Trouble with Lichen: Classic Science Fiction

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She and Francis separately manage to extract from the lichen a new drug, dubbed Antigerone, which slows down the body's ageing process. While Francis uses it only on himself and his immediate family (without their knowledge), Diana founds a cosmetic spa, and builds up a clientele of some of the most powerful women in England, giving them low doses of Antigerone, preserving their beauty and youth. When Francis finds out about the spas, he erroneously assumes that Diana's motive is profit. Diana's aim, however, is actually female empowerment, intending to gain the support of these influential women, believing that if Antigerone became publicly known, it would be reserved only for the men in power. Trouble With Lichenreceived a mixed reception from the members of the reading groups. While some really enjoyed it as a novel with lots of action which posed interesting questions about longevity, others found that it was very much a product of the time in which it was written. Members of the reading groups of different ages, and especially women, thought that Diana’s characterisation and decisions reflected the sexist attitudes inherent in society in the late 1950s/early 1960s. Who wants to live forever?’ Freddie Mercury once asked, well it turns out John Wyndham asked the same question years earlier, and the answer isn’t what you expect. For the past few years I have peppered my reading with rereads from my youth. It has been even more rewarding than I anticipated. So far, my rereads have all been books I enjoyed when I first read them. But this time I decided to reread a book I did not enjoy at all. Of course not,’ Diana said patiently, ‘but they don’t feel about it the same way. A man may fear death just as much, but in general he doesn’t resent age and death quite as woman do. It’s as if a woman lives—well, on more intimate terms with life; gets to know it more closely, if you understand me. And it seems to me, too, that a man is not so constantly haunted by thoughts of time and age as woman is. Generalizations, of course, but averagely valid, I think. ...’

Second I found it technically distinctive: The narrative is fast-paced and driven largely by dialogue and fabricated quotations from newspapers and BBC broadcasts. Characters (often un-named) are left to discuss the evolving events as representatives of an entire social class or profession or sex, reminding me of the general passages in The Grapes of Wrath (such as the salesman who can't get enough jalopies to shift on to migrating Oakies). Telephone conversations between characters replace descriptions of action. That said, Wyndham does describe some of the most dramatic action directly.

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After a customer suffers an allergic reaction to one of Diana's products, the secret of the drug begins to emerge. Diana tries to cover up the real source of the drug, since the lichen is very rare and difficult to grow, but when it is finally discovered she fakes her own death in the hope of inspiring the women of Britain to fight for the rights she tried to secure for them. Tell a woman: “woman’s place is in the home”, or “get thee to thy kitchen” and she doesn’t like it; but call it “being a good housewife”, which means exactly the same thing, and she’ll drudge along, glowing with pride.”

Several group members, of all ages, found the characterisation that the working classes would not benefit from longer life problematic. In the novel it seemed that only those with privilege and power were judged capable of taking on the responsibility of longer life. Yet group members did not relish the prospect of working for over a hundred years. This was especially true of those group members of working age in their 30s and 40s who are already considering that they will work longer than their parents’ generation with rising life expectancies and delayed retirement ages. Most group members of all ages suggested that not only would money and resources be required to sustain a longer life but also good health. Comparisons were made with the economic and health inequality that exists in contemporary UK society, and group members discussed whether living longer would be beneficial in this context. Time and the Future I read several Wyndham novels when I was 12 or 13 - this was one of them. My recollection of those novels was that they were enjoyable but tended to have poor endings, as if Wyndham had said what he wanted, got bored and just stopped. The exception was The Day of the Triffids which had a satisfactory ending. So how would I respond to re-reading Trouble with Lichen? I decided not to go with one star as this is another book I suspect may be "a little better than it hit me". In other words a subjective rather than objective rating might drop it all the way down as it just didn't get my interest. I followed the "ethical, moral, legal mental debate. Watched the "tussle" (my word)over the "new" wonder lichen and it's effects. Who owned/had a right to it...what it brought about.... on and on.....and on, and on, and on, and on (repeat).A very British book of science, discovery, and ramifications. While many Wyndham plots have made it into movies, this one strangely has not. I read it as a 2021 reading by Vanessa Kirby, who did a great job. What I don't like about us is our readiness to be conditioned--the easy way we can be made to be willing to be nothing better than squaws and second-class citizens, and taught to go through life as appendages instead of as people in our own right...." It was a genius move for John Wyndham to center an age-slowing narrative on women, who are still today pressured to remain youthful-looking forever, or succumb to social invisibility. . . . Wyndham was uniquely gifted at skewering humankind’s foibles while maintaining a shred of hope that our better angels would prevail.”—Kate Folk, from the introduction When I first saw the title of this book, I thought it would be about how lichen would somehow become a danger to mankind, pose a threat that might wipe us all out. But it's not like that at all. Rather lichen offers mankind the solution to one of it's oldest problems, but the two people who discover it fear the social ramifications of it getting out.

The plot concerns a young female biochemist who discovers that a chemical extracted from an unusual strain of lichen can be used to slow down the ageing process, enabling people to live to around 200–300 years. Wyndham speculates how society would deal with this prospect. Splari says 'I came from Corathus to find some lost members of my tribe, and I wound up in here somehow. The mephits are [capturing] my brethren and making them mine for floating ore. Please help me to stop this.' This brought us to what would make group members want to live longer. Diana’s argument in the novel is that ‘we’ needed ‘Time to grow wise enough to build a new world’ (p. 123). Some group members, of all ages, wondered exactly who would want to take on this responsibility, others in their 60s and 70s suggested that this was for the ‘middle generation’, those in their 30s and 40s, to consider. Several group members also thought that we don’t need the ability to live longer to make changes and that it was important for people to explore what we can do now for our own futures as well as those of future generations. All groups explored how societal change could be achieved collectively and intergenerationally. Discussions considered practical ways of bringing together people of different ages: from the availability of shared public spaces and activities open to all in local community centres, to families playing games together with several generations at family gatherings. Members in the groups also suggested, in a variety of ways, that it was important to ensure that our lives had space and time for such community activities, whether hobbies or local volunteering. Older group members in their 50s-70s in one group suggested that time was particularly in short supply for people in middle age who are often caring for children and perhaps older relatives too. A book of its time? Wyndham's diversity and range are no better exemplified than in his dramatic shift in direction and tone in Trouble with Lichen. This is a deliberate shift into a mindset and tone that very-well exemplifies the main character, but which, apparently, a lot of readers have trouble getting into (I don't, but okay). The language is posh maybe even prissy as is the pacing. The story, slowly measured over enough decades to make you consider that perhaps, what Wyndham is trying to say is not that people need to appreciate their youth, but rather that he was beginning to appreciate his middle age. That's reflected in the book, in its measured pacing, in its attempts at the high-brow, in its insistent appreciation of the older human being. I like it. In a genre that so often glorifies 16 year old's running off to adventure, we need more appreciation of age, maturity, acquired taste. The moral premise of this book is simple. People waste their youth because they are young. The old hate them for it. They always have. In my day we walked uphill both ways. The forward momentum of technology means that every generation of children has more opportunities, less obstacles and a more comfortable existence. And every previous generation is successively convinced that they would have done more given those opportunities because they did more with less. Wyndham’s premise is that this is obviously bullshit. People will consistently, on average, do the bare minimum with what they have regardless of the ease of getting there because they are young and dumb and proverbially (yet more family friendly than the original saying), more interested in marriage and fitting in than doing more .John Wyndham was a science fiction author best known perhaps for Day of the Triffids, his first post-war novel, published in 1951. This book was very successful and established Wyndham as one of the key proponents of the science fiction genre in the UK. It was later adapted for television and film. His most popular novels and short stories published in the immediate post-war years were set indystopian societies. Trouble With Lichenis different in that it is not set in a dystopian society, but rather the then present, and considers themes which focus on the future. Who wants to live forever?