Edwin (or any other alias)'s Paper presented at Creative Fantasy in Religious Imagination

[Ted/Edwin/Eadwine/Herendil]

Here it is fwiw:

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Eschatology and Unfinished Business

- Edwin A. Scribner

When my wife read the abstract, she asked “What’s eschatology”? I said
“discourse relating to final matters. That usually means death – death
of a person or death of humankind, ie ‘the end of the world’.” If
that’s wrong then please disregard the title of this paper. In some
respects it is wrong if one believes in a life after death, but then
they surely envisage a life very different from the one here. And
envisage is all that is possible. As Edward Fitzgerald wrote
(presumably rephrasing Omar Khayyam):

Strange is it not that of the thousands who
Before us passed the Door of Darkness through,
None has returned to tell us of the Road
Which, to discover, we must travel too?

Thus it is only in speculative or religious literature that the detail
of life after death is seriously addressed. Thus it must be only in
this literature that one can find material on the topic of this paper.

Religious works tend not to deal with spirits returning to Earth after
death. Typically, and certainly for mainstream Christianity, the soul
goes elsewhere and stays elsewhere and there is no further interaction
with this world. Moreover the matter is considered beyond science.
Thus, to begin delving into the world, real or imagined, of the dead
returning in order to complete an unfinished work, or to redress a
past wrongdoing, one must look to speculative fiction.

I was involved in four “festivals of speculative fiction” organised by
the New South Wales Writers’ Centre in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. They
were named “Magic Casements” after the line in Keats’ “Ode to a
Nightingale”. I suggested the name as it encapsulated the notion of
looking through a window with the eyes of a speculative writer; such
looking could conjure up images beyond the real world. This is a
vision that many people hunger for and that writers of speculative
fiction - science fiction, fantasy and horror – can supply.

Unfinished business, in the context of death, can mean a variety of
things. It may mean an unfinished income tax return, unused food in
the refrigerator or perhaps a half completed business deal. Of greater
interest to posterity perhaps, are incomplete works of, eg,
literature, art, music, architecture and films. In music, Borodin’s
opera “Prince Igor”, Beethoven’s tenth symphony, Bruckner’s ninth
symphony, Elgar’s third symphony, Mahler’s tenth symphony, Schubert’s
seventh symphony (not his eighth which, though called the
“unfinished”, is in fact considered to have been conceived with only
the two movements that exist), Sibelius’s eighth symphony,
Tschaikovsky’s third piano concerto and Bach’s “The Art of the Fugue”
were considered incomplete at the death of the composer. Some musical
works have been finished by others, leading to the question of who
really deserves the title of composer. “Prince Igor” was completed by
Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazanov, but when the opera is performed its
composition is usually attributed only to Borodin. Beethoven’s tenth
symphony was in such an early stage that it’s “completion” by Barry
Cooper is not considered a work of Beethoven at all though its origins
are acknowledged.

To cite literary instances of “return from death”, I need go no
further than “The Lord of the Rings”. Perhaps the classic quote to
illustrate what this paper addresses would be the words of Gandalf
when, some 15 or so days after the Company of the Ring saw him fall
into the Abyss in Moria, he appeared in the forest in front of
Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli. Having recounted the outcome of his fight
with the Balrog, Gandalf hinted darkly at experiences beyond Middle-
Earth that “would not tell”, following that with: “Naked I was sent
back – for a brief time until my task is done …”. As well as Gandalf,
in The Lord of the Rings we meet the Dead Men of Dunharrow – doomed to
remain in Middle Earth as spirits until the next ruler of the Reunited
Kingdom should require the service of them. They supplied this service
to Aragorn and then were able to go where the souls of men go. Also we
meet the Ringwraiths – souls of men bound in the servitude of Sauron,
but finally liberated from Middle-Earth by the destruction of the
Ruling Ring, which event rendered Sauron impotent for a very long
time. And we meet the Barrow Wights – imprisoned by the Witch King of
Angmar (aka the Lord of the Nazgul or the chief Ringwraith) until
freed by Tom Bombadil.

