A Rose for Ecclesiastes

Last updated
"A Rose For Ecclesiastes"
Short story by Roger Zelazny
Fantasy & Science Fiction November 1963 cover.jpeg
Hannes Bok's illustration of the story seen on the cover of the November 1963 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s) Science fiction
Publication
Published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
Publication type Periodical
Publication dateNovember 1963

"A Rose for Ecclesiastes" is a science fiction short story by American author Roger Zelazny, first published in the November 1963 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction with a special wraparound cover painting by Hannes Bok. It was nominated for the 1964 Hugo Award for Short Fiction. [1]

Contents

Plot summary

The story is narrated by a gifted human linguist and poet named Gallinger, who is part of a mission studying Mars. He becomes the first human to learn the "high language" of the intelligent Martians, and to be allowed to read their sacred texts. He comes to believe that Martian culture is essentially fatalistic, following an event in the distant past that left the long-lived Martians sterile.

The Martian high priestess regards Gallinger highly, and over the course of months, his theological and poetical discussion elevate him to a status something like a prophet. Ultimately, he is seduced by a Martian temple dancer and impregnates her, the first such pregnancy on the planet in hundreds of years. The Martians appear not to take this well, as it contradicts their religion's expectation of extinction.

Gallinger sets out to do two things: he translates the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes, which he finds thematically similar to their religious texts, into the High Tongue. As part of the cultural exchange he engages in with the High Priestess, he promises to bring her a rose, since the Martians have never seen one. The ship's biologist grows a rose and gives it to Gallinger.

In anger at Martian religious fatalism and impassioned by his love for the dancer and his child-to-be, Gallinger breaks into the temple during a closed service and reads to the Martians from his translation of Ecclesiastes. He mocks it as he reads it, stating:

He was right! It is vanity; it is pride! It is the hubris of rationalism to always attack the prophet, the mystic, the god. It is our blasphemy which has made us great, and will sustain us, and which the gods secretly admire in us. —And the truly sacred names of God are blasphemous things to speak!

He discovers that the Martian religion is more complicated than he had originally realized, as is his role in fulfilling prophecy. It has been prophesied that a stranger will "go shod in the temple", breaking in without removing all unclean items, restoring life to the Martian race and bringing something new. His actions have brought life, and the High Priestess takes the rose vowing to learn how to grow the flower.

The story ends well for the Martians, though perhaps less so for Gallinger, who discovers his dancer was only fulfilling her religious duty by seducing him, not caring for him otherwise. He attempts suicide, but, when he wakes up, he is in the infirmary, and he sees Mars through a port, growing farther away as the ship leaves Mars to return to Earth.

Reception and reprinting

"A Rose for Ecclesiastes" has been anthologized several times, including in Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories #25 (edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg), The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth, and Other Stories , and Science Fiction: The Science Fiction Research Association Anthology (edited by Patricia S. Warrick, Charles Waugh, and Martin H. Greenberg). It is regarded as one of Zelazny's best early stories and was included in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume One, 1929-1964 , an anthology of the greatest science fiction short stories prior to 1965, as judged by the Science Fiction Writers of America. The work has been viewed as an important example of New Wave stylistics. [2]

R. D. Mullen termed the story "perhaps the best story ever on Mars as a dying world". [3] Judith Merril praised it as "incomparable". [4] Samuel R. Delany characterized "Rose" as a "wonderful and magical tale". [5] The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-century Literature in English declares the story "rewrote the cliches of science fiction into augurs of renewal". [6] Theodore Sturgeon called the story "one of the most beautifully written, skillfully composed and passionately expressed works of art to appear anywhere, ever." [7]

"A Rose for Ecclesiastes" was included in Visions of Mars: First Library on Mars, a silica glass mini-DVD taken to Mars by the Phoenix Mars Lander in 2008. [8]

Novelist and musician Steven Brust, a lifelong Zelazny fan, named his 1993 solo album A Rose for Iconoclastes after "A Rose for Ecclesiastes". [9]

Related Research Articles

The New Wave was a science fiction style of the 1960s and 1970s, characterized by a great degree of experimentation with the form and content of stories, greater imitation of the styles of non-science fiction literature, and an emphasis on the psychological and social sciences as opposed to the physical sciences. New Wave authors often considered themselves as part of the modernist tradition of fiction, and the New Wave was conceived as a deliberate change from the traditions of the science fiction characteristic of pulp magazines, which many of the writers involved considered irrelevant or unambitious.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Zelazny</span> U.S. science fiction and fantasy writer and poet (1937–1995)

Roger Joseph Zelazny was an American poet and writer of fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels, best known for The Chronicles of Amber. He won the Nebula Award three times and the Hugo Award six times, including two Hugos for novels: the serialized novel ...And Call Me Conrad (1965), subsequently published under the title This Immortal (1966) and then the novel Lord of Light (1967).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Brust</span> American fantasy and science fiction author (born 1955)

Steven Karl Zoltán Brust is an American fantasy and science fiction author of Hungarian descent. He is best known for his series of novels about the assassin Vlad Taltos, one of a disdained minority group of humans living on a world called Dragaera. His recent novels also include The Incrementalists (2013) and its sequel The Skill of Our Hands (2017), with co-author Skyler White.

<i>Dangerous Visions</i> Science fiction short story anthology edited by Harlan Ellison

Dangerous Visions is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by American writer Harlan Ellison and illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. It was published in 1967 and contained 33 stories, none of which had been previously published.

