The Baroque Cycle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Baroque Cycle is a series of novels written by Neal Stephenson.

Appearing in print in 2003 and 2004, the cycle contains eight novels originally published in three volumes:

• Quicksilver, Vol. I of the Baroque Cycle
  • Book 1 - Quicksilver
  • Book 2 - The King of the Vagabonds
  • Book 3 - Odalisque
• The Confusion, Vol. II of the Baroque Cycle
  • Book 4 - Bonanza
  • Book 5 - The Juncto
• The System of the World, Vol. III of the Baroque Cycle
  • Book 6 - Solomon's Gold
  • Book 7 - Currency
  • Book 8 - The System of the World

The story follows the adventures of a sizeable cast of characters living amidst some of the central events of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries in Europe. Despite featuring a literary treatment consistent with historical fiction, Stephenson has characterized the work as science fiction, due to the presence of some anomalous occurrences and the work's particular emphasis on themes relating to science and technology.^[1] The sciences of cryptology and numismatics feature heavily in the series.

Quicksilver takes place mainly in the years between the Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in England (1660) and the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

The Confusion follows Quicksilver without temporal interruption, but ranges geographically from Europe and the Mediterranean through India to Manila, Japan, and Mexico.

The System of the World takes place principally in London in 1714, about ten years after the events of The Confusion.

The books feature considerable sections concerning alchemy, with protagonists including Isaac Newton, Gottfried Leibniz, Nicolas Fatio de Duillier and sundry other Europeans of note during late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The principal alchemist of the tale is the mysterious Enoch Root, who, along with the descendants of several characters in this series, is also featured in the Stephenson novel Cryptonomicon.

Why Baroque? Because it is set in the Baroque, and it is baroque. Why Cycle? Because I am trying to avoid the T-word ("trilogy"). In my mind this work is something like 7 or 8 connected novels. These have been lumped together into three volumes because it is more convenient from a publishing standpoint, but they could just as well have been put all together in a single immense volume or separated into 7 or 8 separate volumes. So to slap the word "trilogy" on it would be to saddle it with a designation that is essentially bogus. Having said that, I know everyone's going to call it a trilogy anyway.

—Neal Stephenson

Contents 1 Main characters 1.1 Families 2 Other characters 3 Historical figures who appear as characters in the novel 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Main characters

• Daniel Waterhouse, an English natural philosopher and Dissenter
• Jack Shaftoe, an illiterate adventurer of great resourcefulness and charisma
• Eliza, a Qwghlmian girl abducted into slavery, and later freed, who becomes a spy and a financier
• Enoch Root, a mysterious personage who flickers about Europe and who never ages
• Bob Shaftoe, a soldier in the service of John Churchill, and brother of Jack Shaftoe

[edit] Families

Below is a list of families appearing in both Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle. In cases where multiple members of the family appear (example: Wait Still Waterhouse), only the primary member(s) are listed.^{[citation needed]}

	The Baroque Cycle	Cryptonomicon 1940s	Cryptonomicon 1990s
Waterhouse	Daniel Waterhouse	Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse	Randy Waterhouse
Shaftoe	Jack & Bob Shaftoe	Bobby Shaftoe	Douglas MacArthur Shaftoe, America Shaftoe
Hacklheber	Eliza, Johann von Hacklheber	Rudolf von Hacklheber
Goto	Gabriel Goto	Goto Dengo	Goto Dengo, Goto Furudenendo
"Silver" Comstock	John Comstock	Major Earl Comstock	Attorney General Paul Comstock
Bolstrood	Gregory, Knott, & Gomer Bolstrood	Gomer Bolstrood Furniture	Gomer Bolstrood Furniture
Foot	Mr. Foot	Foote Mansion	Sultan of Kinakuta
Root	Enoch Root	Enoch Root	Enoch Root
Churchill	Winston, John Churchill	Sir Winston Churchill

