Cugel the Clever-Jack Vance novel, book review

Cugel the Clever-Jack Vance novel (author’s preferred title)

AKA: The Eyes of the Overworld

Tales of the Dying Earth, Book II

The Cugel the Clever is the second Vance novel series Tales of the Dying Earth.  Although it reads like a novel, it is actually a “fix up novel” or a collection of five short works previously published in magazines plus one original work written for the novel.  The original work is Cil.  Another work, The Manse of Iucounu, was broken into two chapters in The Eyes of the Overworld and became The Cave in the Forest and The Manse of Iucounu.  When it was originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction the two stories were combined as one and simply titled The Manse of Iucounu.  In its first publication it would have been novelette length.  The first novel titled The Eyes of the Overworld was published in paperback by Ace Books in 1966.  In 2005 it was released in the Vance Integral Edition under the author’s preferred title “Cugel the Clever.”  It is currently available in a high quality trade paperback from Spatterlight Press under the title Cugel the Clever.

At times Cugel's adventures reminded me of Don Quixote, The Odyssey or Gulliver's Travels but with the humor of Monty Python or Terry Pratchett.  But, of course, it is simply Jack Vance with all of his unique talent and brilliance.

Chapters in Cugel the Clever include: 

(MFSF=The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction)

1. The Overworld, first published in MFSF in 12/65, 25 pages., novelette length

2. Cil, first published as part of the novel The Eyes of the Overworld, 22 pgs., novelette length

3. The Mountains of Magnatz, first published in MFSF in 2/66 but revised, 26 pgs., novelette length

4. The Sorcerer Pharesm, first published in MSFS in 4/66, 22 pgs., novelette length

5. The Pilgrims, first published in MSFS in 6/66, 33 pgs., novelette length

6. The Cave in the Forest, first published as the first part of The Manse of Iucounu, 11 pgs., short story length

7. The Manse of Iucounu, first published in MSFS in 7/66, 16 pgs., short story length

This novel introduces us to Cugel the Clever, a self-serving, trickster, anti-hero character who calls himself “the Clever” but often does not live up to his self-appointed name.  In this picaresque work Cugel's behavior is usually manipulative and often dishonest.  When he does behave kindly, without an apparent ulterior motive, it often backfires on him.  Once someone is his adversary or if Cugel is under threat, he usually demonstrates some very determined survival skills.  Sometimes he simply uses his sword or other force but usually he plots an escape or revenge.  Vance describes Cugel as "a man of many capabilities, with the disposition at once flexible and pertinacious.  He was long of leg, deft of hand, light of finger, soft of tongue."  Vance often infuses wry or sardonic humor into situations that involve Cugel.  Cugel also blunders so many times that it becomes comical.  He even casts spells incorrectly and ends up being his own victim.  Each story follows the adventures of Cugel and flows into the next story with the storyline and main characters continuing so that it reads like a novel.

1. The Overworld. In the story The Overworld we encounter Cugel at a fair where he has a booth and tries to sell talismans he made himself to unsuspecting customers.  Another seller, Fianosther, offers better magical products (“articles of greater variety and more obvious efficacy”) and has a much more desirable location for his booth so he does a brisk business while Cugel sells very little so closes down his booth.  Fianosther notices this so motions for Cugel to come over. He persuades Cugel to partake in a scheme to steal from “Iucounu the Laughing Magician” who lives nearby in “an eccentric structure of steep gables, balconies, sky-walks, cupolas, together with three spiral green glass towers through which the red sunlight shown in twisted glints and peculiar colors.  Iucounu is planning to visit Fianother's booth because he wants to purchase some magical items” from him.  Fianosther plans to bargain with and stall Iucounu so Cugel can enter Iucounu's manse and steal some of his valuable magical items.  The two will then split the profits after selling the devices. 

But Cugel blunders and is caught.  Rather than kill him or imprison him, Iucounu offers Cugel a deal to avoid punishment.  If Cugel agrees to visit the Land of Cutz and obtain a special magical violet lens for Iucounu, then he will be forgiven for his attempted burglary and will be released.  Iucounu already has one such lens or cusp but wants a second one for his other eye.  The lenses allow a person to see into the Overworld.  Cugel readily agrees and is provided with a magical device that turns wood, leaves, clothing or anything else into digestible food and also detects poison in food.  Cugel later learns that it works but that it does not change the taste of the edible item.  A piece of wood will nourish him but still tastes like wood.  Iucounu brings out Firx who is “a small white creature, all claws, prongs, barbs and hooks.” Firx enters Cugel's chest cavity and attaches itself with claws to his liver.  Firx will contract his prongs to inflict pain on Cugel to motivate him to complete his task and to insure that he returns and does not run away.  Firx is able to understand Cugel when he speaks to him but can only reply by inflicting pain or easing off the pain.  Iucounu will remove Firx once Cugel obtains the lens and returns.

