BEYOND THE FARTHEST STAR
Summarized by
Managing Editor's Foreword:
Netizens know me as Tangor--the ghostly fingers--which describes quite accurately the appearance of email and commentary on the Net; but few know the my other reason for taking that ERB Persona: Near the end of his writing career ERB's literary endeavors delved into the real world, real issues, and real life. Beyond the Farthest Star is one of those few gritty tales Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote that displays a pragmatic view of human societies that is difficult to deny. David Adams has more than adequately performed the specifics of the ERBList Summaries Project in his latest offering by detailing the plot and characters of these two slim tales of Burroughsian literature in the Summary Project parameters. However, he has taken it a step further by presenting an in-depth Afterword that reminds us of the era in which these stories were created. David's exploration focuses heavily upon the events of 1930s Russia under the helm of Josef Stalin and reminds us that ERB was a man of his time, and obviously a man of personal conviction as well. Perhaps one day I will present the other side of the coin of evil that drove ERB's personal politics in the late 1930s and early 1940s, that of Hitler's Nazi Socialism and Mussolini's Facisim as also embodied in Beyond the Farthest Star as well as his more famous Nazi and Facisim parody Carson of Venus. ERB's commentary on these horrific regimes are prominently found in the tales of Poloda. David Bruce "Tangor" Bozarth IntroductionBeyond the Farthest Star was first published in The Blue Book Magazine, January 1942. It was written in 12 days a week after he completed “Men of the Bronze Age” in October of 1940. Tangor Returns was written in only 5 days -- December 17-21, 1940. It’s first publication was 24 years later in Tales of Three Planets, a hardback edition by Canaveral Press, April 27, 1964. It was published with Beyond the Farthest Star, "The Resurrection of Jimber-Jaw", and The Wizard of Venus. A Brief Summary adapted from Clark A. Brady’s The Burroughs Cyclopaedia
Beyond the Farthest Star is a two part novel, actually two novellas put together: “Adventure on Poloda” and “Tangor Returns.” Burroughs probably intended the series to be a multi-part saga, but his death in 1950 stopped the mysterious typewriter messages from Tangor, so that no one has ever found out how the American airman managed to activate it all the way from Poloda in the first place. John Carter-like, Tangor was a warrior who was mysteriously transported to another world after his apparent death, this time in World War II. He never found out how he got there, but he found on Poloda another world at war, a world which he adopted and went to war for. The events of the first story took place from September 1939 to January 1940, and those of the second from January to autumn of 1940.Porges & Lupoff
Irwin Porges devotes a considerable amount of of room to the Tangor stories in his “ERB: The Man Who Created Tarzan” from page 669 to 674. He provides rather complete summaries of both stories, and there are Appendix notes on the 11 pages of worksheets for “Beyond the Farthest Star” on page 766. Richard A. Lupoff also discusses “The Last Hero” in detail in his “ERB: Master of Adventure” in chapter 11, pages 168-174, and he writes about his Canaveral edition publication of the stories on page 292. [The page numbers refer to the Ace paperback edition of this work.] Foreword ERB claims that this story was mysteriously typed on his own typewriter in Hawaii; Burroughs did not press the keys, but he watched as the story wrote itself. Burroughs used this device for his “Ghostly Script”: invisible hands, presumably from a spirit transcending the barrier of death, depresses the typewriter keys with “bewildering rapidity.” Porges, 671. Part 1: Adventure on Poloda One
Two The man is studied for six weeks by a psychiatrist, Harkas Yen. He learns the language quickly. He is on Poloda. After a few weeks, the man is transferred to the house of Harkas Yen. The houses go underground during bombing raids by the Kapars. The man is named Tangor, “from nothing” to describe his origin. He is in the country of Unis in the city of Orvis. Poloda is 450,000 light years from Earth. Tangor is given a trial. The girl who saw him naked is Balzo Maro. She says he did her no harm. If Tangor is convicted of being a spy he will be destroyed or imprisoned. Tangor volunteers to serve Unis against their enemies. Three Tangor’s case is sent to the Janhai, the rulers of Unis, which is a commission of seven men. (Details of the ruling bodies and the courts are presented in detail.) The war on Poloda has been going on for 101 years. The war was started by the Kapars. They too live underground, but in fixed bomb shelters. Four There is also a permanent growing underground city at Unis. all productivity goes into building this place. Everything else is unified -- clothing, compact cars (which are “radio” controlled and driven by solar energy from their sun,“Omos.”) [The