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A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder By James De Mille, Edlted by Daniel Burgoyne (Broadview Editions, 2011, 352PP, $22.95)
Reviewed by Michelle Yost
A Strange Manuscrìpt Found in a Copper Cylinder (1888) is not a new story, but with Daniel Burgoyne's insightful Introduction, footnotes and well-researched appendices, we come to appreciate the novel for its contemporary brilliance; significantly, that Strange MS is an older story than was commonly known. Published eight years after De Mille died (anonymously at first, to protect him, as a Canadian, against copyright infringement in America) the story, though well received, was also criticized for appearing to imitate already vogue hollow earth and arctic expedition narratives. What has only recently come to light in current scholarly studies is that this was in all likelihood one of De Mule's early works, dating from the 1860s, and abandoned to a drawer, unfinished, likely because De Mille could not think of an adequate conclusion that would draw all of the threads together.
It is still unfinished. A narrative framed within a narrative, Strange MS features a group of friends on a yacht stuck in calm waters who discover the 'copper cylinder' and its 'strange manuscript' written by Adam More, which they take turns reading to each other to pass the time. These breaks in the main narrative thread involve the friends debating the validity of the author's story, utilizing scientific theories of the day. Though it slows the story, the interludes are never too long and helpful to both contemporary and modern readers who have their own questions about More's narrative. Unfortunately, the ending comes about suddenly, with the third reader of the manuscript suddenly declaring that it is time...