“Perhaps so many journals had piled up in the lighthouse
because on some level most came, in time, to recognize the futility of
language. Not just in Area X but against the rightness of the lived-in moment,
the instant of touch, of connection for which words were such a sorrowful
disappointment, so inadequate an expression of both the finite and the
infinite.”
--
Jeff VanderMeer, Acceptance
American author and literary critic Jeff VanderMeer’s The
Southern Reach Trilogy is about broken systems, transitioning ecosystems, and
limits of human reasoning and moral imperatives. The trilogy of novels
comprises of an ill-fated scientific expedition, an otherworldly zone in the
earth, and paranoid characters, all the fine ingredients for cooking up an
apocalyptic thriller with limited questions and definite answers. But what if
there are no concrete answers, and the characters tasked to solve the mystery
doesn’t have the means or substance to do so? The Southern Reach Trilogy is
definitely a page-turner which derives its majestic power from its terrifyingly
surrealistic and vivid imagery. However, in a Lovecraftian sense, Jeff
VanderMeer doesn’t package the uncanny and unsettling to serve a predictable
narrative arc. The novels instantly entangle us with in its spooky environment
and provide no due catharsis to escape from the spooky feeling. Eventually,
what we come to acknowledge from Southern Reach Trilogy is the limits of human consciousness and cognition and our own peripheral status compared to the powerful
ecological forces. An uncomfortable yet thoroughly absorbing work to read in the
Age of Anthropocene.
The paranoia and hallucination-riddled Southern Reach
Trilogy comprises of Annihilation, Authority and Acceptance, all three titles
released in 2014 (in February, May, and September respectively). Although all
the three novels are about the mystery of Area X – a forgotten coastal area
transformed into a ‘pristine wilderness’ by an unknown transformative event 3
decades ago and spawns weird organisms – VanderMeer’s narrative tone couldn’t
be enclosed within a particular genre framework. The first one and the most
page-turning one of the three, Annihilation pretty much looks like a
combination of Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris (the conscious alien planet Ocean) and
Strugatsky Brothers’ Roadside Picnic (the unfathomable Zone) accompanied with a
Lovecraftian sense of observing the horror of unknown. The second one Authority surprisingly revolves around bureaucratic conflicts inside Southern Reach – a secretive
quasi-governmental body, established by wholly mysterious governmental institution ‘Central’, to investigate the Area X – that’s Kafkaesque, in terms
of evoking paranoia and delirium. The third and final one Acceptance moves in a
literary fashion with multiple timelines, multiple character perspectives, and
strong emotional impacts (which heavily relies on incidents from previous
novels).
 |
| Map of Area X |
Annihilation is narrated by a smart and introverted
biologist who is one of the four members of the 12th expedition team
investigating Area X. The other three are psychologist (the expedition leader),
the anthropologist, and surveyor (all unnamed for good reasons). Area X is
enclosed within an invisible border and there’s one opening to allow in the
human visitors. The previous expedition journey into Area X have mostly been
disastrous: members met with gory death, gone missing or came back with their
memory wiped out. The Area X may be an alternate version of Earth with all
human toxicity completely purged. It’s hinted that behind the veneer of lush,
transitional ecosystem – marshes, tropical beaches and pines packed inside a
single ecosystem -- lies horrifying and unbelievably odd animals (what if the
entrance is created to leave those things outside?). But the foremost mystery of Area X that
increasingly preoccupies the expedition members is the endless hole dug into
the earth with a spiral staircase going down. Known as ‘topographical anomaly’,
‘tunnel’ and inverted ‘tower’, this cylindrical hole in the ground promises a
whole lot of spine-chilling ‘alien’ encounters. But as it’s always the case,
the biologist soon finds that apart from uncannily discomforting qualities of
Area X, she can’t wholly trust her human counterparts too.
