Title & Frontispiece in "The Man Inside" by V. F. Calverton. NY: Scribner's, 1936. First Edition. Art by Charles Alston
"The Man Inside" is a utopian novel published in the midst of the Great Depression. The narrative is in the form of notes, diaries and newspaper clippings. An anthropologist who is disenchanted with both Western civilization and his personal life travels to a remote part of Africa. In his diary, he reviews experiments by Jolie Coeur, a scientist who engages in scientific tests in hypnosis. Coeur hypnotizes young people to feel extreme sexual attraction as well as revulsion; he demonstrates painless pregnancies under hypnosis; he places both humans and animals in states of suspended animation; he even forces a person to commit suicide by suggestion. Although the experiments lead to disaster for all parties, Coeur contends that he has discovered the key to both peace and justice in the axiom, "Those who control the means of suggestion control the community," and asserts that he has already created a utopia in embryo." [Source: www.jstor.org/stable/20718095?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents]
Title & Frontispiece in "The Man Inside" by V. F. Calverton. NY: Scribner's, 1936. First Edition. Art by Charles Alston
"The Man Inside" is a utopian novel published in the midst of the Great Depression. The narrative is in the form of notes, diaries and newspaper clippings. An anthropologist who is disenchanted with both Western civilization and his personal life travels to a remote part of Africa. In his diary, he reviews experiments by Jolie Coeur, a scientist who engages in scientific tests in hypnosis. Coeur hypnotizes young people to feel extreme sexual attraction as well as revulsion; he demonstrates painless pregnancies under hypnosis; he places both humans and animals in states of suspended animation; he even forces a person to commit suicide by suggestion. Although the experiments lead to disaster for all parties, Coeur contends that he has discovered the key to both peace and justice in the axiom, "Those who control the means of suggestion control the community," and asserts that he has already created a utopia in embryo." [Source: www.jstor.org/stable/20718095?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents]