"Odysseus in Grey Flannel: The Heroic Journey in Two Dystopias by Pohl and
Kornbluth [The Space Merchants and Gladiator-at-Law]," Par Rapport, 1, No. 2, 1978,
126-31.
Once upon a time (the time is not important yet) a great Hero was sitting at table
waiting for his wise old mentor to arrive. Of course, no one now knew that theis hero
was a Hero; this is just the beginning of his story, and he was still a fairly young man.
At the next table a man died suddenly, poisoned, and this event helped send the Hero
on a great adventure, starting with a long journey. At a critical point in his quest, the
Hero was at a loss how to identify and capture the villains who threatened to destroy his
world; and —or so, the Hero himself may not have known his motivations—he sought
out an ancient race, thought by everyone to be entirely legendary or at most long dead.
Carefully, he descended deep into "a forbidding dusky abyss," where "there was only
black" and cold. After a long descent, he was totally unable to see and had to pause
until the sun came directly overhead. "He waited, almost drowsily, hanging loosely over
tnothing, in darkness and silence." the, with the light of the sun to aid him, he saw a
door blacker than the darkness. He went toward it, found a ledge to stand on, and was
captured—by something. Mysterious bonds came about him, and the Hero was lifted
and floated into a strange room where he meets the ancient race he has sought. They
are creatures of great power, "who never die and are no longer born." They are
beneficent, though, and give the Hero new name and an object of power that will serve
him well, if he has the wits to use it well.
The Hero, of course, goes on to pass the test of the object of power (thereby
saving his life), solve the mystery, expose the villains, and save his world—just as we'd
expect of any folklore or mythological hero who has the good sense to follow the
traditional pattern for his adventures.1 The significant point about the story I've
summarized is that it takes place a long while in the human future, the Hero's journey
takes him to Mars, the "ancient race" is the Martians, he is "reborn" as the "Space
Ranger," and the object of power is a mask that projects some sort of force field.2
I tell this story by Isaac Asimov because Asimov'e handling of the "initiation" of
his hero so blatantly depends upon a standard pattern in the quest-romance. (Indeed,
in David Starr: Space Ranger Asimov just rips off several motifs from old tales, even as
he lifts a familiar plot formula of the detective novel and several elements of the
Western.) More precisely, Asimov displaces elements from what Joseph Campbell calls
"the monomyth" of the Hero: i.e., he takes them out of the world of myth and folklore,
makes the necessary changes, and puts them into a different, and slightly more realistic
world: the world of science fiction.
1
Most conveniently summarized in Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 2nd
edn. (Princiption: Princon U Press, 1968), pp. 245-46 in the 1972 paperback printing. For additional
background and extensive discussion of the relationship of the archetyes to literature, see Northrop Frye,
Anatomy of Criticism, Third Essay, "Archetypal Criticism: Theory of Myths" (1957; rpt. New York:
Antheneum, 1966): most relevant for my essay would be the section, "The Mythos of Summer:
Romance," esp. pp. 189-90.
2
I've used for my tale part of the plot of David Starr: Space Ranger, by Isaac Asimov, writing as
Paul French (1952; rpt. New York, Signet, 1971, esp. chs. 9 and 10); this is the first book of Asimov's
highly successful "lucky Starr" series of children's books.