The Final Programme
0-85031-012-1 (UK first edition)
The Final Programme is a novel by British science fiction and fantasy writer Michael Moorcock. Written in 1965 as the underground culture was beginning to emerge, it was not published for several years. Moorcock has stated that publishers at the time considered it was "too freaky".[2]
It was the first of his Jerry Cornelius series of novels and stories[3] and was originally published in paperback in the US by Avon Books in 1968 then in London in hardback by Allison & Busby in October 1969.[1] It was made into a 1973 film of the same name (directed by Robert Fuest), but Moorcock was critical of the version released on the screen.[2]
Set in a world less abstract and chaotic than depicted in the later volumes, it introduces Jerry Cornelius as a hip super agent playboy and follows his adventures as he attempts to subvert a plot by his disreputable brother Frank and Miss Brunner to build a super computer for nefarious ends. Jerry is sucked into the plans of Miss Brunner to create the perfect being by merging the bodies of Jerry and herself together. When this is done, a radiantly charismatic hermaphroditic being emerges from the machinery. All who see the new creature fall quaking to their knees. As things turn out, Jerry discovers that "it's a tasty world".[4]
Contrary to the apparent chaos of the later Cornelius novels, The Final Programme is quite structured, being an alternative retelling of major episodes of the saga of Elric of Melniboné, with the various characters each taking roles similar to those of the earlier stories: Jerry as Elric, Catherine as Cymoril, and Miss Brunner as Stormbringer.
The first US edition (1968) of this work was censored.[5] The 1976 US edition of The Final Programme included an introduction by Norman Spinrad. The novel was first published in its revised form in 1979. In 2008 Moorcock published the original unpublished first draft of the first part of the novel as Phase 1: A Jerry Cornelius Story in his short story collection Elric:To Rescue Tanelorn published by Del Rey.
Notes
References
- Tuck, Donald H. (1978). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Chicago: Advent. p. 317. ISBN 0-911682-22-8.
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- The Dreaming City (1961)
- The Fireclown (1965)
- The Jewel in the Skull (1967)
- The Final Programme (1968)
- The Mad God's Amulet (1968)
- The Sword of the Dawn (1968)
- The Runestaff (1969)
- The Black Corridor (1969)
- Behold the Man (1969)
- The Chinese Agent (1970)
- The Eternal Champion (1970)
- Phoenix in Obsidian (1970)
- The Warlord of the Air (1971)
- A Cure for Cancer (1971)
- The English Assassin: A Romance of Entropy (1972)
- Elric of Melniboné (1972)
- Breakfast in the Ruins (1972)
- The Land Leviathan (1974)
- The Adventures of Una Persson and Catherine Cornelius in the 20th Century (1976)
- The Sailor on the Seas of Fate (1976)
- The Condition of Muzak (1977)
- Gloriana (1978)
- Byzantium Endures (1981)
- The War Hound and the World's Pain (1981)
- The Entropy Tango (1981)
- The Steel Tsar (1981)
- The Brothel in Rosenstrasse (1982)
- The Laughter of Carthage (1984)
- The Alchemist's Question (1984)
- The City in the Autumn Stars (1986)
- The Dragon in the Sword (1986)
- Mother London (1988)
- Jerusalem Commands (1992)
- King of the City (2000)
- Firing the Cathedral (2002)
- The Vengeance of Rome (2006)
- The Coming of the Terraphiles (2010)
- The Whispering Swarm (2015)
- The Time Dweller (1969)
- The Lives and Times of Jerry Cornelius (1976)
- The History of the Runestaff (1979)
- The Dancers at the End of Time (1981)
- A Nomad of the Time Streams (1982)
- The Opium General and other stories (1984)
- Elric: Song of the Black Sword (1995)
- The Metatemporal Detective (2007)
- Conan the Barbarian
- Michael Moorcock's Multiverse
- Tom Strong
- Corum Jhaelen Irsei
- Dorian Hawkmoon
- Elric of Melniboné
- Erekosë
- Eternal Champion
- Jerry Cornelius
- Multiverse
- Stormbringer
- Symbol of Chaos
- Ulrich von Bek
- Melniboné
- "Epic Pooh"
- "Kings in Darkness"
- The Land That Time Forgot
- New Worlds
- Airtight Garage
- The Chronicle of the Black Sword
- The Final Programme
- Elric: Battle at the End of Time
- Stormbringer RPG
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This article about a 1960s science fiction novel is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. See guidelines for writing about novels. Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page. |
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