The Philosopher's Apprentice

by James Morrow

Hardcover, 1969

Status

Available

Call number

813.54

Genres

Collections

Your library, To read

Publication

Publisher Unknown (1969)

Description

A brilliant philosopher with a talent for self-destruction, Mason Ambrose has torpedoed a promising academic career and now faces a dead-end future. Before joining the ranks of the unemployed, however, he's approached by a representative of billionaire geneticist Dr. Edwina Sabacthani, who makes him an offer no starving ethicist could refuse. Born and bred on Isla de Sangre, a private island off the Florida coast, Edwina's beautiful and intelligent adolescent daughter, Londa, has recently survived a freak accident that destroyed both her memory and her sense of right and wrong. Londa's soul, in short, is an empty vessel--and it will be Mason's job to fill it. Exploring his new surroundings, our hero encounters a lush Eden abounding in bizarre animals and strange vegetation engineered by Edwina and her misanthropic collaborator, Dr. Vincent Charnock. And Londa, though totally lacking a conscience, proves a vivacious young woman who quickly captivates her new teacher as he attempts to recalibrate her moral compass with the help of Western civilization's greatest ethical thinkers, living and dead. But there's trouble in this tropical paradise. Mason soon learns that he isn't the only private tutor on Isla de Sangre, nor is Londa the only child in residence whose conscience is a blank slate. How many daughters does Edwina Sabacthani really have, and how did she bring them into being? Undaunted by these mysteries, Mason continues to instruct Londa, hoping that she can lead a normal life when she eventually ventures forth into human society. His apprentice, however, has a different agenda. Her head crammed with lofty ideals, her heart brimming with fearsome benevolence, and her bank account filled to bursting, Londa undertakes to remake our fallen world in her own image--by any and all means necessary.… (more)

Media reviews

The Washington Post

"Morrow's intellectual fervor irradiates The Philosopher's Apprentice, but the warmth and empathy that characterized The Last Witchfinder is absent."

— 2 more

The Telegraph

"The odd thing is that Morrow has pulled off this kind of arch diction before - The Last Witchfinder, for example, suggested an heir to John Barth - but here it's torture, and by the end it isn't Londa's humanity that you fear for."

The New York Times Sunday Book Review

"Morrow’s inventiveness is beguiling, as are his delight in Western philosophy and his concern for the sorry state of the world."

User reviews

LibraryThing member verbafacio

This is a very strange book. I've finished it, but I can't decide whether I liked it or not. A surreal, farcical novel, The Philosopher's Apprentice is the story of Ambrose, a philosopher tasked with developing the conscience of Londa Sabacthani, a clone artificially born at age 17 without any

moral grounding.

While certainly interesting, the story goes from unbelievable to absurd over the course of 20 years. On the way, Ambrose encounters an army of immaculoids (aborted fetuses brought to term and speed grown to adulthood), the maiden voyage of the Titanic Redux (which goes horribly awry as Londa hijacks the ship), and a total of 5 clones of the same woman, Edwina Sabacthani (Londa's mother, sister, daughter).

Despite the fantastic events, this is not a mindless entertainment. The Philosopher's Apprentice is fairly serious about the moral philosophy that forms the background of the story.

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LibraryThing member hairball

This is exactly the kind of whack-a-doodle book I love--goofy, not particularly pretentious but with undertones of pretension--good, old-fashioned satire. Actually, I had a kind of aversion to this book because I thought I'd read something comparing it to the Da Vinci Code, and feared that it might

be somewhat precious. But when I saw it at the library--being the slave to free books that I am--I looked again, and apparently, I'd been operating under quite the misapprehension.

Naturally, I love the fact that the main character gives a big "fuck you" to his committee during his dissertation defense. I can see myself doing something like that. (Good thing I quit ABD or I might have.) Sure, a lot of actual philosophy gets tossed in, but it doesn't come off as obnoxious, somehow, which is an achievement. I think there's a lot to like in this book, as long as the reader doesn't require silly things like realism.

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LibraryThing member fidchivers

A very good read, with a setting in the science fiction present. Lots of fun playing with philosophy and how it can or cannot infuse your life. A woman clones younger versions of herself, then hires moral counsellors to fill in the gaps in their upbringing (or lack thereof). Explores how this can

go awry. The last third of the novel falls of a bit, but still a very clever book, with many amusing and thought provoking twists.

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LibraryThing member the_awesome_opossum

The Philosopher's Apprentice is another one of those very intelligent but very depressing books that James Morrow likes to write; this time, the subject is philosophy and ethics. Mason Ambrose, a graduate student who had been looking to teach philosophy, gets hired to instill a sense of morality

into the teenaged Londa, a clever sociopath living on a private island with her genius mother.

But Mason's own morality is challenged when he learns of the cloning experiments happening on the island. He struggles with bioethics and abortion, particularly in the face of religious fundamentalism. He also must struggle against Londa, whose intense personality leads her to begin a forced-morality crusade.

The Philosopher's Apprentice is both a broad and deep story, that questions the phenomenon of morality upon our psyches

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LibraryThing member Raven

The first half of those novel reads like The Solitaire Mystery for adults; it's a mish-mash of whimsy, philosophy and lush tropical setting, and it works well. The narrator, a philosopher called Mason Ambrose who has just emphatically failed to get his PhD, tutors a single pupil, Londa, who has for

one reason and another absolutely no morals: she is a philsophical void. And as a premise, that does very well - the faculty of "Hubris Academy", the adventures of the philosophy teachers on the island (an entirely fictional island in the Florida Keys, known as Isla de Sangre) and their mismatched pupils are very funny and eminently readable.

After this, however, it flags. Somehow, the author goes from whimsy to hard-headed seriousness, without really apprising the reader of the change, and doesn't in any case fully effect the change in style to mirror the content - it's hard to read what follows and and quite understand what's intended by it. It's not clear if we're supposed to be rooting for Mason, or for Londa, or for both or neither, and the ending seems a little tacked on. Even so, the novel is worth reading - the delight it takes in skipping through Hegel and Heidegger, Plato and Aristotle and Kant, is palapable, and it does some genuinely interesting and surprising things with the philosophy undlerying the fiction. But it isn't, perhaps, as good as it ought to be.

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LibraryThing member cjhubbs

I picked up The Philosopher’s Apprentice on a whim from the library. And what a whim. The flyleaf gave a thumbnail description of a philosophy doctoral student who takes a job becoming the tutor for a teenage girl who was in an accident and lost her sense of morality. OK, sounds interesting as

far as that goes. But that’s just the beginning of the story.

The Philosopher’s Apprentice is really a story in three acts. Act One: doctoral student tutors teenager on remote Caribbean island. Finds out there is more to the island than he was led to believe, including two sisters of his student, a bunch of genetic engineering, and talking iguana. I know it sounds like a tripped-out dream, but it’s just hard to give a lot more detail without spoiling major points of the plot.

Act Two: philosophy tutor watches from a distance as his former student, suddenly fabulously wealthy, takes his teachings on morality to unbelievable ends.

Act Three: tutor and student end up together again and have to deal with the fallout from the rest of the world as it reacts to the student’s programs.

The Philosopher’s Apprentice is at times quite humorous, at times quite serious, and dances along the line between fiction and fantasy without quite ever deciding where to land. It was a fun read, provoking some interesting thoughts along the way. Worth picking up if you get the chance.

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LibraryThing member rodrichards

I love James Morrow books, an eccentric blend of satire, Darwinian thought, religion, science fiction, philosophy, ethical quandaries, Biblical studies...may be an acquired taste. But I find myself looking forward to each new book, and so far haven't been disappointed. This may be my favorite.

LibraryThing member rodrichards

LibraryThing member texicanwife

Morrow started out well enough, with a fantasy read that lead us down a path of DNA and genome make believe, where an individual is cloned rather than chosing a reproductive path in order to experience motherhood.

We ended up in sci-fi nightmare!

I could almost believe the beginning of the story,

told convincingly and with at least a modicum of heart. However, I soon began to lose interest when the absurdly ridiculous became the apparent course of the novels journey!

