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dragoness_eThe other night I decided to go browsing Project Gutenberg for some old pulp novels to read. I happened to remember the name of the guy who wrote the original Fu Manchu novels, Sax Rohmer, and looked to see what PG had of his.
It has several books, including Fu Manchu novels of course; one non-Fu Manchu novel caught my eye: The Green Eyes of Bâst. I read about a third of it on my computer, then downloaded the EPUB and loaded it onto my eReader and trundled off to bed with it.
(Side note: Project Gutenberg has gotten pretty good at proofing their manuscripts, and they make everything available in HTML and a variety of eBook formats. It's a great source for a lot of free reading!)
One thing to be aware of if you read old pulp novels from the early 20th century or late 19th century is the casual misogyny and racism of the period. It can range from complete wallbanger to "eh, that was typical of the period, so I expect characters to have such attitudes." I personally have few problems with characters who have the flaws of their times; I do find myself gritting my teeth when the author blatantly shares those flaws and makes his characters' motives and personalities turn on bad stereotypes.
Sax Rohmer was the guy who practically invented the "Yellow Peril" concept, or at least capitalized on it heavily; in this story, all his non-white characters are villainous and/or stereotypes.
The plot was a typical pulp action one--diabolical murders by sinister figures and overtones of the supernatural, and the action chugged along merrily until near the end. Unfortunately, The Green Eyes of Bâst fell down hard at the end, in both the denouement and the characterization and motivation of the murder. Obsessed mad scientists are cool, insane human-animal mutants are intriguing, but a mad scientist who is a doormat for his psychopathic protege/lab experiment's whims is just pathetic. Also, he was too fond of complex traps involving a toxin he developed when Just Shoot Them would have worked far better, but that could be explained away by his obsessive nature--he just had to use his own mad scientist toys. Having the murderer show up at the protagonist's doorstep dying from his own poison so he can conveniently confess and explain the whole mess was a disappointing wrap-up. Okay, we had to go find the psychopathic daughter figure/lab rat before she killed the protagonist's girlfriend, but.. yawn. I didn't much care by that point.
The mad scientist is "Eurasian", half-white and either half-Chinese or half-Egyptian, wasn't clear which. He acknowledges the world is prejudiced against half-breeds like himself, but it's supposed to be part of a self-justifying speech as to why he studied weird stuff obsessively instead of say, getting a honest practice. If he wasn't such a damn doormat to his psychopathic cat-girl, my sympathies would have been a lot more with him. Of course he has a "mute Nubian" servant to send out to kill people. Of course the Nubian is simple-minded and superstitious and can be scared off from a murder mission by some Arabic threats shouted in the dark. Yay stereotypes!
The other villain is a "psycho-hybrid" cat-girl, which apparently means "possessed byBast an ill-tempered feral cat with PMS one month a year and possessing cat's claws the rest of the time." The author attributes psychotic jealousy, impulsiveness, and obsessive vindictiveness to the "cat" influence. The author has apparently never owned a cat, or his cat-spirit possessed girl would simply lay around the house 23 hours a day, want scritches behind the ear, and beg for tuna a lot. (Must write this some day...) What he really gave his mutant villainess was stereotypical "bad girl" traits (or possibly PMS) turned up to eleven.
This being Victorian-era pulp fiction, only Bad Girls do anything; the good girl/love interest does nothing and could be replaced by a manikin with soft lips. That wimbles about being scared and can cry. Eh, pretty standard for period fiction; guy==action hero, girl==reward/decoration/macguffin. Not all period fiction, mind you--Edgar Rice Burroughs may have had the ladies being kidnapped left and right, but they could usually do something. Especially Lady Jane Greystoke. /end digression.
I was mildly amused by some of the Victorian delicacy that turned up--when retelling Herodotus's description of the big festival of Bast in Bubastis, the protagonist suddenly cuts it off with a remark about the "Egyptians' inappropriate behavior" being irrelevant. I cracked up, since I am familiar with that particular passage of Herodotus, which is about the festival going all Bourbon Street Mardi Gras--what HPL would have called "orgiastic". It being the festival of a local fertility goddess, the ancient Egyptian's behavior was "appropriate" for the time and place, but finding a pulp author even more restrained than H.P. Lovecraft is funny.
