What do you think?
Rate this book
Pyat Quartet / Between the Wars #3
Jerusalem Commands: The Third Volume of the Colonel Pyat Quartet
Back in print for the first time in 30 years, this epic and hilariously comic adventure follows the fictional Colonel Pyat through real historical settings as he fumbles and forces his way through life as an antihero everyman, leaving a trail of wreckage as he passes through some of the most chilling moments of the 20th century. This thrilling third installment of the Pyat quartet sees Pyat hitchhiking across the United States, acting in Hollywood, and avoiding perverts in Cairo. As Pyat schemes and fantasizes his way from cult success to sexual degradation, he pulls strength from his wild dreams and profligate inventions. Nazi, addict, and rebel, Pyat weaves a complicated tapestry of lies and deceit, wherein the reader discovers that this wild farce becomes a lens for focusing universal and uncomfortable truths about society and man.
496 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
4 people are currently reading
204 people want to read
About the author
Michael Moorcock
1,204 books3,688 followersMichael John Moorcock is an English writer primarily of science fiction and fantasy who has also published a number of literary novels.
Moorcock has mentioned The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Apple Cart by George Bernard Shaw and The Constable of St. Nicholas by Edward Lester Arnold as the first three books which captured his imagination. He became editor of Tarzan Adventures in 1956, at the age of sixteen, and later moved on to edit Sexton Blake Library. As editor of the controversial British science fiction magazine New Worlds, from May 1964 until March 1971 and then again from 1976 to 1996, Moorcock fostered the development of the science fiction "New Wave" in the UK and indirectly in the United States. His serialization of Norman Spinrad's Bug Jack Barron was notorious for causing British MPs to condemn in Parliament the Arts Council's funding of the magazine.
During this time, he occasionally wrote under the pseudonym of "James Colvin," a "house pseudonym" used by other critics on New Worlds. A spoof obituary of Colvin appeared in New Worlds #197 (January 1970), written by "William Barclay" (another Moorcock pseudonym). Moorcock, indeed, makes much use of the initials "JC", and not entirely coincidentally these are also the initials of Jesus Christ, the subject of his 1967 Nebula award-winning novella Behold the Man, which tells the story of Karl Glogauer, a time-traveller who takes on the role of Christ. They are also the initials of various "Eternal Champion" Moorcock characters such as Jerry Cornelius, Jerry Cornell and Jherek Carnelian. In more recent years, Moorcock has taken to using "Warwick Colvin, Jr." as yet another pseudonym, particularly in his Second Ether fiction.
Moorcock has mentioned The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Apple Cart by George Bernard Shaw and The Constable of St. Nicholas by Edward Lester Arnold as the first three books which captured his imagination. He became editor of Tarzan Adventures in 1956, at the age of sixteen, and later moved on to edit Sexton Blake Library. As editor of the controversial British science fiction magazine New Worlds, from May 1964 until March 1971 and then again from 1976 to 1996, Moorcock fostered the development of the science fiction "New Wave" in the UK and indirectly in the United States. His serialization of Norman Spinrad's Bug Jack Barron was notorious for causing British MPs to condemn in Parliament the Arts Council's funding of the magazine.
During this time, he occasionally wrote under the pseudonym of "James Colvin," a "house pseudonym" used by other critics on New Worlds. A spoof obituary of Colvin appeared in New Worlds #197 (January 1970), written by "William Barclay" (another Moorcock pseudonym). Moorcock, indeed, makes much use of the initials "JC", and not entirely coincidentally these are also the initials of Jesus Christ, the subject of his 1967 Nebula award-winning novella Behold the Man, which tells the story of Karl Glogauer, a time-traveller who takes on the role of Christ. They are also the initials of various "Eternal Champion" Moorcock characters such as Jerry Cornelius, Jerry Cornell and Jherek Carnelian. In more recent years, Moorcock has taken to using "Warwick Colvin, Jr." as yet another pseudonym, particularly in his Second Ether fiction.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 6, 2020
The Voice and the Conscience of Civilisation
The third volume of the Pyat Quartet reiterates (or repeats, depending on your point of view) aspects of the first two novels, while continuing the colonel’s adventures around the world of the early twentieth century (from late 1924 to 1929).