It isn't often when I am unable to find it within myself to give an author a modicum of interest to the very end of the tome, but in The Philosopher's Apprentice I have struggled for 10 days to finish that which I have finally given up on.

I find the book totally unrealistic and without governing morals.

Since I found it in the 99-cents store, I suppose I should have known what to expect.

I rate this one star, simply because it did have a great, plausible beginning. But I have to give it a thumbs down, and suggest you keep the kiddies away from it!

****DISCLOSURE: This book was a private purchase and was under no obligation for review.

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LibraryThing member ratastrophe

A fantastical plot had sex with an overachieving thesaurus and this book was born! Even though this was really not a very good book from a literary standpoint, I had a wonderful time reading it - the words the author works in are pretty fascinating. Early on in the book, Morrow describes something

blue as being "the same color as unoxygenated blood" and I was hooked.

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LibraryThing member bibleblaster

LibraryThing member ChrisRiesbeck

Morrow likes to reify big questions. This was most obvious in Towing Jehovah and its sequels, but is both the theme and substance here. A philosophy graduate student, who is, and will remain, thanks to the events in chapter 1, ABD (all but dissertation), takes on the job of teaching ethics to a

young woman who, her mother claims, lost all ethical understanding through an accident. Within a chapter or two, the true reason is revealed and it suffices to say that a science fictional device is involved. Said device enables most of the key events of the rest of the novel. It is no MacGuffin, but neither is this book a what-if exploration of a technological change. What it is is set up in the 2nd chapter, when our philosopher has to decide how to teach ethics. He decides to use some of the classic conundrums of Ethics 101 courses, situations where no choice is free of ethical downside. And that's what this novel becomes -- a series of extreme ethical choices. The novel is broken into three parts, as much trilogy as anything. Part 1, the story of the ethical education and early life of the young woman, forms a whole. Part 2 reads much like a sequel, a return to the characters and milieu but a new story. Part 3 is a wrap-up novella, distinct yet again, but concerned largely with resolving -- at the plot level -- the themes and character arcs set up in parts 1 and 2. Highly recommended to those who love debate, satire, Morrow, Jonathan Carroll.

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LibraryThing member themulhern

Morrow seemed to be recycling himself. I might be better off if I read the source material. Or perhaps, I have simply grown too old to savor this. It was almost like reading Oscar Wilde. The quotations taken in isolation were real zingers, but in the context of the novel they lost force.

LibraryThing member devilwrites

The premise: ganked from BN.com: A brilliant philosopher with a talent for self-destruction, Mason Ambrose has torpedoed a promising academic career and now faces a dead-end future. Before joining the ranks of the unemployed, however, he's approached by a representative of billionaire geneticist

Dr. Edwina Sabacthani, who makes him an offer no starving ethicist could refuse. Born and bred on Isla de Sangre, a private island off the Florida coast, Edwina's beautiful and intelligent adolescent daughter, Londa, has recently survived a freak accident that destroyed both her memory and her sense of right and wrong. Londa's soul, in short, is an empty vessel—and it will be Mason's job to fill it.

Exploring his new surroundings, our hero encounters a lush Eden abounding in bizarre animals and strange vegetation engineered by Edwina and her misanthropic collaborator, Dr. Vincent Charnock. And Londa, though totally lacking a conscience, proves a vivacious young woman who quickly captivates her new teacher as he attempts to recalibrate her moral compass with the help of Western civilization's greatest ethical thinkers, living and dead.

But there's trouble in this tropical paradise. Mason soon learns that he isn't the only private tutor on Isla de Sangre, nor is Londa the only child in residence whose conscience is a blank slate. How many daughters does Edwina Sabacthani really have, and how did she bring them into being?

Undaunted by these mysteries, Mason continues to instruct Londa, hoping that she can lead a normal life when she eventually ventures forth into human society. His apprentice, however, has a different agenda. Her head crammed with lofty ideals, her heart brimming with fearsome benevolence, and her bank account filled to bursting, Londa undertakes to remake our fallen world in her own image by any and all means necessary.

