PLUS by Joseph McElroy

 

PLUS by Joseph McElroy -among the most imaginative, astonishing, hyperweird novels ever written.

The novel features one and only one character: Imp Plus, a disembodied human brain orbiting Earth in a capsule.

We witness Imp Plus's thoughts and feelings and perceptions as Imp Plus travels in his capsule in outer space. We eventually learn the colorful details of Imp Plus's past but not until deep into the novel (hint: Imp Plus was once a regular human).

Here are a batch of direct quotes from this amazing work along with my corresponding reflections:

"There was a brightness. It was more outside than inside. It was also everywhere."

So intriguing. Imp Plus's experience here could trigger reflections on philosophy's perennial problem of the one and the many. Is the light an all pervasive unity? Or, rather, is there more than one light, defined by its position in space and/or our distinct perceptions?

"Imp Plus knew he had no eyes. Yet Imp Plus saw. Or persisted in seeing."

Since Imp Plus is now only an eyeless brain in outer space, any seeing has become an echo, a modified memory. And, of course, there's also the play of visual imagination as, for example, when we close our eyes and imagine worlds of fantastic landscapes and impossible creatures.

"The brightness could move. It had always been there. Now it was new. He know he was right. It had come out of darkness that was not new. Imp Plus had not wanted words for the brightness, and now the words Imp Plus needed were not the message pulses coming on the frequency from Earth asking for glucose readings."

So much packed into so few words. What is the brightness that can move? Is it the sun? Or, perhaps, Imp Plus' own light of awareness? And then there's language added to the equation. Obviously, Imp Plus feels a need to express himself in words but what language is programed into Imp Plus now that he's a combination brain and computer grid?

Joseph McElroy invites us to join him in exploring the nature of language, the nature of identity and our relationship with and to technology, especially technology's impact on language.

"Imp Plus had lost the knowledge of what had been lost.
The impulses he had had so long on the frequency from Earth asked for levels of light of glucose. But he received them at many points, so there were many gradients."

We're given the impression making the transition from human to cyborg has its challenges - Imp Plus senses he's lost something but he isn't clear on what exactly he's lost. Questions to keep in mind while reading: How does memory relate to our sense of self and individual growth? To what extent does our body play a key role in our being alive? What would be lost if we were a disembodied consciousness?

Joseph McElroy employs a basic vocabulary (no huge words) and a fairly simple syntax to construct a massively complex and sophisticated investigation into how language itself changes as it interacts with technology.

Plus requires careful attention from a dedicated reader. If you're up for a new way to look at language and life, here's your book.


American author Joseph McElroy, born 1930