Tiger! Tiger!

Tiger! Tiger!, Alfred Bester – 1955

TRIGGER WARNING: Discussion of rape

It is one of the most oft-repeated and oft-invoked tropes of fiction that a protagonist does not have to be good, heroic, or likeable in order to be compelling. The anti-hero is an increasingly popular device, one need only look at the slew of recent media from The Sopranos to Game of Thrones, the focus on a broken, vengeful Batman in That-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named to Walter White in Breaking Bad, or the movie John Wick to the TV Narcos in order to see this. But, as many of these examples prove, there is a difference between a brooding, driven protagonist who may, Dirty Harry style, do unpleasant things in the pursuit of justice, and a creator actively choosing to make their central character a monster. This, as I noted in my review of Suicide Squad, comes with certain difficulties, and requires great skill on the artist's part in order to keep us engaged with the character, without glamorising or romanticising the awful actions they commit. And with that, I introduce an early S/F example, Mr Gully Foyle. 

In a universe where, centuries before, unassisted teleporting using only the power of the mind has become the normal way to travel thousands of miles instantly, mechanic Gully Foyle is trapped, floating alone through space on the spaceship Nomad, where he has been for half a year. No one can teleport (or jaunting, as it is named after the scientist Jaunte who first discovered the technique) through space and so, every couple of days, he makes the dangerous swim through airlessness to scavenge supplies from another section of the wrecked ship. He is a dull, slow, easy going man, capable, but utterly without ambition, until one day his salvation is at hand; the ship Vorga-T: 1339 notices his distress call, approaches the Nomad, and promptly turns and leaves Foyle alone. At this moment, Foyle is re-born into a ruthless, violent and unstoppable man whose only goal is to find and kill whoever gave the order to abandon him. From a colony of hermits where he gains some very distinctive tattoos, to the inescapable space prison that Foyle soon breaks free from, to the glittering heights of the galaxy's high society, Foyle hunts his quarry, blackmailing, raping and killing as he pleases, while being pursued by secret service, business conglomerates and armies, who search for a secret he doesn't even know he possesses. The only thing that perturbs Foyle, however, is the man on fire, a terrifying apparition who keeps appearing to him, burning bright…

Bester's vision of the future is very much of its time. A civil war rages between the outer and inner planets of the solar system, and the military intelligence of both sides are searching for a weapon of unbelievable power, the use of which would immediately determine the victor. The Macguffin here is called PyrE (as ominous an acronym between pyronic alloy and “E, the energy symbol”1 as you could wish for) rather than 'nuclear power' but the comparison seems obvious. Indeed, as with all the greatest SF/F, Bester uses the genre to comment on human nature. Bester's point is simple, no matter how far the future and no matter how extraordinary the advancements, such as teleportation through sheer will power, a new weapon will always be being sought, and the rich will always dominate.

Indeed, one of the best elements of the novel is Bester's depiction of the power and affluence of the rich of the galaxy, all of which is embodied in Presteign of Presteign. The idea that, in a world where everyone can teleport, it becomes a status symbol not to do so, is a wonderful one. Presteign's house is suffused with 'elevators, housephones, dumb-waiters and all the other labour saving devices which jaunting had made obsolete', while the arrivals at his social event are made by 'band wagon', 'glass-topped Greyhound Bus' and 'Esso-fuelled gasoline buggy'. The satire is complete when Geoffrey Fourmyle, Foyle's foppish alias, arrives by slow moving, private train, with men running before him to lay the track.

But burning at the heart of Tiger! Tiger! is the tiger himself, Gully Foyle. Entering the novel as a man of only “physical strength and intellectual potential stunted by lack of ambition”2, his desertion by Vorga prompts a sea-change within the man, reducing him to such savagery that even his lover describes him as 'Liar...Lecher...Tiger...Ghoul. The walking cancer...Guly Foyle'3, a phrase that is contrasted in the text with the line from Hamlet, 'remorseless, lecherous, treacherous, kindless villain'4. Foyle is a monster of the highest calibre, manipulating and brutalising anyone he wants to, especially Robin Wednesbury, whom he first rapes, then later recruits to act as his confederate. However, as stated, Bester's concern is human nature, so Foyle, having undergone extensive surgery to rid himself of distinctive facial tattoos, finds himself with severe nerve damage, so that under stress 'he saw the old tattoo marks flaming blood-red under the skin, turning his face into a scarlet and white tiger mask'5. Therefore as Jiz, his then lover remarks to him, 'You'll have to learn control now, Gully'6. An even greater change occurs for Foyle when, mid-way through the novel, he encounters the cold and beautiful Olivia Presteign, and discovers in her contempt for him that which he initially believes to be love, but is really the beginnings of self-awareness. From here he continues to grow, faced with impossible moral decisions that only he can make, as well as the overwhelming remorse for his previous behaviour. Bester uses Foyle to trace humanity's rise from savagery to awareness, and, with the mystery of the Burning Man who haunts Foyle finally solved, perhaps beyond, as Foyle is able to utter this exchange with himself, in the final pages:

“I believe,” he thought. “I have faith.”
He jaunted again and failed again.
“Faith in what?” he asked himself, adrift in limbo.
“Faith in faith,” he answered himself. It isn't necessary to have something to believe in. It's only necessary to believe that somewhere there's something worthy of belief.'

Tiger! Tiger! Is an extraordinary novel, if not without flaws. The rape of Robin Wednesbury occurs only to demonstrate Foyle's savagery, and although she does reappear as an interesting and fully developed character in her own right, there are some uncomfortable overtones of her now being obsessed with her attacker. Using rape as a plot device, particularly when the narrative is not centred around the victim, is best avoided, and, though the book was obviously written over half-a-century ago, to a modern reader it's inclusion feels unnecessary. Overall, however it is an excellent book, brilliantly invoking William Blake's poem, and crafting with it a SF tale that is at once haunting and uplifting.

P.S. If you're from England, the names are great fun, as he used an English telephone directory for them, hence Dagenham, Yeovil, Sheffield and others.

I am reading from an old Penguin edition, but a newer version will be available in any good bookshop!


1 Bester, Alfred Tiger! Tiger!, Penguin Books, 1974.p. 209
2 pp. 15
3 pp. 99
4 pp. 104

5 pp. 108

6 pp. 107