Eva (novel)
Encyclopedia
Eva is a young adult science-fiction novel by Peter Dickinson
, published in 1988. One of his best-known books, it received the Phoenix Award
in 2008.
Eva learns to adapt to her new body, using a keyboard to simulate her voice. She has dreams of a forest she has never seen - that Kelly has never seen either - and imagines it comes from the chimpanzee unconscious. She realizes that she must accept the chimpanzee part of herself, which is easier for her as she has grown up with her father's chimps.
The cost of the procedure has been met by a media company in return for broadcast rights. Eva is a big hit with the public and her family has to cope with massive media interest. The power of the 'shaper' companies is immense in a world where many people spend all day at home. 'Shaper' technology is a cross between television and virtual reality.
Eva spends most of her time with humans, even going to school, but also spends time in the Reserve, where she learns to adapt to the chimpanzee social group. Her human understanding helps her to manipulate some of the situations and she becomes accepted by the others. One particularly intelligent chimp, Sniff, is intrigued by her.
With the introduction of enthusiastic animal rights advocate Grog Kennedy the novel takes another turn. He convinces Eva that for the sake of the species the chimpanzees must return to the wild. Not only do they belong there, but Grog believes the human race is running out of steam and will before long no longer bother to care for animals in captivity. At this stage there are only small pockets of wilderness left, and most species have died out.
Grog and Eva devise an ingenious plan to get the chimps to the island of St. Hilaire near Madagascar where Eva and Sniff lead the others in an escape. Her human knowledge is necessary to help the chimps learn the skills necessary to survive, which means that she must cut herself off from other humans. The novel ends twenty-four years later when Eva is near death, the human race is in decline and Eva imagines a future in which the descendants of her band of chimpanzees become the new dominant race.
Concerning the writing of Eva, Peter Dickinson describes his original concept of a woman making contact with an early ancestress while in a coma. The book was much changed from the original concept, but the Adam and Eve cartoon which Eva watches is a remnant of it, and Eva herself becomes an ancestress of sorts. The author has since returned to the idea of our remote ancestors in A Bone from a Dry Sea (1992) and The Kin (1998).
in the year of its first publication. In the USA it was an Honor Book in the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award
s of 1989, and in 1992 won the Pacific Northwest Library Association's Young Reader's Choice Award
. In 2008 it received the Phoenix Award
, for an outstanding book published twenty years earlier which did not win a major award at the time.
Neil Philip in the Times Literary Supplement described Eva as "one of the better books of a first-rate writer. It is highly provocative, it has tenderness, humour and passion. It involves the reader from the very first page and will not quickly leave the mind." Ethel Heins in a Horn Book
review described the novel as "a work of passion and eloquence, and its sobering significance increases in proportion to the reader's maturity." In a longer Horn Book essay Betty Carter cited Eva as a good illustration of Dickinson's place as a thought-provoking author for young adults. "The topics raised in Eva transcend the fleeting concerns of adolescence. Dickinson shows tremendous respect for his readers and their ability to grapple with hard issues that range from euthanasia to the influence of the media...." In an essay in The Lion and the Unicorn
, "Exodus from the City: Peter Dickinson's Eva" by Kathryn V. Graham, Eva is placed in a tradition of British children's literature which elevates the rural setting above the urban.
Peter Dickinson
Peter Malcolm de Brissac Dickinson OBE is an English author and poet who has written a wide variety of books, notably children's books and detective stories, over a long and distinguished career.-Life and work:...
, published in 1988. One of his best-known books, it received the Phoenix Award
Phoenix Award
The Phoenix Award is awarded annually to a book originally published in English twenty years previously which did not receive a major award at the time of its publication....
in 2008.
Plot introduction
When 13-year-old Eva is badly injured in an accident, her consciousness is transplanted into the body of a chimpanzee. The novel concerns her efforts to adjust to her unique situation. The setting is a future when urban civilization has spread across the globe, with disastrous effects on other species.Plot summary
The novel opens as Eva wakes up in a hospital bed, paralyzed. Her mother assures her she will be fine, that the doctors will gradually reduce the paralysis. Eva guesses that her face has been badly scarred, but when she looks in a mirror, she sees the face of a chimpanzee. An experimental procedure has been used to transplant Eva's "neurone memory" into Kelly, a young chimp from her father's research facility.Eva learns to adapt to her new body, using a keyboard to simulate her voice. She has dreams of a forest she has never seen - that Kelly has never seen either - and imagines it comes from the chimpanzee unconscious. She realizes that she must accept the chimpanzee part of herself, which is easier for her as she has grown up with her father's chimps.
The cost of the procedure has been met by a media company in return for broadcast rights. Eva is a big hit with the public and her family has to cope with massive media interest. The power of the 'shaper' companies is immense in a world where many people spend all day at home. 'Shaper' technology is a cross between television and virtual reality.
Eva spends most of her time with humans, even going to school, but also spends time in the Reserve, where she learns to adapt to the chimpanzee social group. Her human understanding helps her to manipulate some of the situations and she becomes accepted by the others. One particularly intelligent chimp, Sniff, is intrigued by her.
