What Not by Rose Macaulay
(MIT Press, 2022)
Reviewed by Phil Nicholls
MIT Press has released What Not by Rose Macaulay as part of a series of Radium Age SF novels. The Radium Age is defined as 1903 to 1934, a period bookended by Marie Curie’s discovery of radium and her later death. Introductions from Joshua Glenn and Matthew De Abaitua put the MIT Press project into context, as well as describe the background and influence of What Not.
Originally published in 1919, What Not presents a satirical view of Britain after World War One. At its heart is the Ministry of Brains, which seeks to eradicate the stupidity which led the world into the great war. This seemingly sensible idea is portrayed satirically as the Ministry introduces increasingly draconic laws designed to prevent lower-intelligence people from having babies.
The overall goal being to raise the population’s average intelligence and avoid another war. It is impossible to read What Not without the spectre of World War Two looming in the reader’s mind.
Macaulay creates a rather whimsical dystopia with many similarities to Terry Gilliam’s Brazil. However, her dystopia also mixes in elements of Brave New World and the slightly Orwellian Ministry of Brains. Of course, these analogies run the wrong way around, for What Not is older than all three of these references. Macaulay is credited with influencing Huxley, so she could just as easily have impacted the other two settings.
Against this backdrop, civil servant Kitty Grammont is bored working for the Ministry of Brains until she falls in love with the Minister. The key question of the novel is whether they should marry, in contravention of their own laws, or follow their principles by upholding the work of the Ministry? The pair discuss this dilemma at length, underlining its centrality to the novel.
The love affair develops at a gentle pace, with the overall progression of What Not rather reflecting the slower style prevalent when it was written. These events play out against a backdrop of the lumbering Ministry trying to impose its radical policies upon an unwilling country. Episodes in a stylised English village contrast reluctant countryfolk and bohemian artists with the bureaucratic demands of the urban representatives of the Ministry. Even a hundred years later, there is much in What Not’s vision of a divided England that resonates.
As with plot, so too is Macaulay’s writing style of its time. The whimsical elements of the satire are clear, but the scandalous elements are under played. Grammond’s relationship with the Minister, probably mirroring aspects of Macaulay’s personal life, and the ‘free-love’ household of artists are only hinted at in the vaguest of terms. What was radical in 1919, seems tame or even slightly bland today. Fiction has come a long way since this was first published, so it is not easy to feel any sense of controversy surrounding this book.
Yet, Macaulay has a good eye for character and writes interesting dialogue. What Not features much longer paragraphs than a modern reader might expect, but Macaulay keeps the plot moving steadily along, albeit at a comparatively slow pace. There are flashes of humour which stand the test of time, particularly relating to the hypocrisy of those in power.
What Not is divided into 12 sections, each one further sliced into shorter numbered chapters. However, it is the long paragraphs which feel more jarring to a modern reader. For all the passage of time, the language of What Not remains perfectly accessible today.
What Not is a fascinating historic novel, as clearly outlined in the introduction by Matthew De Abaitua. At the time, the description of a love affair was judged too radical a topic for a woman author. What Not is a clever, enjoyable story and a valuable reprint of an early dystopian novel. If you can push through the long paragraphs and slow plot development, then a fun satire awaits.
Review from BSFA Review 19 - Download your copy here.