<i>Jack of Shadows</i> 1971 science fantasy novel by Roger Zelazny

Jack of Shadows is a science fantasy novel by American author Roger Zelazny. It was serialized in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1971 and published in book form that same year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanley G. Weinbaum</span> American writer (1902–1935)

Stanley Grauman Weinbaum was an American science fiction writer. His first story, "A Martian Odyssey", was published to great acclaim in July 1934; the alien Tweel was arguably the first character to satisfy John W. Campbell's challenge: "Write me a creature who thinks as well as a man, or better than a man, but not like a man." Weinbaum wrote more short stories and a few novels, but died from lung cancer less than a year and a half later.

<i>Deus Irae</i> 1976 novel by Philip K. Dick

Deus Irae is a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel started by American author Philip K. Dick and finished with the help of American author Roger Zelazny. It was published in 1976. Deus irae, meaning God of Wrath in Latin, is a play on Dies Irae, meaning Day of Wrath or Judgment Day. This novel was based on Dick's short stories "The Great C" and "Planet for Transients".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NESFA Press</span> American science fiction book publisher, Framingham, MA, US (first book 1971)

NESFA Press is the publishing arm of the New England Science Fiction Association, Inc. The NESFA Press primarily produces three types of books:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A Martian Odyssey</span> Short story by Stanley G. Weinbaum

"A Martian Odyssey" is a science fiction short story by American writer Stanley G. Weinbaum originally published in the July 1934 issue of Wonder Stories. It was Weinbaum's second published story, and remains his best known. It was followed four months later by a sequel, "Valley of Dreams". These are the only stories by Weinbaum set on Mars.

<i>To Die in Italbar</i> 1973 novel by Roger Zelazny

To Die in Italbar (1973) is a science fiction novel by American writer Roger Zelazny. To Die in Italbar follows Mr. H, a man who needs only to touch someone to heal or hurt them, during a deadly galactic pandemic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth</span> Novelette by Roger Zelazny

"The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth" is a science fiction novelette by Roger Zelazny. Originally published in the March 1965 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, it won the 1966 Nebula Award for Best Novelette and was nominated for the 1966 Hugo Award for Best Short Fiction.

The 20th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known unofficially as Chicon III, was held on 31 August–3 September 1962 at the Pick-Congress Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

The 24th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known as Tricon, was held on 1–5 September 1966 at the Sheraton-Cleveland in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Officially, the convention was hosted by three cities in the region: Cincinnati, Ohio, Cleveland, Ohio, and Detroit, Michigan; hence the name "Tricon".

<i>Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 25</i> (1963)

Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 25 (1963) is an American collection of science fiction stories, the last regular volume of the Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories series of short story collections, edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg, which attempts to list the great science fiction stories from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. They date the Golden Age as beginning in 1939 and lasting until 1963. This volume was originally published by DAW books in July 1992.

<i>This Immortal</i> 1965 novel by Roger Zelazny

This Immortal, serialized as ...And Call Me Conrad, is a science fiction novel by American author Roger Zelazny. In its original publication, it was abridged by the editor and published in two parts in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in October and November 1965. It tied with Frank Herbert's Dune for the 1966 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

<i>Way Up High</i> 1992 novel by Roger Zelazny

Way Up High is a children's book by American writer Roger Zelazny. It is one of two stories he wrote for children, the other being Here There Be Dragons, and one of three books without heroic protagonists. One thousand copies of each of the two books signed by Zelazny were published in 1992 with illustrations by Vaughn Bodē.

<i>Four for Tomorrow</i> 1967 story collection by Roger Zelazny

Four for Tomorrow is the first story collection by Roger Zelazny, published in paperback by Ace Books in 1967. British hardcover and paperback editions followed in 1969, under the title A Rose for Ecclesiastes. The first American hardcover was issued in the Garland Library of Science Fiction in 1975. A French translation appeared in 1980. Paperback reissues continued from Ace and later from Baen Books into the 1990s.

This is a partial bibliography of American science fiction and fantasy author Roger Zelazny.

<i>A Rose for Iconoclastes</i> 1993 studio album by Steven Brust

A Rose for Iconoclastes is a folk album by drummer Steven Brust, an author of fantasy and science fiction novels and a member of the Minneapolis-based band Cats Laughing.

<i>Robert Silverberg Presents the Great SF Stories: 1964</i>

Robert Silverberg Presents the Great SF Stories: 1964 is an American anthology of short stories, edited by Robert Silverberg and Martin H. Greenberg, first published in hardcover by NESFA Press in December 2001. It is a continuation of the Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories series of short story anthologies, which attempts to list the great science fiction stories from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. This book is a continuation of the book series The Great SF Stories originally edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg with the last one published in 1992.

References

  1. ↑ The LOCUS Index to SF Awards Archived January 18, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ Taylor, John W. (1990). "From Pulpstyle to Innerspace: The Stylistics of American New-Wave SF". Style. 24 (4): 611–627. ISSN   0039-4238.
  3. ↑ "Reviews: November 1975", Science Fiction Studies, November 1975
  4. ↑ "Books", F&SF , August 1967, p. 36
  5. ↑ Silent Interviews: On Language, Race, Sex, Science Fiction, and Some Comics…, Wesleyan University Press, 2011, p. 80
  6. ↑ Jenny Stringer, ed., The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-century Literature in English, Oxford University Press, 1996, p.744
  7. ↑ "Notes to 'A Rose for Ecclesiastes,'" The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, Volume 1: Threshold, NESFA Press, 2009, page 65.
  8. ↑ "Notes to 'A Rose for Ecclesiastes,'" The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, Volume 1: Threshold, NESFA Press, 2009, page 65.
  9. ↑ Martini, Adrienne (May 2004). "An Interview With Steven Brust". Bookslut. Archived from the original on 2022-03-19. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.