Behold the Man (novel)

Last updated

Behold the Man
Behold the man (Moorcock novel - cover art).jpg
Dust-jacket from the hardback first edition.
Author Michael Moorcock
Cover artistGabi Nasemann
LanguageEnglish
SeriesKarl Glogauer
Genre Science fiction
Existentialism
Publisher Allison & Busby
Publication date
1969;55 years ago (1969)
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Pages144
ISBN 0-85031-004-0
OCLC 47258
823/.9/14
LC Class PZ4.M8185 Be PR6063.O59
Followed by Breakfast in the Ruins  

Behold the Man is a existentialist science fiction novel by British writer Michael Moorcock. It originally appeared as a novella in a 1966 issue of New Worlds magazine; later, Moorcock produced an expanded version that was first published in 1969 by Allison & Busby [1] (one of the first books published by the company). [2] The title derives from John 19, Verse 5, in the New Testament: "Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them Behold the Man".

Contents

In the novel, Moorcock weaves an existentialist tale about Karl Glogauer, a man who travels from the year 1970 in a time machine to 28 AD, where he hopes to meet the historical Jesus of Nazareth. A sequel, Breakfast in the Ruins , was published in 1972.

Plot summary

The story begins with Karl's violent arrival in the Holy Land of AD 28, where his time machine, a womb-like, fluid-filled sphere, cracks open and becomes useless. In numerous interpolated memories and flashbacks, Moorcock tells the parallel story of Karl's troubled past in 20th century London, to explain why he is willing to risk everything to meet Jesus. Karl has chronic problems with women, homosexual tendencies, an interest in the ideas of Jung, and many neuroses, including a messiah complex.

Karl, badly injured during his journey, crawls halfway out of the time machine, then faints. John the Baptist and a group of Essenes find him there, and take him back to their community, where they care for him for some time. Since the Essenes witnessed his miraculous arrival in the time machine, John decides Karl must be a magus, and asks him to help lead a revolt against the occupying Romans. When he asks Karl to baptise him, however, the latter panics and flees into the desert, where he wanders alone, hallucinating from heat and thirst.

He then makes his way to Nazareth in search of Jesus. When he finds Mary and Joseph, Mary turns out to be little more than a whore, and Joseph, a bitter old man, sneers openly at her claim to have been impregnated by an angel. Worse, their child Jesus is a profoundly intellectually disabled hunchback who incessantly repeats the only word he knows: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Karl, however, is so deeply committed to the idea of a real, historical Jesus that, at this point, he himself begins to step into the role, gathering followers - carefully choosing ones whose names are identical with those attested in the Gospels, repeating what parables he can recall, and using psychological tricks to simulate miracles. When there's no food, he shows the people how to pretend to eat to take their minds off their hunger; when he encounters illness caused by hysteria, he cures it. Gradually, it becomes known that his name is Jesus of Nazareth.

In the end, determined to live the story of Jesus to its decidedly bitter end, he orders a puzzled Judas to betray him to the Romans, and dies on the cross. His last, agonized words, however, are not Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani , but the phonetically similar English "it's a lie ... it's a lie ... it's a lie ..."

After Karl's death on the cross, the body is stolen by a doctor who believed the body had magical properties, leading to rumours that he did not die. The doctor is disappointed when the body begins to rot as any normal human would.

References in other Moorcock works

Karl Glogauer, in a slightly different incarnation, is the lead character in Moorcock's 1972 novel Breakfast in the Ruins - in the course of which he experiences no less than 17 additional incarnations, at various key moments of 20th-century history. In his series The Dancers at the End of Time , a similar time machine is used, which reveals that if a time traveller dies in the past, he is violently thrust back to the future, thus explaining Glogauer's reappearance. Moorcock refers to this phenomenon as the "Morphail Effect" in The Dancers at the End of Time.

The issue of New Worlds containing the original novella. New worlds 166.jpg
The issue of New Worlds containing the original novella.

Awards and nominations

Behold the Man, in its short form, won the Nebula Award for Best Novella in 1967. [3]

Selected editions

Footnotes

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Moorcock</span> English writer, editor, critic (born 1939)

Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, particularly of science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has worked as an editor and is also a successful musician. He is best known for his novels about the character Elric of Melniboné, which were a seminal influence on the field of fantasy in the 1960s and 1970s.

<i>The Time Machine</i> 1895 dystopian post-apocalyptic science fiction novella by H. G. Wells

The Time Machine is an 1895 dystopian post-apocalyptic science fiction novella by H. G. Wells about a Victorian scientist known as the Time Traveller who travels approximately 802,701 years into the future. The work is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively forward or backward through time. The term "time machine", coined by Wells, is now almost universally used to refer to such a vehicle or device.

The Eternal Champion is a fictional character created by British author Michael Moorcock and is a recurrent feature in many of his speculative fiction works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Silverberg</span> Prolific American science fiction writer and editor (born 1935)

Robert Silverberg is a prolific American science fiction author and editor. He is a multiple winner of both Hugo and Nebula Awards, a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, and a Grand Master of SF since 2004.

<i>New Worlds</i> (magazine) British science fiction and fantasy magazine

New Worlds was a British science fiction magazine that began in 1936 as a fanzine called Novae Terrae. John Carnell, who became Novae Terrae's editor in 1939, renamed it New Worlds that year. He was instrumental in turning it into a professional publication in 1946 and was the first editor of the new incarnation. It became the leading UK science fiction magazine; the period to 1960 has been described by science fiction historian Mike Ashley as the magazine's "Golden Age".

