3.5. Zaskakująco dobrze się zestarzała

Not sure why, but all somewhat modern (i.e. 1960s and forward) French sci-fi novels I've read share the same strange feeling of being a mix of somewhat newer ideas and really old ones, where the writing style seems to have been copied from Jules Verne. Same thing with this which in my opinion could have been written in the 1800s, except for the sex. Stiffly written, with cardboard characters, and science which also belongs in the 1800s; Boulle has an idea he wants to push, and any match between the science in the novel and the science in the real world is purely coincidental.

Add that the ape society described here is literally a Victorian society, including daily life, colonization, hunting safaris, etc, and the old-fashioned feel gets overwhelming. I normally care very little about the science being realistic, but in this case it is ridiculous, together with the equally old society being depicted. I get that Boulle in some way does this intentionally since the picture painted is one which makes the main character's moral upset even more obvious, with his double standards about how apes treat humans compared to how humans have treated animals on Earth, and how that moral outrage wavers later in the novel, but to me it feels as if Boulle is highly critical against the moral ideas being prevalent in a Victorian society, so not that relevant here and now.

Comparing this with other sci-fi from the same era, I can't give Boulle a pass due to the novel being old. This was written decades after things like Alfred Bester's "The Stars My Destination", Ursula K. Le Guin had already written a few novels, and Robert Heinlein had already passed his prime, and all of those are miles ahead of Boulle in sophistication and literary quality (yes, that includes Heinlein!).

But I give it two stars rather than one, since the novel gets a bit better in the second half when the main character at least for a while starts to see no difference both literally and abstractedly between apes and humans. I almost want to deduct the star due to the turn in the last part of the novel when it turns out that no, there is a big difference, humans have ideas and imagination, whereas apes can only ape human's ideas, so suddenly we are back with humans being superior again (even though the prologue says something different), but I'm in a good mood so Boulle gets two stars. Hesitantly.

Originally written in 1963 by the same author who brought us The Bridge Over the River Kwai, this book will most likely be remembered for the many movies that were based on it's premise of a world where the roles of apes and men are reversed. Originally written in French, the main character in the novel is Ulysse Mérou: A journalist who took part in the space expedition that lands on Soror, a planet orbiting the star Betelgeuse. There is some argument as to whether the book can be considered science fiction or if it's a work of satire in the vein of Gulliver's Travel. Personally,I tend to see most science fiction as a study of society so I'm not going to say this isn't it.

Bottom line: PotA is an entertaining read but not extremely imaginative. I listened to the audio version recorded by Greg Wise in 2012 and was surprised to find that in many cases the word ape in the print version was changed to monkey in the audio recording. As one who knows that apes and monkeys come from distinct simian families, I felt the change made no sense and found it extremely irritating.

Thanks to the Goodreads Time Travel reading group for choosing this book and giving me the opportunity to read and discuss it with others.

I think Pierre Boulle’s novel Planet of the Apes is a social fantasy, an allegory for revealing our civilization as blindly mimicking our past, as “aping” the good and bad of what has come before. It is a statement against complacency, a warning that history will repeat itself if we are not eternally vigilant. The novel may also be read as a cautionary illustration of our relationship with our environment and the animals with which we share the Earth.

Or it’s a fun science fiction book about chimps, orangutans and gorillas ruling a planet.

Written by Pierre Boule and first published in 1963, as La Planète des singes, this bears a closer literary resemblance to Edgar Rice Burroughs or Jules Verne than to modern science fiction. Boulle himself, the author of The Bridge Over the River Kwai, described the novel as a social fantasy.

There is a scene of racial memory that is especially noteworthy, but a fine work throughout. I can say after reading the original novel that all of the films have been loosely based upon Boulle’s literature; although the most recent series may ultimately be the closest to Boulle’s vision. I am coming to believe that the 1960s were the zenith of science fiction and this is a good example.

When you hear Planet of the Apes, the first thing that probably comes to mind is the movie trilogy with the evolved chimp Caesar as a protagonist. Forget about the movie. The book by Pierre Boule, first published in 1963, tells an entirely different story.


