Here is, reissued, one of those SF tales that was of a type so common around the 1940’s and 50’s: except that this one set the mould in 1935. Though short, it challenges the reader, and leaves you much to think about afterwards.Odd John is a tale of a ‘superman’: John Wainwright, an Englishman who claims to be the forerunner of a new species, homo superior. Told by his friend and butler-type, nicknamed Fido, it is the tale of how John grew up, became an adult and ultimately the consequences of his superior status.In the new introduction from Adam Roberts (which, like most of the Introductions in this series, I’d recommend reading afterwards) Adam begins by saying that this superman story is odd. Personally I can’t disagree with that. Wainwright is not a man enhanced by the gaining of superpowers or from a more advanced future, he just is more intelligent, and looks down upon normal mortals without his abilities. The tone of the book is one of superiority and condescension and this is shown by an uncomfortably sneering tone throughout. Nevertheless, John has a tale to tell, and despite being an unsympathetic host recounts his past and his present views on the world. Though John has clear views on the world, it is also apparent that his views are flawed. His thinking on religion is basically that it has no place in the world, and his relationship with his mother is quite shocking to human morals even today. It is clear that John operates on different rules to the majority of the human race. It is this difference that leads to his downfall, something highlighted from the first page of the novel. The last part of the book has John and his fellow supernormals set up a colony in the Pacific, from which they can continue to view Homo Sapiens with distain and create a new world order. This does not end well and the book at the finish has a denouement of what these days could be described as ‘a W-T-F moment’. Superiority does not necessarily mean domination and can lead to mistrust and aggression. In the end this is a tale that leaves the reader with mixed feelings. Stapledon’s tone is so low-key and un-dramatic that the poignancy of the events within is quite telling. John is so different that it is clear he could not be seen as anything other than a threat to ‘normal’ humans, and yet his demise is rather sad. By telling this tale, even with a main character that is insensitive and at times unpleasant, the human race doesn’t come out of this well.Whilst not as well known as Stapledon’s Star Maker or First and Last Men, Odd John is a valuable read. I would not say that Odd John is an enjoyable tale, but it is one that makes the reader think and is therefore all the more important for that. When people talk of SF being a forum for ideas, it is perhaps the thought-experiment that is Odd John that they are thinking of.
Not your run-of-the-mill superhero story, which may have had something to do with the fact that Stapledon wasn't a typical person to be writing a superhero story in the first place; he was a Professor of Philosophy, and apparently a friend of both Virginia Woolf and Winston Churchill. It has always surprised me that this book isn't better known.Most superhero scenarios, starting with Superman, take it for granted that the guy will spend most of his time acting as a kind of elite first responder service, cleaning up or preventing the more challenging train crashes, armed robberies, earthquakes and so on. Now, if we take the superhero idea seriously for even ten seconds, why ever should this godlike creature think that his top priority is to rescue beings who are, to him, about as significant as mice are to us? I mean, even though your average human could probably save a whole lot of mice if he put his mind to it, you find that that's an unusual career choice. Stapledon, however, goes back to first principles, and asks what a superhero might find to do that wasn't essentially just rescuing mice. The result is a book that's interesting, even if not totally convincing. The obvious problem is that a mouse, even a very clever one, isn't going to be able to write a good book about what it's like to be human - but Stapledon at least tries, and we should give him credit for that.One idea I liked, which occurs elsewhere in Stapledon's writing, is that it isn't primarily about winning (conquering the world, amassing a colossal fortune, etc), but rather about living your life absolutely to the full. He has a good shot at showing us how John tries to achieve that. He also has a much more interesting take on the battle between good and evil than is common in this genre. Evil people have just, as it were, been handed the Black pieces in the cosmic chess game; it's a question of how artistically they handle their resources. I don't know whether I agree with this, but at least it makes you think, which is more than you can say for variants on Clark Kent versus Lex Luthor.It's a shortish book and easy to read. If you want to check out some SF that doesn't immediately fit one of the 12 standard SF plots, you could do worse than this.
What do You think about Odd John (1975)?
In 1935, Olaf Stapleton published "Odd John", a doomed wish-fulfillment novel that acts as a Utopian criticism of a world balanced between the “communist” Soviet Union and the established fascism of Italy and Germany. His Superhuman character provides a critique of his “current” state of modernism in three points:1)The human mind has an innate propensity for hate.2)The regime of capitalist accumulation forces the ruling class to fear the proletariat and to apply authoritarian measures of control. 3)Post-Great War and Great Depression society has begun to reject the teleological beliefs of modernism.Odd John’s prediction for Europe is “new Messiahs” based on “hate and ruthlessness” that will create societies “twisted into something bloody”. A sad, but unfortunately correct, prediction of the horrors of World War II for Europe and Asia, post-war China, Korea, Indochina, the post-colonial world, and the Stalinist Easter Bloc.A seminal work of science fiction that reflects the European mindset of the post-World War I era and presages the rise of postmodernism and globalization.
—Gregg Wingo
I read this first in grade school. While no genius is struck a chord with my lonely childhood and made me think. I also started writing a book with this tale as a role model for it. Such has this book impacted my life. I cannot recall how many times I read this book. Despite all my moves I still have that very book, though now tattered. It has been years since I have done more then pick up the book from my shelf and read it. I almost fear it would no longer be relevant or deep to me. Or maybe that it still would be. Whatever the orginator of my fear I would say this book is directed toward teens.
—Rebecca Jones
Borderline racist, Odd John reads like a list of generally unimaginative descriptions of the maturation of a hypothetical super-human. The book mostly relies on the trick of portraying all humanity as either so simple or stupid that a child with the mind of an adult dictator is meant to seem more than human. Not sure what the overall point of the novel was, possibly it is that communism is basically faulted but as close as humans can get to the utopia which only post-human individualists with telepathic powers can imagine. Or maybe the point is simply that humans are hopeless idiots who will eventually destroy the planet on account of our inability to be robotic rationalists (with super powers). The prose is a real yawn-fest too.
—Shnfara