Charles Leonard Harness was an American science fiction writer.

<i>Breakfast in the Ruins</i> 1972 book by Michael Moorcock

Breakfast in the Ruins: A Novel of Inhumanity is a 1972 novel by Michael Moorcock, which mixes historical and speculative fiction. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the New English Library. The novel centres on Karl Glogauer, who is also the protagonist of Moorcock's Nebula Award winning novella, Behold the Man, his homosexual exploits with an unnamed man from Nigeria, and his fantasies of the past and lives that he could have led.

<i>The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two</i> Anthology edited by Ben Bova

The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two is an English language science fiction two-volume anthology edited by Ben Bova and published in the U.S. by Doubleday in 1973, distinguished as volumes "Two A" and "Two B". In the U.K. they were published by Gollancz as Volume Two (1973) and Volume Three (1974). The original U.S. subtitle was The Greatest Science Fiction Novellas of All Time.

<i>The Condition of Muzak</i> 1977 novel by Michael Moorcock

The Condition of Muzak is a novel by British fantasy and science fiction writer Michael Moorcock, published by Allison & Busby in 1977. It is the final novel of his long-running Jerry Cornelius series. It was first published in its revised form in 1979.

This is a bibliography of the works of Michael Moorcock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel R. Delany</span> American author, critic, and academic (born 1942)

Samuel R. "Chip" Delany is an American writer and literary critic. His work includes fiction, memoir, criticism, and essays on science fiction, literature, sexuality, and society.

<i>The 1979 Annual Worlds Best SF</i> 1979 anthology edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha

The 1979 Annual World's Best SF is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha, the eighth volume in a series of nineteen. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in May 1979. It was reissued by DAW in 1984 under the variant title Wollheim's World's Best SF: Series Eight, this time with cover art by Olivero Berni.

<i>Worlds Best Science Fiction: 1967</i> 1967 anthology edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Terry Carr

World's Best Science Fiction: 1967 is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Terry Carr, the third volume in a series of seven. It was first published in paperback by Ace Books in 1967. It was reprinted by the same publisher in 1970 under the alternate title World's Best Science Fiction: Third Series.

<i>The Best Science Fiction of the Year 3</i> 1974 anthology edited by Terry Carr

The Best Science Fiction of the Year #3 is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Terry Carr, the third volume in a series of sixteen. It was first published in paperback by Ballantine Books in July 1974, and reissued in July 1976.

<i>The Best Science Fiction of the Year 4</i> 1975 anthology edited by Terry Carr

The Best Science Fiction of the Year #4 is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Terry Carr, the fourth volume in a series of sixteen. It was first published in paperback by Ballantine Books in July 1975, and reissued in October 1976. The first British edition was published in hardcover by Gollancz in September 1975.

<i>Nebula Award Stories 5</i> 1970 anthology edited by James Blish

Nebula Award Stories 5 is an anthology of award-winning science fiction short works edited by James Blish. It was first published in the United Kingdom in hardcover by Gollancz in November 1970. The first American edition was published by Doubleday in December of the same year. Paperback editions followed from Pocket Books in the U.S. in January 1972, and Panther in the U.K. in December 1972. The American editions bore the variant title Nebula Award Stories Five. The book has also been published in German.

<i>Nebula Award Stories 4</i> 1969 anthology edited by Poul Anderson

Nebula Award Stories 4 is an anthology of award-winning science fiction short works edited by Poul Anderson. It was first published in the United Kingdom in hardcover by Gollancz in November 1969. The first American edition was published by Doubleday in December of the same year. Paperback editions followed from Pocket Books in the U.S. in January 1971, and Panther in the U.K. in December 1971. The American editions bore the variant title Nebula Award Stories Four.

<i>Nebula Award Stories 3</i> 1968 anthology edited by Roger Zelazny

Nebula Award Stories 3 is an anthology of award-winning science fiction short works edited by Roger Zelazny. It was first published in the United Kingdom in hardcover by Gollancz in November 1968. The first American edition was published by Doubleday in December of the same year. Paperback editions followed from Pocket Books in the U.S. in February 1970, and Panther in the U.K. in November 1970. The American editions bore the variant title Nebula Award Stories Three. The book was more recently reissued by Stealth Press in hardcover in June 2001. It has also been published in German.

<i>Nebula Award Stories Two</i> 1967 anthology edited by Brian W. Aldiss and Harry Harrison

Nebula Award Stories Two is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Brian W. Aldiss and Harry Harrison. It was first published in hardcover by Doubleday in September 1967, with a Science Fiction Book Club edition following in November 1969. The first British edition was published by Gollancz in 1967, under the variant title Nebula Award Stories 1967. Paperback editions followed from Pocket Books in the U.S. in September 1968, and Panther in the U.K. in 1970. The Panther edition bore the variant title Nebula Award Stories 2. The book was more recently reissued by Stealth Press in hardcover in September 2001. It has also been published in German.

<i>Nebula Awards Showcase 2009</i> 2009 anthology edited by Ellen Datlow

Nebula Awards Showcase 2009 is an anthology of award winning science fiction short works edited by Ellen Datlow. It was first published in trade paperback by Roc/New American Library in April 2009.

References