The Raw Shark Texts

The Raw Shark Texts

Author	Steven Hall
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre	Science fiction novel
Publisher	Canongate, HarperCollins
Publication date	2007
Media type	Print (Hardback)
Pages	428 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN	ISBN 978-0-00-200840-2 (first edition, hardback)

The Raw Shark Texts is a debut novel by author Steven Hall, released in 2007. The book was released by Canongate Books in the US and the UK, whilst HarperCollins is publishing it in Canada.

Plot introduction

The Raw Shark Texts takes place in our own world; however, certain aspects that do not exist in our familiar world exist in the book, hidden from the general public by dedicated organizations. Foremost among these are so called conceptual creatures, life forms that exist within and feed upon ideas. Another new concept is the idea of un-space, the unvisited, unnamed, and uninhabited empty areas beneath the normally used parts of the urban landscape. This area is documented and managed by a group known as the Un-Space Exploration Committee.

Plot summary

Eric Sanderson, a British man in his late twenties, was working with the Un-Space Exploration Committee after the death of his girlfriend, Clio Aames. His hope was to perserve his memories of her within the body of a conceptual creature. This leads to his intentional release of a Ludovician - the most dangerous of the conceptual fish - on himself. He loses memories of his life as they are devoured by the Ludovician, but still the Ludovician pursues him until all is lost and he awakes as the Second Eric Sanderson. Eric is told by doctors that he has a dissociative condition known as fugue. However, the First Eric Sanderson, even as he was losing his memory, has left him with a large number of letters explaining Conceptual Fish, the death of his girlfriend, the Un-Space Exploration Committee, and other such things. When Eric Sanderson is attacked once more by the Ludovician, he decides to go in search of a doctor named Trey Fidorous, who is a member of the Un-Space Exploration Committee who may be able to explain what is happening to him.

Eric travels through Britain in search of clues, and ultimately finds one in a hotel he is staying in during a rainstorm. He is contacted by a mysterious figure known as Mr. Nobody, who is actually a part of a larger, internet based intelligence called Mycroft Ward. Mr. Nobody attempts to subdue and control Eric with a smaller Conceptual Fish, but Eric manages to escape. Eric soon meets with a member of the Un-Space Exploration Committee named Scout. Scout and Eric have a close encounter with the Ludovician before venturing into Un-Space in search of Trey Fidorous. It turns out that by fluke, Scout has a small bit of Mycroft Ward in her, but is not truly a part of the intelligence. When they find him, they help him rig up a conceptual boat with which to hunt the Ludovician. The climax of the book takes place on a conceptual ocean, aboard the Orpheus, which is the name given to the shark-hunting boat. In a climactic encounter, a laptop hooked up to the Mycroft Ward database is thrown into the mouth of the Ludovician, destroying both. Trey Fidorous is killed in the sinking of the boat, and Scout is lost at sea. Eric is then seemingly given a chance to return to the 'real' world through a postcard showing his house but declines, choosing to remain in the conceptual world. Scout returns to the boat unharmed and together with Ian the cat, she and Eric then swim to a 'conceptual island' which resembles the Greek Island on which The First Eric and Clio holidayed before she died. The book ends with a newspaper cutting reporting that the body of Eric Sanderson was found. The newspaper clipping mentions that a postcard from Eric was sent to Dr. Randle just prior to the discovery of his body. The postcard is shown on the next page, and claims to be from Eric, stating that he is unhurt and happy, but will never return.

Characters

Main characters

Eric Sanderson

Eric Narrates the story. He is a British man in his late twenties. Three years before the events of the story, Eric was travelling with his partner, Clio Aames, in Naxos, Greece. On this trip, Clio died in a scuba diving accident. Eric was overcome with grief, but organized her wake himself. During the next six months, however, Eric became involved with the Un-Space Exploration Committee. His hope was to find a Ludovician to preserve his memories of Clio so that she would never truly die. This, had it worked, would have been a process similar to that undergone by Mycroft Ward. However, Ludovicians eat memories rather than preserving them. When Eric opened a Conceptual loop containing a Ludovician, thusly setting it on himself, the memories were not preserved, but rather lost. Over the next two and a half years, Eric attempts to evade the Ludovician as he writes letters to his future self: the one that will exist when the Ludovician has eaten the last of his memories. The Ludovician attacks him eleven times before this happens. Eric awakes with no memories. Throughout the story, Eric appears rather awkward. He seems unsure of how to form a romance with Scout, though he clearly wants to. He uses the word "erm" often and mostly keeps to himself. This is most likely an unsureness of how to act, having no memory of anything he has done.

The First Eric Sanderson

In all respects, The First Eric Sanderson is treated as a separate character from Eric Sanderson, though they are the same person. The first Eric's role in the story is mainly sending letters and fragments to Eric. These often cryptic documents slowly reveal Eric's past, how to defend oneself from a Ludovician, the taxonomy of conceptual fish, and other such things.

