A Cornelius Calendar

Jerry Cornelius #5-6

by Michael Moorcock

Large Trade Softcover 9" x 6" x 1.5".Jerry Cornelius, the English assassin, is featured in this collection of four stories which look at the world from 1900 to 2000. The books are "The Adventures of Una Persson and Catherine Cornelius in the 20th Century", "The Entropy Tango", "Gold Diggers of 1977" and "The Alchemist's Questions".

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction

600 pages

First published November 25, 1993

About the author

Michael John Moorcock is an English writer primarily of science fiction and fantasy who has also published a number of literary novels.

Moorcock has mentioned The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Apple Cart by George Bernard Shaw and The Constable of St. Nicholas by Edward Lester Arnold as the first three books which captured his imagination. He became editor of Tarzan Adventures in 1956, at the age of sixteen, and later moved on to edit Sexton Blake Library. As editor of the controversial British science fiction magazine New Worlds, from May 1964 until March 1971 and then again from 1976 to 1996, Moorcock fostered the development of the science fiction "New Wave" in the UK and indirectly in the United States. His serialization of Norman Spinrad's Bug Jack Barron was notorious for causing British MPs to condemn in Parliament the Arts Council's funding of the magazine.

During this time, he occasionally wrote under the pseudonym of "James Colvin," a "house pseudonym" used by other critics on New Worlds. A spoof obituary of Colvin appeared in New Worlds #197 (January 1970), written by "William Barclay" (another Moorcock pseudonym). Moorcock, indeed, makes much use of the initials "JC", and not entirely coincidentally these are also the initials of Jesus Christ, the subject of his 1967 Nebula award-winning novella Behold the Man, which tells the story of Karl Glogauer, a time-traveller who takes on the role of Christ. They are also the initials of various "Eternal Champion" Moorcock characters such as Jerry Cornelius, Jerry Cornell and Jherek Carnelian. In more recent years, Moorcock has taken to using "Warwick Colvin, Jr." as yet another pseudonym, particularly in his Second Ether fiction.

Reviews

[Karl]

This hardcover contains:

001 - The Adventures of Una Person and Catherine Cornelius in the Twentieth Century (1976)
205 - The Entropy Tango (1981)
347 - Gold Diggers of 1977 (1980)
419 - The Alchemist's Question (1984)

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an omnibus volume that collects four of Moorcock's Cornelius novels, The Adventures of Una Persson and Catherine Cornelius in the Twentieth Century, The Entropy Tango, Gold Diggers of 1977, and The Alchemist's Question. I'd read three of them before in the Avon Books Cornelius Chronicles series, but never I'd found Gold Diggers of 1977, which was also published as The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle. The Adventures of Una Persson and Catherine Cornelius in the Twentieth Century is the easiest (or most traditional) narrative to read; it's something of a feminist manifesto and concentrates on the two titular heroines and their friendship as they slide in and out of various timelines. Conversely, The Entropy Tango is the most experimental of the four, a very dreamlike and disjointed work that's told with many illustrations and partially in verse. The Alchemist's Question, which is subtitled Being the Final Episode in the Career of The English Assassin, shows an older and weaker Jerry making a final sacrifice (along with Catherine), though it must be remembered that with multiple timelines and different aspects of the same characters interacting, all things are possible, and that in an infinite multiverse not only anything -can- happen, but -must- happen. Gold Diggers of 1977 is the most fun story of the lot, and sees Jerry teaming with The Sex Pistols in a last-gasp effort to save rock'n'roll. Now, Moorcock isn't just writing about rock'n'roll, of course, but is using it as a metaphor for the concerns and cares of the 1960s being replaced by the apathetic and me-first attitudes of the late 1970s, with considerable passion, humor, and insight. Along with the Cornelius family and many of his other familiar cast of characters are Jimi Hendrix, Jules Verne, Lemmy (of Hawkwind and Motorhead fame), and many other historical personages. It's a short, but quite powerful novel-- as Mrs. C observes: "This is a bit 'o fun, innit?" and "It wasn't World War Three, but it was better than nothing." Later, a tired Jerry, who's seen too many alternatives of all the pasts and all the futures, says: "Time's a killer" and "There's never a World War Three around when you need one." It's a glorious battle, and, at long last, Sid and Jerry's kids seem to have prevailed. Maybe... for a time. ("I did it my way. I think." Sid says.) Mrs. C asks: "Oo the bloody 'ell do they expect ter clear up this fuckin' mess, then?" There was never an apocalypse with a better bass line.

I know that it's only rock'n'roll, but I like it.

[Shannon Appelcline]

The Adventures of Una Persson and Catherine Cornelius in the Twentieth Century. As entropy descends across the later Cornelius Chronicles, the staccato nature of the storytelling becomes increasingly hard to follow. But in the Una & Catherine sidestory, Moorcock achieves a more enjoyable compromise, with the individual shorts having enough time to breathe, making each one into an intriguing little story that's more than a vignette. The shifting but connected stories across the timestreams are also intriguing [4/5].

[Lorna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first tale in this omnibus which dealt with the characters of Una Perrson and Catherine Cornelius. The dynamic between the two characters intrigued me. When you began to see more of Jerry, I just didn't find his character particularly engaging, for whatever reason. I like the premise though, and I'm planning on reading some of Moorcock's fantasy.

[Arthur B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the novellas collected here aren't up to much, but Gold Diggers of 1977 (AKA The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle) is pretty good. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/201...

[Pavlo Tverdokhlib · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is yet more Cornelius. It's not any more sensible than the "Cornelius Quartet". What we have is a collection of.... novels? stories? vignettes? told in a typical Jerry Cornelius fashion. There's multiple, multiple timelines, where weird stuff happens in the 20th century. Jerry, Una, and teh rest are skipping across the various versions of the 20th century, trying to achieve.... something. or nothing. Some of them champion a particular vision of the future. Otehrs like entropy, or oppose the others purely for the sake of opposition, diversity, and the need to destroy certainty.

It's often an exercise in futility, trying to comprehend the motif of the Cornelius Saga. There's a point in "The Alchemist's Question", where we get a convergence and what's essentially a replay of the big, climactic moment in "The City int eh Autumn Stars", the big Von Bek novel. And there are bits and pieces dropped that echo back to "The Final Programme", trying to interlap with the Quartet- as does "The Entropy Tango".

Then other stories are literally doing their own thing- one is basically dedicated to the Sex Pistols and the role they played in UK's history. (that one kinda lost me). As a whole, the book is a jumble of themes, images, ideas and.... stuff. Quite literally, there's few things like the Jerry Cornelius stories out there. You have to experience them to understand.

If you liked the Quartet, there's much to love here. If you haven't read it, this will be even more confusing than the Quartet was.