastrophe (1993), and Jerry Cornelius: His Lives and His Times (2014).
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| Allison & Busby 1976, Art: Richard Glyn Jones |
As described in the chapters on The Final Programme and A Cure For Cancer, the psychedelic cloak-and dagger (or, car coat-and-vibragun) world of Jerry Cornelius and his associates focuses more on sociopolitical satire rather than the escapist genre fantasy of the Elric and Hawkmoon books. Perhaps more importantly, the Cornelius stories allow Moorcock the opportunity to indulge in some of his more "high-wire" writing as far as structure and style. While all of his fiction is designed to have multiple levels of allegorical meaning, the Cornelius books amplify this multi-tiered textual approach to the point where the "plot" is not nearly as important as the visceral, machine-gun barrage of brutal imagery, referential name-dropping and casual taboo-puncturing found in most of these paragraphs.
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| Hutchinson 1971, Art: Mal Dean (from New Worlds #191) |
In order to avoid a lot of repetition on this blog, I would advise the reader of this blog to simply reread the chapters introducing The Final Programme and A Cure For Cancer (in particular the Moorcock quotes cited there). I suppose the main thing to add regarding this collection is that each of these Cornelius short stories presses down even harder on the gas pedal in their zeal towards deviating from a "conventional" narrative approach and to tear asunder traditional concepts of "acceptable literary content". Additionally, the paragraphs and character asides are even more fractured and self-referential than those found in Programme and Cancer, and the exploits of Jerry and Co. here do not in any way try to adhere to some kind of coherent continuity (such as might be hinted at in a "Chronicle of the Black Sword" or "High History of the Runestaff"). In fact, for each of these episodes, any one of the Cornelius characters might be portrayed as being dead, alive, white, black, male, female, or somewhere in between. One could try and assemble these tales into some kind of "chronological mythology", but something like that really seems beside the point.
The more important connective thread in these Cornelius stories is that the characters are consistent in their deranged fearlessness from story to story. For this reason, it's fortunate that all of the Cornelius characters are pretty likable - although some are more degenerate than others (or at least in different ways). In his interviews with Colin Greenland (Death Is No Obstacle, 1992), Moorcock described how around this time he began thinking of his Cornelius stable as Commedia dell'Arte-inspired "stock characters", each deliberately defined as a force for "vice or virtue". The virtuous characters (such as Jerry) are "happy to accept that there is confusion and live with it. The bad are the people who are just as confused, but are trying to impose their own version of things on the world." It's worth noting that although most of the onscreen "kills" in these books are carried out by Jerry himself, the point seems to be that the larger forces of authoritarianism and creative oppression are far more guilty for their damage to society as a whole (of course, Jerry does die a few times as well).
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| Futura-Quartet 1976, Art: Chris Achilleos |
Because the individual stories really defy any kind of interpretation (one story flat out says to the reader "Do Not Analyze") it seems futile to even try.
"Part of my original intention with the Jerry Cornelius stories was to “liberate” the narrative; to leave it open to the reader’s interpretation as much as possible—to involve the reader in such a way as to bring his own imagination into play...
In the same article he explains the reasoning behind the density of his imagery.
"...while I strive for the effect of randomness on one level, the effect is achieved by a tightly controlled system of internal reference, puns, ironies, logic-jumps which no single reader may fairly be expected to follow... The apparent obscurity should not confuse the reader because the narrative should be moving so rapidly that he shouldn’t care if he doesn’t understand every reference." (#1)
In other words, each of these "rapidly-moving" parts contributes towards a total sensation or effect. For these multi-layered emotional landscapes, it's not necessary to catalogue every plant or animal included in the picture to appreciate whether the subject is a nasty one or not.
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| Art: David Britton, 1976 |
VII
Nonetheless, at bottom are some attempts to describe "what happens" in
each of these stories. Although I can confidently say that some (or all)
of them are incomplete/inaccurate, if a reader (such as myself in the future)
might gain a sense of the general "plot" from reading these bits of reportage, then
perhaps he/she might not need to worry about this aspect while reading
the actual story - the reader can then relax and simply enjoy the story
for its stylistic riches (of course, intrepid readers probably don't need this kind of
reduction - obviously Moorcock himself trusts that his readers will find
enjoyment without any additional commentary).
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| Four Walls Eight Windows 2003 |
Nonetheless, I have to admit that for me this was a difficult Moorcock book to get through, simply because each paragraph of each story is so "generous" in its efforts to produce a multi-meaningful, prismatic effect. The "style-to-plot" ratio is pretty high here even compared to the the earlier Cornelius novels. On the other hand, after reading each one of these stories there is a strong urge to immediately reread it again in order to capture what was missed the first time. Of all of Moorcock's sequences, the Cornelius stories probably have the most number of "ingredients" per episode, and so these truly have the ability to deliver a new experience each time ("tasty!").
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| Dale 1979, Art: Jim Starlin |
Introduction
Despite what I've attested to in some of the previous paragraphs, Moorcock has stated that the Cornelius stories were never written to deliberately challenge conventional fiction with taboo elements or pioneer some new kind of writing style. On the contrary, these were designed to "perpetuate, if you like, the European moral tradition in literature."
