It was 20 years ago that I first heard of Alfred Döblin. His magnificent novel _Berlin Alexanderplatz_ (please see my review) is often described, fairly and unfairly, as a German _Ulysses_. I had just read Joyce’s novel, so the connection piqued my curiosity. When I looked up Döblin in my _Encyclopædia Britannica_, it was this passage that caught my attention: “In his novel _Berge, Meere und Giganten_ (1924), he unfolds, with merciless satire, an apocalyptic vision of man’s future, in which nature revenges itself on man for having, through science, so radically invaded its domain.” I simply had to read this novel. Unfortunately, it was not available in English or Spanish, the two main languages in which I read. That was, as I said, 20 years ago. You can imagine my delight when I learned that _Mountains Oceans Giants_ had finally been translated into English. I am honored to be the first person to review this brilliant novel here.
A physician by profession, Döblin was a versatile, protean author if there ever was one. Consider the settings of some of his novels: China (_The Three Leaps of Wang Lun_), India (_Manas_), seventeenth-century Germany (_Wallenstein_), South America (the “Amazon trilogy”), twentieth-century Berlin (_Berlin Alexanderplatz_), England (_Tales of a Long Night_), and planet Earth (_Mountains Oceans Giants_). According to Jorge Luis Borges, Döblin declared in 1928 that “personality is nothing but a vain limitation,” and added that if his novels were to survive, he hoped that posterity would attribute them to four different authors. This approach almost goes against the very notion of “author.” Most readers follow a given author because they know more or less what to expect; Döblin is an author you follow because you don’t know what to expect.
Subtitled “A Novel of the 27th Century” in the English edition, _Mountains Oceans Giants_ is a future history of mankind. Borges makes the connection with H. G. Wells and Olaf Stapledon. C. D. Godwin, to whom we owe the masterful translation of the novel, adds the names of Zamyatin, Huxley, and E. M. Forster’s short story “The Machine Stops.” Döblin’s novel begins in medias res in a time of unrest, war, and uprisings. One of the first things you’ll notice is that there is no character that fits our concept of a protagonist. If the novel is a history, this makes perfect sense. Just as in “real” history, in _Mountains Oceans Giants_ important figures enter and exit the scene as time passes. Some who appear in the second half of the novel (Delvil, who is the closest thing to a villain, Kyrin, Ten Keir) remain until the very end, but they never become protagonists. Döblin’s novel made me wonder why we have this obsession with the central figure? It may be a reflection of our ego, as each of us sees him or herself as protagonist of his/her story, but look at how many great novels reject the individual protagonist: Woolf’s _The Waves_, Faulkner’s _The Wild Palms_, Pynchon’s _V._, Cela’s _The Hive_, Carpentier’s _The Kingdom of This World_, and more radically Kundera’s _The Book of Laughter and Forgetting_ and Tokarczuk’s _Flights_. In a sense, however, I would say Döblin’s novel has two protagonists: humanity in the first half of the novel, and nature in the second half.
If I had to describe the novel in one word, I would choose “exorbitant.” This text refuses to remain in orbit, it is free-floating, like a rogue planet. It is nevertheless not a messy text. Like all great science fiction, this novel chronicles not only a series of events, but also the development of ideas that respond to historical events and circumstances. Döblin describes future theories, such as the Wind and Water Theory, which seeks to do away with individualism and to shift to a collective mentality, since this is the way of nature. The author also understands the importance of inventions. “The sporadic arrival of new inventions was like the epidemics of earlier centuries that ravaged humanity, emptied cities,” the narrator says. One need only think about how something as “simple” as the internet has shaped our lives in the last couple of decades. The key invention in _Mountains Oceans Giants_ is a radioactive Tourmaline web, a source of energy that has devastating results.
Also like all great sci-fi, this novel covers all aspects of the human experience in the future: religion, economics, technology, etc. In addition to the authors mentioned above, I kept thinking of George Orwell, Frank Herbert, Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, J. G. Ballard, Margaret Atwood. Also of films like _Robocop_ (Paul Verhoeven, 1989) and _Akira_ (Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988). Döblin creates a future and a psychology to go with it. Food is synthetic, and people become used to it to the point that they are disgusted by real food. The family becomes an obsolete concept. Women gather in sororities and become a threat to men; the other side of the coin to _The Handmaid’s Tale_. For a moment, I was reminded of Angela Carter’s _The Passion of New Eve_ (1977). People resort to shamans, witchdoctors, because regular doctors are for the powerful. Speaking of power, _Mountains Oceans Giants_ exhibits a firm grasp of this concept, just as _Dune_ does.
I notice I have not said anything about plot. Döblin’s exorbitant novel presents a series of stories that illustrate a zeitgeist. The best way to describe it would be as a future history of humanity with interspersed episodes about influential people, about those who shape history. The novel also shows an understanding of how history eventually becomes fable and myth. It stresses the human need for myths, for stories that interpret and explain the world around us and our experience of it. The Melise and Betise episode from the beginning of the novel has become, halfway through the novel, a fable that another character, White Baker, hears. Döblin is like an Old Testament prophet here. One must remember the crucial role that the Bible plays in _Berlin Alexanderplatz_. The author, incidentally, was the son of assimilated Jews, and became a Catholic in the early 40s, when he was living in exile in Los Angeles.
The main conflict arises at the novel’s midpoint, when human beings try to tame nature and nature rebels, or rather reacts, as nature will. In this case, people want to melt the ice in Greenland. We have heard and continue to hear about the disastrous results of our desire to shape nature according to our wishes. Diverting the course of a river causes a drought in another place; damming a river destroys a whole ecosystem somewhere south; etc. Döblin’s language is like that of John Muir; his worldview, his cosmo-vision, maybe even like that of St. Francis of Assisi. He is, like Muir, great at describing nature in the move, kinetic nature, the processes whereby the world shapes itself. Like St. Francis, he is in awe, he is respectful. One of my favorite chapters in the novel is the last one of Part VII, the one titled “Emergent Life.” In it, nature gives birth to all sorts of monstrosities and hybrid creatures as a result of man’s abuse. _Mountains Oceans Giants_ is many things, but it is definitely a great environmentalist novel. It is in many ways like the story of Godzilla, especially towards the end. It was impossible for me at this point not to think of the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch. Then I realized he is mentioned in the description on the book’s flap, which I read only after I finished the novel.
Finally, a word on the edition. This is simply a beautiful book with great quality printing and binding. The translation and introduction by C. D. Godwin are an absolute delight. If you look at the table of contents, you will notice that parts III and IV are merged and abridged. The omitted passages deal primarily with Marduk and Jonathan--two friends tied by a complex, sado-masochistic bond--and their lovers. These episodes are so physical, carnal, but ultimately they are about the amalgamation of desire and power. They are a bit overlong and they halt the development of the story. In any case, if you are (like me) a completist, do not despair. You can visit Godwin’s website and read the omitted passages (42 pages of a pdf document) for free.
_Mountains Oceans Giants_ is one of the best novels I have read. I will even admit I enjoyed it more than I did the excellent _Berlin Alexanderplatz_. Both novels have confirmed my feeling that I need to explore the work of Alfred Döblin more in depth. His influence on the postwar generation of German writers was tremendous. If you’ll allow me a rather simplistic observation, I see the spirit of _Mountains Oceans Giants_ in the work of Günter Grass, and that of _Berlin Alexanderplatz_ in the work of Heinrich Böll. The novel remains relevant to this day.
My next book by Döblin will be _The Three Leaps of Wang Lun_.
Thanks for reading, and enjoy the book!
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