Big Mister

by William Rayner

Young adult novel.

191 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Capn · Rating 4 out of 5]

"When Simon was living in Africa he had been very ill and had had a vision of a big man stretching out his arms towards him. A native doctor had told him that the illness was caused by the man in the vision, an ancestral spirit who was trying to make contact with him.
This spirit, said the African, was Simon's 'Big Mister' and one day he would come again and show him many things.
Now Simon was back in England, living in a grimy industrial town with his cousin Anne and her family, but his thoughts kept returning to the native doctor's prophecy. One day, when he and Anne were exploring an old and derelict part of town, the prophecy began to come true in a bizarre and frightening way. Suddenly they were sucked backwards through time . . .
It is 1823. The industrial scene is even grimmer that the one Simon and Anne have come from. Simon learns at first hand what it means to be sent up a chimney and down a coal pit. He learns that the new 'science' of economics can allow the exploitation and degradation of thousands of people. And when he sees Samuel Barraclough, a radical leader, preaching against the sins of the industrial revolution, Simon recognizes him as the Big Mister of his dreams.
Big Mister does indeed show Simon many things, but there are other teachers too. The flamboyant sorcerer Earl Sylvester is at odds with his Familiar Spirit, Scratch, and their differences provide Simon with much food for thought, while the reckless Lady Rose sees to the 'education' and illumination of Anne. In this strange world where magic and reality mingle, Simon and Anne experience the difference between the true and false in a way that they will never be able to forget - even in the 1970s."
1.95 net
The painting on the jacket, God judging Adam by William Blake, is produced by permission of the Tate Gallery, London.

This is a weird one. Weird in a good way, but it's quite graphic (child labour/slavery; routine sexual abuse of 14 year old mining girl; beatings; horrible death of rats; and some pretty soul-sickening sadistic treatment of Anne by the Lady Rose).

I absolutely loved it about 2/3 of the way through (I thought, wrongly, that it might be the solution to the missing book here, https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... , and was certain that the plot would twist that way, which would have been incredible). But it gets a bit mired in itself, as Simon is forced to 'climb down The Poverty Tree' as a punishment for hindering Sylvester - we see the horrors of children first hand in coal mines, textile mills, and the experiences of chimney sweeps - and we also see the equivocation and acceptance of this dehumanising behaviour.

The book becomes a dire warning about how eradication of these sweatshops only means they've been shifted elsewhere, and that those in power will continue to convince the working masses that any attempt to step back, to humanize the machine, will result in economic collapse and poverty for all. And, of course, it isn't true..

There are parts of this book which remind me of Animal Farm (both content and form!), many which strangely bring to mind The Box of Delights and even Octagon Magic, but as perverse and dark versions of these.

The book begins with the black community in South Africa recognising what was ailing Simon (assault from the spiritual realm, in a sense), and opening with this wonderful exchange with Jonas, Simon's white family's cook but a learned man of standing in his own community:

"But white people say there are no witches or wizards," Simon protested at the end, still trying to curb his fear. "My mother says so."
Jonas looked pityingly at him. "White people just do not know them any more. There are many witches and wizards among them. Many. White people leave them free to come and go. So they grow big and strong. Maybe that's why . . ." Jonas checked himself and looked uneasily at Simon.

The other quote I can give which will give, hopefully, some more context to this bizarre but engrossing tale is from Scratch, the talking rat (Sylvester's entrapped familiar):

You've got to keep your respect for souls, not matter which side you're on. This is a universe of the Spirit, Simon. Both sides had better accept that or the whole thing will collapse. There remains plenty of scope for differences, but the basic point has to be kept in mind. What appears like perfect hell to one lot might seem sheer heaven to the other. That's all in the point of view. You've got to expect these deep divisions of opinion. Indeed, they're necessary. 'The Contraries must war against each other in fury and blood,'

Continuing:

... Let me give you a bit of advice ... I hope most fervently to be out of active service before that time comes, but I'll give you a few tips. First,... look further afield than England for evidence of Hoylake's mill. Look to the countries of the black folk and the brown. Men wil carry poverty overseas and then claim they have abolished it. You must have your eyes open for a different style at home, not so fierce as now, not so flagrant, but just as effective. Flaunted wealth will be followed by discreet wealth. The rich will find it prudent to camouflage themselves, hiding behind some petty job or other, but the riches and the power will remain - and so will the bondage of machines, the great automatons. It is going to be the age of the trickster, Simon, the glib expounder, so watch out for double talk...

And since there are apparently limits for blockquotes, more:

Look out for new kinds of gaol where the treadmill has been replaced by the psychiatric ward or even transformed into the halls of empty pleasure, where men put gadgets first. Beware when you find words are habitually at odds with deeds. And never forget those camps hidden on the world's edge or in the steaming jungles, which are worse even that Hoylake's mill ... perhaps you can see what I mean when I say your world will still carry great danger for souls. The process of denial will be discreet, on the whole. More subtle. More insidious ... Don't let them gnaw away your soul, lad, or stifle it with cushions, either. As I told you before, souls are what matters in the end. The universe happens to be arranged that way."

It's worth noting that the book opens with an excerption from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: (specifically Little Girl Lost).

A very strange book, and one I legitimately felt was going to become an all-time favourite most of the way through. It flagged a bit for me, and didn't have the big revelation or plot twist I expected. But it's a book which will stay with me for awhile.

Can't wait to read Stag Boy now. :)

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extraordinary maverick of a novel, combining time travel, African mysticism and the spiritual nature of the universe. Also contains a very funny rat familiar. Very well written, with some powerful and unusual ideas, which reinvigorate the cliches of fictional magic.