Many casual readers may only know Philip José
Farmer’s writing from his popular “Riverworld” series of the
“World of Tiers” novels. However,
his writing and his legacy go far beyond either of those series or his
most famous short story, “The Lovers.” In fact, those works barely
merit a mention in Pearls from Peoria, Subterranean Press’s
massive 780 page retrospective of Farmer’s life and work.
Reading
Pearls from Peoria makes it clear that Farmer was eminently
concerned with myths and legends and their role in the human psyche.
His interest, however, didn’t manifest in the classical myths of
ancient Greece or even the Arthurian legends, so much as in the modern
myths created by the writers of the Victorian and pulp eras. Farmer’s
interest in these stories not only is clear in his own original fiction,
but also in what amounts to fan fiction he wrote and published, such as
his biographies of Tarzan and Doc Savage.Even
stories which don't directly continue the myths of these earlier writers
often pay homage to the heroes of yesteryear, such as the Ralph von Wau
Wau stories "A Scarletin Study" and "The Doge Whose Barque
Was Worst Than His Bite." Other essays focus on the writings of
Edgar Rice Burroughs or L. Frank Baum. However, the book also
includes numerous essays in which Farmer takes on the author he is most
familiar with: Philip José Farmer.
The biographical and critical essays which form the
two sections PJF on PJF not only show an awareness of his own writing, but
also demonstrate the lengths Farmer would go in his research, such as his
look at Richard Burton, the protagonist of the To Your Scattered Bodies
Go in the essay "A Rough Knight for the Queen." Farmer
also tackles his own relationship to others in the science fiction field,
such as Robert Heinlein.
While the stories which form a significant portion of
Pearls from Peoria are probably what will attract readers to this
volume (as well as its companion volume, the all-fiction The
Best of Philip José Farmer, published by Subterranean Press
earlier this year), the real value in the book is in the personal articles
Farmer has included. From the pages of fanzines to professional
magazines, they represent an author who is acutely aware of the traditions
of the genre in which he has chosen to write in a way which all too many
authors do not acknowledge.
Farmer's voice has been relatively quiet in recent
years, although between Subterranean Press and Monkeybrains, there may
well be a renaissance of his work underway at a time when Farmer, esconced
in Peoria, can still enjoy the knowledge that not only his own writing,
but the writing of the authors who influenced him and whom he clearly
adored, are being discovered by an entire new generation of fans.