Iucounu summons a demon to transport Cugel to the Land of Cutz where he has to obtain one of these magical lenses and return it to Iucounu.  Cugel learns that Cutz has two different groups of people, those with lenses and those without.  Those with two lenses see, taste and experience everything as beautiful, delicious and wonderful.  (It provides them with a virtual reality view into the Overworld.)  If the wearer looks at porridge it appears and tastes like a gourmet meal.  Shacks become castles.  Ugliness becomes beautiful.  Two lenses create a magical paradise for the wearer.  If only one lens is used it shocks and disorients the wearer. There is a story about their origin of the lenses from the Overworld, but I will leave that to the reader.  Unfortunately for Cugel there are many people in Cutz who don't have lenses who want them so there is a long waiting list for a pair of lenses.  To obtain the lenses Cugel has to sign up as a resident of Cutz and wait until he has gone from the bottom of the long list to the top.  Only when a person with a pair of lenses dies, will the pair be passed on to the person at the top of the waiting list.  But Cugel's life is at stake so fair play is not among his considerations.  He schemes to develop a plan to obtain some lenses without having to wait many years.  The rest of the story focuses on his efforts and is quite interesting.

2. Cil. In the story Cil, Cugel has one of the lenses in his pouch and begins the long journey on foot to return to Almery where Iucounu lives.  He would prefer to make a leisurely journey “but Firx, that irascible tangle of spines and barbs which Iucounu had clasped about Cugel’s liver, permitted no loitering, and Cugel’s only solace was the prospect of revenge.” After dealing with a ghost who makes a request of him and bandits who try to steal from him, Cugel encounters an old man on the seashore who has spent his life sifting sand to find a lost amulet.  His ancestors lost the amulet and with it their control of the land of Cil.  He hopes to recover the amulet and gain back Cil.  The person who owns the amulet and knows how to use it becomes the ruler of Cil. The rest of the story is a fascinating one about strange, mischievous talking sea creatures, the land of Cil, the magical amulet and fighting demons as Cugel continues on his amazing adventure.

3. The Mountains of Magnatz. In The Mountains of Magnatz story Cugel continues his journey back to Amery.  Accompanying him is a woman he met in Cil named Derwe Coreme, who use to be the ruler of Cil.  Derwe asks Cugel how he ended up in this remote region so Cugel mentions Iucounu who he describes as a “detestable wizard of Almery. He has a boiled squash for a head and flaunts a mindless grin. In every way he is odious, and displays the spite of a scalded eunuch.” Cugel needs guidance through the dangerous Mountains of Magnatz so makes a trade with some guides for information.  But he owns nothing, so what Cugel trades does not belong to him.  He is warned of vampires, grues, erbs, leucomorphs, basilisks and a series of poisonous swamps plus a region called the Land of Evil Recollection but Cugel has no options except to continue.  He is soon stalked by a deodand whom Cugel manages to injure and take as hostage. The deodand offers to be his guide if he will free him at the end but Cugel is also being followed by three other deodands.  These are cave dwelling humanoid beings that like to eat people.  Soon he meets some men in a hunting party from a nearby town called Vull Village.  His Pythonesque adventures continue and include a new wife named Marlinka, a job as the watchman in a tall watch tower, and a giant monster named Magnatz.  How does so much happen in so few pages?  It is all extremely imaginative, surreal and very well written.

4. The Sorcerer Pharesm. Cugel continues his journey in the story The Sorcerer Pharesm and makes Homer's Odyssey look like a stroll around the block.  This story is so bizarre, imaginative and creative that I began to wonder if Vance hadn't taken on Timothy Leary as co-author.  Except it is all well thought out, organized and infused with absurd humor.  Cugel meets fifty some workmen involved in intense carving of rock into "further complexities, and elaborations upon complexities: twists, spires, volutes; disks, saddles, wrenched spheres; torsions and flexions; spindles, cardioids, lanciform pinnacles; the most laborious, painstaking and intricate rock-carving conceivable, manifestly no random effort of the elements.  Cugel frowned in perplexity, unable to imagine a motive for so complex an undertaking."  A three foot tall foreman reviews written plans and uses his thirty foot long extensible forefinger to assist the carvers with creating the right pattern.  The work has been going on for 318 years and is not yet completed.  Then there is Pharesm the Sorcerer who directs it all.  Unfortunately Pharesm has spent 500 years on the rock carving project while attempting to attract a mysterious creature called “Totality.”  Pharesm is outraged when he learns that Cugel just found the creature, broiled it and ate it for lunch. 

Pharesm informs Cugel "The creature, he said in a grating voice, is TOTALITY.  The central globe is all of space viewed from the inverse.  The tubes are vortices into various eras, and what terrible acts you have accomplished with your prodding and poking, your boiling and chewing, are impossible to imagine."  "What of the effects of digestion? inquired Cugel delicately.  Will the various components of space, time and existence retrain their identity after passing the length of my inner tract?"

This creature called Totality is very important to Pharesm and possibly the universe.  Pharesm is so upset that he creates a leaping ghoul, zigzag blazes of energy and glittering purple wasps to prevent Cugel from leaving while citing Kartinjae's Second Law of Cryptorrhoid Affinities.  For Cugel to redeem himself Pharesm proposes sending Cugel back into the past a million years to rescue Totality before it had been eaten. 

