The Riverworld Series Summary
Philip José Farmer

The Riverworld Series Summary

The theme of The Riverworld Series is probably most succinctly expressed in Chapter Thirty-One of The Dark Design by the character Peter Jairus Frigate, Philip Jose Farmer's surrogate in the series. Frigate explains that man is a creature stretched between animal and superman, with a superman being a man or woman who is free of prejudices and neuroses, who realizes his or her full potential, who acts on the basis of love, and who refuses to follow the herd. As few or none of Farmer's char acters satisfies these requirements, we are given the strong impression that they are the victims of both external and internal forces. First, they are the helpless pawns of the Ethicals, the powerful beings who represent the cosmic pressures of an inscrutable universe. Second, they are the victims of their own fragmented selves. With a few exceptions, they are a conniving, greedy, narrow-minded...

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