With the introduction of enthusiastic animal rights advocate Grog Kennedy the novel takes another turn. He convinces Eva that for the sake of the species the chimpanzees must return to the wild. Not only do they belong there, but Grog believes the human race is running out of steam and will before long no longer bother to care for animals in captivity. At this stage there are only small pockets of wilderness left, and most species have died out.
Grog and Eva devise an ingenious plan to get the chimps to the island of St. Hilaire near Madagascar where Eva and Sniff lead the others in an escape. Her human knowledge is necessary to help the chimps learn the skills necessary to survive, which means that she must cut herself off from other humans. The novel ends twenty-four years later when Eva is near death, the human race is in decline and Eva imagines a future in which the descendants of her band of chimpanzees become the new dominant race.
Significance in the author's work
The novel returns to the ecological themes of the Changes Trilogy (1968-70) and Emma Tupper's Diary (1970). The former imagines a psychological change in the human race, and the second deals with the survival of a species. In one of his detective novels The Poison Oracle (1974), a chimpanzee who has learned to communicate becomes a witness in a murder case.Concerning the writing of Eva, Peter Dickinson describes his original concept of a woman making contact with an early ancestress while in a coma. The book was much changed from the original concept, but the Adam and Eve cartoon which Eva watches is a remnant of it, and Eva herself becomes an ancestress of sorts. The author has since returned to the idea of our remote ancestors in A Bone from a Dry Sea (1992) and The Kin (1998).
Awards
Eva was highly commended for the Carnegie MedalCarnegie Medal
The Carnegie Medal is a literary award established in 1936 in honour of Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and given annually to an outstanding book for children and young adults. It is awarded by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals...
in the year of its first publication. In the USA it was an Honor Book in the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award
Boston Globe-Horn Book Award
The Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards were first presented by The Boston Globe and Horn Book Magazine in 1967. They are among the most prestigious honors in the United States in the field of children’s and young adult literature...
s of 1989, and in 1992 won the Pacific Northwest Library Association's Young Reader's Choice Award
Young Reader's Choice Award
The Young Reader's Choice Award is an annual book award chosen by students from the Pacific Northwest. It is run by the Pacific Northwest Library Association, and was established in 1940, making it the oldest children's choice award in the U.S. and Canada....
. In 2008 it received the Phoenix Award
Phoenix Award
The Phoenix Award is awarded annually to a book originally published in English twenty years previously which did not receive a major award at the time of its publication....
, for an outstanding book published twenty years earlier which did not win a major award at the time.
Reception
Eva is one of Peter Dickinson's best-known books. The author says: "80% of my mail, almost all of it from the USA, is about this one book. This baffles me." The novel is used in classroom study to stimulate discussion of medical ethics, animal rights and other issues.Neil Philip in the Times Literary Supplement described Eva as "one of the better books of a first-rate writer. It is highly provocative, it has tenderness, humour and passion. It involves the reader from the very first page and will not quickly leave the mind." Ethel Heins in a Horn Book
Horn Book Magazine
The Horn Book Magazine, founded in Boston in 1924, is a bimonthly periodical about literature for children and young adults. It began life as a "suggestive purchase list" prepared by Bertha Mahony Miller and Elinor Whitney Field, proprietresses of the country's first bookstore for children, The...
review described the novel as "a work of passion and eloquence, and its sobering significance increases in proportion to the reader's maturity." In a longer Horn Book essay Betty Carter cited Eva as a good illustration of Dickinson's place as a thought-provoking author for young adults. "The topics raised in Eva transcend the fleeting concerns of adolescence. Dickinson shows tremendous respect for his readers and their ability to grapple with hard issues that range from euthanasia to the influence of the media...." In an essay in The Lion and the Unicorn
The Lion and the Unicorn (journal)
The Lion and the Unicorn is an academic journal founded in 1977. It examines children's literature from a scholarly perspective covering the publishing industry, regional authors, comparative studies, illustration, popular culture, and other topics. It provides unique author and editor interviews...
, "Exodus from the City: Peter Dickinson's Eva" by Kathryn V. Graham, Eva is placed in a tradition of British children's literature which elevates the rural setting above the urban.
External links
- "Intra-active: The child/animal in Children's SF" by Naarah Sawers Deakin University 2006 – Considering the scientific dimension of Eva and Gillian RubinsteinGillian RubinsteinGillian Rubinstein is an English-born children's author and playwright. Born in Potten End, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England, Rubinstein split her childhood between England and Nigeria, moving to Australia in 1973. As well as eight plays, numerous short stories and articles, she has written...
's novel, Galax-ArenaGalax-ArenaGalax-Arena, by Gillian Rubinstein, is a 1995 science fiction novel following 3 children who are kidnapped by aliens. It deals with issues of slavery, what we know versus what we believe to be true, the difference between children and adults, street people , and spirituality, to an extent.A sequel,...
.