Throughout the novel, Pyat is known as Max Peters (or Peterson), a self-described “man of vision". He declares upfront with characteristic hubris that:
Later, he repeats, “I am a child of my century and as old as my century. I am the voice and the conscience of civilised Europe. My achievements are a matter of history. A record...”
Infinite Tolerance and Sensitivity
Max continues to deny that he is a “racialist":
Still, the text is peppered with pompous racist generalisations:
A Risk-Taker, A Restless Seeker
Max claims to be a wanderer, “an adventurer, a risk-taker, a restless seeker after fresh experience.”
Max starts a career in film in Hollywood, where he becomes a screenwriter and an actor. He believes he is even more refined and better looking than Rudolf Valentino (whom he describes as “a posturing braggart, full of boasts and false claims"). He (Max) becomes “a prince, a star, a man of substance and influence to rival all the other great aristocrats of Hollywood whom I admired, especially DW Griffith".
He is equally vain about his appearance: “I am lucky enough to have brains and talent and good looks...”
Soft Flesh Indulgences
Of course, he indulges in the Hollywood lifestyle as much as possible, despite his personal commitments:
Max describes Hollywood as “his Promised Land", Jerusalem, “the Levant's home-away-from-home” and a new Byzantium.
Samuel Goldfish decides to fund a film project that will star Mrs Cornelius (now Gloria Cornish), Max and his fiancee Esme (with whom he has re-established contact after the uncertainty at the end of the second novel). It's an Egyptian epic (“Flame of the Desert"), which they plan to shoot in Cairo.
The film project comes to a premature end, and Max flees to Marrakech, from where he hopes to reach Casablanca, Tangier and eventually Rome (the setting of the final book in the quartet).
Visionary Language
Moorcock's language is at its most evocative when he describes the African cityscape and landscape.
Max visualises Tangier as “a silvery perfection, a city framed in the foliage of cypresses, poplars and palms, her terraces occasionally broken by the golden dome of a mosque or the vivid blue of some caid's summer home, the dignified green of Royalty, and this all festooned with natural draperies of violet, scarlet and deep ultramarine, of vivid ferns and vines, shrubs, grasses and brilliant pines, all ranked above us on seven hills, a Roman's dream of tranquility, a Christian's dream of heaven, the promise of a new world order.”
In contrast, he captures the smell of Cairo:
Erotic Voyagers and Sexplorers
Max has sexual encounters with two additional women while in Africa. The first is al-Habashiya (“Queen of the Damned") who is described as a transvestite and then as an hermaphrodite. She is a demonic and domineering Beast. These scenes are reminiscent of de Sade and Kathy Acker. The second is an attractive young balloonist called Rosie von Bek, who is on official business for the Royal Italian Geological Society. Max soon reflects on the three women in his life:
Max describes himself and Rosie as “sexual voyagers” and “erotic explorers”. The descriptions of their love-making verge on the pornographic.
He continues to refer to Mrs Cornelius as “my guardian angel, my greatest friend, my conscience and my confidant.” She's a Cockney who “can be overly down-to-earth" (though, at times, he describes her as an “Earth Goddess" and a “woman of the world") and regards her own film career as “a bit of a larf.”
Surprisingly, Max professes to believe in the power of love (over ideologies and religion):
Penultimate Impressions
Despite the repetition, the novel contains much beautiful and thought-provoking writing, and left me intrigued as to how the quartet might conclude.
SOUNDTRACK:
The third volume of the Pyat Quartet reiterates (or repeats, depending on your point of view) aspects of the first two novels, while continuing the colonel’s adventures around the world of the early twentieth century (from late 1924 to 1929).
Throughout the novel, Pyat is known as Max Peters (or Peterson), a self-described “man of vision". He declares upfront with characteristic hubris that:
“I am the voice and the conscience of civilised Europe. I am all that remains. But for me, and a few like me, Christendom and everything she stands for would today be no more than a forbidden memory!”
Later, he repeats, “I am a child of my century and as old as my century. I am the voice and the conscience of civilised Europe. My achievements are a matter of history. A record...”
“I continue as best I can to lift high the Torch of Christian Civilisation against the Darkness of the Beast...I at least have my voice, my memory, our history; and I have survived to tell the truth of it.”
Infinite Tolerance and Sensitivity
Max continues to deny that he is a “racialist":
“I have always said that I was born without prejudice...I mean no harm to any individual of any race. I am a man of infinite tolerance and sensitivity to the feelings of others.”
