In Search of the Unknown

Robert W. Chambers

Language: English

uri

Library - Science Fiction and Fantasy Novel Project Gutenberg _bleiler _isfdb chapterbook novelette pgc shortfiction

Publisher: Harper & Brothers

Published: Jun 2, 1904

Page Count: 425

Description:

398. IN SEARCH OF THE UNKNOWN. +Harper; New York, 1904. Anon, frontispiece. Constable; London, 1905. Hyperion; Westport, Conn., 1974. Intro, by Sam Moskowitz. 
Short stories loosely integrated into a book. It is probable that there were earlier periodical publications not yet located. The stories center (with one exception) around Gilland, a zoologist at the Bronx Zoological Gardens, who is sent out on various expeditions by Professor Farrago, his chief. Gilland always manages to chase pretty women while doing his work. One of his job problems, however, is female liberation, for his position is perpetually threatened by ignorant termagants who for political reasons are put above him. Gilland travels extensively, although many of his exploits take place in imaginary locations. Titles to the individual stories are not present, but have been added in part from the Dover edition of The King in Yellow and Other Horror Stories, described below. 

*  Including [a] [ The Harbor-Master] (Ainslee's Magazine, August 1899) A letter arrives at the zoo, claiming that the writer has captured a breeding pair of great auks. Gilland believes that the letter is a hoax or a mistake, but is ordered to investigate. He heads north, perhaps around Hudson Bay, and finds the auks, an irascible invalid, and a pretty young secretary. More fantastic than the auks, though, is the so-called harbor-master, a sort of horrible merman with gills and a rubbery body. It purrs around the boat when the secretary is in it, obviously sexually attracted to her. Gilland has an inconclusive tussle with it. 

[b] [In Quest of the Dingue]. Gilland chances to meet a derelict who claims that he was in the far north when the Graham Glacier melted and that a pathway has been opened through the Hudson Mountains . 
*  Biologists from Darwin on (fictionally, of course) have suspected that many extinct animals survive behind the glacier, and Gilland leaps at the chance to explore. Unfortunately, the conversation was overheard by the horrible virago Professor Smawl, who already has a grudge against Gilland. When Farago resigns and Smawl assumes his position, things are rough for Gilland, all the more so when Smawl orders him to take her through the mountains. 
*  They find the dingue (an imaginary monotreme that clanks like a bell when shaken), and Professor Smawl is chased by a mammoth. The end of the story in equivocal, for the Spirit of the North, a gigantic mist-woman (like the figure in E. A. Poe's Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym) drives them out. 

[c] Is the Ux Extinct?], The ux is a gigantic (imaginary) bird once prevalent in Tasmania, but now believed to be extinct. Gilland is the representative of the Bronx Zoo at the International Scientific Congress of the Paris Exhibition of 1900. When the beautiful Countess d'Alzette delivers a paper claiming that the ux survives, Gilland, carried away by her charm, supports her, to the derision and dismay of his colleagues. 
*  She is right. She even has fertile eggs in an incubator. Trouble is near, how ever. The incubator breaks down, and the steam fitters go out on sympathy for a strike in America, 

[d] [Farrago's Fate]. Gil land is summoned to the Everglades on a mysterious quest. He is ordered to bring along a stout steel cage, a set of women's clothing, and some chemical whose purpose he does not understand. He learns on arrival that mysterious invisible monstrosities lurk in the swamp 
*  He, Farrago, and Miss Harrison (Gilland's beautiful secretary) set out apple pie for bait and trap the invisible animals which turn out, as Farago expected, to be a bevy of nude, invisible women. The women carry the unresisting Farrago off as they escape. Farrago must later return from their embraces, though, for he reappears in the stories in Police!!! 

[e] [A Matter of Interest]. Essentially the same story as "A Matter of Interest" in The Mystery of Choice, but now set in a frame, as told to Gilland. 
*  Amusing stories, perhaps Chambers's best extended work, and his sole reason, apart from The King in Yellow, to be remembered today. The stories are light and brisk, and a sense of fun emerges from them. Best of all, though, is Chambers's introductory verse beginning "Where the slanting forest eaves..."