An angle on alien contact
By Andrea Wulf |
May 12, 2013, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
SET in the scorching heat of the Egyptian desert at the end of the 19th century, Ken Kalfus's new novel follows a fictional British astronomer's attempt to make contact with Mars. Hundreds of thousands of men are digging the gigantic equilateral triangle with which Sanford Thayer intends to send a signal to his fellow astronomers on the red planet. Once finished, each side will consist of a paved trench more than 300 miles long and exactly one seventy-third of Earth's circumference.
The trenches, five miles wide, are deep enough to be filled with a 12-inch layer of petroleum that will flow from 309 taps connected to a pipeline. The huge black triangle set against the white desert sand will prove the existence of terrestrial intelligence to the Martians, Thayer argues, because the equal-sided triangle is part of the two planets' "shared knowledge of trigonometry." The equilateral triangle is, he believes, the "basis for all human art and construction."
According to Thayer's calculations, the giant triangle needs to be finished by June 17, 1894, when Earth will be at its most advantageously visible from Mars. That night Thayer and his team will light the petroleum, creating a huge flare that will "petition for man's membership in the fraternity of planetary civilizations." Thayer is utterly convinced that his audacious enterprise will attract the attention and admiration of his distant, alien colleagues.
In "Equilateral," Kalfus, who was a National Book Award finalist for his previous novel, "A Disorder Peculiar to the Country," takes as his starting point the true story of late-19th-century astronomers who believed they had discovered elaborate artificial canal systems on Mars.
Kalfus cleverly moves from these historical facts to Thayer's brazen invented project, using them as stepping stones to tell the story of a spectacularly bold, obsessive and outrageously arrogant man. Since Mars is an older planet than Earth, Thayer says, he hopes to learn from the Martians how to "assemble the social, spiritual and material resources necessary to survive a dehydrating planet." But while his great triangle in the desert has been conceived to "benefit the whole of humanity," regardless of nation and religion, it's been financed by the so-called Mars Concession, an international consortium of shareholders and governments.
There is another triangle in this story, which may take the idea a little too literally - one involving Thayer; his loyal and smart secretary, Miss Keaton; and an alluring Arab servant girl who speaks no English.
At just over 200 pages, "Equilateral" sometimes feels too slender, its characters one-dimensional, leaving the reader with little emotional investment in Thayer and his companions. But Kalfus writes so well that his storytelling carries us along.
Toward the end, the narrative becomes darker and more complex, evolving into a more intricate fable, an exploration of man's hubris. As the world awaits word from the Martians, Thayer's dream of intergalactic communication and the progress of science turns into an economic equation. A majestic customs house is erected at one of the corners of the gigantic triangle, a fitting symbol of what this enterprise is really about: trade, exploitation, colonialism.
When it is announced that Herr Krupp, Mr. Rockefeller and Baron Rothschild are expected to join the officials assembled in the desert, it becomes clear that Thayer has served his purpose. From now on, "men of business will have to take center stage."
The trenches, five miles wide, are deep enough to be filled with a 12-inch layer of petroleum that will flow from 309 taps connected to a pipeline. The huge black triangle set against the white desert sand will prove the existence of terrestrial intelligence to the Martians, Thayer argues, because the equal-sided triangle is part of the two planets' "shared knowledge of trigonometry." The equilateral triangle is, he believes, the "basis for all human art and construction."
According to Thayer's calculations, the giant triangle needs to be finished by June 17, 1894, when Earth will be at its most advantageously visible from Mars. That night Thayer and his team will light the petroleum, creating a huge flare that will "petition for man's membership in the fraternity of planetary civilizations." Thayer is utterly convinced that his audacious enterprise will attract the attention and admiration of his distant, alien colleagues.
In "Equilateral," Kalfus, who was a National Book Award finalist for his previous novel, "A Disorder Peculiar to the Country," takes as his starting point the true story of late-19th-century astronomers who believed they had discovered elaborate artificial canal systems on Mars.
Kalfus cleverly moves from these historical facts to Thayer's brazen invented project, using them as stepping stones to tell the story of a spectacularly bold, obsessive and outrageously arrogant man. Since Mars is an older planet than Earth, Thayer says, he hopes to learn from the Martians how to "assemble the social, spiritual and material resources necessary to survive a dehydrating planet." But while his great triangle in the desert has been conceived to "benefit the whole of humanity," regardless of nation and religion, it's been financed by the so-called Mars Concession, an international consortium of shareholders and governments.
There is another triangle in this story, which may take the idea a little too literally - one involving Thayer; his loyal and smart secretary, Miss Keaton; and an alluring Arab servant girl who speaks no English.
At just over 200 pages, "Equilateral" sometimes feels too slender, its characters one-dimensional, leaving the reader with little emotional investment in Thayer and his companions. But Kalfus writes so well that his storytelling carries us along.
Toward the end, the narrative becomes darker and more complex, evolving into a more intricate fable, an exploration of man's hubris. As the world awaits word from the Martians, Thayer's dream of intergalactic communication and the progress of science turns into an economic equation. A majestic customs house is erected at one of the corners of the gigantic triangle, a fitting symbol of what this enterprise is really about: trade, exploitation, colonialism.
When it is announced that Herr Krupp, Mr. Rockefeller and Baron Rothschild are expected to join the officials assembled in the desert, it becomes clear that Thayer has served his purpose. From now on, "men of business will have to take center stage."
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