The Prince of Stars

Roderick McGillis was Associate Professor of English at the University of Calgary, Alberta.

The Prince of Stars is Book Two of The Prince of Stars in the Cavern of Time, but readers need not have read the first book, Bagdad, to appreciate Dennis’s plot or his wit and wisdom. The novel begins with a synopsis of the first book’s action and then chronicles the flight of the “remnants of the late Caliph’s government and immediate family” as they flee Zardin-al-Adigrab, leader of the radical Ripe Fruit Party, who pursues the Court party down the Tigris river. The Court party make their way, after numerous adventures, captures and escapes, to Abyssinia where the conflict between them and Zardin’s party comes to an end in the cavern of time. Dennis manages his sprawling plot and interpolated stories in the manner of the Thousand and One Nights.

And as in the Thousand and One Nights, stories without end keep both the novel moving and life meaningful. In a novel rich in satirical political commentary that reveals corruption in all government and the drive for power in all action, life is a dull round of change that brings indifference. Meaning is less and less clear. Yet story continues to entertain and instruct; it sustains the characters both through long hours of travel and in unfamiliar places. It is something disparate and unfriendly people have in common. With characteristic wit, Dennis brings his characters, late in the novel, to Abyssinia, “Paradise on Earth,” where they think the end of their flight and of their struggle is at hand. Having arrived, they no longer feel the need for stories, and one character suggests, as a “return to a clean and direct statement of things,” that essays should replace stories. But the end of the story is the end of life: all but two of the characters die here. The two who remain are reborn; they begin the story again.

“Ridiculous perils, ridiculous escapes,” exclaims one of the eunuchs in the novel, and this pretty well sums up the book. Dennis provides energetic and inventive situations. The rescue of the Prince from the marketplace of Basnah is wonderful; the rescuers tear through the market on a galloping elephant who tosses fruits and people hither and yon to cut the suspended Prince from his fetters while their cohorts drop baskets of snakes among the throngs of people. Also delightful is the story of “The Faithful Plant Fallen into the Hands of the Infidel.” In this story, we have a plant that has heard many discourses on sacred and improving topics and that seeks a “means to express adoration for Supreme Goodness in the world. “ With difficulty the plant finds the means, but in so doing it incurs the wrath of a savage Tartar. The battle for survival and power between plant and Tartan is neatly worked out.

Like all good fantasy, The Prince of Stars is, despite its journeyings and its many characters, an intensely inward book. The Prince and his adversary are, as the final confrontation in the cavern of mirrors indicates, doubles. Each thing, each person, is a reflection of another. This novel may be a throwback to the Arabian Nights, but it reflects enduring problems of meaning, mystery, power, honesty, loyalty; it reflects enduring conflicts of gender and race. The book is an exciting adventure and a thought-provoking allegory.