That’s how it has been for me with this book. First published in 1992, with a special twenty-fifth anniversary edition in 2017, Ishmael is now thirty years old.1
Ray Bradbury2 praised the book, stating
that “Ishmael is a genuine discovery. It will be around for many years.”
It is still around, and thankfully so, for it is just as relevant today as it
was then, perhaps moreso.
The cover of the book claims it to be “A Novel.” In
reality it is more of a Socratic dialogue, with Daniel Quinn (the author)
writing in a manner similar to Plato’s writings with Socrates as the main
character.
Ishmael (the teacher,) using a searching and probing
technique, takes his “pupil” on a journey to discover the story that our present-day
cultures have been enacting for the past 10,000 – 12,000 years. It is an
enlightening journey as it uncovers a forgotten past that sheds an entirely
different meaning on the stories of Adam and Eve, the Fall, and the murder of
Abel by Cain. Most of us recognise these stories from the Bible, and even if we
are not religiously inclined, they are the stories that we have been enacting
ever since.
Ishmael and his student meet each other because of a
simple newspaper advert: “Teacher seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire
to save the world. Apply in person.” Who could resist such an opportunity? Ishmael’s
pupil can’t.
Significantly, Ishmael’s pupil is never named in the
novel. This omission allows us, the readers, to become the student. The student
could be any one of us.
Without revealing too much of the plot, nor the
teachings, Ishmael helps his student see the history of the world over the past
10,000 – 12,000 years as being a continuing conflict between the Takers
(represented by Cain) and the Leavers (represented by Abel.) Which of
these is dominant and dominating can be guessed at when the story of Cain and Abel
is recalled.
How do these two human trajectories play out in the
novel? I will leave that for you, the reader, to discover in your own “reading”
of the novel, the dialogues, and the stories.
As for Ishmael himself? Well, Ishmael is a gorilla,
taken from his home and kept as a fairground attraction. Initially, that
Ishmael is a gorilla may be a bit jarring. However, understanding the novel,
and the stories it tells, in a mythical sense, then it is entirely appropriate
that the teacher is a Leaver, and is caged by the Takers.
Yes indeed, Ray Bradbury was correct. This is a book
that deserves to be around for many years. It deserves re-reading often, as perhaps
do the sequels (My Ishmael and The Story of B.) I’ll go
and read those next.
Notes:
1. Daniel Quinn, Ishmael, Bantam Books, New York, 2017
(special 25th anniversary edition)
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