More than 800 pages of essays and criticism to work with…Indicates there will be many many posts with the same title (save a parenthetical numeral). But I hope the content doesn’t feel the same-Both the content of the book to me, and the content of these essays to you.
The Chaste Planet is certainly not the same as anything else I’ve read. A quick read, it is the sort of science fiction someone familiar with Updike would expect-Primarily, I think, for its exploration of sex from a unique (and, in this case, bizarre) perspective.
In this case, Minerva is a planet located within the gaseous “skull” of the planet Jupiter. There, the dominant life form-Which, in addition to being able to communicate and collaborate with humans in some industrial pursuit, is able to have sex with humans-Is described as looking like:
pearl-gray pickles, with six toothpick-thin limbs stuck in for purposes of locomotion, and a kind of tasseled seventh concentrating the neural functions-but there appeared to be no sexual differentiation among them.
Now let me reiterate: This life form, in addition to being able to communicate and collaborate with humans some industrial pursuit, is able to have sex with humans. Did you catch that?
The Minervans resemble “pearl-gray pickles, with six toothpick-thin limbs stuck in for purposes of locomotion,” and are able to have sex with humans!
“Courtesans” are described-But only in passing. Taken for granted, not explored much.
The real theme of The Chaste Planet is: What humans consider sex to be (and to represent) is different from the Minervans. So for the Minervans to have human-sex with humans is not very significant. If that does not sound very enlightening to you, the story ends with an all-to-quick, and not particularly compelling, revelation of what exactly the Minervans do consider to be analogous to human sex.
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Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Masters is a fun exposition of some of Updike’s impressions of the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia-Very “Updikeian.” (Or, can i say “Dikey”?).
In any case, maybe I should elaborate: What exactly do I mean by either of those terms?
Well, here’s an example of how Updike talks about the crowd:
When, on the last two days, the television equipment arrives, the crowd itself is watched. Dutifully, it takes its part as a mammoth unpaid extra in a national television spectacular. As part of it, patting out courteous applause at a good shot or groaning in chorus at a missed putt, one felt, slightly canned.
“Canned.” Updike has a way of conveying a vivid image, with many or few words, then reiterating with only one word, or a phrase. That is not the entirety of what it means to be “Updikeian,” just an example.
I found 13 Ways amusing, but I think it made a special impression because I am amid planning a vacation to Scotland with my father (the birthplace of golf, if you don’t count the play of a similar game by the Chinese). I’m not very interested in golf, but my father plays, watches the tournaments. It occurred to me just yesterday, as I trolled the internet for interesting tours, spending time at a course like St. Andrews may be of some real interest to him.
How serendipitous, I find myself reading something (marginally, I am aware) on the topic.