eleven planets of Omos are Poloda, Antos, Rovos, Vanada, Sanada, Uvala, Zandar, Wunos, Banos, Yonda, and Tonos.] Harkas Yen’s children are Don and Yamoda, a boy and a girl. His wife is a sad-faced 60 year old woman. War as a way of life is described. Unis loses a million men each year. No one weeps over this anymore. Tangor gets into the Labor Corps. They replace all the trees and shrubs above ground after each bombing raid. They work a 10-day week -- 9 days of work, 1 day off. There are no class distinctions. On a day of rest Tangor goes with a group of people on the underground railway to the mountains. They go swimming nude. The party is ambushed by soldiers from Kapar, and Tangor helps to kill them all. Five Due to Tangor’s valor he is trained as a pilot. Their planes are made of a light, nearly indestructible plastic with hollow wings. They make a 100,000 planes a month. When Tangor becomes a pilot he is dressed in blue. He gets to know Balzo Maro better. She is one of the war-dedicated women of Poloda. (ERB surmises that American women would do as well if the Nazis succeed in bringing total war to Earth.) Tangor leaves on his first mission in his pursuit plane. Six There are 10,000 planes in the first wave of attack on Unis. Tangor wonders if he can die a second time. He downs 3 planes, but his own is crippled, so he is forced to land with his 3rd gunner, Bantor Han. They enter the Mountains of Loras. Tangor shoots an antelope, an addaz, for food. (Many Polodian animals are described.) A lion stripped like a zebra is killed with explosive bullets. They come upon a Kapar plane on the ground and kill two men (“no chivalry in complete war.”) to get it. They also capture secret plans about an incendiary plot at Unis, so they risk taking the plane back home. Seven Tangor flies into Unis very low, only 20 feet from the ground. They make it back and are recommended for decorations. The Harkases are surprised and happy he has returned alive. Even though he is given the day off, the following day he is so dedicated that decides to go on a dangerous mission. Eight (Description of Omos and its planets.) Tangor leaves at dawn for a bombing raid on Ergos, capital of Kapara across the Karagan Ocean. Thousands of planes drop bombs and they head for home. Tangor is shot down over Punos, a country subjected by Kapara. He is met by warriors carrying spears and bows and arrows; they are dressed in loincloths. Nine The men of Punos talks with Tangor. They are friends of Unis because the men from Kapara tried to exterminate them. Tangor goes to their village. They are a starving people that live on grass, twigs, and leaves. They have been known to eat soldiers from Kapara, but they do not eat him. He gives his portion of a poor soup to the children and weeps at their suffering. Ten In the morning when Tangor goes to repair his ship, he finds a man there. He is Balzo Jan, another Unisan who was shot down in the battle. They leave together. On the way home, they meet Kaparan ships but shoot one down and out run the others. Eleven The war has lasted so long on Poloda that they find it difficult to imagine any other way of life. Tangor muses that perhaps he is in an after life and Poloda is just one of a billion places humans go after death. Balzo Jan notes that Tangor’s death on earth made it possible to save him on Poloda. On the way home they see a woman lying on the ground. Investigation finds it is Harkas Yamoda. They rush her to a hospital in Unis. She had been captured by Kapars and escaped by leaping from a plane. (Planes are the curse of Poloda.) Yamoda will be O.K. but the men vow revenge, including Tangor. The general alarm sounds again. Part II: Tangor Returns Foreword: ERB recaps Part I. He waits many nights for Tangor to write more. Finally, one midnight he is awakened by a hand on his shoulder, and Tangor urgently types this Part II. One The general alarm is to a great battle in which 30,000 planes take part. Unis is saved from another bombing. Tangor loses his three gunners, but he is not scratched. Tangor has a lady acquaintance, Morga Sagra. She is a traitor who favors Kapar. She wants Tangor to go there with her and give them military secrets. Tangor turns her in to the Commissioner of War who decides to plant Tangor as a double agent to get Kapar’s plans for a power amplifier, which permits them to fly great distances -- possibly to other planets. Tangor readily agrees. He is also sent to discover the whereabouts of another Unisan secret agent, Handon Gar, who has been lost for two years. Tangor tells Yamoda he is going on a secret mission. Two The Commissioner of War paves the way for Tangor and Morga Sagra’s secret departure for Kapar. They have to fly to Gorvas first to get a Kapar plane. Tangor’s Kapar name is Korvan Don. They go to the home of Gompth who reads Morga Sagra’s credentials, which are written in invisible ink. Tangor and Morga fly to the city of Pud on the continent of Auris in Kapar and report to a man called Frink. He provides them with another Kapar plane, and they fly to Ergos, just