Still, the text is peppered with pompous racist generalisations:
“By stopping the spread of Hellenism through the Semitic world, the Jews paved a way for crueller, more primitive Islam.”
A Risk-Taker, A Restless Seeker
Max claims to be a wanderer, “an adventurer, a risk-taker, a restless seeker after fresh experience.”
Max starts a career in film in Hollywood, where he becomes a screenwriter and an actor. He believes he is even more refined and better looking than Rudolf Valentino (whom he describes as “a posturing braggart, full of boasts and false claims"). He (Max) becomes “a prince, a star, a man of substance and influence to rival all the other great aristocrats of Hollywood whom I admired, especially DW Griffith".
He is equally vain about his appearance: “I am lucky enough to have brains and talent and good looks...”
“I was everything that city [L. A.] most admired. I had looks, success, brains, imagination and my own starring part in feature films.”
Soft Flesh Indulgences
Of course, he indulges in the Hollywood lifestyle as much as possible, despite his personal commitments:
“So many stimulants and narcotics were involved that I have only the haziest memories of soft flesh, of wild hair, of sweat, of jewellery and a confusion of discarded silk.”
Max describes Hollywood as “his Promised Land", Jerusalem, “the Levant's home-away-from-home” and a new Byzantium.
Samuel Goldfish decides to fund a film project that will star Mrs Cornelius (now Gloria Cornish), Max and his fiancee Esme (with whom he has re-established contact after the uncertainty at the end of the second novel). It's an Egyptian epic (“Flame of the Desert"), which they plan to shoot in Cairo.
The film project comes to a premature end, and Max flees to Marrakech, from where he hopes to reach Casablanca, Tangier and eventually Rome (the setting of the final book in the quartet).
Visionary Language
Moorcock's language is at its most evocative when he describes the African cityscape and landscape.
Max visualises Tangier as “a silvery perfection, a city framed in the foliage of cypresses, poplars and palms, her terraces occasionally broken by the golden dome of a mosque or the vivid blue of some caid's summer home, the dignified green of Royalty, and this all festooned with natural draperies of violet, scarlet and deep ultramarine, of vivid ferns and vines, shrubs, grasses and brilliant pines, all ranked above us on seven hills, a Roman's dream of tranquility, a Christian's dream of heaven, the promise of a new world order.”
In contrast, he captures the smell of Cairo:
“The mightiest city in Africa, Cairo smells of coffee, mint, sewage, camel-dung and raw saffron; of jasmine, patchouli and musk; of lilac and roses; of kerosene and motor oil. And she smells of the far desert and of the deep Nile. She smells of ancient bones.”
Erotic Voyagers and Sexplorers
Max has sexual encounters with two additional women while in Africa. The first is al-Habashiya (“Queen of the Damned") who is described as a transvestite and then as an hermaphrodite. She is a demonic and domineering Beast. These scenes are reminiscent of de Sade and Kathy Acker. The second is an attractive young balloonist called Rosie von Bek, who is on official business for the Royal Italian Geological Society. Max soon reflects on the three women in his life:
“The first is Esme, the innocent, wondering Esme, my sweet sister, my little girl; the second is Mrs Cornelius, whom I loved for her sanity and her deep relish for ordinary life; the third is Rosie von Bek.”
Max describes himself and Rosie as “sexual voyagers” and “erotic explorers”. The descriptions of their love-making verge on the pornographic.
He continues to refer to Mrs Cornelius as “my guardian angel, my greatest friend, my conscience and my confidant.” She's a Cockney who “can be overly down-to-earth" (though, at times, he describes her as an “Earth Goddess" and a “woman of the world") and regards her own film career as “a bit of a larf.”
Surprisingly, Max professes to believe in the power of love (over ideologies and religion):
“[Mutual] love alone will save us, in the end – not ideologies, not even religion – but love, decent, honest, human love of one for another, all for one and one for all!”
Penultimate Impressions
Despite the repetition, the novel contains much beautiful and thought-provoking writing, and left me intrigued as to how the quartet might conclude.
SOUNDTRACK:
December 12, 2012
Originally published on my blog here in August 2001.
The third Pyat novel is largely set in North Africa, where he travels, in the guise of Hollywood star Max Peters, to make a film on location in Egypt. It is a real exhibition of Moorcock's talent as well as a superb evocation of twenties life.
