Shadows in the Sun

© 1954 by Chad Oliver


Paul Ellery has a problem. See, he’s an anthropologist, and in between teaching gigs at minor league colleges, he’s doing something he thinks is clever. Most anthropologists go off to New Guinea or some South Pacific island for a year or two and study tribes that have never seen the white man before. Paul has a better idea, though. He’s going out to an out-of-the-way Texas town and will put his fellow Americans under the microscope. It seems that ain’t never been done before, and he’s curious as to what he may find.

Now, he’s doubting his sanity. For the past two months, the town has been on to him. It’s shutting him out. There may even be a vague menace behind it, or that may just be his imagination, growing more paranoid by the day. For Paul has discovered something strange about this town, name of Jefferson Springs. Something strange indeed.

If you’ve ever seen a certain famous black-and-white science fiction film of 1956, directed by Don Siegel and starring Kevin McCarthy, you’ll know where I’m going here.

[here be major spoilers!]

Relatively early on, by page 13 of my Ballantine paperback, actually, we discover what’s happening. Our suspicion proves correct, sort of. Used to the general dumbth-ness of the visual “sci-fi” media, we expect an alien invasion. A gooey, slithering, gross-out, disgusting, oozey monster takeover of our fair planet earth.

Well, Oliver does deliver a type of invasion. But remember, the man’s an anthropologist, so think with me for a moment.

Yes, aliens are invading earth.

But the aliens are – humans.

Oliver present a compelling case for the natural evolution of humanity on earthlike planets scattered throughout the galaxy. Even more so, humanity is a natural by-product of the earthlike planet orbiting the earthlike sun, so much so that it (we) have infected the entire galaxy. There are more people than there are places to live. So, quite quietly, humanity from the stars is slowly colonizing humanity from the cradle world called earth.

This is casually revealed to Paul by the “aliens.” What can Paul do? He can’t fight a galaxy-size force. He can’t enlist help from his fellow earthmen, for who would believe him? His choice is simply to forget it all and court insanity, or join these star-men and be sent to some sort of “re-education camp.”

The whole “re-education camp” thing made me think that the entire novel might be a metaphor for 50s cold war communism, but I think Oliver focuses more on what happens when a superior civilization encounters a more primitive one. One hundred percent of the time, we’ve been on that “superior” side, the winning side in these culture clashes. The most obvious example is the Indian tribes who’ve lost the culture war on the continental US by the end of the nineteenth century. Oliver turns the table on us and makes us the primitives who stand no chance against the superior invading force. In fact, these aliens are so advanced that there simply is no way to fight them.

Or is there?

Turns out, there isn’t. The main moral thrust of the novel is Paul’s decision. Does he join up or not? If he does, what can he do to fight the colonization? And – should he even fight the colonization. A lot of interesting questions are posed. A lot of interesting characterizations of the colonizing force come out, too, as Paul discovers they really do think of him as a primitive.

Very good novel in its originality, and its valiant attempt to take on some deep questions. Short and quick and surprisingly readable. I enjoyed Shadows in the Sun immensely and recommend it.

My grade: B+.

For my thoughts as I just began reading the novel, see here.