"The essence of the stories is their irony, their attempts to concentrate as much information as possible into as small a space as possible, their obsession with contemporary imagery, their strong reliance on metaphorical imagery drawn from many disparate sources—pop music, astronomy, physics, cybernetics, etc. They are, ideally, deeply serious in intention." (#2)
"Style and technique was merely a means to an end - frequently a very moral means to some very moral ends." (#3)
(Note to self: Lead off with this bit.)
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| Avon 1986 |
The New Nature of the Catastrophe (Wikiverse entry)
Next Chapter: Jerry Cornelius: The English Assassin
Previous Chapter: Breakfast in the Ruins
Just for kicks, I will first start off this obligatory "analysis" section by quoting the "eNotes" guide on Jerry Cornelius:
"(It) opens with Jerry as a Cuban guerrilla riding an albino horse out of Time Centre into China to kill General Way Hahng with a vibragun. The narrative closes as entropic degeneration sets in, with Jerry returning to London to bed Miss Brunner, visit his mother and sister, dope up, and shoot up a post office with his friend Mo. A series of similar fantastic adventures lies between. In the novel’s final story, “The Entropy Circuit,” Jerry meets Miss Brunner, Captain Maxwell, and his brother Frank in Rome and ends up shooting the pope."
“The Peking Junction” (1969, Nov., The New S.F., ed. Langdon Jones)
At his remote pagoda base in China, Jerry Cornelius (heavy, bearded and dressed in Cuban guerrilla attire), meets several generals and debates the destruction wrought all over Europe by the U.S. (as seen in A Cure For Cancer). He takes the generals to inspect a fallen American fighter plane. He eventually seduces one of the generals (Way Hahng) and then assassinates him with his vibragun. After extracting the general’s nucleotides, he departs back for the West. During this episode Jerry also visits the Time Centre and recalls his incarnations as Elric, Hawkmoon, Asquiol (The Sundered Worlds) and various other multiverse characters (including “The Lovebeast” (The Deep Fix (1966))).
“The Delhi Division” (1968, Dec., New Worlds #185)
In a Simla bungalow, Jerry
Cornelius mourns his son who was never born. He visits a church in Delhi and
after asking after a woman named Sabiha executes a priest. He then flies his
Tiger Moth aeroplane to Gandhinagar on a mission to assassinate Sabiha’s
Pakistani accomplice. He is distracted and fails to shoot when he sees Sabiha
with him. He returns to Delhi in Sabiha’s Rolls Royce. Jerry greets
Sabiha as she arrives. Later, in a moment of panic, he flees the nearby ruined
mansion he has been surveilling from his bungalow and escapes to the ocean.
This episode also includes excerpts of political reports on Pakistani and
Chinese aggression from Blitz, a Bombay news weekly. It also references elements from the book The Fireclown. (This will be the last Multiverse cross-reference in this chapter, save it for a rainy day!).
“The Tank Trapeze” (1969, Jan., New Worlds #186)
Jerry meets a Buddhist monk in Burma. He accompanies the monk to a Mandalay temple where a Mr. Lai (Captain Maxwell) joins them. Jerry then visits a mysterious child with jeweled clothing in the suburbs beyond the wall, cared for by a woman named Anna Ne Win. Jerry later attends a cricket game, after which he gains Maxwell’s sympathies. Jerry also spends some time in the city taking over for an arrested shoeshine boy. Later Jerry and Maxwell penetrate jungle terrain to reach a temple. There, Jerry kills the child with the jeweled clothing. Then, after a rendezvous with Anna Ne Win in Singapore, Maxwell tracks Jerry down and kills him. Interspersed into the narrative are reports of the Russian takeover of a Prague radio station (sometimes out of chronological order).
“The Nature of the Catastrophe” (1970, Jan., New Worlds #197)
While at the Time Centre, Miss Brunner has Jerry oscillate around 50 years of his own history in brief flashes, some centered around commercial vehicles, failed science experiments, chemical warfare and stamp collections. Jerry comes out of the experience with all of the wrinkles smoothed out from his body.
“The Swastika Set-up” (1972, Corridor #4, ed. Michael Butterworth)
After Jerry arrives at the Time Centre, Alvarez helps him use a crimson and gold machine to enter the time stream. He then undertakes a few assassination missions (Borman the Nazi astronaut, the New Apocalypse guru Andrew Wells). At Lionel Himmler’s "Blue Spot Bar" he makes contact with the opposition, Lady Sue. Later he meets Miss Brunner on her ship The Teddy Bear. She fingers Captain Maxwell (now Prime Minister) as part of their opposition. After rejecting Maxwell’s offer to join politics, Jerry captures his true prey, Helen (Catty Hey), and she is disposed of in Miss Brunner’s ritual sacrifice. After then executing Maxwell, Jerry penetrates an androgynous cult house and captures Lady Sue and her minions, despite her soulful music attacks. In the end, Jerry is reconstituted back at the Time Centre, after which he decides to get a look in the mirror.