Three men from France embark on a journey. They set out to find a remote planet. They have a little chimp on board. This chimp is destined to be the first but not the last victim.
But let us not jump ahead.

The men plan to spend only a few years traveling and exploring space. But by the time they return home many decades will have elapsed on Earth. The travelers are aware of the fact that the voyage that lasts around two years for them equals about three and a half centuries on Earth due to the theory of relativity.

So, by making their decision the characters voluntarily accept that they will never see their friends and relatives. Such a choice must be a difficult one.
They end up landing on an unknown planet that strangely resembles Earth. The landscape and the atmosphere are strikingly similar to Earth. Our travelers decide to call the planet Soror.

The space travelers start exploring the place. Imagine their surprise when they find out who rules this planet. Evolved apes, namely gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees, have taken the role traditionally played by Sapiens. They can talk and think. They can cooperate in large numbers, while human beings on the planet Soror are deprived of those abilities. Humans lack intelligence and are relegated to conditions similar to those in which animals live in our world.

On the planet Soror reality appeared to be quite the reverse: we had to do with inhabitants resembling us in every way from the physical point of view but who appeared to be completely devoid of the power of reason.

The way the author portrays society organized by the apes is fascinating. It mirrors human society in many ways, but the order is reversed. Apes are smart and sophisticated. Men and women lead primitive lives, sleeping in nests in the forests and eating raw products. More than that, it turns out that one of the three humans from Earth has been quickly sliding into a primitive lifestyle.
Another man, Ulysse Merou, tries to establish contact with a young female chimpanzee Zira. He seems to be able to make a favorable impression on Zira. Ulysse, this strange creature, intrigues her. But can he rely on her help?

Apes, the rulers of this planet, have their own legends and mythical narratives rooted in history and their own insecurities connected with those legends. One of these stories is the question of origins. How did apes come to dominate this planet? What was the reason for that? When did they start ruling this planet? Did God create them? Or was it an accident? The theory of evolution? Thinking of those questions often makes apes feel uncomfortable.
Like humans in our world, the apes fear that their official history can be challenged. And an 'evolved' human being from Earth (Ulisse) risks becoming an obstacle for them.


As we already know, there are three races - gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees. It seems that they coexist peacefully. The ape society functions more or less smoothly. Freedoms and rights of citizens exist in their world which gives an overall impression of a normal place to be living in. Public opinion and media are influential but not always influential enough to impact decisions made by powerful individuals. There is a division of labor. The orangutans are official science. The chimpanzees are essentially intellectuals. "They seem animated by a powerful spirit of research," one of the characters speaks of the chimpanzees.
The gorillas are considered the most powerful class. There are many high administrators among them.
Apes hold science in high regard. To further scientific knowledge, they use humans in their laboratory experiments. Sounds familiar? Also, apes study the behavior of humans, including their amorous behavior.

One of the things one can take away from this science-fiction story concerns reciprocity. If the reader does not like the way humans are treated in this story by apes, maybe they should think of their own treatment of animals. According to estimates, ape populations are today under a lot of pressure. They face threats from poaching, deforestation, and pet trade.

A few insignificant inexactitudes caught my eye.
Gorillas are presented as meat eaters when in reality they feed mainly on a vegetarian diet.
Humans in the story are described as ignorant of laughter. It is implied that humans that inhabit this planet resemble apes in our world. But great apes are known to laugh during tickling or when playing with each other. I better stop here if I do not want to sound too nagging.

All in all, this was entertaining and at times unsettling. The author succeeded in marrying an engaging plot to social commentary.
My gripe about this story was its somewhat slow beginning. The ending was wild, though. One of the travelers gets the opportunity to return to Earth. What he sees upon his arrival leaves him flabbergasted.

in my donna haraway era

A bit different from the film, and completely intriguing!