Scout

Scout is an at times confident, at times anxious young woman involved with the Un-Space Exploration committee. In her youth, she was surfing the internet and began answering what appeared to be some sort of IQ Test. In reality, this was a trap designed to turn people into new parts of Mycroft Ward. Fortunately, her sister unplugged the computer before Mycroft Ward could completely take over her brain. Later, it is she who saves Eric from his second encounter with the Ludovician with her "Letter Bomb" (composed of typewriter keys attached to an explosive device). Scout has a good knowledge of Un-Space. At first she appears to have romantic interest in Eric Sanderson, but then he begins to believe that this is just her using him so that she can be freed from Mycroft Ward. This turns out not to be true. Scout has a smiley face tattooed on her big toe, so that when she is dead and in the morgue, her toe tag will be funny - something that Clio Aames had also discussed doing. It is suggested strongly near the end of the book that Scout and Clio Aames are the same person.

Mycroft Ward

The original Mycroft Ward existed in the mid nineteenth century. His purpose in life was immortality. When he died, it was assumed he had failed. In truth, he had succeeded. He had found a new body, a young man, and hypnosis told him every detail of his own life. When Mycroft was done, the man thought, acted, and had the same memories as Mycroft, and was essentially a new Mycroft Ward. The original plan was for this man to find a worthy next Mycroft, but at some point, the plan went wrong. Mycroft had too much self-preservation in him and began creating serial Mycroft Wards. At the time of the story, Mycroft ward is an immense internet database that controls hundreds of Mycrofts world wide. Mycroft Ward is one of the antagonists of the story.

Minor characters

Dr. Trey Fidorous

Trey Fidorous is an expert on conceptual fish. He makes his laboratory home deep in un-space. It was he who was caring for the Ludovician that is now chasing Eric. At first, he is reluctant to help Eric, but eventually warms up to him and creates the conceptual boat "The Orpheus."

Clio Aames

Clio Aames is the first Eric Sanderson's girlfriend, revealed only in the text through various letters and fragments. She, like Scout, is at times confident, at times vulnerable. It is revealed that she has suffered from cancer in the past but is in remission, yet her personality is brash, as she toys with the first Eric Sanderson, ironically gives human names to the couple's cats, Ian and Gavin, sunbathes nude on the beach, impulsively purchases an underwater camera, and expresses a desire to have a smiley face tatooed on her big toe (So when she dies, her toetag in the morgue will look funny). It is the underwater camera that eventually precipitates her presumed drowning, and Scout's tatoo which leads the second Eric Sanderson to contemplate a connection between the Clio and Scout.

Dr. Randle

Dr. Randle is a retired doctor, presumably of psychology. She is the first contact Eric Sanderson has after the death of The First Eric Sanderson. Dr. Randle is convinced that Eric has a dissociative condition. Indeed, Eric's symptoms are similar to that of a dissociative condition, though some of them do not fit at all. For the first few months of the book, Eric Sanderson and Dr. Randle meet regularly. The book ends with a postcard from the supposedly dead Eric Sanderson to Dr. Randle, which she passes off as a joke in ill taste.

Mr. Nobody

Mr. Nobody identifies himself as an employee of Mycroft Ward, and attempts to capture the second Eric Sanderson. He is described initially as a well-dressed and confident man, though it becomes clear that he is no longer completely human. Ward has apparently devised chemical means, pills, to build up and maintain the aspects of Mr. Nobody's personality, while at the core he remains only the Concept of some former self.

Aunt Ruth

The owner of the Willows hotel, where Eric stays during a rainstorm. Though she is not actually the aunt of any of the guests, the guests generally use this term of endearment.

Ian the cat

A large cat of unfriendly temperament, who becomes the travelling companion of the second Eric Sanderson. Initially one of two cats purchased and named by Clio Aames and the first Eric Sanderson, Ian appears one morning on the second Eric Sanderson's window sill. It is never revealed what became of the other cat, Gavin.

References to other media in the book

The Wizard of Oz

When Scout and the second Eric Sanderson finally track down Dr. Trey Fidorous, he chides them for coming to him for help by calling Scout "Dorothy," Eric "the Tin Man," and Ian "Toto." He plays the role of the "Wizard," helping them all to find resolutions to their problems.

Casablanca

Casablanca is referenced multiple times in the book, most notably in Eric's postcard to Dr. Randle, which has an image of stars Bogart and Bergman on its other side. This is a reference to their original meeting, when Randle had Eric quote a line from the movie. Eric was able to, but was unable to recall the lst time he had actually seen the movie.

Hound of the Baskervilles

At one point in the book, Sherlock Holmes was discussed. It was pointed out that Sherlock is not actually exceptionally intelligent - he just has a stupid assistant.

Lost in Space

In the text of the Light Bulb Fragment, Eric compares the clarity of the Milky Way in the Greek night sky to Lost in Space. Oddly, though he does not account saying this aloud, Clio hears him as though he had, and pokes fun at his nerdiness.

