Unquenchable Fire
{{short description|1988 novel by Rachel Pollack}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Unquenchable Fire
| image = Unquenchable Fire (book cover).jpg
| caption =
| author = Rachel Pollack
| country = United States
| language = English
| genre = Fantasy
| published = 1988
| publisher = Overlook Press
| media_type = Print
| pages = 390
| isbn = 978-0-87951-447-1
| congress = PS3566.O4798 U5 1992
| oclc = 17322643
| preceded_by =
| followed_by = Temporary Agency
| wikisource =
}}
Unquenchable Fire is a 1988 fantasy novel by Rachel Pollack. It won the 1989 Arthur C. Clarke Award.
Overview
In this surrealistic feminist book, Pollack uses rituals and themes borrowed from different religions to develop her society's mythology.{{cite news |title=Fiction Book Review: Unquenchable Fire Rachel Pollack, Author Overlook Press $23.95 (390p) ISBN 978-0-87951-447-1 |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-87951-447-1 |work=Publishers Weekly |date=March 2, 1992 |access-date=December 25, 2022 |archive-date=December 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225145211/https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-87951-447-1 |url-status=live }}
Plot
In the United States, 87 years after the second Revolution, a bureaucratic Spiritual Development Agency controls and monitors miracles, which are everyday occurrences. Founders sparked a spiritual revolution, overcoming secularists and technophiles to bring about the Living World. Tales of the Founders are told by Picture Tellers, shaman-like celebrities who interpret the Founders' will and are able to transport people into the essence of their myths. Sacrifices and magical rituals are commonplace.
Meanwhile in Poughkeepsie, recently divorced Jennifer Mazdan has an unusual dream and awakes impregnated with a messiah. She is stopped by a strange force when she tries to get an abortion. She tracks her husband through Manhattan, meets a holy ice cream vendor, and gives birth to a daughter. Her immaculate conception disrupts the new order and restores the feminist heroines of the past.{{cite news |title=Unquenchable Fire |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/rachel-pollack/unquenchable-fire/ |work=Kirkus Reviews |date=April 1, 1992 |language=en |access-date=December 25, 2022 |archive-date=December 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225145313/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/rachel-pollack/unquenchable-fire/ |url-status=live }}
Reception
Unquenchable Fire received mostly positive reviews and won the 1989 Arthur C. Clarke Award.{{cite web |url=http://www.sfadb.com/Arthur_C_Clarke_Award_1989 |title=Arthur C. Clarke Award 1989 |work=Science Fiction Awards Database |publisher=Locus |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929011852/http://www.sfadb.com/Arthur_C_Clarke_Award_1989 |archivedate=2015-09-29 |url-status=live}} A review in Mythlore found Pollack's depiction of a post-Revolution world to be "prodigiously inventive" and "screamingly funny".{{cite journal |last1=Kondratiev |first1=Alexei |title=Tales Newly Told |journal=Mythlore: A Journal of JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature |date=1992 |volume=18 |issue=3 |page=60 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2371&context=mythlore |access-date=2022-12-25 |archive-date=2022-12-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225145209/https://dc.swosu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2371&context=mythlore |url-status=live }} John Clute called the book a "complex, though-composed, glinting tale".{{cite book |last1=Clute |first1=John |title=Canary Fever |date=2016 |publisher=Orion |isbn=978-1-4732-1978-6 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7WVoDQAAQBAJ&dq=%22Unquenchable+Fire%22+pollack&pg=PT43 |language=en |chapter=How to Address a Gaia}} A review in Black Gate praised the novel's worldbuilding, but was critical of the "almost plotless" story, calling it "an intensely frustrating read".{{cite news |last1=Pelech |first1=Isabel |title=A Review of Unquenchable Fire, by Rachel Pollack |url=https://www.blackgate.com/2011/03/21/19368/ |work=Black Gate |date=March 21, 2011 |access-date=December 25, 2022 |archive-date=December 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225145208/https://www.blackgate.com/2011/03/21/19368/ |url-status=live }} A review in The Gazette called Unquenchable Fire "a work of unparalleled inventiveness, passion, and beauty".{{cite news |last1=Grant |first1=Glen |title=Alternate world of wonders returns; Shamanism in suburbs of U.S. |work=The Gazette |date=September 10, 1994 |page=I4}} Candas Jane Dorsey wrote in the Edmonton Journal that the book "is technological without being technophilic, magical without being muzzy-headed".{{cite news |last1=Dorsey |first1=Candas Jane |title=Converging lives intrigue; Soft-cover SF and fantasy are affordable gifts |work=Edmonton Journal |date=December 2, 1989 |page=B5}}
References
{{reflist}}
External
- {{LCAuth|id=91037756}}
- {{LibraryThing work|name=Unquenchable Fire}}
- [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/832830.Unquenchable_Fire Unquenchable Fire] at Goodreads
{{Arthur C. Clarke Award}}