FREE ESSAY ON ANALYSIS OF THE HOUNDS OF TINDALOS

ANALYSIS OF THE HOUNDS OF TINDALOS

Textual Analysis
The Hounds of Tindalos
The Hounds of Tindalos is a short science fiction story containing many and varied
elements that have been long associated with the genre of science fiction. This essay
will identify these elements, examining their placement within this short text and also
the interchange of these elements with the characteristics of other genres, more
specifically, horror. Belknap Long, the author, was clearly intent of incorporating the
elements of horror within the genre of science fiction and this amalgamation of these two
genres was a popular combination employed by future horror and SF writers. Perhaps the
inclusion of horror within the SF genre is a comment in itself about perceptions of SF
held by writers, the elements of horror being a cautionary warning to those in the
science world.
Long's main character is Halpin Chalmers, a self proclaimed "rebel and champion of
originality and lost causes". From the start it is clear there are present within this
text some elements of the SF genre that seem to be in just about every SF story,
beginning with the main character. Many writers have as their main characters people who
are non-conformists, who wish to boldly go where no one has gone before and who are
willing to take seemingly illogical and irrational risks in the hope of furthering
makinds' scientific discoveries. Chalmers is no exception in this as he willingly
partakes in an ancient Chinese drug that is a known powerful hallucinogen in a bid to go
back in time. There is of course the proverbial "wet blanket" in the shape of the
narrator, known only as Frank, who believes his friend Chalmers to be quite mad, but who
never-the-less agrees to aid his friend in his bizarre experiment despite the risks he is
taking. Frank represents all those characters in SF stories who are the skeptics, the non
believers, who have a solid faith in the science of the present, and who consider
characters like Chalmers to be eccentric and bizarre.
The setting of The Hounds of Tindalos is in the late 1920's and the location is Central
Square. Chalmer's apartment room is where most of the story takes place. The room is in
keeping with Chalmer's character as a rejector of modern science and one who is still
entranced with the historical side of science and history preferring "illuminated
manuscripts to automobiles and leering stone gargoyles to radios and adding machines".
The room eventually becomes a doorway for Chalmers, a place where he can go back in time
and also a place where he can be hunted through time. The transformation of the room
through the application of plaster of Paris was an intersting one I felt as it appeared
to directly contradict many other SF strories where the door to parallel universes,
dimensions and time is often spherical in shape. Chalmers believes that making his room
devoid of any sharp angles and strange curves that he will escape the Hounds, that in
making his room spherical in shape he will avoid detection and the scenting of the
Hounds. In the end this obviously does not work as Chalmers ends up dead, however the
question to ask would be whether or not the Hounds found him simply because the plaster
fell off the walls and they were able to come through the angles between the walls, floor
and ceiling, or was it because the room was now spherical thanks to the the plaster. I
would answer with the former given his statement to Frank about the foul and the pure.
"The foul expresses itself through angles; the pure through curves."
The language Long uses in his story is very descriptive, enabling the reader to visualise
quite vividly the scenes that take place in the room. Through the narrator's eyes we see
clearly the changes that occur in the main character Chalmers as the drug takes effect
and transports him through time in the various different periods of history. It is a very
rapid journey yet the author has managed with minimal amounts of words to convey exactly
where Chalmers went and what he witnessed from the acting of a Shakespearian play in an
Elizabethan theatre to him being a priest of Ancient Egypt where even Pharaohs bow before
him. Long employs a minimalist language approach that is very efficient in it's
description.
As in a substantial amount of SF, Long's story contains quite strong overtones of
religion. With what Chalmers experiences under the influence of the drug he is able to go
back through time in a fashion similar to many well known time travel SF stories. He sees
and experiences all the events in history that have been written about and recorded. He
goes back to the Prehistoric age and then beyond that to unicellular organisms existing
in a world of water. Going back still further he encounters the Hounds of Tindalos. These
are entities that he proceeds to identify in relation to biblical accounts. The Fall is
what I assumed to be the fall of the angel Lucifer who is thrown out of heaven along with
two thirds of the angels of heaven. Chalmers also mentions the Tree, the snake and the
apple. All biblical references to the creation of mankind. The "deed" is also repeatedly
said by Chalmers and I am making the leap here of assuming the deed is the eating of the
fruit of the tree by Adam and Eve. He states that in mankind there was a part of us that
did not agree with and participate in the eating of the fruit which we knew to be sin,
and it is this cleanliness in humans that the Hounds hunger and thirst for.
