A Voyage to Arcturus
by David Lindsay · first published 1920
36% recommend57% neutral7% critical
Why HN recommends it
Strange, ambitious cult science fiction written as a tour de force, though its dialogue is clumsy. It stands out among forgotten classics and is a notable early Project Gutenberg ebook.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
A stunning achievement in speculative fiction, A Voyage to Arcturus has inspired, enchanted, and unsettled readers for decades. It is simultaneously an epic quest across one of the most unusual and brilliantly depicted alien worlds ever conceived, a profoundly moving journey of discovery into the metaphysical heart of the universe, and a shockingly intimate excursion into what makes us human and unique. After a strange interstellar journey, Maskull, a man from Earth, awakens alone in a desert on the planet Tormance, seared by the suns of the binary star Arcturus. As he journeys northward,
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…stories, some of them gloomy and pessimistic but many with a thread of dark humor. "Chu-bu and Sheemish" is one of my all-time favorite short stories - it's creative and hilarious. [1] I also liked A Voyage to Arcturus, which has become a modern cult classic. It's probably my favorite book I've read for SE, though it might be a little heavy for a "beach read." [2] P. G. Wodehouse is always a good bet for lighter reading.…
on “Standard Ebooks” ↗…such activities? Series would have a nicely printed version and a pdf version free to read online. All nicely typeset. Can start with a series on “Forgotten Sci-fi” classics, e.g. Tiptree’s stories, A Voyage to Arcturus, etc. How much would such a thing cost?
on “They Published the Perished: NYRB Classics puts masterpieces back in print” ↗…doesn't get mentioned often enough (or at all :-) I think. I think his The Three Impostors is even better. If you like this sort of weird early 1900's mystic book, be sure to also check out David Lindsay's Voyage to Arcturus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Voyage_to_Arcturus).
on “The Best Things and Stuff of 2022” ↗Which just goes to show that authors with something to say should not be put off if they're 'stylistically challenged'. David Lindsay's Voyage to Arcturus is another glaring example. The dialogue is pathetic but the novel is an amazing tour de force.
on “Review: Ayn Rand’s ‘Ideal’ Presents a Protagonist Familiar in Her Superiority” ↗David Lindsay's _A Voyage to Arcturus_ is notable for having been one of the earliest available ebooks on Project Gutenberg, netting a few wider exposure than it might have had otherwise. Highly recommended.
on “Things and Stuff of 2025” ↗A few collections i've been reading are the sci-fi and fantasy masterwork ones by gollancz. A few standouts have been the dying earth by jack vance and A Voyage to Arcturus. There are some amazing works in here which i would never have found without the curation that shows the history and evolution the genres. https://www.worldswithoutend.com/lists_fantasy_masterworks.a...…
on “The Essential Question: "What should I read next?"” ↗How about David Lindsay's Arcturians (Voyage to Arcturus) who were able to see two extra colors namely jale and ulfire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Voyage_to_Arcturus
on “A tiny group of people can see ‘invisible’ colours that no-one else can perceive” ↗Lindsay's "A Voyage to Arcturus" is available at Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1329.
on “Harold Bloom: Anti-Inkling?” ↗…results at all for that exact phrase, as far as I can see. It looks likely that it's a modification of "he stared through the window at the stars", which doesn't occur much more often, but did appear in A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay.
on “Google Fonts Redesigned” ↗…business, handling old volumes. It closed in the 90s. The book trade is a hard grind. A huge number of copies of both "future shock" by Alvin Toffler (it led John Brunner to write "shock wave rider") and "A voyage to Arcturus " by David Lindsay, (one of the most depressing scifi novels I have ever read) got dumped on her by the London shop. Also a copy of "Codex Seraphinus" which I wish we'd hung on to, it was sold under…
on “Occupational Hazards of the Second-Hand Book Trade” ↗Or "ulfire" and "jale" from "A Voyage to Arcturus" by David Lindsay.
on “Impossible color” ↗Voyage to Arcturus and most if not all of Alice Sheldon's (aka Tiptree's) stories look like they're in print, and published as ebooks (and on pirate sites if they're not stocked by your local library). Open Road and Gollancz…
on “They Published the Perished: NYRB Classics puts masterpieces back in print” ↗It's four stories in the complete set: https://a.co/d/gEdBkYR Wright also has an extended paen to the mentioned Voyage to Arcturus: https://a.co/d/hubUM05 which neither I, nor the author, recommend unless you have read and deeply love Voyage to Arcturus, but I mention it because the overlap reading this list was quite uncanny. That…
on “My favorite cult sci-fi and fantasy books you may not have heard of before” ↗> Voyage to Arcturus The blurb reads like a Gene Wolf story, surreal in its landscapes and interactions. I will give it a try, and follow up with Wright's book. Thanks for the recommendation!
on “My favorite cult sci-fi and fantasy books you may not have heard of before” ↗I'm familiar with all these titles. Three of them: The Worm Ouroborous, The Night Land, and A Voyage To Arcturus, were republished in the late '60s and early '70s in an effort to follow up on the popularity of LOTR. It took a few years for the modern fantasy market to ramp up, and books like these helped calm the…
on “My favorite cult sci-fi and fantasy books you may not have heard of before” ↗