Eifelheim by Michael Flynn

 

Eifelheim by Michael Flynn – a stunning page-turner where a reader will learn a good bit about the medieval world and medieval philosophy, about the Catholic church and Catholic theology, about theoretical physics, historiography and mathematical history (cliology), about the clash of values and cultures when a small German village in 1348 makes first contact with aliens from another planet. And, yes, 1348 marks a time when the Black Death stalked great swaths of Europe during the Middle Ages.

Author Michael Flynn packs so much into his epic tale where we're presented with two unfolding dramas:

1) One morning in the village of Oberhochwald, Father Dietrich, learned scholar and village pastor (and the novel's main 14th century character), shivers and hugs himself, musing: Something will happen today. So it does. "A great burst of light washed through the stained-glass lancets in the north wall of the church, casting rainbows." And "An avalanche of thunder followed upon the flash; and the bells in the tower pealed a mad, arrhythmic clanging." All falls silent and Dietrich looks at the cracked windows and knows for certain whatever had been approaching his village had arrived.

2) Historian Tom Schwoerin and his long-time girlfriend, a physicist by the name of Sharon Nagy, sit in their small apartment near La Salle University in Philadelphia. Tom shakes his head; he's frustrated, flummoxed and completely baffled. Why was Eifelheim, a village in the Black Forest abandoned and never resettled? As a seasoned medieval historian, Tom knows it simply doesn't make any sense. Sharon suggests he visit La Salle's library to search through musty old, obscure documents to hunt out the answer he so urgently seeks. Tom does just that which proves the first step in a number of astonishing revelations.

For a reader's ease of reference, Eifelheim includes:
1) a map for Oberhochwld and Vicinity, 1348-1349;
2) a list of fourteenth century characters (including a separate list of individual aliens herein called the Krenken);
3) a list of women and men in Tom Schwoerin's world;
4) Historical Notes;
5) Physics Notes;
6) Terms and Sources.

Thank you, Michael Flynn! There's a wealth of information and ideas to keep track of and these easy references add much to one's reading pleasure. Eifelheim contains way too many surprises for me to say anything further about arc of plot. Thus I'll make a quick shift to a highlight reel:

CONTACT
Dietrich and two other townspeople catch sight of a circular clearing in the forest “as if a giant had swung a scythe through it.” And around a most unusual structure, the trio can see strange creatures “spindly, gangly, misjointed” and “long, hairless surmounted by expressionless faces lacking nose and ear, but dominated by huge, golden, globular eyes, faceted like diamonds, that looked nowhere but saw everything.” The woman with Dietrich walks down among them, cradles one of their number that appears injured and bids the pilgrims welcome to the hospitality of their home. Contact is established leading to much interaction between townsfolk and “the Krenk.” For, as Dietrich observes: “They called themselves the Krenk, or something to which the human tongue could come no closer.”

COMPUTER SCREEN
On his second visit to the pilgrims' clearing, Dietrich watches as one of the Krenk sits before what he takes to be a work of art. “A thin rectangular frame held a painting of a flowered meadow against distant trees. It was not a bas-relief, and yet it had depth! The artist had evidently solved the problem of rendering distance on a flat surface.” And when the Krenk touches the surface and the images change, Dietrich gasps and stumbles backwards. The medieval reaction to various technological gadgets adds a special spice to the tale.

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY
Readers with a background in either the hard sciences or philosophy will derive great pleasure in all the many dialogues highly educated Dietrich has with the Krenken possessing a comparable high level of conceptual understanding. Scholastic Philosophy meets the world of Isaac Asimov.

SCHOLASTIC CATEGORIES
At one point a Krenk tells Dietrich how, in effect, the Krenken evolved from lower animals over millions of years. And the medieval priest's response to this statement? Perhaps predictably, Dietrich reflects: “Yet, if the Krenken were ruled by instinctus, the rational appetite could not exist in them, since a higher appetite necessarily moved a lower one. Which meant that the Krenken were beasts.” It appears Dietrich is projecting earthly, human preconceived categories on the extraterrestrials, judging them as either animals or “human-like.” As I was reading this section, I wondered how open Dietrich was to the possibility of what we now see as the phenomenon of evolution.

SONG AND DANCE
During one evening's entertainment, the villagers dance to music. The Kranken do not. Rather, the group of Kranken, so much like grasshoppers, begin to leap but not together or in any recognizable pattern. As one of the Kranken tells Dietrich: “Each of us is alone inside his head, with but a single thought 'Because we die, we laugh and leap.'” Now that's food for philosophic reflection! Are the Kranken more cut off from each other than humans are cut off from one another? In other words, do the Kranken live in a thicker, more isolated shell of subjectivity? If so, then this might go a long way in explaining the rather unchristian, Nietzschean ethic they espouse.

I could go on but I'll stop here. Notice all of my highlights relate to the medieval period. What gives this Michael Flynn novel its unique zest is Tom's Eifelheim revelations by way of Sharon's help and his own unflinching scholarship. For each reader to discover.

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*Note: I'm reading Eifelheim for the second time. I'm also listening to the audiobook. The two stories, one in the medieval world and one in our present day, take on a richer, deeper meaning on a second read. You know what's coming and all discoveries Tom unearths hold greater significance. Also, those details in thoughts and actions and happenings in 1348-1349 become even more vivid. What a sensational novel. Like myself, Michael Flynn is a La Salle University grad. He was a few years ahead of me. Dang! I wish I had an opportunity to know Michael.


American author Michael Flynn, born 1947