But perhaps the most interesting “return for a limited time” in
Tolkien’s works was not in The Lord of the Rings but in The
Silmarillion, and was the story of Beren and Luthien. This came from
“The Lay of Leithian”, a long poem, written by Tolkien in his 20’s and
comprising rhyming couplets of iambic tetrameter (though the metre is
fairly loose and the rhyme sometimes degenerates to assonance). Sadly
it was not finished nor, to my knowledge, has anyone else attempted to
finish it, but Tolkien had written the full story in prose and that
was in the Silmarillion version, reconstructed by Christopher Tolkien
and Guy Gavriel Kay, and published in 1976. After many hazardous
adventures, including confrontation with Morgoth Bauglir, the Prince
of Evil himself, and on the brink of ultimate victory, Beren was
killed. But Luthien, child of an Elf and an “Angel” (“Ainu” in
Tolkien’s subcreation), died “in sympathy” and her soul (Fea)
importuned Mandos, the Custodian of souls (the custody was temporary
in the case of Men) to allow Beren life again. In a decision given
only once in the history of Middle-Earth the couple were allowed to
live in wedlock, but Luthien had to renounce her earthly immortality
(as later so did Arwen) and in due course they both died natural
deaths.

A disembodied soul or spirit is, when it can be detected, referred to
as a ghost. Once the words spirit and ghost were equivalent, but
folklore has over the years endowed ghosts with certain attributes
that tend to distinguish them semantically from spirits. Some ghosts
can be seen, others not, while still others can be seen or not, by
their own wills or by the wills of whatever or whoever is controlling
them. Typically ghosts have little power but those that do have power
may inspire great fear, since defence against them may appear
impossible. In the three stories I’ve chosen as examples of spirits
that have returned to Earth for a limited time in order to complete a
task or redress an iniquity, there is little malevolence shown, either
by the ghosts to those with whom they interact, or to the ghosts. I
shall now take the stories in chronological order of publication.

Carousel (first performed in 1945).

Ferenc Molnar, a Hungarian playwright and novelist, wrote a play
called “Liliom” which was published in 1908 and the English
translation published in 1921. The plot of Liliom was used as the
basis for composer Richard Rodgers and librettist-lyricist Oscar
Hammerstein II to write the musical “Carousel”, first staged in 1945.
The plots of Liliom and Carousel are very similar except in the major
issue of where the principal male character was sent after death. In
both cases, however, he was allowed back to Earth for a short time in
order to redress the consequences of his actions before he died (by
his own hand).

In the first part of the story, Boy met Girl and they fell in love,
though circumstances and the actions of other characters made this
love affair difficult. Nevertheless they did get married and the woman
bore a child (a girl) before they found themselves in such financial
straits that the man was forced to consider desperate measures to get
money and, with an accomplice, planned a robbery. The robbery went
horribly wrong and, though the accomplice got away, the man was
trapped. He avoided being taken alive by stabbing himself. I’ll now
follow the fortunes of Billy Bigelow in Carousel, then briefly
summarise the difference between him and his Molnar play counterpart,
Liliom.

Billy arrived at Heaven’s Gate, but was barred from entering (I note
in passing that “Heaven’s Gate” or “The Pearly Gates” is probably the
setting for more jokes than any other place, perhaps because there is
a desire to laugh at what might otherwise be feared, or perhaps simply
because of a lack of any real knowledge, so the pearly gates can be
made to fit any desired image). After some haggling, Billy was allowed
to return to Earth for a short time, but the return was set fifteen
years ahead in Earth time, so that the child of his marriage was a
teenager. She was rebellious and angry, and had been snubbed by much
of the community because of the exploits of her father. Billy could
make himself visible or invisible to specific onlookers. He revealed
himself to his daughter but hid from Julie (his widow – Liliom’s wife/
widow was also named Julie). He claimed to be a friend of her father
and offered her a present – a star he stole from Heaven (the “star”
being a “star-shaped” shiny object a few inches across – it’s notable
that stealing this star did not appear to constitute a misdemeanor)
but she refused and he slapped her face. Later she revealed that the
slap actually felt like a kiss.

Then he became invisible. In this state he talked to Julie and
declared his love for her. He then (still invisible) attended his
daughter’s graduation ceremony, at which the whole town snubbed her,
allowing her to receive her graduation papers in silence where
everyone else was clapped. However the dignitary who delivered the
graduation address warned the graduates not to depend on parents’
success or be held back by parents’ mistakes. This well known
dignitary bore a striking resemblance to one of the angels in the
Heaven scene, although nothing to link the two was said. While still
remaining invisible, Billy spoke to his daughter, urging her to self
confidence. His words, said at just the right time, served to bolster
her self-esteem, and this act redeemed Billy who was then admitted to
Heaven.

