Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Entropy
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.aaroncostain.com/HOME.html
CITY: Toronto
STATE: ON
COUNTRY: Canada
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Male.
EDUCATION:Attended the University of Victoria; Dalhousie University, graduated.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, comics artist, and architect. Diamond Schmitt Architects, Toronto, ON, Canada, associate, 2002—.
WRITINGS
Creator of the comics, Good Neighbours and Calamity Coach. Contributor to the Big Team Society League Book of Answers.
SIDELIGHTS
Aaron Costain is a writer, comic book artist, and architect. He holds a degree in architecture from Dalhousie University degree. Costain is an associate at Diamond Schmitt Architects in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Outside of his work as a architect, he has released the comic books, Good Neighbours and Calamity Coach. Costain was also a contributor to the anthology, Big Team Society League Book of Answers.
In 2018, Costain published Entropy, a complete collection of the comics series of the same name. The book’s protagonist is an unnamed humanoid wearing a parka. He travels through the forest, contemplating his existence. Along his journey, he gains a companion, a younger creature who looks like him. They encounter several animals that communicate with them. Some are benevolent, while others are malicious. Among them are a cat, a raven, a coyote, and a grasshopper. Supernatural beings also greet them along the way, including angels and golems.
In an interview with Peter Dabbene, contributor to the Foreword Reviews website, Costain discussed the book’s title. He stated: “In the context of this book, Entropy is the gradual decay of systems over time—a slow slide into disorder, or perhaps the return of a natural equilibrium. The world of this book has undergone some kind of cataclysm, perhaps a great flood, and the remnants of the human world are slowly rotting and falling away.” Regarding the takeaways for the book’s readers, Costain told Dabbene: “Everyone will have their own interpretation of the events within, in much the same way everyone has their own interpretation of religion. It doesn’t matter whether the reader knows the specific references I am making; it is up to them to interpret what is on the page and make up their own minds. … Entropy is about the impossibility of knowing the divine, and not blindly trusting what you are told to believe.” Costain discussed the works that inspired elements of Entropy in an interview with a writer on the Carte Blanche website. He stated: “Pinocchio is a huge influence, both the original book and the sanitized Disney version. I am fascinated with the idea of the golem, and I see the Pinocchio story as a variation on this theme (with a happier ending, though). I cannot overstate the influence of Murakami’s odder books. … They ponder many of the same oblique existential issues I am interested in.” Costain continued: “Anders Nilsen’s graphic novel Dogs and Water and his ongoing series Big Questions both deal with the solitary figure contemplating existential issues in a way that parallels my own predilections. I am also extremely interested in myth and fable and how they intersect with religion.”
“Despite how well the aesthetic is executed, the meandering story feels as jumbled and confusing as life itself,” remarked a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Other assessments of the book were more favorable. Gordon Flagg, critic in Booklist, described Entropy as “enigmatic and intriguing.” Flagg also praised the book’s “detailed, realistic artwork, which makes the story’s fantastic elements … easy to swallow.” An Internet Bookwatch writer asserted: “Entropy is an inherently fascinating, singularly unique, and ‘reader compelling’ story.” John Seven, contributor to the Comics Beat website, commented: “Aaron Costain’s Entropy is the type of book that begs you to never give up on it.” Seven also compared Entropy to other dystopian stories, stating: “In Costain’s telling, the journey through an isolated landscape compiled of religious mythology distilled to the essence isn’t much different from any typical post-apocalyptic adventure. But instead of this post-apocalyptic world being a result of our science going wrong or nature revolting against us, it’s created from our mania for explanations crowding us out.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, May 15, 2018, Gordon Flagg, review of Entropy, p. 35.
Broken Pencil, summer, 2010, Harley R. Pageot, review of Entropy, p. 36; April, 2012, Carrie Q. Contrary, review of Entropy, p. 55.
Internet Bookwatch, April, 2018, review of Entropy.
Publishers Weekly, April 16, 2018, review of Entropy, p. 79.
ONLINE
Carte Blanche, http://archive.carte-blanche.org/ (September 11, 2018), Matthew Forsythe, author interview.
Comics Beat, http://www.comicsbeat.com/ (July 11, 2018), John Seven, review of Entropy.
Foreword Reviews Online, https://www.forewordreviews.com/ (September 11, 2018), Peter Dabbene, author interview.
QUOTED: "In the context of this book, Entropy is the gradual decay of systems over time—a slow slide into disorder, or perhaps the return of a natural equilibrium. The world of this book has undergone some kind of cataclysm, perhaps a great flood, and the remnants of the human world are slowly rotting and falling away."
"Everyone will have their own interpretation of the events within, in much the same way everyone has their own interpretation of religion. It doesn’t matter whether the reader knows the specific references I am making; it is up to them to interpret what is on the page and make up their own minds. ... Entropy is about the impossibility of knowing the divine, and not blindly trusting what you are told to believe."
REVIEWER PETER DABBENE INTERVIEWS GRAPHIC NOVELIST AARON COSTAIN, AUTHOR OF ENTROPY
Author Aaron Costain and cover of Entropy
Over recent years, the editorial team at Foreword Reviews has developed deep affection for graphic novels, mainly because longtime reviewer Peter Dabbene has opened our eyes to the intricacy and skill of the best artists/writers working in the genre. Peter’s sharp observations and writing chops compelled us to create a recurring Graphic Novel Spotlight feature in every issue of the magazine, and reader surveys confirm it’s hugely popular.
Entropy coverFor a recent special interest publication on religion, Managing Editor Michelle Anne Schingler assigned Peter to review Entropy-–a new project by Aaron Costain and publisher Secret Acres—and his glittering critique made it clear we had the right-perfect formula for a Face Off interview between two graphic novel experts.
What’s the significance of the title Entropy?
In the context of this book, Entropy is the gradual decay of systems over time—a slow slide into disorder, or perhaps the return of a natural equilibrium. The world of this book has undergone some kind of cataclysm, perhaps a great flood, and the remnants of the human world are slowly rotting and falling away.
Entropy is something of a big melting pot of mythological and religious allusions and influences. Can you name a few of your main influences, both for Entropy specifically, and as an author and artist overall?
One of the biggest influences on this book is Carlo Collodi’s strange take on the Golem tale, Pinocchio. It is so much weirder and more disturbing than the Disney version everyone knows. I am also an avid Haruki Murakami reader, and his esoteric mystery books (Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, or Kafka on the Shore) also informed Entropy. I love that there are no easy answers spelled out for you in those novels. Andrei Tarkovsky’s brilliant film Stalker is another clear antecedent to Entropy; there is plenty of walking and talking and philosophizing in a devastated landscape.
Not long after I started this book, I discovered Anders Nilsen’s minicomic series Big Questions. He was exploring similar themes to Entropy, so I began to follow him closely. Artistically, I owe so much to Jaime Hernandez of Love and Rockets fame. His beautiful lines and spot blacks are everything I want out of my art. It is interesting to me to look at his early work, which has a ton of hatching and mark making, and see his evolution as he slowly strips back the amount of lines on a page until he reaches his current minimal style. You can see a similar transition in Entropy from beginning to end, though I don’t pretend to be on the same level as Jaime. I also really appreciate David B, a French cartoonist who uses symbols in his work in a way that can only be done in comics. There are a few moments in Entropy where I have done the same thing—trying to convey an idea through an abstracted image instead of a literal one.
You attended art school, dropped out, and later became an architect. What drove those decisions? Was there something you were looking for and not finding?
I think that what I wanted from art school was a focus on improving my existing art skills, but instead what I got was a focus on theory and being able to talk about the art. I couldn’t stand the post-rationalization and pretentiousness, so I dropped out and switched to art history. It was the best decision I had ever made—the History in Art program at the University of Victoria is very much not Eurocentric, and it exposed me to a broad range of art from around the world. It allowed me to see how various cultures influenced each other and cross-pollinated, which was really the foundation for this book.
While I was doing my degree I realized that most of my papers ended up focusing on buildings, so once I graduated I moved to the other side of the country to study architecture. Architecture school has a similar studio/crit system to art school, but somehow it didn’t bother me this time, perhaps because architecture has certain technical and programmatic requirements that naturally cut down the bullshit.
How does your architecture training translate to pictorial storytelling? Is there something in particular that you enjoy about cartooning in contrast with architecture? For example, is it fun just to be able to draw structures that don’t necessarily need to adhere to building codes, or do you delight in drawing animals and other completely non-architectural stuff?
Entropy really doesn’t have many buildings in it. The ones that are there are completely designed, even parts that we don’t see in the book. I just couldn’t help myself. But most of the time, it’s an exercise in drawing organic things—people, animals, trees and more. My drawing process has changed over time, going from using leftover pens from architecture school (which lend themselves to hard edges) to exclusively drawing with Japanese G-nib dip pens. I find that the dip pens encourage drawing in a flowing manner, but with a little more control than a brush.
But the real delight of drawing comics is the amount of control I have. Architecture is very much a collaborative field, from the team who designs the building to the contractors who execute them. My comics, on the other hand, are 100 percent mine. I have complete control over every aspect of the book—the writing, the drawing, and even the book design. It’s like making a movie entirely by yourself.
Entropy is the kind of book that requires a reader to stop every so often and digest what’s been taken in, rather than just zip through it. How much of Entropy is intended to have a single, direct interpretation, versus each reader interpreting the story differently?