So, finally: first 2/3 of the book, no better than average pulp action/adventure; last third, book fell down and expired pitifully, sucking sewage. The period misogyny and racism are rather appalling as well.
Late Addendum: I think Sax Rohmer was trying to retell Arthur Machen's "Great God Pan" as a mystery/thriller in his own style. Unfortunately, he was neither Arthur Machen nor H. P. Lovecraft, and not up to telling that story.
It has several books, including Fu Manchu novels of course; one non-Fu Manchu novel caught my eye: The Green Eyes of Bâst. I read about a third of it on my computer, then downloaded the EPUB and loaded it onto my eReader and trundled off to bed with it.
(Side note: Project Gutenberg has gotten pretty good at proofing their manuscripts, and they make everything available in HTML and a variety of eBook formats. It's a great source for a lot of free reading!)
One thing to be aware of if you read old pulp novels from the early 20th century or late 19th century is the casual misogyny and racism of the period. It can range from complete wallbanger to "eh, that was typical of the period, so I expect characters to have such attitudes." I personally have few problems with characters who have the flaws of their times; I do find myself gritting my teeth when the author blatantly shares those flaws and makes his characters' motives and personalities turn on bad stereotypes.
Sax Rohmer was the guy who practically invented the "Yellow Peril" concept, or at least capitalized on it heavily; in this story, all his non-white characters are villainous and/or stereotypes.
The plot was a typical pulp action one--diabolical murders by sinister figures and overtones of the supernatural, and the action chugged along merrily until near the end. Unfortunately, The Green Eyes of Bâst fell down hard at the end, in both the denouement and the characterization and motivation of the murder. Obsessed mad scientists are cool, insane human-animal mutants are intriguing, but a mad scientist who is a doormat for his psychopathic protege/lab experiment's whims is just pathetic. Also, he was too fond of complex traps involving a toxin he developed when Just Shoot Them would have worked far better, but that could be explained away by his obsessive nature--he just had to use his own mad scientist toys. Having the murderer show up at the protagonist's doorstep dying from his own poison so he can conveniently confess and explain the whole mess was a disappointing wrap-up. Okay, we had to go find the psychopathic daughter figure/lab rat before she killed the protagonist's girlfriend, but.. yawn. I didn't much care by that point.
The mad scientist is "Eurasian", half-white and either half-Chinese or half-Egyptian, wasn't clear which. He acknowledges the world is prejudiced against half-breeds like himself, but it's supposed to be part of a self-justifying speech as to why he studied weird stuff obsessively instead of say, getting a honest practice. If he wasn't such a damn doormat to his psychopathic cat-girl, my sympathies would have been a lot more with him. Of course he has a "mute Nubian" servant to send out to kill people. Of course the Nubian is simple-minded and superstitious and can be scared off from a murder mission by some Arabic threats shouted in the dark. Yay stereotypes!
The other villain is a "psycho-hybrid" cat-girl, which apparently means "possessed by
This being Victorian-era pulp fiction, only Bad Girls do anything; the good girl/love interest does nothing and could be replaced by a manikin with soft lips. That wimbles about being scared and can cry. Eh, pretty standard for period fiction; guy==action hero, girl==reward/decoration/macguffin. Not all period fiction, mind you--Edgar Rice Burroughs may have had the ladies being kidnapped left and right, but they could usually do something. Especially Lady Jane Greystoke. /end digression.
I was mildly amused by some of the Victorian delicacy that turned up--when retelling Herodotus's description of the big festival of Bast in Bubastis, the protagonist suddenly cuts it off with a remark about the "Egyptians' inappropriate behavior" being irrelevant. I cracked up, since I am familiar with that particular passage of Herodotus, which is about the festival going all Bourbon Street Mardi Gras--what HPL would have called "orgiastic". It being the festival of a local fertility goddess, the ancient Egyptian's behavior was "appropriate" for the time and place, but finding a pulp author even more restrained than H.P. Lovecraft is funny.
So, finally: first 2/3 of the book, no better than average pulp action/adventure; last third, book fell down and expired pitifully, sucking sewage. The period misogyny and racism are rather appalling as well.
Late Addendum: I think Sax Rohmer was trying to retell Arthur Machen's "Great God Pan" as a mystery/thriller in his own style. Unfortunately, he was neither Arthur Machen nor H. P. Lovecraft, and not up to telling that story.
