Captives of the Flame

I remember C.S. Lewis commenting once--I think this was the gist--on how wonderful it was to be young and to read books for the pure enjoyment of reading; not to worry about the literary value of a work, or its sophistication, or the reputation of the author in academic circles, or whether the subject matter was in vogue.

That's how I read science fiction as a child. I read everything, and I pretty much enjoyed it all. And so I stumbled onto books that these days, as a much pickier adult, I would never choose to pick up.

To my loss, I should say. Captives of the Flame, by Samuel R. Delany (first published in 1963, or thereabouts) is one of those books that the grown-up me might not take a chance on. It is unusual for 1960s sci-fi; very moody, with poetic imagery; a little sad at the end. A young man is jailed for a crime that he did commit; he escapes and (with the help of telepathic beings from another world) tries to save his country/society from a disastrous war.

A war that the government has decided to enter into for dubious reasons; a war against something that they don't even understand.

Sound at all familiar? But we're talking the early 60s, here.

I wondered about the politics of this novel. If any. Was Delany commenting on American Cold War policies? I'm not certain, although he certainly skewers (his fictional) military bureaucracy in several scenes.

The characters made the book, for me. They are described with empathy and touches of humor. In addition to the escaped prisoner - Jon Koshar - we have his sister, Clea (a mathematician), a red-haired duchess, three teens (one a girl acrobat with white hair and blue eyes), and the seven-foot tall Arkor.

Not to forget King Uske, a young idiot manipulated by his handlers into declaring war for no particular reason.

(Yeah, OK, so what are the chances of that happening?)

And just to mix things up - Clea's fiance, Tomar - who is in the military, and who is intelligent and caring.

There is a set piece near the end of the book; Jon Koshar, the duchess, and Arkor inhabit the bodies of beings on several different worlds; they exist, in turn, on an asteroid; as creatures with 'slitherers' and eye-stalks, who drink liquid methane; as sentient crystals; as "an advanced species of moss"; as numbers inside a star. I can remember being blown away by the scene, which was far removed from the sci-fi story-telling that I'd known up till then.

Captives of the Flame was revised later, and re-named Out of the Dead City; it was combined with two later works to make the Fall of the Towers trilogy. I haven't read the rest of the trilogy; for me it was the kind of book that I wanted to keep as I first knew it, a single jewel in place.