by
Jack Vance
(This edition, 2011, originally published in 1969)
My familiarity with Jack Vance‘s work came through his fantastic and striking The Dying Earth collection of short stories – so I was excited to read this work which was a full novel for a change as I quite enjoyed his style of story-telling. Emphyrio in turn was both what I hoped for based on prior experience, yet something quite different!
WARNING: If you, like me, find yourself with the SF Masterworks version of this book, DON’T read the back cover as the description gives away a detail that’s a spoiler and kills a bit of a reveal that needlessly impacts the enjoyment of the narrative that unfolds within the covers.
The basic story itself is quite simply the tale of a young man named Ghyl Tarvoke who lives on the planet Halma with his father Amiante, a placid man, interested in only his own business and little else. Their world is in its own way a stark image of a deeply socialist society and at the same time a dark reflection, or so I feel, of how even the most well-intentioned such society can go wrong if nothing can ever be questioned.
Their world is simple and clear, people are skilled and society consists of endless guilds, each ensuring that their artisans all get a fair shake and that diligence and mindfulness of the social norms are followed to provide no detriment to any fellow citizen. On the one hand there are aspects of a simple fairness but over the course of the early story and then more so as we go, we see the flaws and cracks and the deep chasms that form when nothing is flexible and the dangers of fanatically following any doctrine, even a well-meaning one perhaps. It is in this mileau where young Ghyl finds himself, being raised by his single father who works hard at his trade, carving beautiful wooden screens and keeping his head down; one rule amongst the creative artisan guilds is that duplication is not allowed and so each piece crafted is a unique work of art – duplication being an offense and a punishable one at that. Ghyl has trained with and works with his father and as per social norms, has to spend time in the religious temple-type-place to learn and honour their local deity who is the God of all (as they often are!) while trying to find those snippets of joy and moments that drive the passions and interests of our youth – all the while, dreaming of the world out there and worlds beyond and someday seeing them perhaps.
Tied in with his dreams is a story that his father has a fragmented copy of and shares with his son, the tale of Emphyrio, a fabled hero of their planet from hundred or thousands of years ago. A man who stood up and spoke truth to power against monsters and men. What became of him is as much a mystery as anything and is a part of what drives the journey on which we follow young Ghyl.
On the face of it, this is a fairly conventional tale and we have in the decades since this book til now, heard that basic pattern told in a multitude of ways. BUT, I put to you that this is not just any such tale and by the time you get past the halfway mark, you will lose all such preconceptions and find yourself on a pretty unique journey. I will say however, to be mindful that at least I personally found the first couple of chapters to feel a bit dense and slow and though it took a bit of an effort to power through those first chapters, once I was past them, I could not stop reading! In all honesty, I read them and in fact left the book but then came back to it a couple of months later just because and then I read it through in 2 days flat and am grateful that I did!
Unlike a conventional “hero’s journey” that one might expect, this is a tale that is something quite different, but the hero is indeed in his own way worthy of the title over the course of events and he proves to be a resourceful and clever one which is very much in the Vance mould for his heroes. Instead of whisking our hero away on a journey across the stars to fight evil, this is a tale that spends the majority of its time in Halma itself and there is a large part that is very much a youthful journey of discovery and a coming of age tale. It is made all the more interesting than just another such thanks to the imaginative and intriguing society-building that I find to be a particular hallmark of the works of Vance. He has a knack for throwing in a strikingly deep cut to the societies and cultures he builds that really takes you into the meat and bones of where his characters are and you can almost feel what it is like to be living in that space and even taste and smell it. Without a doubt, this book is more ideological than other works by the same author and unlike his others, there is a touch less humour and a greater melancholy that pervades the tale; also, aside from the social mirror that it holds up for us to examine, it also touches on the concept of valuing not just knowledge and a freedom of thought, but also that of historical knowledge from which we may learn and grow past that which constrains us – a concept that is dear to my own personal views if I’m honest.
It is hard to explain more without spoiling a fine story – but suffice to reiterate that it is a familiar yet unconventional narrative that keeps you on your toes and guessing right up until the finale which I did not at all see coming. If you are a fan of science fiction and especially the more challenging / esoteric and fascinating stories that provoke your mind to go to new spaces, I would highly recommend this book. If you are not but feel brave, I would recommend this to you as well!
One Happy Monk 
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