The book two Authority follows the maddening attempts of new
interim director to Southern Reach whose real name is John Rodriguez, but asks
his subordinates to refer him as ‘Control’ (a homage to John le Carre’s spy
character?). There’s a plainly visible irony in this situation, since Control
has zero control over anything in Southern Reach and has to put up with the
politics between Central and obstinate assistant-director Grace. Although
Authority unfurls in a modernist building, few miles from Area X, it sheds more
light or raises more questions about the bizarre ecological phenomenon. Control’s
chat with science team members Cheney and Whitby about the labyrinthine theories on
Area X, which basically indicates the infantile quality of human reasoning when
faced with something incomprehensible or uncategorisable (as Cheney remarks, “A
circle looks at a square and sees a badly made circle…” or as another character
says, “You could know the what of something forever and never discover the why”).
The biologist plays an important role too in Authority. But there’s a question
of, is she the real one or a mere replica (like the Ocean in Solaris creates
known individuals from expedition members’ past for unknown reasons). The
closing book Acceptance shifts back to rapidly expanding Area X which is as
much about the characters’ inner selves as the complicated ecosystem. However,
it’s also frustrating too; not entirely in a bad way as VanderMeer thwarts our
generic expectations by placing the mystery of untamed Area X way beyond the
cognitive boundaries of human mind. The final destination may not be something
we’d anticipate, but the journey itself into the dreadfully imaginative unknown
is well worth the read.
 |
| Natalie Portman plays the 'Biologist' in the upcoming adaptation of 'Annihilation' |
Jeff VanderMeer’s works belongs to ‘New Weird’ fiction, an
eclectic mix of dark fantasy, scientific speculation, pulp fiction, and
surrealism. It possesses the merits of visionary fiction and philosophical
knotiness without ever spoiling the page-turning qualities. VanderMeer’s
Ambergris books, Southern Reach Trilogy and the latest biotech apocalyptic
mystery Borne, are known for its Eco-philosophy musings and hard-science notions. The extraordinarily rendered
atmosphere and profound characters of VanderMeer’s books easily overcomes the
generally fussy denouements. The endlessly unfathomable aspects of the author’s
works actually imprint the densely-constructed imagery in a more depthful
manner, like any uncannily great works of science fantasy. The surrealistic
encounters with the Crawler, inside the lighthouse or over invisible border,
and all the ecologically strange elements linger in our mind, long after the ending.
Jeff VanderMeer
constantly evokes the sense of ecological terror as Area X represents some
heightened, unexpected nightmare of human-inflicted damages. The horror
actually doesn’t lies in its expression of how much we transform the
environment, but in the imagination of a reverse effect: on how the nature or
some mysterious phenomenon can easily choose to transform us; our bodies and
identities that are believed to be special and unique becomes just another
dirty part of a changing biosphere. The other significant theme in the trilogy
is language that’s used as a tool for manipulation and as a representation of our
limited consciousness. Although the intense use of hypnotic suggestion, and narratives
revolving around ‘Séance and Science Brigade’ verges more on occult category
than science, the author employs hypnotism to hint at the power of manipulation
through human language. The manipulation is clearly visible at times when
VanderMeer turns the table on us (readers) too to indicate we are also being
deceived by language (there’s an interesting moment in Annihilation when the
biologist says to readers that she withheld some crucial information to make us
think her as ‘a credible, objective witness’). And, since Area X itself is only
observed through the eyes of the unnerved characters, the futility or
limitation of language becomes an intriguing aspect. Eventually, The Southern
Reach Trilogy deftly showcases horrific encounters with the inexplicable and
unfathomable to perceive the minuscule scale of human consciousness and
achievements, compared to the vaster context of boundless universe.
[Annihilation is being adapted into a movie by British
author and film-maker Alex Garland with Natalie Portman playing the biologist
role and it's slated to release in February 2018. If the movie is a success, it
would be very interesting to see how the other two nearly unfilmable books are
turned into a movie].
The Spooky Science of the Southern Reach
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