Subject: BENEATH THE TREE OF HEAVEN: Chung Kuo V

From: [email-masked] (Peter Cash)
Date: Sat, 16 Apr 1994 16:49:59 GMT

Book Review: BENEATH THE TREE OF HEAVEN, by David Wingrove
(Book V of the Chung Kuo septalogy)

For those who have been following David Wingrove's exposition of a future
Earth ruled by a renascent Chinese culture, BENEATH THE TREE OF HEAVEN--the
fifth book of a projected seven--is a welcome new glimpse into this strange
world (called Chung Kuo) and the people who inhabit it. If you've never
read a Chung Kuo book, however, don't bother with this one--you have to
start with the first book, THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.

(I should mention that BENEATH THE TREE OF HEAVEN has so far been published
only in hardcover in England; I know nothing of the publisher's plans for
the USA.)

One problem with a septalogy (will Wingrove really be able to stop at
seven?) is that it obviates the usual dramatic architecture of buildup and
climax that one finds in single novels or even trilogies. Thus, Book V
really doesn't offer any dramatic crescendoes or surprising fireworks that
stand out from the other books--Book V is just another pane in a stained
glass window that shows the grand design.

As usual, the writing is of a very high caliber. Wingrove likes to cut
rapidly between scenes, creating a sort of montage effect--this works very
well for him, heightening suspense and speeding things along. 

One thing I noted was that this book continues a trend I had noticed in the
last couple of Chung Kuo books--there has been a steady dimunition of a
feature that has caused some to be repelled by these books--sexual sadism.
Perhaps Wingrove has himself come to regret some of the excesses in the
earlier books, or perhaps he sees no dramatic necessity for such scenes at
this point in the series. The latter view may be the correct one; Wingrove
seems to use such sadistic scenes to give moral coloration to his
characters. He uses them to signal that a certain character is indeed a
_very_ bad man in a world where all inhabitants seem to be a fairly dark
shade of grey. At this point, the moral nature of each character has been
firmly established. 

One might remark that an author could choose a less repugnant way to signal
the moral nature of a character. Still, the miasma of sadism seems to be at
the heart of Chung Kuo; this is a dark and cruel world. If Wingrove
eliminated these scenes, then he would be writing about a different world.

Warning--spoilers follow. Don't read if finding out particulars will ruin
the book for you!



In Book V, the world of Chung Kuo is brought another step closer to what is
beginning to look like assured complete destruction. By the end of the
book, one of the continent-cities has been destroyed, another is ravaged by
war, and the Seven are now Four. Some of the characters undergo profound
change--for example, Chen chooses to retire from the Tang's service and
goes to live on a plantation with his family. (This is the outgrowth,
presumably, of his experiences at White Mountain.) His friend Karr
continues in the imperial service, but is beset by increasing doubts as to
the morality of what he is commanded to do. 

One of the insights offered in Book V seems to be that Chung Kuo is a
"yang" society--it is a social structure exclusively male in outlook. That
does seem to be on the mark. Women are treated pretty much as they were in
the old China--as possessions that men may dispose of as they wish. A
feminine viewpoint is altogether lacking from Chung Kuo--and this is one of
the factors that makes this world so harsh and merciless. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this installment of Chung Kuo. I do feel
compelled, though, to make some criticisms. My disappointments with Book V
center more on what the book is _not_ about, than on what happens in it.
This is an unfair sort of criticism, of course--perhaps the most unfair one
that can be made of an author.

I had hoped that the next book would focus on Jelka Tolonen, and on her
relationship with Kim Ward. In Book IV, Marshal Tolonen had exiled Jelka to
keep her from continuing her relationship with the brilliant but vulnerable
Kim.  And indeed, Book V starts out promising exactly this: we have Jelka
appearing on Mars only to be ensnared by the supernally evil DeVore. But
this thread is--to my mind--resolved awfully quickly; the damsel in
distress is easily rescued, and never reappears during the rest of the
book. This despite the fact that she presumably has crucial intelligence
for her father and the Tang--that DeVore is well and alive on Mars. I had
hoped that Jelka would serve to strengthen Kim, who always seems to get his
legs kicked out from under him when he manages to stand up. It seems to me
that Kim and Jelka together could be a powerful force for good in Chung
Kuo. Perhaps Wingrove will pick up this thread in a later book.

In Book IV, there were also hints that some sort of transformation was
about to occur within Hans Ebert, who flees to Mars after his fall from
power and wealth. Indeed, in Book V, Ebert appears transformed. And that is
precisely the trouble--he simply appears on the stage as a new man.  We see
very little of the internal struggle that caused Ebert's transformation;
instead, we see only the outcome of this transformation--he now regrets his
previous evil deeds, assumes a simple life as a member of a group of
Bedouin-like Martian exiles, and acts in every respect like a perfect
gentleman. Moreover, the part he plays in Book V is rather small; it's as
though the new, "good" Hans Ebert is not nearly as interesting to Wingrove
as the evil one was.

Perhaps this is a doubly unjust criticism, for that very paragon of
Evil--Howard DeVore--is himself only a bit player in Book V. Perhaps he is
acting behind the scenes, and is responsible for some of the apparently
natural disasters that occur during the course of Book V--but that is only
supposition. Certainly, DeVore (or The Devourer, as I like to call him) has
all the makings of an elemental force. Perhaps he has grown too large for
the stage to contain him--if Wingrove were to loose the Devil on his world,
only an appearance by God himself could save it from an all too abrupt
dissolution. Still, it may be that Wingrove is only saving DeVore for
Armageddon--due, perhaps, to occur at the end of Book VII.

Some of the most interesting characters inhabiting Chung Kuo do not appear
at all in the fifth book. For example, Lehmann is referred to only in
passing--his underground empire is burgeoning in City Europe, but he
himself never puts in an appearance. Shepherd comes onstage only in one
puzzling scene near the end, where he urges Li Yuan to "embrace the
darkness". This seems to me to be odd advice, since Yuan has already
embraced more than his share of darkness (e.g., the "wiring" scheme)--but
then his own sister has come to see that Shepherd is insane in (I think)
book IV. 

%T 	BENEATH THE TREE OF HEAVEN
%A 	David Wingrove
%I 	New English Library
%C 	London
%D 	1993
%O 	hard bound
%G 	ISBN 0-450-56415-0
%P 	409 pp
%K 	science fiction

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             |      Die Welt ist alles, was Zerfall ist.     |
Peter Cash   |       (apologies to Ludwig Wittgenstein)      [email-masked]
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