After arriving a million years back in time Cugel finds people with large heads, pumpkin orange skin and black teeth along with giant birds called Winged Beings that dash people to death after flying off with them.  Supposedly they only do this to people who are terminally ill. The people of Farwan have strict religious rules that Cugel unintentionally violates, so Cugel has to flee for his life while still attempting to find Totality to transport it magically into the future uneaten.  This is a highly imaginative story that is amazingly creative and engaging beyond any description I can possibly provide.

5. The Pilgrims. In The Pilgrims story Cugel continues his journey home when he encounters some pilgrims and hears about various strange religions including the "Funambulous Evangels”

who tell Cugel that “from respect to the dead, we walk aloft, on ropes and edges, and when we must travel, we use specially sanctified footgear.” Here we have an interesting, often humorous exchange of religious beliefs including Cugel's which he admits is "somewhat inchoate" because he has "assimilated a variety of viewpoints, each authoritative in its own right: from the priests at the Temple of Teleologies; from a bewitched bird who plucked messages from a box; from a fasting anchorite who drank a bottle of pink elixir which I offered him in jest.  The resulting visions were contradictory but of great profundity.  My world-scheme, hence is syncretic."  Later Cugel bribes a priest so that he is able to trick some pilgrims into crossing the Silver Desert and the Songan Sea with him.  During the crossing they encounter a series of strange adventures.  In one village the locals and guests have to each cut off one of their own fingers to add to the communal cooking pot to "demonstrate our common heritage and our mutual dependence."  At another village he encounters “folk of ferocious aspect. Black hair in spikes surrounded the round clay-colored faces; coarse black bristles grew off the burly shoulders like epaulettes. Fangs protruded from the mouths of male and female alike and all spoke in harsh growling shouts.”

Then he meets some “graceful golden-haired people” who declare, "We worship that inexorable god known as Dangott.  Strangers are automatically heretics, and so are fed to the sacred apes."  Cugel’s encounters are all fascinating and frequently very satirical and funny.

6 The Cave in the Forest. In The Cave in the Forest Cugel treks through an old forest  where he encounters some dangerous creatures such as a pair of deodands and a leucomorph.  Because of these dangers , “Cugel became more diffident and furtive than ever, skulking from tree to tree, peering and listening, darting across open spaces with an extravagantly delicate gait.” Later in the afternoon he spots a strip of parchment hanging from a tree.  The messages says that Zaraides the Sage is offering a free consultation for anybody entering a nearby cave.  He is initially warry but curiosity prompts him to check this out.  As he continues he spots a cave with a placard stating, “ENTER; ALL ARE WELCOME!”  He peers into the cave but sees only darkness.  Reluctant to enter Cugel sits down to wait and ponder until a man approaches and asks Cugel if he is Zaraides.  Cugel fabricates a story that Zaraides is inside the cave, that he has already visited him and had his questions answered but is now trying to think of new questions before he enters a second time.  Cugel, of course, wants the stranger to enter first so he knows if it is safe.  An hour later the man comes out of the cave and reports that Zaraides is inside waiting for Cugel to come in to see him.  Thinking it is safe, Cugel enters the cave to meet with Zaraides but finds out he has been tricked and is captured by rat-folk who pull him into an underground tunnel. These trident armed rat folk eat people but offer to free Cugel if he lures in two other hostages to replace himself.  That is why the other man came out and told him it was safe to enter. Confronted with this challenge of having to lure others into the cage to obtain his freedom , Cugel needs to utilize all of his talents to try to escape.  If he can’t lure two others into the cave, he will become dinner for the rat folk. It is a strange and interesting story I’ve read many times and rated 5.

7. Manse of Iucounu. In Manse of Iucounu Cugel meets a magician, Zaraides, and as a reward for assisting the magician Cugel has him remove Firx from his abdomen.  After doing so Zaraides tells Cugel that there is a “tendency of this maleficent incubus to extend its prongs everywhere through the body, until it clamps upon the brain; then you and Firx are one and the same.”  Zaraides also agrees to transport Cugel back at Almery where he began his journey.  After arriving in Almery Cugel has a duplicate of the magical lens or cusp made and plans to offer the fake lens to Iucounu hoping he will view the fake along with the real one and have an adverse reaction.  But when Cugel visits Iucounu no longer appears to be himself and reacts differently than predicted when looking through the two lenses.  Fianosther, the man who encouraged Cugel to steal from Iucounu at the beginning of the novel, enters the story and complicates matters for Cugel.  This an interesting and humorous story but it would disclose too much to describe it in more detail.

The Cugel the Clever/Eyes of the Overworld reads like a novel even though it is fix-up novel composed mostly of previously published stories.  It is one of Vance's finest, most creative and humorous works and is highly recommended to anybody who likes imaginative, engaging, and very well written fantasy writing. I’ve read it three times so far and rate it a 5.