As the series progresses, the extent to which Pyat's memoirs are fantasy becomes more apparent. The unpleasantness of his views and his total self-centredness have never been in doubt, but continue to be underlined. He manages to proceed from one self-wrought disaster to another, but still remains convinced that all his visions will come true, that he only fails through the treachery of others and the determination of the Jews to destroy him. (One thing which isn't quite clear, deliberately, is how much the attitudes of the old man writing his memoirs in Notting Hill in the mid seventies are imputed to his twenty five year old self, as though nothing has changed.)
Though Flashman remains the clearest influence, in this particular novel T.E. Lawrence is clearly a reference point. In the section on Pyat's captivity and degradation at the hands of the man who insists that he be called "God", de Sade is also important. As before in this set of novels, though, Moorcock distils something different from his influences, creating a powerful historical narrative and character study.
The third Pyat novel is largely set in North Africa, where he travels, in the guise of Hollywood star Max Peters, to make a film on location in Egypt. It is a real exhibition of Moorcock's talent as well as a superb evocation of twenties life.
As the series progresses, the extent to which Pyat's memoirs are fantasy becomes more apparent. The unpleasantness of his views and his total self-centredness have never been in doubt, but continue to be underlined. He manages to proceed from one self-wrought disaster to another, but still remains convinced that all his visions will come true, that he only fails through the treachery of others and the determination of the Jews to destroy him. (One thing which isn't quite clear, deliberately, is how much the attitudes of the old man writing his memoirs in Notting Hill in the mid seventies are imputed to his twenty five year old self, as though nothing has changed.)
Though Flashman remains the clearest influence, in this particular novel T.E. Lawrence is clearly a reference point. In the section on Pyat's captivity and degradation at the hands of the man who insists that he be called "God", de Sade is also important. As before in this set of novels, though, Moorcock distils something different from his influences, creating a powerful historical narrative and character study.
November 29, 2013
"Jerusalem Commands" continues Colonel Pyat's rants and travails against the 20th century. It is definitely not a standalone book as Pyat brings up obscure references to things that have happened to him in the previous two books, and knowledge of those incidents help to understand what he is going on about.
As I read Pyat's monologue, I can't help wonder what are Moorcock's goals with this book. The Byzantium/Carthage duality is a constant - the struggle between forces of order and chaos. But what is Pyat? It seems he is an everyman who is buffeted by all the big trends in the twentieth century and lucks out from being consumed by them. In this book he starts out in Hollywood but ends up in Egypt and Northern Africa seeing the new Carthage rise. Reading this after the Al Qaeda wars is very illuminating!
As I read Pyat's monologue, I can't help wonder what are Moorcock's goals with this book. The Byzantium/Carthage duality is a constant - the struggle between forces of order and chaos. But what is Pyat? It seems he is an everyman who is buffeted by all the big trends in the twentieth century and lucks out from being consumed by them. In this book he starts out in Hollywood but ends up in Egypt and Northern Africa seeing the new Carthage rise. Reading this after the Al Qaeda wars is very illuminating!
July 7, 2020
The third volume of the Colonel Pyat Quartet follows the distinctly vile Moorcock antihero in his journey from Hollywood across North Africa, ostensibly to make movies, but as always, one step ahead of his enemies and creditors, living on borrowed money and borrowed time. Michael Moorcock is a brilliant author, listed in the Appendix N of Gary Gygax as one of the authors whose works inspired the creation of Dungeons & Dragons and this roleplaying games in general. He is credited with inventing the now relatively commonplace term "multiverse." Colonel Pyat is a very different antihero from the sword-and-sorcery Elric who inspired Gary Gygax He is a vile personification of the worst aspects of the 20th century, allegedly born January 1st, 1900, and mirroring much of the worst of his century. He is a liar, con-man, cocaine addict, pedophile, racist, anti-Semite (in denial of his own Jewish heritage), whose theoretical scheme of the world poses an Orthodox Greek-Slavic Christian civilization ("Byzantium" in the first volume) against barbarism ("Carthage"), represented by Oriental (especially Semitic) and African "savagery" and "treachery." Pyat sees himself as the victim of this clash of cvilizations, pursued by the "laughter of Carthage" (the second book), and in this third book his trip in the 1920s across North Africa forces him to confront Africa, and Muslim and Jewish influences - everything he hates and fears - and scarcely survives the encounter. Pyat's account is often surreal, but always fascinating, and Moorcock's writing is brilliant. Very much looking forward to the final volume, The Vengeance of Rome . . . at the end of this book there was a revelation that the four titles form a sort of verse: "Byzantium endures the laughter of Carthage, Jerusalem commands the vengeance of Rome," but what that means, if anything, who can say?
