Trouble with Lichen: Classic Science Fiction

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Of course not,’ Diana said patiently, ‘but they don’t feel about it the same way. A man may fear death just as much, but in general he doesn’t resent age and death quite as woman do. It’s as if a woman lives—well, on more intimate terms with life; gets to know it more closely, if you understand me. And it seems to me, too, that a man is not so constantly haunted by thoughts of time and age as woman is. Generalizations, of course, but averagely valid, I think. ...’ This shared task (1-6 players) begins with in Lichen Creep, approximate location -1355, 1110, -740 (accessed only via portal - location of portal needed). She and Francis separately manage to extract from the lichen a new drug, dubbed Antigerone, which slows down the body's ageing process. While Francis uses it only on himself and his immediate family (without their knowledge), Diana founds a cosmetic spa, and builds up a clientele of some of the most powerful women in England, giving them low doses of Antigerone, preserving their beauty and youth. When Francis finds out about the spas, he erroneously assumes that Diana's motive is profit. Diana's aim, however, is actually female empowerment, intending to gain the support of these influential women, believing that if Antigerone became publicly known, it would be reserved only for the men in power. It was mainly the fact that I didn’t fully understand it that made me curious to reread it. As a child, I was an above average reader, but naturally my reading skills continued to develop through adulthood as well, so the way I read now is obviously superior to the way I read decades ago. I wanted to see if I would like the book now that I could fully understand it.

A “sharp, amusing story” ( The Guardian) about the fountain of youth and its implications for women’s rights, by one of the twentieth century’s most brilliant—and neglected—science fiction and horror writers, whom Stephen King called “the best writer of science fiction that England has ever produced.” Trouble With Lichen is a scintillating story of the power wielded by science in our lives and asks how much trust should we place in those we appoint to be its guardians? Young female biochemist goes to work for top research company and before too long she has made an earth shattering discovery – this Chinese lichen will slow down your metabolism and enable you to live for 200 plus years! Well… now what? She doesn't know that the boss knows, but the boss doesn’t know she knows what he knows. She leaves the company and starts up a beauty salon in London catering for the wives of the rich and influential. Because she has a Plan.John Wyndham wrote 7 novels, I have read 6 so far. This is the only one not rated 3 stars. This novel gets all tangled up like someone falling on the floor whilst wildly trying to put their pyjama trousers on. He has a very solid sf idea and he wants to use it to spotlight how women’s lives in particular are crippled and bent out of shape under society’s current rules, and this is all good, but the whole thing seems to be played for laughs….I should say for smirks…and his ghastly elbow-in-ribcage old-fashioned unfunny comic writing will just grind the teeth of modern readers.

The plot concerns a young female biochemist who discovers that a chemical extracted from an unusual strain of lichen can be used to slow down the ageing process, enabling people to live to around 200–300 years. Wyndham speculates how society would deal with this prospect. As much as this novel was a chore to finish, I will give Wyndham credit for two things. I do like the premise of the story. I think it was poorly executed, but I can see what drew me to the book in the first place. I also appreciate his feminist message, although it was heavy-handed and downright preachy at times. As it turns out, I am in agreement with my younger self about how tedious this novel is. If this had not been an experiment, I would have abandoned it after the first chapter or two. But I wanted to carry out the experiment, so I persevered. Once my younger self’s taste was vindicated, I focused on putting my finger on why it was so boring to me both then and now.What if someone find the true anti-aging formula which enabling people to live to around 200 years? What’re the implications? And what if the resource of it is so rare not all people can get it? How much trust should we place in those we appoint to be its guardians? The two scientists are male (head of a research house) and female (his employee), and circumstances lead them to investigate the new discovery separately. They each ponder the implications on society, and this leads to their main difference - one echoed by the earlier movements to earn women the right to vote (in fact the main female character is descended from a suffragette). The implications go as far as catastrophe, a topic that shows up in many other Wyndam novels. This form of time travel is one that has always been quite interesting to me. Second I found it technically distinctive: The narrative is fast-paced and driven largely by dialogue and fabricated quotations from newspapers and BBC broadcasts. Characters (often un-named) are left to discuss the evolving events as representatives of an entire social class or profession or sex, reminding me of the general passages in The Grapes of Wrath (such as the salesman who can't get enough jalopies to shift on to migrating Oakies). Telephone conversations between characters replace descriptions of action. That said, Wyndham does describe some of the most dramatic action directly. Splari says 'The mephits are laying traps for sporali that venture into these caverns. They have placed piles of tainted lichen in several locations. Once a sporali eats the tainted lichen, they become mindless slaves for the mephits. Will you [help] me?'

