Club Entry One: La-Bàs

"We must," he thought "retain the documentary veracity, the precision of detail, the compact and sinewy language of realism, but we must also dig down into the soul and cease trying to explain mystery in terms of our sick senses. If possible the novel ought to be compounded of two elements, that of the soul and that of the body, and these ought to be inextricably bound together as in life..."

Page 10

In the first chapter of this novel Durtal is having a conversation with his friend, Des Hermie. While seeking advice for his new book, The Story of Gilles de Rais, the two men begin to discuss the value of French Naturalism. Des Hermie rejects the genre's worth because it uses strict rules to only show what our senses perceive. He believes the extra-sensual is just as important in discussing life's mysteries, rather than focusing on the material world. Durtal understands this skepticism and hopes to find a middle ground at which to write a biography. He calls human perception "sick" in order to show that it is damaged and incomplete on its own.  He hopes to embellish his writing with mystic and supernatural feeling in order to paint a more complete picture of this criminal's life. I think this conversation reveals how La-Bàs or Down There is written, with disorienting and mesmerizing diction J.K. Huysmans will attempt to make this story engulfing. 

Entry 38: Stranger in a Strange Land

"Doublas can't afford to fail. So I think he will bury Smith deeper than ever . . . and we will never see the true Man from Mars."
"Kill him?" Jill said slowly. "Oh, dear! Ben, what are we going to do?"
Caxton scowled "They own the bat and the ball and are making the rules."

Page 41

I guess Ben Caxton really likes metaphors. Here he expresses his discontent with how Smith is being treated. When a public broadcast is made, featuring him, Jill says she is sure that an actor has been payed to apear in his place. Ben is disgruntled because there is no way for him to know for sure. His baseball metaphor explains how much control is held over Smith to the point where no one can visit him or speak to him.

Entry 37: Stranger in a Strange Land

"But, Ben...This notion of a single man owning a planet . . . it's fantastic!"
"Don't use that word to a lawyer; straining at gnats and swallowing camels is a required course in law schools."

Page 36

In this passage Ben uses metaphors to explain how far people are willing to go to make their point.  In this conversation, about whether martians living on the planet can stake a claim to Mars if Smith dies, it is revealed that allowing an Earth corporation to take over ownership of Mars would leave many of their leaders in power for years.  I think Ben is saying that lawyers care so little for what is truly factual and would rather swallow a camel than think in such a way that benefits their opponent, metaphorically of course. 

Entry 36: Stranger in a Strange Land

"What happened to the others?"
"If we don't break the bureaucrats loose from that log, we'll never know-and I am a starry-eyed newsboy who thinks we should. Secrecy begets tyranny."
"Ben, he might be better off if they gypped him out of his inheritance. He's very . . . unworldly."
"It's not that easy. Jill, you know the famous case of General Atomics versus Larkin, et al.? ...Think, Jill. By our laws, Smith is a sovereign nation-and sole owner of planet Mars"

Page 27

This quote is pulled from a very long discussion about the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the crew of spaceship, Envoy. I think this conversation will lead to Jill and Ben working together to learn more about what Smith's caretakers are trying to cover up. Jill works in the hospital he is being kept in so I think Ben may be using her to gain more sensational stories while occupying her with troubling background information. Jill seems more concerned for Smith's well being while Ben is out to protect him in a more American sense of the word-property wise.

Entry 35: Stranger in a Strange Land

"Jill looked at herself with satisfaction and took the bounce tube up to the roof.
She was looking for Ben Caxton when the roof orderly touched her arm. "There's a car paging you, Miss Boardman-that Talbot saloon."
"Thanks, Jack." she saw the taxi spotted for take-off, with its door open...The taxi was on automatic; its door closed and it took to the air, swung out of the circle and sliced across the Potomac"

Page 18

I initially picked this quote in order to pick on science fiction writers for trying too hard. Whenever a novel is set in the future people go to the roofs of their homes in order to travel, be it by hover board, flying car or bungee jacket. The authors try to turn life upside down around the reader in order to put them in the mindset to imagine grand unfamiliarities. When I looked into this quote more, I saw how important the Talbot saloon was. That make of car was built in the 1920's.  By placing it in the air, the top of a building this anachronistic element is a perfect touch.

Entry 34: Stranger in a Strange land

"Feel like breakfast?"
All symbols were in Smith's vocabulary but he had trouble believing that he had heard rightly. He knew that he was food, but he did not "feel like" food. Nor had he any warning that he might be selected for such honor. He had not known that the food supply was such that it was necessary to reduce the corporate group. He was filled with mild regret, since there was still so much to grok of new events, but no reluctance. 

Page 11

The diction in this book is well thought out. In this passage we get a tiny glimpse in to Valentine Michael Smith's brain and way of thinking. He was quick to learn how to communicate on Earth but he still thinks like a martian  He is unable to comprehend such a simple question and it brings up several complex thoughts. The word, "grok" seems to mean understand. It is used throughout the book by many characters, a made up word like "horrorshow" is used in place of good in A Clockwork Orange.

Entry 33: Stranger in a Strange Land

"Smith . . . is . . . not  . . . a . . . man."
"Huh? Explain yourself, Captain."
"Smith is an intelligent creature with the ancestry of a man, but he is more Martian than man. Until we came along he had never laid eyes on a man. He thinks like a Martian, feels like a Martian. He's been brought up by a race which has nothing in common with us-they don't even have sex. He's a man by ancestry, a Marian by environment. If you want to drive him crazy and waste that 'treasure trove,' call in your fatheaded professors. Don't give him a chance to get used to this madhouse planet..."
...
"One thing won't wait," said the Minister for Public Information...
"If we don't show the Man from Mars in the stereo tanks pretty shortly, you'll have riots, Mr. Secretary"

Page seven

So this is what made me really want to read this book. My friend, Jenna, told me a little bit about this book while we were talking about the philosophical elements of Science Fiction. The concept of a human that has never experienced Earth opens up so many possibilities and questions that are hard to fathom so early in the book.
The fact that society is so interested in Smith, the Man from Mars, becomes a major conflict for the first part of the book. Many news reporters and journalist try to circumvent the hospital's security to get a look at the martian. Gillian Boardman, a nurse at this hospital breaks the rule plainly pasted on the door, "No Female Visitors" in order to get a personal glimpse at the mysterious finding.