In The Separation, Christopher Priest
related the story of two identical twin brothers, Joe and Jack Sawyer, and
their different experiences during World War II.
The story is set in three different time periods, the modern era,
when author Stuart Gratton is considering a book about the twins, 1936,
when the twins traveled to Berlin to compete in the Olympics, and during
the war itself.
After taking a bronze medal in the Olympics,
the brothers leave Germany and help Birgit Sattmann, a young Jewish girl
who has caught both men’s eyes, to escape from the Nazi régime.
Initially told through the eyes of Jack (JL), the story seems
reasonably straight forward as he tells of his own course of action,
becoming an RAF flyer while Joe became a conscientious objector.
Priest quickly introduces some questions about events, by
mentioning that the war ended on May 10, 1941, but then continuing the
story with the war continuing. Given
JL’s own role, it seems that he wasn’t speaking of the war ending only
for himself.
Nearly all the actual events which are
covered during the course of the book are very ambiguous. Confronted with
a plethora of contradictory facts, it quickly becomes apparent that Priest
is playing with the tropes of alternate history to present a world in
which the history is fractured. Different
outcomes result in different world histories and Priest has the desire to
follow several of them throughout the book.
Joe’s death in one version is averted in another, Birgit’s
marriage to Joe seems a constant, but the reader does begin to wonder if
Jack’s comment that he is married to her is true in one of the myriad
worlds Priest’s story touches.
Priest allows a couple of historical figures,
notably Winston Churchill and Rudolf Hess to appear in the course of the
novel. Rather than play up
the traditional views of these figures, Priest presents them through the
very different eyes of Jack and JL, with the result that Churchill is
seen, for instance, by turns as a great statesman and a warmonger.
The
Separation’s
greatest strength is Priest’s ability to portray all his characters, and
their motives and opinions, in a realistic manner.
Jack is not shown as a peace-at-all-costs activist, although there
is some of that, but rather as someone who, despite his understanding of
the situation, remains somewhat naïve.
JL is also shown as naïve, although about different things.
In the RAF, he is doing his duty and servicing his country as best
he can without worrying about the ethics which disturb his brother.
Throughout The Separation there is no
consensual reality except what the reader brings to the novel.
As the chapters pass, the situation changes for JL and Jack and the
world(s) which they inhabit. The reader is forced to see events which seemed
straightforward and understandable in a different light, whether during
the World War or in the person of Stuart Gratton who is writing about the
Sawyer brothers. However, given the constant switching of the world
and the characters, it is difficult for the reader to build any sympathy
for any given version of JL or Jack.
Priest believes in challenging his readers and The
Separation does an excellent job in this function. The story he
presents is riveting and the ideas which drive the story go beyond the
reasonably simple dichotomy of good versus evil which afflicts so many
alternative history novels. The characters are interesting, even if
there is little to connect the reader to an ultimate version of any of
them and as long as the reader can accept the unannounced reversals,
Priest's treatment of them shouldn't cause a problem to the ability to
enjoy the novel.