Je n’avais pas plus de dix ans quand j’ai lu mon dernier livre de science fiction, Niourk, de Stefen Wul, une histoire post apocalyptique en Amérique du nord. Et puis plus rien, depuis vingt-cinq ans, par manque d’intérêt, jusqu’à cette Planète des Singes, sur une suggestion d'une camarade de goodreads. L’auteur, Pierre Boulle(1912-1994), est un français qui a passé une partie de sa jeunesse en Asie, et s’est battu contre l’armée impériale japonaise lors de la dernière guerre, avant de se faire emprisonner par les forces françaises d’alors, expérience qui lui a inspiré Le pont de la rivière Kwaï, un autre de ses romans, également adapté au cinéma. J’ai revu après cette lecture les deux versions cinématographiques, pour vérifier qu’elles étaient bien infidèles au roman original, qui est bien plus fourni est ambiguë que les films. Et j’ai plutôt été satisfait de cette lecture.

Parmi les éléments qui m’ont plu, ce sont toutes les inspirations tirées de la littérature des anciens. Le narrateur s’appelle Ulysse, et son voyage s’apparente à une Odyssée, avec des péripéties fantastiques, horribles, absurdes et inquiétantes, tout comme celles du héros d’Homère. Le caractère des deux personnages présente également des similitudes, une certaine finesse qui s’étend à la duplicité, une langue bien pendue, un positionnement moral ambivalent, une volonté de survivre par tous les moyens, les passages du transports à l'abattement. Également, dans ce livre, on retrouve ce caractère brutal, réel et insensé de la violence, tout comme cet érotisme sans freins, ni fards ni manières prompt à faire crier la délicatesse contemporaine, le même qui s'étale dans les romans grecs(Les Ethiopiques,Le Roman De Leucippé Et Clitophon,Les Éphésiaques, ou le roman d'Habrocomès et d'Anthia,Le Roman de Chaireas et Callirhoé), et chez Apulée(Les Métamorphoses ou l'Âne d'or).

Mais l’humour et la satire ne sont pas absents: utiliser les animaux pour instruire les hommes, n'est ce pas le ressort des fables d’Ésope et de Phèdre? On sent aussi là toute l’influence (peut-être indirecte) du grand Lucien de Samosate. Comment ne pas songer à son histoire véritable, délicieux pastiche d’Homère, et à ses truculentes railleries des philosophes et pseudo-autoritées établies dans ses nombreux dialogues (Portraits de philosophes,Comédies humaines) ? Enfin, les réflexions sur l’âme des animaux m’ont fait très vivement penser à ce magnifique texte de Plutarque, l’intelligence des animaux, l'une des meilleures de ses oeuvres morales. Aussi, tous les souvenirs de ces agréables lectures me sont venus à la lecture de ce roman qui respire l’antiquité. C'était également plaisant de voir évoquer les paradoxes de La Relativité.

Quant à l’histoire, elle s’apparente par l’esprit sceptique et antimoralisateur à celles de Rabelais et son Pantagruel, de Swift et ses Voyages de Gulliver, à Voltaire et son Micromégas; il s’agit de changer les points de vue. Je pense que cette histoire a suffisamment de potentiel pour se prêter à toutes sortes d’interprétations divergentes. Pour moi, de par ce ton nettement anticlérical, je n'ai pu me défendre de songer à l'épisode noachique de la Genèse(Ch.9):
Dieu bénit Noé et ses fils et leur dit « Soyez féconds, multipliez et remplissez la terre.
Vous serez craints et redoutés de toute bête de la terre, de tout oiseau du ciel, de tout ce qui se meut sur la terre et de tous les poissons de la mer ils sont livrés entre vos, mains.
Tout ce qui se meut et qui a vie vous servira de nourriture ; je vous donne tout cela, comme je vous avais donné l’herbe verte.
Seulement vous ne mangerez point de chair avec son âme, c’est-à-dire avec son sang.
Et votre sang à vous, j’en demanderai compte à cause de vos âmes, j’en demanderai compte à toute bête ; de la main de l’homme, de la main de l’homme qui est son frère, je redemanderai l’âme de l’homme.
Quiconque aura versé le sang de l’homme, par l’homme son sang sera versé, car Dieu a fait l’homme à son image.
Vous, soyez féconds et multipliez ; répandez-vous sur la terre et vous y multipliez. »

Pierre Boule n’est peut-être pas un grand poète, mais il a fait une œuvre propre à stimuler l’imagination et captiver les sens, c’est une distraction agréable, mais certaines rudesses qu’il contient froisseront peut-être les âmes plus délicates et les plus sensibles.

