Classics Corner: The Great and Secret Show (The Art Trilogy Vol. 1) by Clive Barker; Another Great Dark Fantasy Epic from Barker
By Julie Sara Porter
Bookworm Reviews
Spoilers: I have become quite the Clive Barker fan of late. Last year one of my favorite books was Imajica, a creepy and imaginative story about an artist, his ex-girlfriend, and a shape shifting assassin that travel through five alternate earths with the goal to unite the worlds or sever them further.
Barker's novel The Great and Secret Show is not as good as Imajica but it retains much of the originality, imagination, and deep questions such as if you had unlimited power and potential what would you do with it.
Randolph “The Jaffe” Jaffe is a quiet unassuming man who works in the dead letter office in Nebraska in the late 1960’s. He is saved from this soul crushingly boring job by reading the letters, some of which describe the study of magic, called The Art. Jaffe becomes fascinated with the study and wants to learn The Art. He resigns from his job in an explosive manner and takes to the road.
In Trinity, New Mexico, Jaffe encounters Kissoon who is part of an ancient group called The Shoal. Kissoon informs Jaffe about a place called Quiddity, which is a mystical dream sea that surrounds a series of islands called the Ephemeris. Kissoon informs Jaffe that people can only visit Quiddity three times in their lives: when they are born, when they are lying next to the one they love for the first time, and when they die. Jaffe becomes obsessed with controlling Quiddity. After a violent encounter, Jaffe abandons Kissoon and goes to the next stop on the Road to Quiddity.
Jaffe 's next step leads him to encounter the man who would become his greatest enemy: Randall Fletcher, a scientist/magic user who has Nuncio, a liquid that would alter someone's state enough so they can physically reach Quiddity. After a struggle over the Nuncio alters the two, Jaffe and Fletcher begin a decades long rivalry in which the two attack each other using the Art and energy, destroying the environment around them.
Meanwhile in Palomo Grove, California circa 1971, four girls go swimming in a newly formed lake and come out completely altered. Three find themselves pregnant while one, Arleen is barren but has a high sex drive and is slowly driven insane. The other three members of the so-called League of Virgins give birth to terrifying results. One Carolyn kills her infant daughter and herself. Another, Trudi is so traumatized by the experience that she moves to Chicago with her infant son, Howie. The fourth, Joyce remains in Palomo Grove with her twins, Tommy-Ray and Jo-Beth but goes from a free spirited romantic teen to a nervous religious woman always looking out for the Devil. 18 years later, strange creepy things start happening and Jaffe and Fletcher come a-calling once again.
The Great and Secret Show isn't as imaginative as Imajica. Mostly because Barker doesn't invest near as much in world building as he did in his other book. Each of the five worlds of Imajica’s Dominion were unique in their setting and characters like a green sky that turns purple at night, a giant living city, or creatures with hands for heads. Even the chapters that take place on our Earth are filled with bizarre moments with characters like Pie’oh’pah, an assassin who can change genders depending on who is observing it.
Most of The Great and Secret Show’s setting is in Palomo Grove. Bizarre things happen there which I will get to.But after the creativity behind Imajica's worlds, it's a distinct let down.
The only new world that Barker features in this book is Quiddity and luckily, it more than makes up for the lack of unique settings.
Quiddity is characterized as an endless sea where people are changed for good or evil. It feels like a constant source of energy, movement, magic. The Reader feels a deep spiritual connection with the place and understands why the characters would want to become a part of it.
While Palomo Grove is the primary setting for most of the book, there are enough interesting, bizarre, scary things that happen that make The Great and Secret Show a worthwhile read. Buddy Vance, an old school comedian falls through an endless abyss and his loss heralds some pretty weird stuff.
Jaffe and Fletcher's arrivals coincide with some odd events like weird creatures like bugs feasting on humans or a woman's favorite TV characters coming to life to help her.
Some of the creepiest moments involve Jaffe’s hold on people. He brings Tommy-Ray over to his side, manipulating the young man's desire for power and longing for a father figure. He is almost able to do the same to Jo-Beth but he is stopped by her developing romance with Howie Katz, Trudi’s son.
One of the scariest passages occurs after Vance's death and funeral. His funeral is attended by various members of Hollywood's elite: actors, musicians, comedians, producers, directors etc. (This Reader had fun picturing the various cameos in her head.) There is also an extra special guest: Jaffe who is upstairs.
Jaffe manipulates an old friend of Vance's to bring up the guests one by one as Jaffe feeds on and drains them of their energy. The results are a building full of once beautiful fashionable people who have turned ill, paranoid, insane, and are waiting for death.
Besides the horror in the setting, Barker gives us some great characterization. As with Imajica, he subverts the idea of heroes and villains so we don't necessarily who to root for or against.
Jaffe is a fascinating character because he begins the book so relatable to many Readers. He is obsessed with finding significance in his life and obtaining that spiritual connection to Quiddity. He is understandable in his pursuit. We all want to mean something and to find peace in our lives.
Jaffe begins to be no different than us with our drives and ambitions. However, he takes his ambitions to disturbing frightening levels and this dehumanizes him. When he takes these darker turns, he becomes less understandable and more monstrous. He is so single-minded in his pursuit of Quiddity and the Art that he will destroy anyone and anything, even the world to reach it. His ambitions become so monstrous that Fletcher has no choice but to stop him.
Even Jaffe's appearance changes so we no longer see ourselves in him. We see the monster that he has become.
Fletcher is also an interesting character as well. Like Jaffe he is also driven by a need and that is for knowledge. When he is first introduced, Fletcher is like the scientist or doctor who researches one thing and enjoys the pursuit more than the result. When he discovers Nuncio, he keeps it to himself to study it further rather than sharing it with the rest of the world much to Jaffe's ire.
This pursuit of knowledge puts Fletcher at arm’s length from those around him and he can act very cold and domineering towards them. For example, when Jaffe recruits Tommy-Ray to his side, he appeals to his emotions. He knows what the boy wants to hear and uses that against him.
When Fletcher does the same to Howie, it does not work as well. Fletcher gives the young man the big picture of what Jaffe is doing and what Howie's role is in stopping him, but he is cold and clinical in his approach. Fletcher leaves out the human element, that he is leading a young man with whom he has a close connection, to save the world around him from a wizard drunk with power possibly leading to the boy's death. It is only later when Fletcher opens his heart to the possibility of emotion, that he is able to emerge as a stronger character that can stop Jaffe.
Significantly, many of the magical characters have no loyalty to either Jaffe or Fletcher. One character called them both to task for causing the destruction around them.
That is where Barker's true writing talent lies. When he writes about a frightening world that is filled with intense power and is on the brink of destruction, what you expect is not always what you receive.
Characters who start out wise and good end up being the true evil behind the situation. Side characters who appear out of nowhere become an important part of the goings-on. A line once said in jest has great significance in a later chapter. The Great and Secret Show is the type of book that demands that you pay attention and be surprised by what happens along the way.
The Great and Secret Show isn't as immersive as Imajica, but it is a truly spell binding fantastic journey. One that definitely lives up to its name.