From the time of his suicide, Liliom’s fate was sundered from that of
Billy. He went to what appeared to be Purgatory where he spent fifteen
years (apparently time passes there while in Heaven time can be
changed at will) and he failed to alter the course of his daughter’s
life, so he was consigned to Hell for all eternity.

Incidentally, Richard Rodgers might have had his career as a composer
cut short by the death of his former collaborator, Lorenz Hart, but
Oscar Hammerstein II filled that void and, as they say, the rest is
history. The end of the collaboration came, not with death but with
the “vein worked out”. Their last musical, The Flower Drum Song,
suffered the same fate as Gilbert and Sullivan’s last operetta, The
Grand Duke, being generally acknowledged as their worst collaboration.

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (first published 1987).

Douglas Adams stands tall in the field of tongue-in-cheek satirical
science fiction. Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman have to some extent
filled the void left by his untimely death at age 48, but he has been
sorely missed by his many fans. He wrote five books in the “Hitch-
Hiker Trilogy” (his words), plus collaborations in a facetious
dictionary ("The Meaning of Liff") and a book on environmental
awareness ("Last Chance to See"), and books about Dirk Gently and his
Holistic Detective Agency. Of the second, “The Long Dark Tea-time of
the Soul” nothing bears directly on this paper. Relevant to the topic,
however, was the third book, “The Salmon of Doubt”. Adams died with it
unfinished (eleven chapters were written). These were published
posthumously, along with short stories, essays and interviews, under
the title “The Salmon of Doubt”. The first Dirk Gently book involves
both ghosts and time travel. This latter aspect makes a resumé
distinctly difficult, but the importance to the topic justifies taking
the challenge.

Following the time line rather than the story line, it all began
several billion years ago, when a space ship crashed into Earth. On it
were beings called Salaxalans, sick of their home planet and intent on
finding another home, plus an automaton known as an Electric Monk. The
crash was due to mistakes and poor management by the engineer, plus
faults in the Electric Monk. All were killed in the crash which,
however, caused new and widespread chemical reactions to start in the
earth’s seas, and this eventually led to life evolving on Earth.
Because of his lack of care and attention to his job, the Engineer was
condemned (though by what Authority is not mentioned) to wander the
Earth and observe the consequences of his folly (us J). We hear little
directly from this ghost, but it is his actions that direct the course
of important subsequent events.

In the early nineteenth century, the ghost discovered that there was a
time machine on Earth, in the possession of one Professor Reg
Chronotis of St Cedd’s College, Cambridge (that’s a little known
college – don’t go looking for it!) who is unable to use it. The ghost
also found that he has limited power to influence certain human minds.
He managed to control the mind of Samuel Taylor Coleridge to the
extent of getting him to write additional material in the poems “Kubla
Khan” and “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, which contained
instructions on fixing the space ship (when in its pre-crash state).

Into the 20th century, and the ghost managed to get Chronotis to use
the time machine, to travel to a distant planet, pick up, and return
with, an Electric Monk. The Monk, however, turned out to be unreliable
so the ghost let it go on Earth. Then the ghost found that he could
gain influence over the mind of one Michael Wenton-Weakes, who had
just lost his job as editor of a magazine. The ghost got Wenton-Weakes
to kill his former boss, Albert Ross, and then got him to read
Coleridge’s works with a view to have Prof. Chronotis transport him
back to the time before the crash, with a view to his avoiding it thus
preventing the development of life on Earth.

The Electric Monk, thinking that he was carrying out his order
correctly, shot and killed Gordon Way, president of Way Forward
Technologies II. From this point there followed a detailed description
of the thoughts and feelings of a ghost as the ghost of Gordon Way
attempted to carry out various tasks aimed at bringing his affairs to
some reasonable sort of conclusion. This involved delivering a message
to his sister, Susan, to whom he was talking by phone just before the
time of his death. While doing this, he became an immaterial (my word)
witness to the murder of Albert Ross. Later he got the message of this
murder to Susan then, having completed his unfinished business,
disappeared or was taken to whatever destination befitted him.