briefly chased by Unison planes over the Mandan Ocean. They are escorted by the secret police, the Zabo (NKVD or Gestapo) to Gurral, Chief of the Zabo, the most feared man in all Kapar. Three They are questioned by Gurral then locked in a cell, an iron cage. Many prisoners are there screaming until they are hosed by the guards. Morga Sagra is released, but Tangor is moved in a crowded green van (a black maria) to a prison camp (gulag). He is forced to work 16 hours a day at hard labor. They are beaten and fed in a trough like hogs. Tangor meets Tunzo Bor and asks him about Handon Gar. He says he does not know the man. Tangor gets an easier job in the garden of the officer in charge of the camp. This was ordered by Gurral himself. Four Handon Gar comes to Tangor. He is planning an escape with Tunzo Bor and others. Morga Sagra comes to the camp and tells Tangor she is working for his release, which occurs the next day. They go by underground railway to Ergos and meet Gurral at Zabo headquarters. Tangor gives him some ‘secrets,” and he is put up in new quarters with Lotar Canl as a servant. Everyone is suspicious of everyone else. The head of the nation is Pom Da, the Great I, who is a Stalin-like figure, a cruel monster. (Koestler calls him No. 1 in his “Darkness at Noon”). Tangor is summoned to the Pom Da. “The paths of glory sometimes lead but to the grave.” Five Tangor tells this “Highest Most High” Pom Da that he had been working on an interplanetary ship on earth. Tangor gets his gold and jewels back, which were confiscated in chapter 3, and is now addressed as “Most High” since he is favored by the Pom Da. Higher in society now, Tangor meets Gimmel Gora and her man, Grunge, nasty people all. Tangor is brought before Gurral when Handon Gar and Tunzo Bor escape with two other prisoners. Tangor is able to convince him he did not know about their plans. Grunge introduces Tangor to Horthal Wend, a friendly man. He tries to get Tangor to drink wine and loosen his tongue, but he refuses. (ERB foreshadows Horthal Wend’s death. “Little did I dream that what the death of this kindly man would mean to me.”). Six Grunge invites Tangor and Sagra to a dinner party and tries to get him to speak badly of Kapar and Gurrul. While he is away, his apartment is “burglarized” by the secret police looking for evidence of any possible disloyalty. Grunge likes Morga Sagra and would like to get rid of Tangor. Tangor and Sagra visit Horthal Wend and his wife, Haka Gera. They have a snotty 14-year-old son, Horthal Gyl (who is a kind of Hitler-youth). Seven Tangor is arrested after midnight and brought to Gurrul. He is shown a forged diary and accused of planning treason with a mysterious “J”. He is then tortured for a hour -- almost to death. Lotar Canl comes in a clears Tangor. The diary had been planted in his desk, He is taken to a hospital and treated for his “automobile accident.” Grunge is still after Sagra, and she is regretting coming to Kapar. Tangor pretends he is totally loyal to Kapar now, even in front of Sagra. Eight After two weeks, Tangor gets out of the hospital, however, he is still bed-ridden. His new servant is called Danul. Horthal Wend and his woman and son come over, and the boy, Gyl, tells him he wants to become a Zabo agent. A few days later Gyl turns in his own father for speaking in a disloyal manner which is considered treason. The poor soul was never heard of again. Tangor is still being suspected and searched. He has learned to suspect everyone and trust no one. Nine Morga Sagra wants to go back to Unis, but Tangor says he enjoys it in Kapar. Tangor (Korvan Don) is taken to Pom Da. He is finally told about the almost perfected power amplifier and ordered to finish the work. The secret laboratory is behind the home of Horthal Wend since he was the man who had invented it! The power amplifier works from a method of solar diffusion. Tangor, with his knowledge of planes finishes the job. Horthal Gyl spies on Tangor at his work. Tangor gets a fast scout plane to test the power amplifier. It works, but he is trying to figure out how to escape with the completed plans. Suddenly, Morga Sagra is arrested. She is tortured and tells about “Tangor.” Ten Lotar Canl comes to Tangor to let him know that he is really a Unisan spy. Tangor burns the notes and model of the power amplifier. Tangor and Lotar Canl escape together and return to the Eljanhai with the power amp. Yamoda runs away when he returns to the Harkases. He asks no questions, but leaves . . . not really knowing what is wrong. Tangor flies missions again, then finally gets the chance to test the p.a. by flying to Tonos. Handon Gar had made it back to Unis. He told the Harkases that Tangor was a traitor. Knowing the cause of the rift, Tangor goes to them and is reconciled to Yamoda and Don. He tells them of his solo mission to Tonos and Yamoda gets him to agree to take Handon Gar along. When Tangor leaves he kisses Yamoda goodbye. Editor’s Note: I wonder if Tangor ever reached that little planet 450,000 light years away. I wonder if I shall ever know.
