The Star Rover
by Jack London
This novel is listed in Neil Barron's "Anatomy of Wonder - An Historical Survey and Critical Guide to the Best of Science Fiction". But it is hard to classify what genre it really belongs in: Horror?, ... Suspense?, ... the Occult? ...Mysticism?
SPOILERS
Darrell Standing is an ex-agricultural professor serving a life sentence for murder. Standing recounts how as a youth he became aware that he had lived prior lives.
As the story unfolds he tells us how one Cecil Winwood sets him up for a hell-like prison existence. Winwood it seems, to get in good graces with the prison authorities, makes up a plot to smuggle dynamite into the prison. Caught in his fib, he informs the warden that Standing is only one who now knows where the non-existent explosives are hidden.
Standing withstands torture after torture as the warden tries to get information from him. The final device is a straight jacket placed around him for days on end.
Finally, he finds a way to put his body in a death-like coma and undergoes out-of-body experiences. In the end, he is hung for striking a prison guard.
I found reading this story difficult going at times. Portions of the book (especially those about his prison life) were engrossing. But I found myself wanting to gloss over the chapters where Standing drifts into his other incarnations. In the end, of course, I was left with wondering what "reality" to believe: did he have prior lives?, was the dynamite story merely the tale of a delusional man?, was he even ever a former professor?, etc.
The book was made into a 70 minute film in 1920 which is no longer extant. Told in the first person about the experiences of one man, I am curious how this could have been adapted into film. I have been able to find very little information about the movie itself. Don Willis in "Horror and Science Fiction Films" gives a very brief synopsis as follows: "Man accused of murder, subjected by police to the third degree, lives through previous incarnations on earth."
written: 10/23/2001