Richard McDuff, an employee of Way Forward Technologies and a friend
of Reg Chronotis, was dating Susan Way at this time and he realised
that he was a potential suspect in the murder of Gordon Way. He
attempted to remove potentially incriminating evidence from Susan’s
phone answering machine. He was caught in the act by his friend Svlad
Cjelli, aka Dirk Gently, of the one man detective agency that is the
title of the book. He owned up to Gently and gave an account of his
actions. Dirk Gently, using the “holistic” approach (“all things
affect each other”), deduced that (a) a ghost and (b) a time machine
must figure in the action.

Reg Chronotis admitted to having the time machine, but Michael Wenton-
Weakes confronted him while still possessed by the Ghost of the
Engineer. Michael convinced Reg and Richard to go back in time to
before the space ship crash, with a view to fixing it. However,
Richard then learned from Susan about the murder of Albert Ross, and
they realised that, were the space ship not to crash, no life would
have evolved on Earth. They managed to go back to Coleridge’s time and
alter the words of “Kubla Khan” and “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”
so as to prevent Michael from having the correct instructions when he
reached the space ship. (was one of these two the mysterious “person
from Porlock”?) Note that he carried these instructions from the 20th
century).

After the time travel, Dirk, Richard and Reg arrived back in the
present and found some minor changes but life was generally as they
had remembered it, except that (mercifully) the time machine no longer
worked. Dirk Gently wrote off the Case of Saving Humankind as “no
charge”.

The Sixth Sense (released 1999).

M. Night Shyamalan, writer and director (born in India, now living in
the USA), made his reputation with this psycho-drama film which won a
“Nebula” (award bestowed annually by the Science Fiction Writers of
America) fin the category of best film script, and was nominated for
six Academy Awards. While Carousel’s ghost was capable of being
visible or invisible at will, and in Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective
Agency the two ghosts were substantially invisible, in The Sixth Sense
the main “ghost” was indistinguishable from a normal living man,
except by those who had the “sixth sense”, or the ability to “see dead
people”.

The principal character is child psychologist Dr Malcolm Crowe (played
by Bruce Willis). In the first scene he arrived home with his wife
after being publicly honoured for his work with children. However, one
Vincent Grey, a former patient, was waiting for them and he shot Crowe
in the stomach before turning the gun on himself. Apparently he had
not been helped in past sessions with Crowe, and his anger and
frustration had boiled over. This scene ended abruptly.

Many months later, Malcolm Crowe had a patient, nine year old Cole
Sear, who had a condition similar to Vincent Grey’s. He was shown
concentrating on this boy, presumably not wanting the failure over
Vincent to be repeated. Meanwhile, due to his neglect, the
relationship with his wife was coming apart. Cole eventually confided
in him that he could “see dead people”. Sceptical at first, Malcolm
came to believe Cole. One night, as he was listening to a tape he had
made with Vincent, he heard the “pleading voices of dead people” in
the background and he realised that Vincent had had this ability too.
He suggested to Cole that he might find a purpose for his gift, in
talking to ghosts, perhaps to aid the completion of unfinished
business. At first Cole did not like the idea as ghosts scared him,
but later he resolved to try.

Cole then talked to the ghost of a girl, who appeared very sick. He
discovered where she lived and went to the house during the funeral.
The ghost appeared and showed Cole a box that contained a videotape.
The tape showed that, while the girl was bedridden with an illness,
the mother was poisoning her food, and it was the poisoning that led
to her death. Emboldened by the obvious value of this discovery, Cole
told his mother about it. She didn’t believe him at first but Cole
told her certain stories concerning her mother - stories which Cole
could not possibly know unless he could talk to her mother, and his
mother accepted the undeniable fact.

Malcolm’s self esteem was much enhanced and restored by his success
with Cole, and he returned home where his wife was asleep on the
couch. Her hand released Malcolm’s wedding ring. Malcolm was revealed
as being a ghost himself, having been killed by Vincent Grey in the
first scene. Clearly this “ghost” was indistinguishable from living
flesh and blood to all but those with the “sixth sense”. However,
thanks to Cole’s actions, Malcolm’s unfinished business was now
complete. He released his wife from him so she could move on with her
life, and he prepared to leave the world of the living.
______________

These three examples of the spirits of dead people returning to
complete unfinished business are a diverse trio and show that such a
theme can occur in a variety of media – book, stage and screen. Just
how it bears on reality, though, is likely to remain as hidden as the
other irresoluble mysteries behind the event that will in due course
overtake us all.