The overtones of religion are not the only characteristics of this story that enable it
to resemble the SF genre, Long also makes reference to the Greeks frequently through the
use of his main character Chalmers. On his journey through time with the aid of a drug he
experiences in quite vivid terms the Hellenic culture. Then in referring to a name for
the Hounds he remembers the Greeks have a name that conceals their essential foulness.
And then lastly, in his hastily scrawled writings just before he dies, he recalls with
regret the Greeks having a way of preventing the Satyrs from helping the Hounds, and
acknowledges the loss of being unable to remember much of the Greeks knowledge.
The overtones of Greek mythology in this text are almost cyclic in where they are placed
within this text, at the start, in the body and in the conclusion. Perhaps the influence
of Verne was felt here slightly by the author as Verne was very strongly influenced by
the use of the myths of Greek legends, albeit in an often reversed myth fashion.
Long's morals within this text are often obscured and can be easily misinterpreted at
times. On first reading one would suggest that the outcome, a rather horrific and
gruesome death, would imply the author's disapproval of anyone trying to bend the laws of
science and of anyone who dares to experiment with drugs, albeit drugs from natural
sources. On a more all encompassing examination however, one could come to the conclusion
that this author has a penchant and a liking for horror and simply believes Science, as a
genre, has the greatest capacity for exploiting the elements of horror. On reflection
though, given the detailed and clinical description of the death scene, a more morality
based conclusion about the author's intent can be easily reached. There is a clear
condemnation of mankind in the reference to the "deed" as if one of the outcomes of the
sin by Adam and Eve resulted in the creation of the Hounds. Respect of religion is also
an offshoot moral of this SF story by Long, in this text the main character has a
complete belief in the story of creation. This to me is presents a somewhat contradictory
aspect to the story as when Chalmers is travelling back he acknowledges the existence of
dinosaurs and unicellular organisms, which raises the features of Darwinism within this
text as well as biblical features. This kind of binary opposition though is a common one
within many SF genres.
Binary oppositions within SF texts are more clearly illustrated when we examine the
different discourses that exist with the text. The Hounds of Tindalos is no exception in
this case. There is the Religious discourse that exists that has already been discussed
and there is the Scientific discourse with the elements of Darwinism that is in
opposition to this. 
There is a Supernatural discourse that exists with the presence of the Hounds that are
alien creatures from another parallel time plane, in direct contrast to the more earth
bound discourse of Nature with the happening of an earthquake. The Nature discourse is
also in opposition to the Science discourse. The Classic Greek discourse is also present
as mentioned before. There is also an Ancient Chinese/Eastern discourse existing in this
text when Chalmers is extolling the effects of the drug Liao, explaining to Frank that
this very drug allowed a Chinese philosopher to envision Tao. Interestingly enough it is
an amalgamation of Eastern science and Ancient Greek mathematics that allows Chalmers to
time travel. This seemingly unusual combination is prehaps an attempt on the author's
part to enlighten the Sf community to the untapped (at the time of writing) discourse of
Eastern mysticism in SF writing.
Long directly questions the Scientific discourse with this story, the report by the
chemist and bacteriologist at the end of the text raises a direct challenge to the
undeniable belief of scientists that living matter can exist without enzymes which are
the basis of all life. The final sentence of the chemist:
"...do you realise what astounding new vistas this opens up?"
seems to convey the author's desire for this story to be a story that inspires and urges
people to question science constantly and never be satisfied with just one scientifc
discovery, to go on and devise experiments that test what is considered to be the
"impossible." The challenge is devising ways to do exactly this, Chalmers accomplished it
with a natural eastern drug, which perhaps suggests looking to nature to test science. 
In conclusion The Hounds Of Tindalos is a story I would describe as being of primarily
Science Fiction genre with a rather large amount of Horror elements overlapping the genre
divisions. Long clearly has a liking for elements of Horror and has managed to
incorporate them quite smoothly into this text. The Horror elements do, I feel, give his
story more of an impact and do to some extent give the morality content more significance
than some other science fiction stories that remain in the single genre. His description
is vivid which is an immense help in aiding the reader's visualisation without using too
much language that can bore a reader if there is too much detail. His use of different
discourses is an identifying characteristic of the science fiction genre however his
integration of the different discourses is somewhat unique and perhaps a trademark of the
author.