Tragedy and humor collide in new historical novel
Robert Antoni’s latest novel “As Flies to Whatless Boys” (Akashic Books) shifts seamlessly between centuries. In 1845 London, an engineer, philosopher, philanthropist, and bold-faced charlatan, John Adolphus Etzler, has invented machines “powered by the immense forces of Mother Nature” that he thinks will transform the division of labor and free all men. He forms a collective called the Tropical Emigration Society (TES), and recruits a variety of London citizens to take his machines and his misguided ideas to form a proto-socialist, utopian community in the British colony of Trinidad.
Among his recruits is a young boy (and the book’s narrator) named Willy. As TES begins its overseas voyage to Trinidad, Etzler recedes quickly to the backdrop, and Willy’s tale takes precedence–in particular his head-over-heels fall for the enthralling and wise Marguerite Whitechurch. Coming from the gentry, Marguerite is a world away from Willy’s laboring class. Speech also divides them, as Marguerite lacks vocal cords–she communicates with Willy in writing. As the voyage continues, and their love for one another strengthens, Willy and Marguerite prove themselves to be true socialists, their actions and adventures standing in stark contrast to Etzler’s disconnected theories.
When they arrive at Port of Spain, Willy must part from Marguerite and travel with the men of TES to build the society’s future home–in a remote swamp, only accessible by boat, called Chaguabarriga. Far from realizing their leader’s dreams of a tropical paradise, the pioneers never even get a chance to unpack their Satellite, Etzler’s “self-powered” machine that will mow down the rainforest and plant their first crops. Within weeks the majority of them are stricken with the “Black Vomit.” And now they’re trapped, without a boat to return to civilization.