[Mentalist]

Colonel Pyat is a character originally introduced in the Cornelius stories, as a sometimes paramour of Jerry's mother, Mrs Cornelius. Described as an emigre from the Russian War, and Civil War survivor, he never really took central role.

Although he's mentioned in other volumes of the Eternal Champion sequence, nothing's been told about him explicitly. Until the Quartet

Described as Moorcock's most controversial works, and for a long time banned in the US, these 4 books are written as a memoir. A memoir of a despicable anti-Semitic Jew, who is also a coke fiend, sometimes rapist, and a Nazi sympathizer. In these books,m Moorcock traces the history of the 20th century with his most cynical narrator yet. It is my understanding that with this work Moorcock attempted to delve into just how in the 20th century humanity succumbed to the extreme right-wing philosophy that brought about the horrors of WW2 and all that it involved.

These books lack the fantastical. they are more akin to Jules Verne's adventure stories that some term as the earliest science fiction. Pyat is, along with everything else, an accomplished engineer (or so he'd have us believe) and lots of the plot revolves around his "inventions"

Volume 1, "Byzantium Endures" is a fascinating story that attempts to give the reader a glimpse into the horror and utter confusion of the Russian Civil War- as well as portraying the Russian Empire prior to the War. Interspersed with Pyat's personal story (one that is at points quite revolting--make no mistake, Pyat is a despicable human being) are occasional "stream of consciousness" diatribes where Moorcock manages to (quite accurately) portray the ideological ramblings of the "Great Russian" chauvinism, including the "Orthodox as God's Chosen", "Decadent West" and "Jews and Muslims as the great enemies of civilization". As outlandish as these sound to a Western reader, they are actually in many cases, accurate portrayals of the Tsarist-times ideology that is being adopted piecemeal by the modern-day Russian propaganda machine.

The book's plot in its latter half - as Pyat seeks to escape the chaos of the War- is full of twists and unpredictable events, serving to reflect the utter confusing mess that was the Civil War in 1917-1919 on the territory of modern Ukraine. Moorcock's general fascination with the great Ukrainian anarchist, Nestor Makhno (that's often reflected in the Cornelius stories, as well as "Nomad of the Time Streams") comes through here, as well- although Pyat's opinion is nowhere near as clear.

Despite the absolutely horrific contents of its plot, "Byzantium Endures" is a strangely compelling read, and the struggles of its hapless anti-hero, as well as his rants and diatribes remains relevant to the modern day.

[Mentalist]

Book 2- "The Laughter of Carthage"

It's hard to describe this book. It's quite a different beast from volume 1. Primary reason is the background setting- whereas in "Byzantium Endures", Pyat was making his way and surviving through revolutionary Russia, in "The Laughter of Carthage" he is making his way from Instanbul, to Rome, Paris, and eventually the 1920s United States. The post-war developments and the moments of economic prosperity make for a less exciting setting than the urgency of civil war. Pyat's new mishaps are more directly related to his own failings, and as he continues to blame everything but himself, it gets progressvely harder to take him seriously, as the impact of outside factors becomes less and less plausible. And, in general, when reading about what is essentially a "slice of life" adventure, peacetime makes for less exciting reading than war time.

In terms of typical asides and ranting diatribes, Pyat uses less Russian and more German and Yiddish, which impacted my ability to comprehend and relate to his stream-of-consciousness complaints. The gist of his rants this time is the ever-present, vicious "Carthage" which embodies both the global capitalist cabal with anti-semitic undertones, and also elements of racial and class bias. To Pyat, "Carthage" is an amalgamation of wild nomads who wish to destroy Western civilization as they are envious due to their own inability to build anything; it is also the global poor, who seek to achieve "equality" by making everyone as destitute as them;. But it is also the sophisticated and ingenious global shadow cabal that promotes global "moral degradation" through its value shift towards consumerism and catering to the most basest of human desires. It is really difficult to derive any sort of coherence out of Pyat's many allegories, and this serves to make his message ever more incomprehensible.

In terms of actual plot, Pyat finds himself a refugee first in Constantinople, and later in Europe and the US. He flounders from one financial scheme to another, continuously seeking to make it as an inventor, in desperate need of capital, as he encounters financial speculators and grifters, attributing his every failure to the machinations of "Carthage". There's actually a new character who enters Pyat's life who serves as the motivation for most of he does, and leads him to his downfall, and further depravities, confirming him as a highly unlikeable and despicable character. And yet, his motivations, twisted as they are, and his naivety or self-serving willful blindness are what helps to make him such a compelling character to read about. The book ends with a loving tribute to the 1920s America and Hollywood in particular that is fun to read in itself.

Although sufffering from pacing problems that come with a shifting background, this second volume of the Quartet remains a compelling read quite unlike anything you may expect from Moorcock.

[Mentalist]

Book 3- "Jerusalem Commands"

This is an incredibly difficult book to write about.