“The Sunset Perspective (A Moral Tale)” (1970, The Disappearing Future, ed. George Hay)
Jerry finds Miss Brunner at the crater of Hyde Park suffering an identity crisis. Based on readings from the Time Centre, Jerry heads to New York (Shakey Mo Collier’s hotel on St. Marks’ Place) but is too late to catch the perpetrator. While disruptions flare around the globe, Jerry finally spots his prey, Colonel Moon, at the Commonwealth Institute. Back at the Time Centre, Moon’s actions cause Miss Brunner to further dabble in bizarre unseemly rituals. Jerry eventually brings Moon back to his Ladbroke Grove HQ where he processes Moon’s corpse with a small transmogrifier. He then brings Moon’s remains back to the Time Centre and feeds him to Miss Brunner and her computer, thus curing her of her malady.
“Sea Wolves” (1970, Dec., Science Against Man, ed. Anthony Cheetham)
With the war in Asia cooling down, Jerry visits his Leo VII cryogenic computer in Cambodia and finds it frozen. Cyril Tome arrives at Jerry’s hut, but Jerry eliminates him for not sharing his sympathy for machines. In the jungle, Corporal Powell tries (and fails) to lure Jerry’s attention. Nonetheless, he is captured and The Teddy Bear brings him back to his Ladbroke Grove Time Centre HQ, which is freezing over due to Leo VII. He retains the services of Bishop Beesley at Hans Smith’s leftist party on Parliament Hill. At Miss Brunner’s Computer Research Institute (located near a remote monastery) he is disgusted by her treatment of brains. After returning to Ladbroke Grove, Jerry sacrifices Beesley to the Leo VII (“tasty”). Finally, Jerry heads to Bombay to wait for the Antichrist to come.
“Voortrekker” (1971, Aug., Quark/4, ed. Samuel R. Delany, Marilyn Hacker)
Jerry departs a Deep Fix jam session (led by Shaky Mo Collier) in a panic. After Miss Brunner operates on Jerry, he is sent off on a mission to Africa (amidst the chaos he is reminded of Melniboné’s fall). In South Africa Jerry meets Van Markus at the "Bloemfontein Drankie-a-Snel-Snel" and is given an envelope which contains, among other things, a photo of Miss Brunner in bondage gear. After catching up with his ex-dentist Auchinek (prisoner at a Vietnam camp) Jerry eventually returns to London where he completes his mission by assassinating the astronaut Col. Sebastian Newman (“The Real Life Mr. Newman”). His commitment to entropy wavers. Back in Africa, Jerry briefly joins some Peuhl knights commanded by his old acquaintance Sr. Samory, who is defending the Sahara. He has a brief rendezvous with Miss Brunner and the local governor Col. Ohachi at Onitsha. Miss Brunner shows off her G.I. war trophies. In Prague, Jerry, feels that Law and Order are not compatible. In Guatemala, Auchinek and Miss Brunner are disappointed in Jerry’s increasing disinterest in the chaos. Finally, Jerry returns to Ladbroke Grove and rejoins Shaky Mo onstage.
“Dead Singers” (“All the Dead Singers”) (1971, Oct. 5, Ink Magazine The Other Newspaper No. 19)
In Brighton, Bishop Beesley helps Jerry mount his time machine so he can bicycle into the future. After a maddened girl assassinates Lord Longford, enthusiasm for chaos is restored at Hyde Park. Jerry recalls that Lobkowitz was right in his opinion that war is endless, broken only by lulls. An armed woman calls out to Jerry nearby Kennard’s Department Store but he rides away. Finally, defeated, Jerry returns to Beesley and reports that all the singers are dead.
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| (Insert art to avoid the FaceBook police: R. Glyn Jones) |
“The Longford Cup” (expanded from 1973, Vol 8 No 7, Penthouse U.K.)
A “shocking” dialogue between the criminal Cornelius and his associates before and during the Re-Affirmation of Human Dignity: While undercover at the sexually-repressive Committee, Jerry runs into Bishop Beasley, who does not recognize him in his female disguise. During a rendezvous with Miss Brunner, Jerry supposes that the current repressive politics are a callback to the 1950s. While visiting his Mum Mrs. Cornelius, Jerry and Catherine also debate the state of sexual politics. Jerry surprises them with his lack of worry while blaming the establishment. Shaky Mo then drives him over to Miss Brunner’s where they shatter Beesley’s heart with news of Jerry and Miss Brunner's marriage. Back at his Mum’s, Jerry changes back into his woman disguise and heads out onto the street to further engage the enemy with violence.
“The Entropy Circuit” (1974, An Index of Possibilities)
Due to political border restrictions, Jerry is stuck in Menton with his sick wife, although Shaky Mo manages to visit him with a few sparse supplies. Miss Brunner shows up and sends Jerry on a mission to Rome, where he meets up with Miss Brunner, Captain Maxwell and Bishop Beesley (Docktor von Krupp had already faded away). Jerry is instructed to assassinate the Pope. However, once inside the Vatican, he betrays Miss Brunner’s group (“science”) to the Pope ("religion") and they are “input” into the Papal machinery. Jerry then kills the Pope, stating that he follows neither science nor religion, but only art (“chaos”). He and his wife drive off with Rome in flames behind them.