Świetnie to się czyta - nowe tłumaczenie mocno daje radę! - po blisko 30 latach od pierwszej lektury. Choć oczywiście mowy nie ma o tym, żeby fabularne twisty działały tak samo. Fajna klasyka SF, gdzie przygoda łączy się z filozoficznymi ambicjami.

French feminism didn't happen any too soon, apparently. This book doesn't age well at all. It also grinds axes against hunters and animal researchers, and if you are either, you'll probably want to skip it to moderate your blood pressure. Mostly, though, the treatment of women is just not to be believed. Gah!

Also, there were some weird translation choices, where I could imagine what the French word had been and could think of a much better English word than the one the translator chose. "Monkeys," "diving suits" and many other terms pulled me out of the story.

I also didn't believe in the main character, a journalist who on a whim, and despite understanding time dilation effects of NAFAL travel, hops on a spaceship that will put him 800 years out of time when he returns to Earth (that's not how it ends up, of course, but that's what he thinks is going to happen.) Instead of adapting to this vastly different world, he remains bullheaded and pushy and arrogant. (And they say "ugly Americans?" This character has that act down perfectly.)

The space mission had one of the world's great thinkers along who didn't immediately think parallel evolution was impossible? The anthropology is the worst of the sciences (the narrator thinks certain gestures are going to be universal, for instance, when they aren't even on Earth, and he keep pushing the native humans to adapt to his gestures rather than adapting to theirs), but the astronomy isn't always good, either. Chandrasekhar and Hoyle and Wilson had all published, so any half-witted astronomer, much less the great one planning the fictional mission, would have known that to travel to an unstable red giant star would have been dangerous and certainly wouldn't be visiting a star where planets still had life, if indeed they had survived the expansion of the star at all. So the author wasn't up on the stellar life cycle for his day, even, and from modern perspective, this too suffers.

By half way through I was on the side of the intelligent apes. I wanted to stick the narrator in a cage and prod him with some sticks, too. And what the heck is the frame device about, with the ape couple on vacation (good goddess, sexism there too) reading the diary? Was that necessary?

Can you tell I didn't like this? I didn't like this.

French writer Pierre Boulle (1912-1994) made use of his experience as a soldier in WWII in depicting the relationship of apes and men in this 1963 book, Planet of the Apes. While stationed in Indochina in 1943, he was captured by Vichy France loyalists on the Mekong River and was subjected to severe hardship and forced labour. The way the loyalists treated him and his fellow Gaulle and resistance supporters inspired Boulle to write this novel.

This book was highly praised and was given such reviews as this example from England's Guardian newspaper: "Classic science fiction...full of suspense and satirical intelligence." I agree to this. It is a sci-fi because of the idea of having apes ruling the universe as they think that men have lesser intelligence than them. The Ape planet, called Soror (Latin for sister), revolves around the red Sun called Betelguese (that is real). Then the ape scientists in the said planet conduct Pavlov-like experiments to their captured human beings and one of the three was Ulysse, the author of the journal found floating in the space as narrated in the frame story. His companion, the genius scientist from Earth, Professor Antell turns crazy while his fellow crew, physicist Arthur Levaine is killed during the landing of their spaceship.

For me, its main theme is an reminder of the things we take for granted or better yet, the people who we take for granted. Sometimes, we think that they are lesser than us: in stature, job title, wealth, skin color, etc. But in reality, we don't realize that they can be more than us. It's just that we are too focused on ourselves that we don't see what they have that we lack.

For example as a reader, we think that we all pick and read the better books and we look down on people who read other books not realizing that those could be better than what we are reading.

This book is a sci-fi and I know some people look down on sci-fi readers. Not true, figment of imagination, will never happen, yadda, yadda. But hey, how about this main theme that I deduced from this book?

Muy entretenido y muy interesante todo lo que aquí se plantea, me encanta porque está escrito de una forma sencilla y directa, lo que hace que sea difícil perder el interés en ningún momento.