It gets very dark. Pyat hits some very serious new lows in this one, and it's debatable whether he learned anything from it.

Most of the book takes place all over North Africa, and there's a lot of typical Pyat commentary, as he continues his literary crusade against the mythical "Carthage". However, his message, rambling and barely coherent at the best of times, completely falls apart in this volume.

The plot gets very, very dark in places, which makes a jarring contrast with a somewhat hapless picaresque narrative of earlier volumes. The book tries to pick up same tone towards the end, as Pyat who escapes the greatest ordeal of his life happily sinks into blissful depravity again. But it's hard to shake off what happened earlier, and the whole thing no longer really sounds genuine. It becomes progressively harder to question just how genuine Pyat's self-delusion remains. Which casts a new light on the whole work.

It's thought-provoking, and some of Pyat's diatribes seem very timely today. But I felt like Pyat's finally lost the internal consistency that kept his flimsy excuse for an ideology coherent before. And that serves to lessen the overall value and impact of the cycle.

[Aptorian]

You write that this is a form of historical fiction. What would you compare these books to? Are they sort of like Ken Follet or Anne Rice? I'm having problems picturing the plot, is it merely days in the life of this guy or is it one of those Forrest Gump like stories of a character bumbling into significant historical events?

[Mentalist]

 Apt, on 24 April 2017 - 06:59 AM, said:

You write that this is a form of historical fiction. What would you compare these books to? Are they sort of like Ken Follet or Anne Rice? I'm having problems picturing the plot, is it merely days in the life of this guy or is it one of those Forrest Gump like stories of a character bumbling into significant historical events?

I think you gotta look at it more like 19th century romances, where the main character is doing his own thing (in Pyat's case, trying to become rich and famous to "make the world better" (as he sees it, ofc), with significant events being there as a backdrop, but influencing the plot at certain junctions.

There are important figures being name-dropped from time to time, but most of the time he's dealing with fictional people (or someone real, but not very significant as far as we know now). Given the structure is a memoir, there's also the obvious "catch" of Pyat not being a reliable narrator, as he's trying to either make himself look good, or to make history confront to his own delusions.

It's very unlike Moorcock's usual stuff, much more "literary", with the unspoken subtext of social commentary. And the narrator is a despicable human being, and not in the way of say, Lawrence's " ha-ha, look at how fucked up and evil Jorg is, oh wait, here's his troubled and traumatic childhood", but more of a "no, all that cocaine was like a medicine, and those girls wanted it"-fucked up, where the person will try to tell you they were right but misunderstood by society all the time.

But yeah, in terms of reference point, it's like a really fucked up story in the style of the 19th century picaroon romances. Baroque cycle could be a stylistic reference point, only where Half-cocked Jack Shaftoe is a lovable rogue, Pyat is a very broken embodiment of most that's been wrong with the 20th century.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 28 June 2017 - 04:07 AM

[Mentalist]

Book 4- The Vengeance of Rome

I realize I completely forgot about this one. Well, not really. It's more like, "every time I recalled it, I would instantly want to do something other than think about it"

I read the book in May, and I'm only writing this now. The book can make you VERY uncomfortable- there's a 7-page intro from the editor that warns you just how bad and graphic a particular episode can get. It's in line with Moorcock's general portrayal of the Nazis whenever they pop up in the Eternal Champion cycle, but that doesn't make me want to throw up a bit in my mouth any less.

I must admit, when I read it, (aside from the one excruciatingly long, detailed and disgusting episode), the tone of the book seemed lighter than the previous volume- which got dark, and stayed that way for a long time. Here, the plot twists and turns, as Pyat finds himself first in Fascist Italy, then in (pre) Nazi Germany, and he runs afoul of a number of important figures of the time (including most of the Nazi party leadership). Pyat continues to chase his dreams of prosperity, and his right-wing beliefs fuel him to describe the places he finds himself in as idyllic. His willful blindness is carried throughout his stint in concentration camps, and it lasts all the way to the last pages of the book.

There's a lot I could say about it, but I'll leave it to the readers. Those who followed Pyat thus far will probably know what to expect (the prior books do a pretty good job sorting out the squeamish) I'll end by quoting the ending of a prior review I did for it:

Quote

This willingness is made obvious by the very last episode of the book's ending. I won't write, because I don't want to spoil it. It's a thought-provoking episode, but i'm not sure yet what conclusions we are supposed to draw from it. Most likely, as with any truly great piece of literature, the conclusion we draw is a reflection of ourselves.

This book concludes Moorcock's journey of the "20th century everyman" Maxim "Colonel" Pyat. taken as a whole, the series offers a chilling and compelling look at the inter-war years in order to portray just how humanity allowed itself to embrace the ideologies that led to some of the most sorrowful pages of humanity's history. I think its value lies primarily in this portrayal, honest, albeit inconsistent of an inherently amoral person, who was, nonetheless, clearly a product of their time, and was accepted as such. It's a warning. It's a parable. And it's a pretty entertaining yarn overall.