The novel “Parapsyche” by Jack Vance was published for the first time in 1958.
When Jean Marsile and her friend Don Berwick see what they believe to be a ghost in an old house, their reaction is more of curiosity than fear. Jean discusses it with her family, and her father has no answers to give her while her brother Hugh hides behind religious answers because he recently started attending an evangelical church.
The years pass but Jean and Don, who in the meantime got married, still remember that apparition and started thinking about how to scientifically study the phenomena attributed to supernatural causes. Hugh repeatedly shows his opposition to such investigations, which he considers blasphemous, but the couple intends to find out if there really is an afterlife.
Jack Vance is famous for his extraordinary adventures among exotic planets where populations with often colorful customs live but throughout his career, he also wrote somewhat different stories. “Parapsyche” is set on Earth in what was the present at the time he wrote it. The story concerns today’s humanity with its contradictions and conflicts, in particular the one between science and religious fundamentalism.
The length of “Parapsyche” is within the standards of the time it was published in a magazine and today it would undoubtedly be classified as a novella. This means that there’s no room for subtleties, so Jack Vance develops the plot very directly and quickly even though it spans several years.
The central point of the novel is the investigation led by Jean and Don to scientifically investigate phenomena considered supernatural or at least paranormal. The protagonists are aware of the difficulties and they themselves state that 95% of the phenomena described are actually products of quackery, an estimate that could be optimistic. Jack Vance develops their approach in a lucid way by emphasizing the need to rigorously seek objective evidence. At the same time, through them, he expresses the human desire that the afterlife is real.
Such research can only be disliked by many religious people, and part of the story is about the growing divide between Jean and her brother Hugh, who joined an evangelical church and committed himself to the point of becoming a leader of Christian fundamentalism. The increasingly bitter clash between brother and sister symbolizes the clash between the free thought behind science and the control of people’s behavior typical of religious fundamentalism and bigotry.
Instead of alien planets, Jack Vance explores the human mind and in particular the unconscious part. For this reason, he develops the collective unconscious based on archetypes rather than individual characters to give a pseudo-scientific explanation to what have been considered supernatural phenomena throughout human history. Instead of the classic journeys among planets, the author has created so many times, there’s an inner journey that even goes beyond physical death.
“Parapsyche” is often forgotten, a work that had little success, especially when compared with the many classics written by Jack Vance. Probably the theme was too thought-provoking, going against what the novel’s characters themselves indicate as our desires, not to mention the treatment of religion. The theme is very topical today considering how much fundamentalism and religious bigotry still weigh in the world and in general certain irrational behaviors that are self-destructive. For these reasons, I recommend reading it, that is if you can find it, as it looks like it’s not reprinted anymore.
