Question about Hyperion (Dan Simmons novel)

Cafe Society
1

As many of us know, the structure of Hyperion, the science fiction novel by Dan Simmons, follows The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer - a group of disparate people joining together on a journey to a common destination, each of them telling a tale of how they came to be on that journey at that time.*

However, I have read a couple of times that Simmons used the “writing voices” of specific science fiction authors for each of the stories, but I have never read (a) confirmations that this is true, and (b) discussions as to which story is in the voice of which SF author.

So… that’s what we’re here for. :smiley:

Assuming this is true (and if there is anybody with evidence to debunk this, please bring it on), I think the most obvious candidate is Harlan Ellison for Martin Silenus in “The Poet’s Tale: Hyperion Cantos.” The character himself is such a HE doppelganger that it lends credence to the overall theory, imho.

So, that’s it… make your arguments and nominations, and back it up with lit theory bullshit. :slight_smile:

We have the following:

  1. Priest’s tale, “The Mann who Cried God”: Lenar Hoyt and Paul Dure (2 possibilities?)
  2. Warrior’s Tale, “The War Lovers”: Fedmahn Kassad
  3. Poet’s Tale, “Hyperion Cantos”: Martin Silenus, Harlan Ellison
  4. Scholar’s Tale, “The River Lethe’s Taste is Bitter”: Sol Weintraub
  5. Detective’s Tale, “The Long Good-Bye”: Brawne Lamia
  6. Consul’s Tale, “Remembering Siri”: The Consul

*Slumdog Millionaire was a modern take on this structure using only one character. The destination was the TV show and freedom, and the questions and answers (both in the show and in jail) showed his journey.

2

Interesting question. Each of the tales is obviously a different subgenre of SF (military SF, horror, etc.), but specific authors? I’ve never considered it. Perhaps:

5 - the Detective’s tale - Roger Zelazny. Fast moving, hard-boiled, snappy dialog with dreamlike sequences.

6 - the Consul’s Tale - Ursula K. LeGuin. Thoughtful and anthropological.

3

Not sure on the actual question, but from when I read the Hyperion series I remember the Chaucer structure.

And the three additional books in this series were similarly structured after the Wizard of Oz, Huckleberry Finn, and the New Testament. Though, not as famously :slight_smile:

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  1. Priest’s tale, “The Mann who Cried God”: Lenar Hoyt and Paul Dure (2 possibilities?)
  2. Warrior’s Tale, “The War Lovers”: Fedmahn Kassad
  3. Poet’s Tale, “Hyperion Cantos”: Martin Silenus, Harlan Ellison
  4. Scholar’s Tale, “The River Lethe’s Taste is Bitter”: Sol Weintraub
  5. Detective’s Tale, “The Long Good-Bye”: Brawne Lamia, Roger Zelazny
  6. Consul’s Tale, “Remembering Siri”: The Consul, Ursula K. LeGuin

Thanks for the replies… Anybody else?

5

Nothing to add, it’s been awhile since I’ve read this, but:

My favorite so far is the Templar’s tale. :slight_smile:

The first story was pretty much Hoyt showing Duré’s journal off, until the end, right? Or do I have that backwards, Duré doesn’t have a voice? Hoyt doesn’t have much of a voice until his asshole turn in the last two books? Some anthropological fiction? A study of the indigenous population in journal form?

Silenus’ house is cool. I’d be afraid to use that one bathroom though. I feel like either Lamia’s or the second book (forget which) reminds me of the sort of 80s fiction. Blade Runner (film)? I do not suggest that it is reminiscent of Dick’s works, though. I unfortunately remember very little of Weintraub’s tale, except for the gist and his college planet.

Also, I hear that Simmons really likes John Keats… So I hear.

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It was Dure who had Hoyt’s journal.

There was a rather large blooper about these two characters that appeared in Endymion, the third book of the four (or the first book of the Hyperion series sequel, or whatever. I just think of it as #3 of 4.) Click on the spoiler if you’ve read the books or just don’t care if you’re spoiled.

[spoiler]Father Dure has two cruciforms on his body, his and Father Hoyt’s. In The Fall of Hyperion, Dure meets the Shrike whereupon the shrike removes Dure’s cruciform, leaving only Lenar Hoyt’s crucifom on his body

OK, so in Endymion we find the Catholic Church in league with the Technocore through the use of an improved cruciform, one that resurrects without brain damage. The Pope is Lenar Hoyt, who dies in the beginning of the first book, only to be resurrected as…

Father Paul Dure. Who is then immediately killed so that Lenar Hoyt would be resurrected.

Huh?[/spoiler]

I emailed Dan Simmons about this, back when he had an AOL address, and he never replied. I wonder why? :wink:

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I’m going to bump this, see if we can get some more answers to this question. Surely we have more Hyperion fans in this forum???

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I read the books in college, which would have been about twelve years ago. I enjoyed them a great deal, but I don’t remember enough to contribute an answer to the OP’s question.

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I don’t have an answer to your thread question, but I wanted to point out that you had this backwards:

Hoyt was the one who was on the Shrike Pilgrimage. Dure was the disgraced Jesuit anthropologist who first discovered the Bikura and the cruciforms. Hoyt’s story was 90% reading Dure’s journal that he had recovered.