That is really the point of the book. Everyone will have their own interpretation of the events within, in much the same way everyone has their own interpretation of religion. It doesn’t matter whether the reader knows the specific references I am making; it is up to them to interpret what is on the page and make up their own minds. I wish everyone would think more critically and not just follow what others tell them to think, be it politics, religion, or the online hordes. Entropy is about the impossibility of knowing the divine, and not blindly trusting what you are told to believe.
In a 2009 interview, you mentioned starting a project that would bring methods of reading architectural drawings into comics, and said that you were “trying to adapt the architectural sequence of drawings into a narrative structure in a way that Chris Ware and John Pham have not already tried.” How did that project turn out, and will we be able to see the results?
That never panned out. It turned out it was too much of a formalist exercise for me. I appreciate formalist comics, but I don’t think that I’m really the one to make them. The being said, in 2010 I did end up writing an essay on the subject for The Hooded Utilitarian about reading architectural drawings and comics, and the similarities and differences between the two. I think I got out all my thinking on the subject in that essay; I doubt we’ll see a comic in that vein.
What are you working on now, and what’s ahead?
I am planning to go back to self-contained stories for the immediate future. Entropy has been such a long undertaking that I want to focus on producing discreet single-issue comics for a while. I had some fun doing an Edwardian-style ghost story excerpt for Canadian Notes and Queries a few years back, and I’ve been thinking about doing some horror work for a change. All that being said, if inspiration strikes, I’ll dive back into another graphic novel!
Peter Dabbene
June 1, 2018
QUOTED: "Pinocchio is a huge influence, both the original book and the sanitized Disney version. I am fascinated with the idea of the golem, and I see the Pinocchio story as a variation on this theme (with a happier ending, though). I cannot overstate the influence of Murakami's odder books. ... They ponder many of the same oblique existential issues I am interested in."
"Anders Nilsen's graphic novel Dogs and Water and his ongoing series Big Questions both deal with the solitary figure contemplating existential issues in a way that parallels my own predilections. I am also extremely interested in myth and fable and how they intersect with religion."
Aaron Costain has been writing and drawing comics for three and a half years. He is also part of a Toronto jam comics collective called Team Society League. His longest self-published work, Entropy, is a re-working of a variety of creation myths, both modern and ancient. It has been published as a serial narrative on his website, aaroncostain.com. The latest installment can be found in the new graphic fiction section of carte blanche. Aaron intends to collect this serial as a book upon completion, with each issue forming one chapter.
Aaron is an art-school dropout, and has degrees in art history, environmental design, and architecture. He works as an architect and lives in Toronto's Kensington Market with his wife and cat. He was born in Victoria, British Columbia, and has lived in Halifax, Chicago, and Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
carte blanche's Matthew Forsythe interviewed Aaron by email in May 2009.
cb: What are you reading these days?
Costain: I read loads of old newspaper strips: Little Orphan Annie, Popeye, Gasoline Alley, Moomin, and really anything else I can get my hands on. I feel privileged to live in a golden age of classic cartooning reprints. I was sad to recently read the last volume of the collected Terry and the Pirates, by Milton Caniff—but I'm about to jump into his follow-up strip, Steve Canyon. In terms of new stuff, I've recently finished two great Bildungsroman-style comics: Yoshihiro Tatsumi's incredible autobiography, A Drifting Life, and Jeffrey Brown's similarly-themed Funny, Misshapen Body. Both books are about the author's development as a cartoonist. Collodi's [The Adventures of] Pinocchio was the last prose book I read.
What are some of the things that influence Entropy?
Pinocchio is a huge influence, both the original book and the sanitized Disney version. I am fascinated with the idea of the golem, and I see the Pinocchio story as a variation on this theme (with a happier ending, though). I cannot overstate the influence of Murakami's odder books, like Kafka on the Shore or Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. They ponder many of the same oblique existential issues I am interested in. Anders Nilsen's graphic novel Dogs and Water and his ongoing series Big Questions both deal with the solitary figure contemplating existential issues in a way that parallels my own predilections. I am also extremely interested in myth and fable and how they intersect with religion. Milton's Paradise Lost is one of these intersections, or Bill Reid's incredible Haida sculptures and writings. Comics that deal with these same issues include Tom Nealy's The Blot, Cyril Pederosa's Three Shadows, and any given short story by Eleanor Davis.
There's something hilarious and profound about this comic—there are also a lot of religious allusions. How does religion play into your life?