AFTERWORD
Commentary on the Tangor Stories Part I: Adventure on Poloda Arrivals Burroughs writes a familiar beginning to this story. Tangor’s arrival on Poloda is a sudden transportation after death like the WWI soldier, Captain Ulysses Paxton, who arrives on Barsoom after his death in the trenches in The Master Mind of Mars. The interesting fact of this new character is that he simply arrives on the planet “from nothing” as though he really had no clear origin. We never learn his real name, although apparently he does know who he is or was because he says, “My name is --well, never mind . . .” (MMM, 13). Of course this opening is analogous to John Carter’s instantaneous arrival on Barsoom in A Princess of Mars, however, Carter does his best to obscure his origins by saying, “I have never aged as other men, nor do I remember any childhood.” Jerry Griswold in his “The Classic American Children’s Story” notes that the main character in childhood classics usually exhibits an obscurity of origin due to orphanhood, separation, or dispossession. This theme has also been observed in myth and legend by Otto Rank, Lord Raglan, and Alan Dundes and has been found to be a common one among the classic heroes in Western literature. However, the point in question is not really what happened after birth since Burroughs is dealing in these instances with origins. The coming of Carter and Paxton to Mars, and the coming of the man who is later named Tangor to Poloda may be considered analogous to birth itself. Each instance a new birth on another planet is preceded by the death of the character. One might consider their passing into a another realm to be a rebirth or a sort of resurrection. Burroughs’s characters do not toy with the idea that they might be in heaven. John Carter states matter of factly, “I knew that I was on Mars.” Paxton, himself a reader of ERB’s works is similarly quickly convinced that he is on that same Mars, Barsoom, and Tangor only has one question to ask, “Am I dead?” which is never really answered. The idea of a life after death did not interest Burroughs to a great degree. He was neither a religious nor a superstitious man. His most famous statement on this point may be found on the back of the dust jacket of Porges' book: “If there is a hereafter, I want to travel through space to visit the other planets.” This is of course the situation of Carter, Paxton, and Tangor. The question of origin for Burroughs himself seems to have been a matter he treated with imaginative playfulness. He was fond of playing with this obscure birth idea, and he once wrote a humorous autobiographical sketch that links his own life with those of his characters. It is telling that this artful fancy reveals that Burroughs is left for dead on the battlefield while serving under Custer at the battle of Little Big Horn. His horse is shot from under him, covers him, thus concealing him from the eyes of the enemy. The fictional Burroughs escapes under the cover of darkness. Burroughs relates the rest of the matter and his “name change” this way:
“After wandering for six weeks in an effort to elude the Indians and rejoin my own people, I reached an army post, but when I attempted to rejoin my regiment, I was told that I was dead. Insistence upon my rights resulted in my being arrested for impersonating an officer.” “Every member of the court knew me and deeply deplored the action they were compelled to take; but I was officially dead, and army regulations are army regulations. I took the matter to Congress but had no better success there; and finally I was compelled to change my name, adopting that which I now use, and start life all over again” (Porges, 787).There can be little doubt that Burroughs saw himself in his own fictional characters, and this playful, almost magical, transformation surely touches upon his dream-like methods of writing. He placed himself into the bodies of his characters in such a way that he most likely saw and experienced the stories, as did the many readers of his books. Part II: Tangor Returns Politics and Predictions The Tangor stories are written in Burroughs’ compact, late-style prose. Nevertheless, they exhibit a good deal of thought and planning in the construction of another complete Burroughsian world. Had he lived longer the series may have developed into one with greater depth. Poloda was completely outlined on paper, yet he only used a small portion of his ideas and notes in these brief stories. The two Tangor stories we do have are predictive of a vast future and representative of the political situations of the time. Both novellas are forward looking and firmly grounded in reality. Tangor’s Poloda is prescient of the cold war, which would not begin on earth until a decade later. ERB's world at war, Poloda, describes people living underground in bomb shelters and the entire economies of two great countries devoted to war. Women work in the factories so that men may be free to fight. Although the war is not an atomic one, a great devastation of humans and resources are graphically portrayed. The most shocking progression of this state of affairs is the fact that