May 23, 2020
Jerusalem Commands is the third book of Moorcock's Colonel Pyat quartet and I'm reading them in order. So far this one has been the slowest faced and one where I found myself forcing my way through it at times. While still beautifully written, I often found the plot needlessly convoluted, especially a whole hallucinatory Holocaust experience towards the end. Curious to see how Moorcock wraps up the series.
August 14, 2022
An unusually shaky entry in the series. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/201...
July 15, 2024
A devastating read. Life changing
December 14, 2013
More delusional rambling from Moorcock's least likeable creation.
Maybe it is the fact that I'm getting into the stride of things with these books, but I feel they are more about Mrs C (even when she's not on-scene). With Pyat being the lens (distorted obviously) we view her (and the century) through.
He seems much more delusional in this one, also much nastier (and self justifying).
Pleased to see a Von Bek appear here.
He uses (or claims to anyway) and in turn is used in very unsavoury ways. Betraying and being betrayed. Certain events and people from the 1st book gain more delusional influence in this one...also the titles of the books get a slight hinted at explanation.
Maybe it is the fact that I'm getting into the stride of things with these books, but I feel they are more about Mrs C (even when she's not on-scene). With Pyat being the lens (distorted obviously) we view her (and the century) through.
He seems much more delusional in this one, also much nastier (and self justifying).
Pleased to see a Von Bek appear here.
He uses (or claims to anyway) and in turn is used in very unsavoury ways. Betraying and being betrayed. Certain events and people from the 1st book gain more delusional influence in this one...also the titles of the books get a slight hinted at explanation.
May 24, 2009
Moorcock was a favourite author of mine back in the 60s/70s but I drifted away from science fiction and was quite frankly surprised to see he was still writing. I picked up Byzantium Endures and this novel in the reduced bin of a bookshop in Lagos. Both were an interesting read from an historical point of veiw and the partial setting in an area of London that I lived in myself before moving to Canada.
December 26, 2017
A bit too long and repetitive in places but still a fantastic read
March 28, 2017
This is an incredibly difficult book to write about.
It gets very dark. Pyat hits some very serious new lows in this one, and it's debatable whether he learned anything from it.
Most of the book takes place all over North Africa, and there's a lot of typical Pyat commentary, as he continues his literary crusade against the mythical "Carthage". However, his message, rambling and barely coherent at the best of times completely falls apart in this volume.
The plot gets very, very dark in places, which makes a jarring contrast with a somewhat hapless picaresque narrative of earlier volumes. The book tries to pick up same tone towards the end, as Pyat who escapes teh greatest ordeal of his life happily sinks into blissful depravity again. But it's hard to shake off what happened earlier, and the whole thing no longer really sounds genuine. It becomes progressively harder to question just how genuine Pyat's self-delusion remains. Which casts a new light on the whole thing.
It's thought-provoking, and some of Pyat's diatribes seem very timely today. But I felt like Pyat's finally lost the internal consistency that kept his flimsy excuse for an ideology coherent before. And that makes the work overall less interesting.
It gets very dark. Pyat hits some very serious new lows in this one, and it's debatable whether he learned anything from it.
Most of the book takes place all over North Africa, and there's a lot of typical Pyat commentary, as he continues his literary crusade against the mythical "Carthage". However, his message, rambling and barely coherent at the best of times completely falls apart in this volume.
The plot gets very, very dark in places, which makes a jarring contrast with a somewhat hapless picaresque narrative of earlier volumes. The book tries to pick up same tone towards the end, as Pyat who escapes teh greatest ordeal of his life happily sinks into blissful depravity again. But it's hard to shake off what happened earlier, and the whole thing no longer really sounds genuine. It becomes progressively harder to question just how genuine Pyat's self-delusion remains. Which casts a new light on the whole thing.
It's thought-provoking, and some of Pyat's diatribes seem very timely today. But I felt like Pyat's finally lost the internal consistency that kept his flimsy excuse for an ideology coherent before. And that makes the work overall less interesting.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews