Customer Reviews

Dark Universe

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After nearly a decade writing action-oriented stories for a variety of pulp science fiction magazines, in 1961 Daniel Galouye published Dark Universe, the first and best of his six novels. For his remarkable effort, he was rewarded with a Hugo nomination for best novel, losing by a slim margin to Heinlein's Stranger In A Strange Land.

The glory of Dark Universe is not simply Galouye's creation of an alien world, but his success in describing an alien way of *perceiving* that world. The characters of the novel are humans who live underground in total darkness and have finely tuned their other senses -- particularly their hearing -- to compensate for the lack of sight, as a blind person might. That whole communities exist in this state and navigate their world accordingly hightens the novel's sensory effect, challenging the reader to perceive as the characters do. Initial disorientation leads slowly to an understanding of the internal "language" these characters use to interact with each other and their environment, an achievement similar to Burgess's in A Clockwork Orange, where the narrarator's slang-dominated prose gradually begins to make sense by way of context. As a display of technique that engages the reader and demands thoughtful attention, Dark Universe is a masterpiece.

Perhaps predictably, Galouye's history in the pulps results in a run-of-the-mill plot with thin characterizations -- lots of SF writers admittedly have these problems -- but despite these flaws, and an abrupt and somewhat unsatisfying ending, Dark Universe is still an impressive book. It's also a quick read, considerably shorter -- and arguably more enjoyable -- than Heinlein's more famous work of that same year. Galouye's other books are also worth searching for, especially Simulacron-3 (1964), an early exploration of what would eventually come to be known as "virtual reality."

This book is one of many written by my grandfather, Daniel F. Galouye. My grandfather passed away when I was a little girl and my memories of him are few and precious. I have read most of his works and have enjoyed them all. One of his books, Simulacron-3, has been made into a movie entitled The Thirteenth Floor. It will be release this May. I hope you enjoy his books as much as I do! I love and miss you Papere

Great story fo a group of people whose ancestors escaped underground to avoid radiation from a war. Somewhere in the past their power plant goes defunct and they lose light. Their descendants worship light and the devil radiation. They move around by clicking stones together to produce echos. Very good book, fast paced, with an interesting plot

This book, along with Childhoods End, A Canticle for Leibowitz and a few others, were the seminal books that continue to influence me to this day. I read it over 35 years ago but the images and adaptations of the people underground, the treatment of fantasy, telepathy and adaptation became part of my major life metaphors.

There are a few classic SF novels for claustrophiliacs, Silverberg's "The world inside" or Brian Aldiss' "Non-stop", but I must say this tops them all. Imagine you were born in a pitch dark cave, mutated to ping your way either with sonar or infrared. This is Daniel Galouye's post nuclear dystopia and it is wonderfully described.

The novel, despite being fifty years old, feels like it was written this morning and the see-less (but not eyeless) societies are portrayed with excellent insight. Actually, it almost feels like Daniel Galouye put on his anthropologist's hat and spent time with these people, recording their ways and customs.

This would be 5 stars, but for the main protagonist who starts well, but at the end of the book fails somehow to react as his former character would imply. I must also add that (one of the very few times I can say this) Dark Universe could be a much longer novel about 3 or 4 times its present size and still be a fascinating read.

Galouye's world is quite disturbing -- mankind first retreated after a nuclear fallout to what is called the Original World, an underground upper level which possessed artificial light sources. Then after a period of time, humanity descended deeper underground altogether losing the ability to create light. Instead, the people developed various skills (aided, perhaps implausibly by mutations from radiation) including the heightened ability to hear -- the sound waves produced by clicking stones enable Jared and his people navigate the cave passages. The society they have formed deep underground away from the light clusters around hot springs that are mysteriously going dry.

Jared Fenton has nagging questions about the concepts of Light and Darkness which have become enshrouded with religions connotations (and misconceptions). His journey for answers is delayed by his society's desire for him to marry -- until a series of events occur which lead him into contact with the Zivvers. The Zivvers are also humans who have heightened sense of vision in that they are able to see the infra-red spectrum (and thus, poor hearing and olfactory senses). They are ostracized from the other humans who believe them to be tainted. With the aid of Della, he uncovers the mysteries of his world.

Daniel F. Galouye had previously published rather run of the mill pulp action sci-fi until this novel -- his very first. He was correctly rewarded with a Hugo nomination. Although lacking in characterization, his novel rests on the ingenuity of his world -- and more aptly, on the skill which Galouye formulates the society which has developed underground. Galouye creates mannerisms and phrases (all seeing metaphors and expressions have been altered to reflect the COMPLETE absence of light), the culture (the Ten Touches of Familiarization which allows newly met individuals to briefly touch another to ascertain their physical form and features), the religion, the way of life....

The downside of the novel is its rather predictable plot (still quite unusual), thin characterization, and the rambling nature of the narrative in the last third (running from various peoples, hiding here, running some more, accidentally discovering this or that, and hiding there). However, the high concepts of his world and the reintroduction of light is absolutely fascinating and transfixing.

Daniel F. Galouye's work has often been described as a lost classic and I certainly agree. His world building skills are top notch. Along with Walter Miller, Jr's masterful Canticle for Leibowitz, Dark Universe ranks among the best post-apocalyptic books from the late 50s and early 60s.

A truly rewarding sci-fi take on Plato's cave...

Find a copy -- sadly, they tend to quite scarce/expensive...

I picked up this book as a pulp paperback decades ago without any idea of what I was getting. What a wonderful surprise.

This book pulls you in to this strange world where everything is dark and the people navigate by echolocation and carry "click stones" to illuminate their surroundings.

The brilliance of this story is in how it gradually reveals to the reader the background to this world of darkness through the characters' ignorance ignorance. They have a religion and a culture that recalls their cultural memory of light without having any understanding of what it means. When they eventually discover a light source it scares them. They call it the "silent scream" because it illuminates their surroundings without sound and because it hurts.

When the story resolves it turns out that the people we've come to know are part of someone else's story. Some people don't like that, but I found the way it was done fairly satisfying, if a little rushed.

All in all, not just a grat book, not just a great story, but a tale that makes you think and wonder about ourselves.

The concept was very interesting, but after about 50 or so pages, I found the world was very gimicky and the characters were boring. The plot itself didn't really interest me, either. I found myself skimming pages just to get to the end.

I have been looking for this book after reading it in my teens back in the late 60's. Lost track of it back then, and since then, I had forgotten the title (I NEVER remember author names). With the availability of the Internet as a research tool, and a little help from our county librarian, I finally found the author and title and I am amazed to see it available through Amazon. This book left a strong impression on my teenaged mind and I am so excited to be able to find it and re-read it again now!

Hi there. I studied SciFi at University and this was one of the books we were meant to read. I never did. Nevertheless 3 years on I have finally read the Dark Universe and very impressed I am too. Galouye does not go into deep characterisation but that seems inevitable with a lot of SCI-FI writers - instead the author works with another interesting idea - "What if after a nuclear holocaust people are forced to live underground to get away. And a few generations later - what then". Immediate connection might be made with the future in Time Machine (HG Wells)- but this is different - these people have not evolved considerably because of their lives underground like the Morlocks. Instead the people have learnt to use their hearing and touch to discover things. Similarity may also be found in Terry Brooks when in his explaination of the Dwarves and how they became like they are - they were the peoples forced to live underground after a holocaust and thus have great hearing but not good eyesite. Clearly Galouye has influenced. But what really got me is the fact that the author goes with an idea - "What if?" and writes a classic.