So, Francis treats only himself, and his children, and Diane starts up an exclusive wellness clinic for the rich wives of influential men. Neither of them informs their ‘patients’ of what they are being given, and why. Diane justifies her role by saying that all her women paid to look youthful – and unlike all other beauty clinics – hers actually delivered. A very British book of science, discovery, and ramifications. While many Wyndham plots have made it into movies, this one strangely has not. I read it as a 2021 reading by Vanessa Kirby, who did a great job. The book, of course, is hardly a perfect affair. As I mentioned, it is a bit dry, essentially humorless and, unavoidably, a bit dated in some instances (for example, the reference to the British newspaper "The Chronicle," which folded in 1960, and to the Russian newspaper "Izvestia," which ceased publishing in 1991). Much of the dialogue feels overwritten, especially that between Diana and Saxover, but I suppose that two bona fide geniuses just might be expected to converse in such a manner. Several plot points--such as the matter of Saxover's daughter-in-law stealing the antigerone secret--just peter out, never to be heard of again. And the book really is awfully talky; this reader could have done with a few more exciting sequences, such as the one in which Zephanie (is that really a name, by the way?) and her fiancé are kidnapped and coerced to spill information regarding her father's discovery. But basically, "Trouble with Lichen" is a novel of ideas, and of the effects on society of one of the greatest scientific discoveries of the age. Fortunately, Wyndham keeps his story moving at a brisk clip, and even reserves for his readers a wonderful surprise ending of sorts. And in this year of 2017, in which the very notions of science, facts and research are being denigrated and pooh-poohed by so many, how nice to come across a book with this telling statement about the matter...and from the British prime minister, no less: An easy to read story which encompasses far more than the basic premise: the discovery of a way to increase the human lifespan to two hundred or many more years. Although the prospect of extra time for the individual might be engaging, there are ramifications: social, political, religious and media intervention plus feminist and gender issues and fears of overpopulation (especially given the publication of the book set in the mid 1900s, little really changes). Narrator Vanessa Kirby was excellent. Her voice has an attractive to the ear timbre with good timing and intonation, and her clear English pronunciation carried the text thoughtfully. A fine performance. Wyndham's diversity and range are no better exemplified than in his dramatic shift in direction and tone in Trouble with Lichen. This is a deliberate shift into a mindset and tone that very-well exemplifies the main character, but which, apparently, a lot of readers have trouble getting into (I don't, but okay). The language is posh maybe even prissy as is the pacing. The story, slowly measured over enough decades to make you consider that perhaps, what Wyndham is trying to say is not that people need to appreciate their youth, but rather that he was beginning to appreciate his middle age. That's reflected in the book, in its measured pacing, in its attempts at the high-brow, in its insistent appreciation of the older human being. I like it. In a genre that so often glorifies 16 year old's running off to adventure, we need more appreciation of age, maturity, acquired taste.

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In July we completed the second round of our intergenerational online reading group discussions.Three of the groups have now read John Wyndham’s Trouble With Lichen(1960). In this post I’ll give you an idea of what the groups thought of the themes which arose in this book and how this influenced broader discussions of older age and future time. I decided not to go with one star as this is another book I suspect may be "a little better than it hit me". In other words a subjective rather than objective rating might drop it all the way down as it just didn't get my interest. I followed the "ethical, moral, legal mental debate. Watched the "tussle" (my word)over the "new" wonder lichen and it's effects. Who owned/had a right to it...what it brought about.... on and on.....and on, and on, and on, and on (repeat). Tell a woman: “woman’s place is in the home”, or “get thee to thy kitchen” and she doesn’t like it; but call it “being a good housewife”, which means exactly the same thing, and she’ll drudge along, glowing with pride.” This brought us to what would make group members want to live longer. Diana’s argument in the novel is that ‘we’ needed ‘Time to grow wise enough to build a new world’ (p. 123). Some group members, of all ages, wondered exactly who would want to take on this responsibility, others in their 60s and 70s suggested that this was for the ‘middle generation’, those in their 30s and 40s, to consider. Several group members also thought that we don’t need the ability to live longer to make changes and that it was important for people to explore what we can do now for our own futures as well as those of future generations. All groups explored how societal change could be achieved collectively and intergenerationally. Discussions considered practical ways of bringing together people of different ages: from the availability of shared public spaces and activities open to all in local community centres, to families playing games together with several generations at family gatherings. Members in the groups also suggested, in a variety of ways, that it was important to ensure that our lives had space and time for such community activities, whether hobbies or local volunteering. Older group members in their 50s-70s in one group suggested that time was particularly in short supply for people in middle age who are often caring for children and perhaps older relatives too. A book of its time?

The moral premise of this book is simple. People waste their youth because they are young. The old hate them for it. They always have. In my day we walked uphill both ways. The forward momentum of technology means that every generation of children has more opportunities, less obstacles and a more comfortable existence. And every previous generation is successively convinced that they would have done more given those opportunities because they did more with less. Wyndham’s premise is that this is obviously bullshit. People will consistently, on average, do the bare minimum with what they have regardless of the ease of getting there because they are young and dumb and proverbially (yet more family friendly than the original saying), more interested in marriage and fitting in than doing more . I read several Wyndham novels when I was 12 or 13 - this was one of them. My recollection of those novels was that they were enjoyable but tended to have poor endings, as if Wyndham had said what he wanted, got bored and just stopped. The exception was The Day of the Triffids which had a satisfactory ending. So how would I respond to re-reading Trouble with Lichen? For such enlightened statements as these, "Trouble with Lichen" is worthy of any modern reader's approbation. Home » News and Blogs » What to look for this week - The trouble with lichen What to look for this week - The trouble with lichen There are many flaws in this book, the most blatant of which is not like the other girls , a trend which I tend to hate, but a trend which, is at least well pulled off and relatively subtle in that our heroine is the smart girl . Her trope is smoothed out, the sharp edges dulled by the fact that she truly cares about other women, and by the fact that smart girl was a rare breed in the day she was written. Not that women would have been less intelligent, no, just less inclined to show it, especially in school when it would have gotten them the accolades to press further into a career instead of a housewifery. I also take somewhat exception to the romance in this novel. The way it is presented is probably alluding to Wyndham's own sweetheart and her steadfast adoration through a war. Love at first sight, she was, after all, there for the usual reason - the prospective husband was simply married, with children almost her age.

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And what of my experiment? Unfortunately, rereading this did not help me connect with my younger self the way some of my other rereads did. I thought that perhaps even if I disliked the book the second time around, the experience of rereading it would stir up something meaningful like a memory or an insight, even a vague one. But it didn’t really do anything.