My Rating

Must Have: James Morrow is simply one of those authors I genuinely want to read everything of. He's the kind of author that not only writes interesting and entertaining stories, but he makes me feel smart for reading them, even if I'm not an expert on genetics or philosophy or religion or whatever the focus of the book may be. The Philosopher's Apprentice is an incredibly engaging read, a must for readers who are fans of the "literary SF" movement (you like Margaret Atwood? Mary Doria Russell? Ursula K. Le Guin? Octavia E. Butler? Jeanette Winterson? You should read this!) as well as those readers who feel a little intimidated by science fiction and aren’t sure where to dip their toes in. That said, it’s not an easy read in terms of transparency, this book is rife with philosophy, but don’t let that be a hurdle. Morrow doesn’t make his reader feel like an idiot. There's so much to absorb, to enjoy, to appreciate, to ponder over. This isn't a book simply about clones, it's a book about what it means to be human and what wrongs we'll commit in order to make the world right. It's a great read, and one I'd highly recommend.

Review style: After discussing my history with James Morrow's fiction, I want to talk about the obvious inspirations fueling this book: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, and George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. I also want to discuss how this isn't your conventional science fiction novel, let alone a conventional story about clones, but rather the exploration of morality and how--believe it or not--the book isn't preachy. No spoilers, as that would be rude since this initially a guest review at Jawas Read, Too!

REVIEW: James Morrow's THE PHILOSOPHER'S APPRENTICE

Happy Reading!

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LibraryThing member cbjorke

At first I thought that The Philosopher's Apprentice would be a remake of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance combined with Pygmalion, set on a lovely topical island. However, it soon morphed into a new take on The Island of Dr. Moreau, with a touch of it's most recent tribute, Jurassic Park.

The novel then had a brief affair with I Robot before veering off into Stranger In A Strange Land and Night of the Living Dead, then suddenly became Juggernaut, taking a few cues from The Metamorphosis, making a short visit to Elie Wiesel's Night, returning to Heinlein's Stranger theme and ending, predictably, with a baby in a bookstore. There are a few plot twists to follow.

The book also give me a chance to expound my sophomore spiel about science fiction. A science fiction story must ask "What if?" "What if we colonize Mars." "What if a horrible disease kills all but a few people in the world?" What if something. Something, whatever question a story asks, should be non-trivial and the way it is asked and answered should not offend the reader's willingness to suspend disbelief. A good science fiction story will be carefully constructed so as not to trip on internal self contradiction.

Morrow asks "Is a conscience innate or is it learned, and if learned, can it be taught to a postadolescent that never had the opportunity to be a child." He uses cloning, forced feeding of learning with mysterious projectors, and other, not well developed science fiction apparatus as tools to bring the novel to the point where that question can be asked. It is OK to be a bit sketchy about the science if, as in this case, the book is asking a non-technical question. A little pixie dust never hurt anyone without an engineering degree.

The plot twists take over the story, bringing in so many surprising developments that the fundamental ethical question is somewhat obscured. It does make for a page turner, though, and the book does return to that question again, sometimes answering yes and sometimes no and gives the philosophers favorite answer, "On the one hand - but on the other hand."

I became involved enough with the characters, particularly his version of Eliza Doolittle/Valentine Michael Smith, that I became somewhat upset with Morrow over some of the things that he had her, and her disciples doing. I also had a hard time believing that the authorities would ignore a conspiracy to create an army of zombies and send them to burn down a city in the middle of Maryland. I live in Maryland for cripes sake! You couldn't even do that in Louisiana, without raising a few eyebrows, even if you were the Governor's delinquent son in law.

I'll Never Forget The Day I Read A Book!

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LibraryThing member ehines

This is a rather disjointed novel, reminding me in some ways of Foucault's Pendulum. (In its disjointedness. In its rather horrifying picture of human credulity and barbarism.) In fact, I had to check the copyright to confirm this wasn't a satire of Trumpism. Actually more an uncanny prophecy. Full

of insight. Full of nice lines. Short on cohesion and believable characters.

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