no one on Poloda can think of another way of life other than total war. The people have become so used to death that tears have dried up generations ago. Burroughs also envisions solar energy, exploding bullets, compact cars, uni-sex clothing, underground railroads (subways) and plastic airplanes. Yet all of these wonders exist in and for a nightmarish world. Tangor arrives upon a seeming Eden world, then discovers it is a world gone mad. He is the naked Adam thrown into an alien conflict. Though he could have reasonably stood aside as an observer, he rapidly becomes a patriot of one side (the Unisians) and serves them with loyalty and selfless dedication. Tangor chooses well because although the 101-year-old war is a deplorable situation, the other side (the Kapars) turn out to be repressive of all human freedoms. In fact, it is an aggregate picture of the dictatorships in Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia in 1940 when the stories were written. Josef Stalin appeared as a tyrannical character in ERB’s Tarzan Triumphant in 1931. Stalin dispatched Leon Stabutch of the OGPU to kill Tarzan for his interference in Russia’s subversive activities in Africa, the results of that commission will not be discussed here, but will be integral to the Tarzan Triumphant ERBList Summary when published. Burroughs' stories had a sharply defined political vein during the late 1930's and early 1940's. He roundly satirized the Nazis extremes of Hitler and the Gestapo (Zanis) in Carson of Venus, 1937. Like Tangor of the Polodan series, Carson Napier takes a hand in the Amtorian conflict, serving as a spy as well as a military officer/advisor until the victory is won. The situation on Poloda, however, is much grimmer than anything Napier of Venus faced. After a century of war on Poloda neither side never expected the conflict to end. War had become such a way of life that no other was imaginable. Terror and death as the eternal situation, and death was seen as inevitable--even desirable to many of the Polodans. The Tangor stories were written at the same time as Arthur Koestler wrote his famous “Darkness at Noon,” published in 1941. If Koestler had written his novel a couple of years earlier I would probably cite his work as a direct influence on Burroughs; yet it must be said that ERB’s vision of Stalinist Russia is that accurate. The historical events that form the Tangor stories are directly attributable to Stalin’s tormented aberration; his “show trials” and murderous purges of the late 1930’s. A look at what happened in Russia during this time is a startling depiction of the Kaparian culture of fear on Poloda. Alan Bullock’s summary of the time describes both situations well.
“The corrosive effect of this was to destroy that minimum of mutual trust on which human relations depend and leave individual human beings isolated from one another. Many accounts speak of the atmosphere of fear and silence that pervaded Moscow, Leningrad, and the other big Russian cities from 1936 through 1938” (Bullock, 512).The following is a brief outline of Russian events that appeared in newspapers from the late 1930’s. Everyone in America was aware of Stalin’s “show trials,” and there is no doubt that Burroughs was appalled since so many ominous parallels occur in the Tangor stories. The numbers in brackets refer to page numbers in Alan Bullock’s “Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives,” Knopf, 1992. I have tried to find quotes from Tangor Returns (TR) that match these situations. Stalin-A Brief Outline of Events His political aim in the years 1934-39 was to destroy the original Bolshevik party created by Lenin and replace it with a new one, maintaining a facade of continuity but in fact remaking it in his own image. (464) In three great show trials, the surviving members of Lenin’s original party stood up and repeated the confessions written for them by the NKVD, Stalin’s secret police headed by Yagoda. (465). One might guess that the character Yamoda was taken from Yagoda. However, ERB makes HER a friend of Tangor, and she is on the side of good. ERB was fond of transpositions, so I believe this is at least plausible. In 1934 Kirov was assassinated, and 102 White Guards were summarily tried and executed as “enemies of the people.” Stalin’s real interest was to show that the assassination of Kirov was part of a far-reaching conspiracy. (467). In 1935, the purge in Leningrad included supporters of Kirov as well as Zinoviev, leading to the arrests and deportations, including whole families, reaching a total estimated as close to 100,000. (469-470). Stalin’s new slogan was “Life has become better, comrades; life has become more joyous.” (470). In 1936 Stalin’s new constitution was adopted with only one party allowed. The constitutional provisions in practice were compatible with a reign of terror. New leaders were appointed at all posts. (472) “It is very unlikely that any of the group was taken into Stalin’s confidence. He worked on the principle that each should know no more than was required to carry out orders. Those who looked doubtful or asked questions did not survive.” (472).
