MONKEY PLANET - PIERRE BOULLE
A curio, and the book on which the whole Planet Of The Apes franchise is based. First published in 1963 and written by Pierre Boulle who in 1954 had previously written The Bridge On The River Kwai. Not that it should matter but also of note is that Pierre Boulle was French.
Monkey Planet in a number of ways is markedly different from what would later appear as Planet Of The Apes. For example, the planet on which the astronauts land is given a name - Soror - which is Latin for 'sister', given because of the geographical similarities to Earth. The dominant species on Soror are apes, all dressed in a very civilized manner and all displaying the exact same behaviour patterns of man. Rather than riding on horses as in the Planet Of The Apes films, the apes drive around in motor-cars and some even smoke pipes as almost an indication of sophistication. A distinct difference between the book and the films is that in the book, the apes have their own simian language. Being French, Pierre Boulle has his astronauts be French as well.
The book gives some insight into the world that the astronauts have landed, and we discover that the apes have all the things of man-made civilization such as electricity, industries and aeroplanes but as far as the conquest of space is concerned, the apes have reached only the stage of artificial satellites.
The main question, of course, is whether - as depicted in the film - Soror is actually planet Earth but in the future? It's not. There is no shocking Statue of Liberty moment at the end. The book's ending, however, is just as good and just as shocking in as much as it can be, given how well-known the Planet Of The Apes theme is.
On reading Monkey Planet, it's very apparent that Pierre Boulle was a very good writer. The obvious seam he mines is speciesism and the way that man treats other animals, particularly when it comes to holding them in zoos and using them for vivisection.
Boulle also raises questions of both a philosophical and sociological bent such as 'What is it that characterizes a civilization?' The answer he gives to that one is 'It is everyday life. Principally the arts, and first and foremost literature'. It's an answer I would tend to agree with but then I appreciate literature above any other artform, though of course any lover of the visual arts would no doubt disagree. But it's a moot point.
Monkey Planet is a science fiction book and like all the best science fiction books it is essentially a book of ideas. A book about ideas. So many ideas, in fact, that it took five films - Planet Of The Apes, Beneath The Planet Of The Apes, Escape From The Planet Of The Apes, Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes, and Battle For The Planet Of The Apes - to cover and make use of them all. And that, I would say, is the mark of a good writer and the mark of a good book.
John Serpico
