Book Review

The Ship of Ishtar

by A. Merritt

     The pulp fantasy writer A. Merritt once had a huge following in America. Times have changed. His writing style and themes are no longer relevant to contemporary readers. His most famous novel, The Ship of Ishtar, is not a great piece of writing but may be of interest simply because it does not transcend the time it was written in.

     The first half of the novel is a fairly entertaining read. An archaeologist named Kenton receives a package at his New York City home. It contains a stone box from a colleague that contains a carved ship. Without warning, he gets transported through space and time to the deck of the ship that is fated to sail eternally. Kenton now lives in an ancient time when Babylon ruled as the dominant empire of the Middle East. The inhabitants are, on one hand, led by a woman named Saharane and her consort of bare breasted beautiful women. The other half is inhabited by Klaneth, an evil priest and his followers. The two groups are able to see each other on their respective halves of the boat but they can not cross into the others’ territory since Ishtar, the goddess of love and creation agreed to this arrangement with Nergal, the god of destruction. Sharane and Klaneth are mortal representatives of Ishtar and Nergal.

     The other people on board the ship are slaves who work below the deck as oarsmen. Kenton gets seized by Klaneth and set to work as a slave but while chained to the oars he befriends a Viking named Sigurd. Kenton breaks free and leads a rebellion against Klaneth with the help of Sigurd and two of his henchmen who take sides against the evil priest. This battle happens after a particular kinky passage in which Kenton binds Sharane to her bed and gags her with silk cords so she can not interfere with the fight. When the little war is over, Sharane falls madly in love with Kenton and they retreat to her cabin while Sigurd stands guard outside, polishing his sword. Really.

     It must be obvious by now that there is nothing unique about Merritt’s story. What makes it stand out, just a little bit, it the writing style. While the characters are as stereotypical as they can possibly be, the descriptions of their appearances is one of the stronger points. Klaneth and his friends look like impish devils from one of Brueghel’s apocalytpic canvases. Sharane and her followers are reminiscent of the Art Nouveau stylizations of an Alfonse Mucha painting. The king of Emakhtila could be a character straight out of Fellini’s Satyricon. The Ship of Ishtar is more style than substance. The language is also something in and of itself. Sentences are long and wordy with lots of adjectives and some odd syntax that might make you want to reread some lines just to make sure you understand what they say. It is like reading classic epic poetry that has been translated by an amateurish Victorian author. This may be interesting for some while being pretentious and annoying for others. On the bad side, some of the descriptions, especially of the ship and the Temple of Bel in Emakhtila are not well described and hard to visualize.

     The second part of the novel is not as interesting and as the narrative starts to run out of steam. True to her status as a trophy wife, Sharane gets kidnapped by Klaneth after he escapes from the ship. He imprisons her in the Temple of Bel in the city of Emakhtila. Also true to his stereotype, Kenton is the muscle-bound action hero who must go and rescue her. Once they get back to the ship, Kenton has a mystical vision where his identity as an emissary for Nabu, the god of wisdom, is revealed while he sees the ship’s spiritual counterpart with Ishtar and Nergal’s faces in the sky.

     Kenton’s big hallucination is unique to this type of story. What it reveals is that a theme of tension between the secular and the divine runs throughout the narrative. Kenton resists the sleep-inducing magic of a trumpet by putting ordinary objects in his ears so he can not hear. His companions complain about the stupidity of the gods. The king of Emakhtila claims his power over the city is the result of his disbelief in magic, superstition, and religion. Kenton and his crew win all their battles with strategy and strength rather than magic and Klaneth’s magic does nothing to hold them back. When the gods command Kenton to make a judgment about life, he curses them for causing so much human suffering. Although the voice of Nabu speaks to Kenton at times, this supernatural guidance serves a more explanatory narrative purpose rather than being useful as magic to increase Kenton’s prowess in battle. In the smoke and mirrors of all the mysticism and hallucinatory imagery, The Ship of Ishtar hints at a secular dissatisfaction with the religious side of life.

     A. Merritt’s novel strives to be better than an ordinary sword and sorcery fantasy tale. It injects a touch of modern existential angst into a flowery, sometimes overwrought writing style. But this novel does not go far enough. With a little more effort this could have been a book with more staying power but, as it is, it feels just a little dated. But maybe this is part of its charm; it might be interesting because it is like a good museum piece or an interesting object in an antique store, existing now but hopelessly trapped in the 1930s. 

Merritt, A. The Ship of Ishtar. Avon Publications Inc., New York: 1934.