“I never showed the slightest curiosity about anything. If a stranger asks too many questions in Kapara, he is quite likely to find his head rolling around on the floor . . .” (TR, chapter 5.The Hostage system: Decrees of 1935. A death penalty was instituted for flight abroad and made members of the “traitor’s family” subject to government reprisals. If the the fugitive was serving in the armed forces, the family was subject to up to 20 years’ imprisonment if aware in advance of the offense, and to five years’ exile if knowing nothing but either living with him or dependent on him. (473) In 1935 Stalin held a show trial of some forty people who allegedly plotted to kill him in the Kremlin. Zinoviev and Kamenev were among those who confessed to save their families. The first of the Trotskyites were eliminated. All were given repeated beatings, torture, and deprived of sleep in all-night interrogations. After the trials were over their families were sent to labor camps or shot. (479).
[“If I were you, I wouldn’t interfere with the Zabo; and you should be more careful with whom you associate. The Zabo sees all; knows all.” (TR, chapter 8].Yadoga was replaced by Yezhov , head of the NKVD. No other figure in Soviet history has inspired a greater mixture of hatred and contempt than this malignant dwarf, no more than five feel tall . . . (491).
[“ . . . we were ushered into the office of Gurral, chief of the Zabo, the most feared man in all Kapara.] (TR, chapter 2).[ERB, in chapter 3 of Tangor Returns, describes Gurral as “a gross man with a cruel mouth and close-set eyes.” It is the Pom Da who is “not a large man, ... he appears even smaller than he is because of his very evident nervousness, fear, and suspicion.” (TR, chapter 5). This pathologically suspicious nature was a chief personality characteristic of Stalin.] In the show trial, held in 1936, and 1937 Grigori Pyatakov was the central defendant in 1936, but the whole Bukharin-Rykov-Tomsky group was incriminated. (483-484). They were accused and convicted of railway sabotage among other crimes. “I feel my helplessness before a hellish machine, which has acquired gigantic power...and which uses the Cheka’s bygone authority to cater to Stalin’s morbid suspiciousness...Any member of the Central Committee, any member of the party can be rubbed out, turned into a traitor or terrorist.” (Bukharin) (488-489).
“Treason is a terrible thing, and its punishment must be terrible.” (TR, chapter 7This trial marked the final defeat of Stalin’s opposition in the party and the emasculation of the Central Committee. There was a tenfold number of arrests in 1936 and 1937, including members of the High Command of the Red Army. (490). Just before the war with Hitler 43,000 officers at battalion and company-commander level were arrested and either shot or sent to the camps (the great majority) or permanently dismissed. This fact was used by Hitler as an argument that convinced the German generals to attack Russia in 1941. (494). Stalin also cleansed the Politburo, the Central Committee, and the Central Committee’s Secretariat of thousands--and there was no appeal. “A pack of lies! Shoot him. J. Stalin.” (498). The last big public trial took place in Moscow in March 1938. Stalin cleaned up all the loose ends in indictments including every crime in the counterrevolutionary lexicon. (500) In 1938 Beria became the head of the NKVD. Yezhov was denounced by Stalin. Under Beria, the purge that Yezhov had operated as an emergency measure to deal with a crisis was institutionalized as a permanent instrument of rule. (506-507) This reign of terror between 1937 and 1938 saw 8 million people arrested. Part of this story is told in the voice of one man, “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who later wrote The Gulag Archipelago. ERB captured the nightmare of total government repression of an entire society in his Tangor stories as well as any writer ever has. Poloda is not a pleasant world, nor is it one to which I wish to return.
Bibliography
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A man is shot down behind German lines in 1939. (We presume he is the writer of this tale since it begins, “I was shot down . . .) His family thinks he is dead, and he imagines that the Germans must have buried him. He finds himself in an endless garden. He is quite naked. A girl sees him, screams, and runs away. She is dressed in gold sequins and red boots. She has very white skin and copper colored hair. The garden is covered with six-foot high mounds of earth upon which shrubbery grows. Suddenly five men come out of one of the mounds. They are dressed in red sequins and black boots. They are wearing helmets and carry swords and enormous pistols. The man is captured. He does not understand their language. Suddenly, streamlined building rise out of the garden. They clothe him in a robe and put him in a cage chained to one of the bars.