Big Ears

beBooks: Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle (Published 1963)

Monkey Planet





If asked a couple of months ago, to name my favourite novels, I would certainly have included classics such as George Orwell's 1984 (1949) for the adept use of English in making a polemic and Robert Graves' I, Claudius (1934) for the way in which Classical machinations are brought to life, and might have balanced them with a pulp western by the Piccadilly Cowboy, Terry Harknett writing as George G. Gilman, Edge: The Loner (NEL 1973), that evokes spaghetti western-style imagery. Unforgettable science fiction work such as Robert Heinlein's The Puppet Masters (1951) or Brian Aldiss's Hothouse (1962) would be added. Now, having read it this summer, I would definitely add to the list another science fiction book, La Planète des Singes, known in English as Monkey Planet and later Planet of the Apes, which was written by French author Pierre Boulle (published in 1963). The novel was adapted into the famous Planet of the Apes films, initiating sequels, a TV series and recent remakes.




During the 'space race', which culminated in the success of the Apollo 11 mission, a number of original and imaginative cinema films and TV series were inspired, including: Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds (1964), Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek (1966), Irwin Allen's Lost in Space (1965) & Land of the Giants (1968), Kubrick and Clarke's 2001: a Space Odyssey (1968) and many others. Among these was the Planet of the Apes film (US 1968), starring Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowell, and directed by the talented Franklyn J. Schaffner (The Double Man 1967, Patton 1970 and Papillon 1973). The plot was mesmerising: a team of astronauts take-off in a Saturn spaceship, become inexplicably lost in space and return to what they think is Earth, but something is amiss and they discover they are on a world where roles are reversed and submissive humans are dominated by apes. Hitherto circumspect astronaut Charlton Heston becomes impatient and utters the so-called iconic film phrase, 'Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!' The conclusion to this first Planet of the Apes film, which I will not reveal, became equally famous (although for this journal writer was a disappointment). Like many fine novels made into Hollywood films, there are similarities, but several significant differences.

The novel is framed with the story of a couple 'sailing' in space, who discover and recover a message in a floating bottle. They learn the message was written by journalist Ulysse Mérou, who was invited by his friend Professor Antelle to accompany him, his assistant physician Arthur Levain and a chimpanzee, Hector, to the planet Betelgeuse on the opposite side of the universe. After two years of travelling close to the speed of light, they enter the orbit of a temperate, forested planet, near Betelgeuse, which they name Soror (Latin for sister). The crew descend by shuttle-craft to Soror's surface, where they can safely breathe the air. Unlike the film, they are not lost in space and time, although in common with Schaffner's work, the companions are inexplicably captured by a tribe of primitive humans.




Mérou strikes up a relationship with a beautiful girl called Nova, but she is terrified by Hector, whom she immediately and shockingly strangles to death. The tribe then, equally disconcertingly, set about destroying the shuttle, increasing the sense of the astronauts' isolation. An approaching disturbance in the woodland causes the humans, including their captives, to run towards a clearing. From a position of cover, Mérou is astonished to see gorillas dressed as hunters firing at the humans who have been driven by the 'beaters' into the open, 'There I lay for a moment or two as though floored by a blow, bludgeoned by a vision out of all proportion to my poor human mind.' Some fugitives reach the end of the clearing, while others are killed, including Arthur Levain. Mérou, Antelle and Nova are among those who make the crossing, but are captured with other survivors in nets. The apes sit in armchairs, smoke tobacco, photograph their hunting trophies, drink through straws, and appear utterly 'human'. Most disturbingly, they are clearly enjoying the kill.




Contrasting with the film, but consistent with the role reversal of apes and humans, the prisoners are transported by motorised vehicles to an urban biological research facility, where the unflinchingly simplistic tribespeople are subjected to experimentation and Pavlov's dog conditioning. Much of the novel is concerned with this period in which Ulysse Mérou is paired with Nova in a cage, from where he observes the apes' status system, strategies and politics. Their decadent society is divided into three classes: organisation gorillas, inflexible orang-utans and sophisticated chimpanzees. Humans are animals and thus do not constitute a class. Mérou succeeds in communicating, initially by geometrical drawings, with a researcher, Zira, who being a chimpanzee is imaginative (as opposed to the stubborn orang-utans), and with her help crucially learns the apes' language. An emotional relationship develops between them, causing Nova to be understandably jealous and revealing the fickle nature of Mérou. Boulle beautifully describes a number of touching scenes, revealing the closeness of the albeit cross-species couple, 'Ah, what matter this horrid material exterior! It is her soul that communes with mine.' If I reveal more it will be a spoiler, so you will have to read the book!

Pierre Boulle (20th February 1912 – 30th January 1994) is best known for two best-selling works, The Bridge over the River Kwai (1952) and Planet of the Apes (1963), that were both made into award-winning films. He was an engineer serving as a secret agent with the Free French in Singapore during World War 2, when he was captured and subjected to two years' forced labour. Boulle used these experiences to inform The Bridge over the River Kwai, about the notorious Death Railway. During the war, Japanese soldiers were sometimes (mistakenly) portrayed in Allied cartoons as anthropomorphic monkeys, in the same way as Hitler was often drawn as a comedy cowboy. It is my view that the irony was not lost on Boulle.




Why should you bother to read this book? First, if you enjoyed the original film; it is highly-regarded, but the book is better. By reading the novel, the shortcomings of compromise in order to make a Hollywood film are clear. For example, to save production costs, Schaffner abandoned the futuristic city and replaced it with a mediaeval and therefore less costly countryside. My example may seem trivial, but it downplays the sophistication and development of ape society, contrasted with the nagging naivety of humans. More profound is where Pierre Boulle concentrates for a number of chapters on the subtleties of differences and similarities at the research facility, whereas Schaffner opts for a narrative whereby an expedition is taken on horseback to a cave in the Forbidden Zone. With radical changes to events and characters comes a different story. If parts from most of the films could be edited together, with a few additions, they might come close to the novel. Exceptions would be the most recent, despite their technical achievements.




Second, Boulle writes eloquently in a clear, flowing and compelling style. A few words should also go to the sensitive French-to-English translation of Planet of the Apes by the cultured Major Xan Fielding DSO (26th November 1918 – 19th August 1991), a British author, translator, journalist and traveller, who served as an Special Operations Executive agent in Crete, France and the Far East during World War 2. I could only marvel at the accuracy of his efforts. Planet of the Apes is by turns a rattling good yarn, a moving tale of relationships, a scientifically based science fiction story and a polemic on the treatment of those who seem, but are not, inferior. Finally, the book provokes thought and will stay with you, even when you have moved on to other works of literary genius.

My copy was published by Vintage Books, an offshoot of Random House, with an anaglyphic 3D cover by Mick Brownfield, 'that leaps out at the reader when viewed using traditional red-and-blue glasses (which are included with each book).' Mine were missing!



Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle (Published 1963)
Translated into English by Xan Fielding
Originally La Planète des Singes, also known as Monkey Planet

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