Dystopian Books: "Logan's Run"

Title: Logan's Run
Authors: William Nolan and George Clayton Johnson
133 pages (Hardcover)
Copy: UC Davis library
Read: early June
Spoilers: several itty-bitty ones

Because I saw the film before I read Logan's Run, I had exceedingly low expectations.  The movie, while intriguing in some respects, has such bad acting that the film is nearly unwatchable--the female lead is particularly annoying--and the special effects are limited by technology.  I picked the book up with trepidation but a feeling of duty (I'm reading dystopian literature this summer in preparation for my Senior Honors Thesis).  I was surprised by the book and its intriguing view of the future.

This is a dystopia that explores the cult of youth so beloved by our modern society.  In this world, people are killed at 21 because society has decided that life after 21 is too horrible to contemplate.  Thus, the "ages of man" are skewed--a 16 year old, for instance, is considered a consenting adult.  Drugs and sex figure predominately in the early part of the book (rather similarly to Brave New World) and while people seem to have jobs, it is hard to know exactly what these jobs are.  The only clearly defined occupation is Logan's job as a Sandman, a sort of special policeman who pursues "runners," people who run away on their death day rather than submitting quietly.  The life stage of a member of this society is determined by a "flower" (some sort of jewel implanted in the hand) that changes color as part of its 21 year decomposition.

The book is slim and seems to be cut short.  The entire piece has the feel of a fairly detailed outline.  The action moves at an extraordinary pace and the time seems impossible (think compression along the lines of The Da Vinci Code).  Plus, injuries are fleeting which makes the novel seem more like an action TV series.  I have the feeling, though, that if the novel had been expanded any it would have become absolutely unbearable.  And, really, why bother to demand realism in a book of this nature?  Obviously the authors are caricaturing one aspect of culture and it seems that the fast, unrealistic pace could be part of the book's main philosophic thrust--face paced lives and a fast paced book.  It works fairly well.

I read the book to see how it depicts the environment.  I have to say, the characters in the novel have an interesting relationship to the natural world.  Nature is the way to freedom, but it is also out to kill them.  The novel depicts traveling through a cave-system with creepy success, elaborating on the claustrophobia of the characters and the disgusting creatures that live in the caves.  A sense of death pervades the scene, in a more or less realistic way.  The vague realism of the cave scene, however, is overwhelmed by later, more unrealistic scenes.  Later in the novel, Logan has a prolonged fight with a tiger.  The scene strikes me as incredibly odd.  The tiger hunts Logan and carries a grudge, finally attacking him in a decidedly abnormal fashion.  The scene is more anthropomorphic than real.  Ultimately, the final scene presents a firm denial of Earth, in a scene that is unexpected and out-of-place.  On the whole, the book seems to find nature dangerous and most likely lethal, and seems to think we'd all be better off without it.

Of course, the depiction isn't all that surprising.  Science fiction, in many ways, denies the value of Earth and upholds the value of technology.  There are science fiction novels that deal exclusively with nature, but they are a more recent development.  Still, if Logan's Run is placed alongside Fahrenheit 451, for instance, this extremely negative natural depiction becomes more striking.  I wonder if this negatively viewed environment is part of youth (perhaps the environment can't be seen or understood until one is older than 21) or merely a symptom of a societal separation from nature.  At any rate, it's a curious depiction.

I'd recommend this novel to anyone interested in the intense glorification of youth because Logan's Run has much to say about age and maturity.  I'll warn that there is sex, but not too detailed, and there is drug use.  There are also violent scenes (and sexually violent scenes) and questionable depictions of women.  Nevertheless, Logan's Run is an interesting dystopia, fast paced and intriguing.  It's definitely a product of its era, but it's still fairly relevant.  And it's way better than the movie, so don't be turned off from the novel if all you know about it is the film.  The book is more interesting and the film leaves a lot of the most thought-provoking parts out.

-Benvolia