#128 Space and the mind: The Black Corridor (1969) by Michael Moorcock and Hilary Bailey

The hugely prolific Michael Moorcock is credited with making a major contribution to New Wave science fiction, mainly due to his editorship of the pivotal British magazine New Worlds. Moorcock wrote relatively few science fiction novels, certainly compared to his huge output of fantasy work, which he used to help support New Worlds financially.

However, some of Moorcock's own SF novels are themselves significant contributions to the New Wave. The Black Corridor, written in uncredited collaboration with his then-wife Hilary Bailey, is one example. To catch up with my review of another classic Moorcock SF novel from 1969, listen back to episode 96 for Behold the Man.

For more classic SF reviews, visit andyjohnson.xyz

Transcript

Writing in New Worlds magazine in 1962, J.G. Ballard made the case for science fiction to explore not outer space, but “inner space”. This emphasis on the workings of the human mind, and what Ballard called the “interzone” between external reality and the inner world, was foundational to British “New Wave” SF. This tendency coalesced in and around New Worlds, then edited by Michael Moorcock.

The Black Corridor is an important early novel by Moorcock, with significant uncredited contributions from Hilary Bailey (then married to Moorcock). Published in 1969 as part of the first series of Ace Science Fiction Specials, it is one of Moorcock’s relatively few “straight” SF novels. It is a fine example of the New Wave ethos, a thorough exploration of inner space in an outer space setting. 

A businessman and family man named Ryan has escaped a dying Earth, on a stolen starship with his family in suspended animation. His aim is to land on a habitable planet and restart human society - but three years into the voyage, loneliness and guilt impose an intolerable strain on his fractured psyche.

Escaping the collapse

The Black Corridor is a very brisk, concise novel with two narrative threads. The main narrative follows Ryan aboard his starship, in which he is travelling to the planet Munich 15040, which orbits Barnard’s Star. Ryan is the only conscious crew member, and he lives a strict routine in order to care for himself, his vessel, and his suspended family members. While he has maintained order for three years, over the course of the novel he increasingly loses his grip on reality, which jeopardises the mission - and perhaps the human race.

The other narrative thread is a sequence of flashbacks to Ryan’s life back on Earth. During this time, he was the owner-manager of a successful toy factory. Society is undergoing rapid deterioration, marked by racism, violence, and the emergence of an authoritarian and warlike government in the UK. Moorcock and Bailey explore Ryan’s response to these crises and his determination to survive. Increasingly, it becomes clear that Ryan's mental and moral collapse began long before he left Earth.

An unusual collaboration

What became The Black Corridor began with Hilary Bailey. She began a novel which Moorcock described as “a straight future disaster story - collapse of society stuff.” Moorcock took and rewrote these elements, which became the novel’s flashback thread. Between these, he added what became arguably the main narrative, about Ryan’s voyage to Munich 15040 and his descent into madness. 

Often, the novel is credited to Moorcock alone, and Bailey is mentioned only in the book’s acknowledgement. Given the significance of her contributions, The Black Corridor is more properly thought of as a collaborative novel. Moorcock and Bailey were married from 1962 to 1978. She wrote four other novels, and a number of short stories - she passed away in 2017.

Collapse and madness

The Black Corridor can be seen as one of Moorcock’s entropic novels, being about collapse, decay, and dissolution. In their own way, both of the narrative threads are about this theme, and they reinforce each other. On Earth in the past, society is collapsing; in space, in the present, it is Ryan’s mind which is falling apart.

While the Earthbound sections of the book are more concerned with the external world - Ryan’s work, family, and interactions with society - there is still a strong emphasis on his mindset and attitudes. When a wave of xenophobia sweeps the country, Ryan puts up only the slightest resistance before throwing his “foreign” workers (which includes anyone even suspected of being Welsh!) under the bus.

In the space sections, Moorcock creates a suitably oppressive and confined atmosphere. Ryan is trapped in a small space, surrounded by the dead vastness of the cosmos, with only his inert family and a primitive computer for company. His adherence to routine increasingly fails to mask his shattered interior world. His descent into insanity is compellingly drawn. Moorcock puts typographical experimentation to good work, notably when a computer readout resolves into huge letters made of letters, spanning two pages and spelling: “KILL”.

Lost in space

Moorcock is strongly associated with his fantasy work, and especially on his lengthy series. Read today, The Black Corridor is a reminder of his notable work in SF, particularly in the fertile period of the late 1960s - Behold the Man being published during the same year. It is also a strong example of the New Wave ethos, and one of the author’s bleakest future visions.