The Final Programme [Import] [Paperback]

Michael Moorcock (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Mayflower; 2nd THUS edition (1971)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0583118224
• ISBN-13: 978-0583118224
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,973,730 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in London in 1939, Michael Moorcock now lives in Texas. A prolific and award-winning writer with more than eighty works of fiction and non-fiction to his name, he is the creator of Elric, Jerry Cornelius and Colonel Pyat, amongst many other memorable characters.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars What is this book about?, December 14, 2010

By 

Aaron Wooldridge (Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Final Programme (Paperback)

I typically like Moorcock's books. He has wide-ranging abilities as an author. But "The Final Programme" is one big HUH??? That's not to say that it is a bad book - it isn't. It's quite an imaginitive work of speculative fiction, and it kept me reading excitedly until the very end. But it seems to be almost entirely lacking in any discernable plot. Through the entire book I kept asking myself "what is this book about?" When I got to the end, I thought, "That's what this book is about? Really? Kind of a let down, but what the.... Huh???" When I was reading it I could not have told anyone what it was about. Now that I am done reading it I still can't tell you what this book is about. I don't think it's about anything. But it is an interesting read that combines a lot of 60s elements: early ideas about future computers (not too wide of the mark but still dated), James Bond-style spy action, and a free-love-free-drugs libertarian sense of morality. In fact the sexual elements of this book are one of its most redeeming features. Moorcock is a very openminded author when it comes to sexuality. This book breaks down sexual barriers and does away with terms such as heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual. There is just sexual. This book is highly enjoyable on many levels, but at the end you will be scratching your head wondering what you just spent the last few days reading.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A really weird read..., February 12, 2000

By 

Willie (Loughborough, Leicester) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Final Programme (Hardcover)

This book is odd. Very odd. It is probably indescrbable. The Plot, as it is cocerns Jerry Cornelius' hunt for some mysterious data belonging to his father. On the way, he meets various peculiar characters, such as Miss Brunner (who has very strange tastes), and witnesses the universe slowly falling to bits.

This is a book to read for the style, as the plot is virtually incomprehensible. Its not unlike the work of JG Ballard in some ways, but with more humour. This is really one of those books you either love or hate, and I love it.

3.0 out of 5 stars "Aren't You Being Exceptionally Ruthless, Mr. Cornelius?", July 28, 2011

By 

Judah (Terre Haute In USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Final Programme (The Gregg Press Science Fiction Series) (Hardcover)

This is deconstructionist mainstream fiction with the trapping of science fiction, written in 1965, describing an imagined society circa 2000. Jerry Cornelius is an English assassin, physicist, rock star and messiah to his Age of Science. Jerry Cornelius is also an amoral anti-hero, omni-sexual, drug junkie, and transcendentalist. The book follows his adventures as he deals with family issues, meets his companion Miss Brunner, and takes part in constructing the author's 1965 conception of a horrifying computer overlord.

Quote taken from chapter five. Part of my description above taken from a back cover. If you are thinking of buying this novel, do yourself a favor and instead get the whole thing (all four books). The Cornelius Quartet: "Final Programme", "Cure for Cancer", "English Assassin", "Condition of Muzak" is floating around Amazon in at least three different editions, so you can likely buy it all for the same price as this first book.

Personally, I enjoyed trappings like the needle gun, stroboscopic towers, the 'morality of the future' discussion with the Laplander, and the metaphoric wrestling ring. Moorcock's conception of post-modern sexuality is an extreme indifference to male/female, and he spends too many words on this ideology. I just wanted to read about the Doomsday Computer, but the main character was off getting stoned half the book. It is deconstructionist in the sense that the plot is haphazard, and much of the novel is used for the author's idea of future social commentary.

If you are writing a paper about how Science Fiction failed at describing future trends, this is a good reference.