[edit] Other characters

Louis Anglesey, Earl of Upnor Thomas More Anglesey, Cavalier, Duke of Gunfleet Duc d'Arcachon, French admiral who dabbles in slavery Etienne d'Arcachon, son of the duke; most polite man in France Henry Arlanc (1), Huguenot, friend of Jack Shaftoe. Henry Arlanc (2), Son of Henry Arlanc(1), porter of Royal Society Mrs. Arlanc, wife of Henry (2) Gomer Bolstrood, dissident agitator Clarke, Alchemist, boards young Isaac Newton Charles Comstock, son of John Comstock John Comstock, Earl of Epsom and Lord Chancellor Roger Comstock, Marquis of Ravenscar, Whig Patron of Daniel Waterhouse Will Comstock, Earl of Lostwithiel Dappa, Nigerian Linguist aboard Minerva Moseh de la Cruz, galley slave, Spanish Jew Vrej Esphanian, galley slave, Armenian Trader Mr. Foot, galley slave, erstwhile bar-owner from Dunkirk Édouard de Gex, Jesuit fanatic Gabriel Goto, galley slave, Jesuit priest from Japan Lothar von Hacklheber, German banker obsessed with alchemy

Thomas Ham, of Ham Bros Goldsmiths, half-brother-in-law of Daniel Waterhouse Otto van Hoek, galley slave, Captain of the Minerva Jeronimo, galley slave, a high-born Spaniard with tourettes Mr. Kikin, Russian diplomat in London Nyazi, galley slave, camel-trader of the Upper Nile Norman Orney, London shipbuilder and Dissenter Danny Shaftoe, son of Jack Shaftoe Jimmy Shaftoe, son of Jack Shaftoe Mr. Sluys, Dutch merchant and traitor Mr. Threader, Tory money-scrivener Drake Waterhouse, Puritan father of Daniel Waterhouse Faith Waterhouse, wife of Daniel Waterhouse Godfrey Waterhouse, son of Daniel Waterhouse Mayflower Waterhouse, half-sister of Daniel Waterhouse, wife of Thomas Ham Raleigh Waterhouse, brother of Daniel Waterhouse Sterling Waterhouse, brother of Daniel Waterhouse Charles White, Tory, Captain of the King's Messengers, who bites off people's ears Yevgeny the Raskolnik, Russian whaler and anti-tsarist rebel Peter Hoxton (Saturn), Horologist Colonel Barnes, John Churchill's Peg-legged military commander

[edit] Historical figures who appear as characters in the novel

Bolingbroke Caroline of Ansbach Jean Bart Catherine Barton Charles II of England John Churchill D'Artagnan Nicolas Fatio de Duillier John Flamsteed Benjamin Franklin (as a young boy) George I of Great Britain George II of Great Britain, the Prince of Wales Mother Goose George Frideric Handel Christiaan Huygens George Jeffreys Robert Hooke James Stuart, James II and the Duke of York Gottfried Leibniz

Louis XIV of France Thomas Newcomen Isaac Newton John Sobieski Henry Oldenburg Samuel Pepys Peter the Great Bonaventure Rossignol, a French cryptanalyst James Scott, Duke of Monmouth Solomon (anachronistic), traveling incognito as Solomon Kohan Sophia of Hanover Sophia Charlotte of Hanover Edward Teach John Wilkins William III of England, Prince of Orange Christopher Wren Jack Ketch William Penn Robert Boyle

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Locus Magazine interview with Neal Stephenson
• The Source of the Modern World interview by Glenn Reynolds at Tech Central Station
• Back to the Baroque review by Reynolds in The Weekly Standard
• "Neal Stephenson - the interview" on Guardian Unlimited, regarding The Baroque Cycle

v • d • e Works by Neal Stephenson The Baroque Cycle Quicksilver (2003) • The Confusion (2004) • The System of the World (2004) Other novels The Big U (1984) • Zodiac (1988) • Snow Crash (1992) • Interface (1994) • The Diamond Age (1995) • The Cobweb (1996) • Cryptonomicon (1999) • Anathem (2008) Short stories "Spew" (1994) • "The Great Simoleon Caper" (1995) • "Jipi and the paranoid chip" (1997) Essays Smiley's people (1993) • In the Kingdom of Mao Bell (1994) • Mother Earth Mother Board (1996) • Global Neighborhood Watch (1998) • In the Beginning... was the Command Line (1999)