Toy Story

In the second part of the Light Bulb Fragment, Eric says that Clio's camera looks like Buzz Lightyear.

Fight Club, The Invention of Solitude, Crooked Cucumber, Zen Mind, Beginner's mind, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, Shogun, War and peace

These are books read by Eric and Clio on Naxos, with the exception of War and Peace, which is used only as a comparison for Shogun.

Jaws

The last 50 pages or so are an entire retelling of the final hour or so of the film Jaws. It is never explained nor made explicitly obvious why this is done. It may be explained as a hallucination on Eric's behalf that happens to take the plot of Jaws as its basis, particularly since Eric admits to being terrified by the movie.

Plot duality

Though Eric, as the narrator, tells us what he perceives as happening to him, this account may well be unreliable. In the second part of the light bulb fragment, Eric is shown as occasionally mentally unstable. The story involves almost surreal and nonsensical elements that separate themselves further and further from reality until the final fifty pages which involve shark hunting on an imaginary boat in an imaginary ocean. The conceptuality of many elements of the story, that is, their existence only within the mind, point towards insanity on Eric's behalf. Some parts of the book could certainly be perceived as delusions, such as Eric becoming convinced that Scout is actually Clio. Furthermore, Dr. Randle's description of fugue is one that fits Eric perfectly by the end of the book, as Eric has certainly left his life behind and gone on a journey. The book never makes it absolutely clear whether the conceptual creatures are real, or whether Eric is simply insane, though it provides clues supporting each conclusion. This ambiguousness is demonstrated by the two documents that end the story: a newspaper article that declares Eric's death, though Eric may be living on the conceptual ocean; and a letter to Dr. Randle from Eric, saying that he is alive and well, though this may just be a joke in poor taste.

Text images

The text images of the book, known as "Ludovician Imagery" on the very first page, appear a number of times throughout, adding a unique touch to the book. These pictures, often of the Ludovician itself, are composed entirely of words and letters. They appear:

• On the cover on the US edition: a picture of a shark composed of the words on the first page.
• Page 16: Conceptual silt composed of the words "Australopithicus" and "Homo Habilis"
• Pages 57 and 58: The Ludovician on Eric's television.
• Page 93: Conceptual single-celled organisms: 'a' and two 'e's.
• Page 94: The nucleus of a conceptual cell, composed of an upper and lower case version of the twenty six letters of the alphabet in order.
• Page 95: A reconstruction of a fossil fish. The fish's body parts (eye, faceplate, skin, joint, spine, fin) are composed of those words.
• Page 96: A mosquito made of computer code.
• Page 126 and 127: Pages 93 and 94 of The Origin of the Species, covered with the word "plant."
• Page 147: A Luxophage.
• Page 155: The Ludovician.
• Page 217: The face of the Ludovician.
• Page 328-373: The Ludovician swimming.
• Page 419: An explosion.

Fragments and Letters

Fragments

Eric's past is revealed to him through "Fragments." Fragments are written pieces detailing parts of Eric's past life. The first Eric Sanderson claims responsibility for having written the fragments, though it is unclear when he did so, in terms of before or after he released the ludovician. The known fragments are listed here.

The Light Bulb Fragment

Accounts Eric's trip to Greece with Clio.

The Aquarium Fragment

Accounts Eric releasing the Ludovician. The very first page of the book calls the rest of the book pages of the Aquarium Fragment, duplicated from the only known copy.

The Dust Fragment

Contents unknown.

The Shadow Fragment

Contents unknown.

The Envelope Fragment

Contents unknown.

Letters

The first Eric Sanderson communicates with Eric using letters. These letters often are written as if the first Eric Sanderson still exists somewhere, and the communication is across space, not time, using phrases such as, "It's raining here in the past. I hope the weather there in the future is better." Known letters are listed here.

"Letter #0"

This is the note Eric finds beside the telephone, instructing him to go to Dr. Randle's house.

Letter #1

The first Eric introduces himself and gives Eric the Ryan Michell Mantra for use in emergency.

Letter #2

Further introduction, and preliminary explanation of the Ludovician.

Letter #3

Gives Eric the equipment for a non-divergent conceptual loop, and instructions on its use and how to make another.

Letter #4

Further ways to camoflague oneself in conceptual waterways.

Letter #5

Money management.

Letters #17, 44, 58, and 59

Unknown procedures to be followed before opening the locked room.

Letter #60

The key to the locked room.

Letter #67

More information on the Ludovician.

Letter #108

Introduction to the Light Bulb Fragment.

Letter #109

The Light Bulb Fragment.

Letter #110

On the coding of the Light Bulb Fragment.

Letter #205

Eric reveals his scrap of the Aquarium Fragment.

Letter #206

Un-space.

Letter #214

A reminder regarding electronics.

Letter #222

Trey Fidorous.

Letter #238

Selecting a false identity.

External links

• http://www.rawsharktexts.com
• http://www.annotatedrawshark.com
• A review of The Raw Shark Texts by Mark Mordue. [2]