Group Read 27: The Big Book of Science Fiction
Story #70 of 107: “Mondocane” by Jacques Barbéri
“Mondocane” by Jacques Barbéri is another one of those entries that felt like a fictional essay rather than a story. All I can say is this story reminded me of a wordy version of Hieronymus Bosch’s painting “The Garden of Earthly Delights.” I just don’t consider this kind of work science fiction. Sure parts of it can sound science-fictional, but my quibble is it sounds like an art form from an alternate reality where science fiction’s intent was strangely different.
The hives of homunculi were born out of necessity. The occupants of the nuclear bunkers were found, for the most part, buried under hundreds of meters of sand. Initially, the women, crushed by a powerful lethargy, saw their volume increase considerably; their limbs atrophied, and only their head remained, at the tip of a gigantic flaccid body. Inversely, the men decreased in volume and started to live in the folds of flesh of the female bodies. But it was a matter of becoming animal only in appearance, cerebral functions diminishing not at all. Except the social instinct, of collective life, was intensified. The first eggs were tended in doubt and fear. Then the first larvae made their appearance. And, supplied with burrowing snouts, they set about fighting their way towards the surface. The desert is now a gigantic network of tunnels and reproduction chambers. The hives presently stage the form of life that is the most evolved, most adapted, of the planet. All things considered, the homunculi would prefer to remain underground, and come out only very rarely, mainly to hunt.
I felt this story descends from Poe rather than Verne or Wells.
James Wallace Harris, 1/7/22
Classics of Science Fiction 
That extract sounds pretty good–I might give it a go!
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Paul, you’re ever the contrarian.
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I agree with Paul. Your description thus, « it sounds like an art form from an alternate reality where science fiction’s intent was strangely different » only entices me further!
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ditto.
The whole story was almost made up of fragmentary visceral scenes reminiscent of Langdon Jones’ the Hall of Machines.
This version of a post-apocalyptic world was sketched out roughly without a clear chain of thought. So why did people who could fly to other planets fail to rebuild the Earth and restore order? Was there any meaning, besides Barbéri’s personal idiosyncrasy of misusing Darwinism, in writing visceral and illogical harangues?
Like Langdon, Barbéri was also a musician-cum-science-fictionist, which now would be a red flag for me for they all seemed to unfamiliar with the basic definition of the story. By the way, why on earth did Vandermeers favor this kind of low-quality work?
For anyone wanting a rough recapitulation or further information, you can check my blog here
https://animae-magnae-prodigus.github.io/blog/2025/02/15/Jacques-Barb%C3%A9ri-Mondocane.html
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I’d need to reread the story to answer some of your questions. And I might do that.
Throughout the anthology I wondered why the Vandermeers included some stories. I had a number of theories.
1. The story really is good and I was in the wrong mood to recognize its virtues.
2. I don’t have the right background to appreciate the story.
3. They just got off on kinds of stories I don’t like.
4. They commissioned translations of stories and didn’t want to not use them when they weren’t great.
5. They aimed at providing stories from the widest range of styles even they weren’t types they liked themselves.
6. Maybe they just wanted experimental and different stories that hadn’t been in SF anthologies before.
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Another thought. Several stories in this anthology were written by writers who obviously hadn’t gown up reading science fiction. Their stories were wild ideas imagined on their own or they were stories they thought must be like what they imagined science fiction to be.
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I abbreviated four aspects of bad works.
1. (readers) The story really is good but I was in the wrong mood or possess insufficient background or the unmatched target to appreciate the virtues of the story.
2. (editors) The story really is bad but editors had to pick them for the sake of diversity or experimentation or novelty or unseen bribery or friendship.
3. (translators) The story really is good but the translation is bad.
4. (writers) The story really is bad because it per se was not a qualified story but several scenes that didn’t age well especially the work of writers who obviously hadn’t gown up reading enough (science) fiction and get poor understanding of the art of writing.
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Any of you who followed through and read it will know by now that it’s time spent you’ll never get back. The OP is right. It’s not SF. Hell, it’s not horror or fantasy either. What it sounds like is a dream someone had, then put into words. But it’s utter nonsense, and left me wondering why the editors saw fit to include it. At least when I was done, I understood why none of his books were ever translated into English. This one was a stinker.
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