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Trouble with Lichen: Classic Science Fiction

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The astute reader will notice that Wyndham did not name his book "THE Trouble with Lichen" (as might normally have been expected); such a title would of course have suggested a single solitary problem. And the troubles that the big reveal of the antigerone's existence causes are indeed manifold. One would think that such a discovery--the Fountain of Youth, the alchemist's Elixir of Life, realized at last--would be hailed as a modern-day miracle blessing by the world's populace, but as the author shows us, such might not necessarily be the case. Thus, there are troubled discussions of what might happen to the institution of marriage, when faced with a "till death do us part" vow that could last for three centuries. (We see this dilemma most starkly through the eyes of Francis' daughter, Zephanie, and her fiancé Richard.) At one point, Diana even wonders if the concept of "wife" might not soon be outmoded, to be replaced by the more practical "companion." Diana later ponders whether or not the current school system will be sufficient to prepare a child for a 300-year span. And what of the life insurance companies, which might soon be paying out annuities for many hundreds of years? And eventually, of course, the Church puts its two cents (or rather, pence) in, declaring it an abomination for the scientists to give mankind more than the "three score years and ten" spoken of in the "9th Psalm." And then the morticians start making noise about being put out of business, and the Russians declare that they have discovered the magical lichen first, and the Chinese move to seize the Manchurian wonder drug for themselves, and the conservative British papers start wailing about the unemployment and starvation guaranteed to follow, and...as you can see, there surely are more troubles than anyone could have imagined, following the announcement of the miracle substance, and Wyndham takes the time, in his densely written, compact book, to explore many of the ramifications. First I found it a good deal more sophisticated than memory had led me to believe: The book is a feminist tract, following the career of a strong, intelligent, visionary biochemist who uses the discovery of a lichen with anti-aging properties to start a revolution in the prospects for women not seen since the movement for universal suffrage.

Modern-day readers of "Trouble with Lichen," especially women readers, may be gratified to observe how nicely feminist the author was here, in his penultimate published novel. Diana is shown to be not only beautiful, but something of a genius; always hatching long-range plans for the future, and always with Plans B and C up her well-tailored sleeve. Through her, Wyndham gave the reader some then-novel ideas on a woman’s place in society. Thus: An easy to read story which encompasses far more than the basic premise: the discovery of a way to increase the human lifespan to two hundred or many more years. Although the prospect of extra time for the individual might be engaging, there are ramifications: social, political, religious and media intervention plus feminist and gender issues and fears of overpopulation (especially given the publication of the book set in the mid 1900s, little really changes). Narrator Vanessa Kirby was excellent. Her voice has an attractive to the ear timbre with good timing and intonation, and her clear English pronunciation carried the text thoughtfully. A fine performance.

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For such enlightened statements as these, "Trouble with Lichen" is worthy of any modern reader's approbation. The moral premise of this book is simple. People waste their youth because they are young. The old hate them for it. They always have. In my day we walked uphill both ways. The forward momentum of technology means that every generation of children has more opportunities, less obstacles and a more comfortable existence. And every previous generation is successively convinced that they would have done more given those opportunities because they did more with less. Wyndham’s premise is that this is obviously bullshit. People will consistently, on average, do the bare minimum with what they have regardless of the ease of getting there because they are young and dumb and proverbially (yet more family friendly than the original saying), more interested in marriage and fitting in than doing more . If you’re suggesting that women are anxious to live longer, but men don’t much care, I’m going to disagree thoroughly,’ Francis objected. ‘I don’t think they like dying any more than woman do, oddly enough.’ Trouble with Lichen is a scintillating story of the power wielded by science in our lives and asks, how much trust should we place in those we appoint to be its guardians? The book, of course, is hardly a perfect affair. As I mentioned, it is a bit dry, essentially humorless and, unavoidably, a bit dated in some instances (for example, the reference to the British newspaper "The Chronicle," which folded in 1960, and to the Russian newspaper "Izvestia," which ceased publishing in 1991). Much of the dialogue feels overwritten, especially that between Diana and Saxover, but I suppose that two bona fide geniuses just might be expected to converse in such a manner. Several plot points--such as the matter of Saxover's daughter-in-law stealing the antigerone secret--just peter out, never to be heard of again. And the book really is awfully talky; this reader could have done with a few more exciting sequences, such as the one in which Zephanie (is that really a name, by the way?) and her fiancé are kidnapped and coerced to spill information regarding her father's discovery. But basically, "Trouble with Lichen" is a novel of ideas, and of the effects on society of one of the greatest scientific discoveries of the age. Fortunately, Wyndham keeps his story moving at a brisk clip, and even reserves for his readers a wonderful surprise ending of sorts. And in this year of 2017, in which the very notions of science, facts and research are being denigrated and pooh-poohed by so many, how nice to come across a book with this telling statement about the matter...and from the British prime minister, no less:

The greatest enemies of women aren't men at all, they are women: silly women, lazy women, and smug women. Smug women are the worst; their profession is being women, and they just hate any women who make any other kind of professional success...." Although I sympathise with Diane’s cause, I do find her a bit naïve. Some of the women she takes into her confidence do use their extra time to make a difference. But, I feel that by far the majority will do nothing positive with their extended life span. In general, we live longer now that we did 50 years ago. We are no wiser, no more philanthropic, all our efforts seem to go into making our own private lives more comfortable and finding more ways to kill or subdue our perceived enemies. And a strategy involving only women will not work long term. What I don't like about us is our readiness to be conditioned--the easy way we can be made to be willing to be nothing better than squaws and second-class citizens, and taught to go through life as appendages instead of as people in our own right...." The two scientists are male (head of a research house) and female (his employee), and circumstances lead them to investigate the new discovery separately. They each ponder the implications on society, and this leads to their main difference - one echoed by the earlier movements to earn women the right to vote (in fact the main female character is descended from a suffragette). The implications go as far as catastrophe, a topic that shows up in many other Wyndam novels. This form of time travel is one that has always been quite interesting to me. A change of technique from coercion to diddle, and a generation of granddaughters who don’t even know they’re being diddled – and probably wouldn’t care more if they did. Our deadliest susceptibility is conformity, and our deadliest virtue is putting up with things as they are. So watch for the diddles, darling. You can’t be too careful about them in a world where the symbol of the joy of living can be a baked bean.’”A very British book of science, discovery, and ramifications. While many Wyndham plots have made it into movies, this one strangely has not. I read it as a 2021 reading by Vanessa Kirby, who did a great job. This brought us to what would make group members want to live longer. Diana’s argument in the novel is that ‘we’ needed ‘Time to grow wise enough to build a new world’ (p. 123). Some group members, of all ages, wondered exactly who would want to take on this responsibility, others in their 60s and 70s suggested that this was for the ‘middle generation’, those in their 30s and 40s, to consider. Several group members also thought that we don’t need the ability to live longer to make changes and that it was important for people to explore what we can do now for our own futures as well as those of future generations. All groups explored how societal change could be achieved collectively and intergenerationally. Discussions considered practical ways of bringing together people of different ages: from the availability of shared public spaces and activities open to all in local community centres, to families playing games together with several generations at family gatherings. Members in the groups also suggested, in a variety of ways, that it was important to ensure that our lives had space and time for such community activities, whether hobbies or local volunteering. Older group members in their 50s-70s in one group suggested that time was particularly in short supply for people in middle age who are often caring for children and perhaps older relatives too. A book of its time? It was mainly the fact that I didn’t fully understand it that made me curious to reread it. As a child, I was an above average reader, but naturally my reading skills continued to develop through adulthood as well, so the way I read now is obviously superior to the way I read decades ago. I wanted to see if I would like the book now that I could fully understand it.

As much as this novel was a chore to finish, I will give Wyndham credit for two things. I do like the premise of the story. I think it was poorly executed, but I can see what drew me to the book in the first place. I also appreciate his feminist message, although it was heavy-handed and downright preachy at times.

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What if someone find the true anti-aging formula which enabling people to live to around 200 years? What’re the implications? And what if the resource of it is so rare not all people can get it? How much trust should we place in those we appoint to be its guardians? This is not a post-apocalyptic story, nor is it even apocalyptic, although it explores the trials and tribulations, moral dilemmas and philosophical discourses of the two main protagonists who semi-independently discover a rare strain of lichen that has the most unusual properties. Both realise that the effects on society could be earth shattering but both envisage different problems. First they wrestle with keeping the secret and when that proves no longer possible, they try to manage what happens. Tell a woman: “woman’s place is in the home”, or “get thee to thy kitchen” and she doesn’t like it; but call it “being a good housewife”, which means exactly the same thing, and she’ll drudge along, glowing with pride.”

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