I am not religious at all. I was raised with a perfunctory couple years going to an Anglican church, but I just never got it. However, I have always been fascinated by the commonalities between different religions and, as I mentioned previously, their connection with myths and fables. I was privileged to do a degree in art history at the University of Victoria, where I was able to study art from all over the world rather than the Eurocentric view that you find at most Canadian universities (I focused on art of the Islamic world and of Southeast Asia.) Culture, history, and religion are a big part of art historical studies, and I was fascinated by the bleeding of cultures from one region to another. No one area is immune from cross-cultural pollination, no matter how remote. I find this fascinating, and I feel I just have to write about it. I mean, look at Indian Buddha sculptures from two thousand years ago and you can see the influence of the Greeks, or the direct inspiration the Egyptians had on early Christian iconography. It's amazing. I think I digressed there a bit.
I know you're also an architect—do you think that your job influences your approach to comics at all, even in a complementary way?
I learned a few things from architecture that have affected my cartooning in a direct way, mostly to do with matters of presentation and draftsmanship. However, architecture has influenced my cartooning in more abstract ways as well, most notably instilling in me two of the most important virtues for a cartoonist: patience and precision.
Architectural drawings typically work in a specific way that guides your understanding of a building in a sequential fashion, from the big picture on in to the smaller details. Cartooning typically works in a similar way (at least, cartooning as I practice it) that allows you to follow a narrative through a series of sequentially ordered panels to tell a story. I am currently trying to adapt the architectural sequence of drawings into a narrative structure in a way that Chris Ware and John Pham have not already tried. I don't know how successful I'll be, but it's an interesting challenge.
When you release narratives serially, they become a strange, living thing. How long do you see the final Entropy being? Do you have a vision for where this is going? Does it matter to you?
I was originally aiming for a hundred pages. I am at about 75 pages now, and the end keeps getting pushed back farther and farther. I have a hunch that the end product will be around 150 pages, but that is a moving target. There are a certain number of plot points that I want to hit, but I am not sure if I will be able to get to them all in the allotted amount of space if I stick to a predetermined page count.
Cartooning usually takes up more pages than you anticipate; it's easy to write something in the script that takes up a single line, but ends up consuming four pages of art to convey properly. Right now I don't really care how long Entropy eventually becomes, since I am having so much fun drawing it. There is an ending in sight. I'm just not sure how long the journey will be to get there.
What are you going to work on next?
I usually work on Entropy with a "breather" comic in between each issue, but I feel like I'm on a roll right now and want to jump right into the next chapter. That being said, I'm kind of excited about this formal exercise I mentioned previously, where I want to bring methods of reading architectural drawings into comics.
Links
Entropy Part 3
Aaron Costain's website
QUOTED: "enigmatic and intriguing."
"detailed, realistic artwork, which makes the story's fantastic elements ... easy to swallow."
8/13/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1534208089693 1/2
Print Marked Items
Entropy
Gordon Flagg
Booklist.
114.18 (May 15, 2018): p35.
COPYRIGHT 2018 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
Entropy.
By Aaron Costain. Illus. by the author.
June 2018.144p. Secret Acres, paper, $19.95 (9780996273985). 741.5.
An enigmatic and intriguing creation myth, Entropy follows the journey of a self-questioning golem as he
seeks elusive answers to the mystery of his existence. As he wanders through a forested landscape barren of
human life, the parka-clad figure is joined by a second golem, who may be his son, and the pair is helped
and hindered by an assortment of talking animals--a calculating cat, a rage-filled raven, an all-knowing
grasshopper--an unfathomable angel, and Mahakala, a huge, bird-headed colossus with a penchant for
devouring humans (and golems). Costain has been publishing Entropy in installments on his website for
close to a decade. The ambitious yarn incorporates elements from myriad religions and cultures (and
includes a brief nod to Frankenstein) to create an enticing if cryptic tale that seems modern and timeless at
once. Costain's training as an architect is reflected in the precision of his detailed, realistic artwork, which
makes the story's fantastic elements, like animate clay beings and chatty, wiseacre animals, easy to
swallow.--Gordon Flagg
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Flagg, Gordon. "Entropy." Booklist, 15 May 2018, p. 35. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A541400858/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=d6451316.
Accessed 13 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A541400858
QUOTED: "Despite how well the aesthetic is executed, the meandering story feels as jumbled
and confusing as life itself."
8/13/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1534208089693 2/2
Entropy
Publishers Weekly.
265.16 (Apr. 16, 2018): p79.
COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Entropy
Aaron Costain. Secret Acres, $19.95 (144p)
ISBN 978-0-9962739-8-5
Canadian artist Costain's surreal debut follows a faceless and philosophical protagonist who's in the midst
of an existential crisis in a "posthuman" world. "Goddammit, who made me?" the being shouts into the
void. "And why didn't they make me right?" The anonymous humanoid's much-maligned maker bestows
him with one piece of wisdom: "Mustn't mix and match mythologies." But that's exactly what the story
does, following the hero's journey through landscape populated by heavily symbolic beings (golems,
ravens, coyotes, angels, and a sinister cat). The self-absorbed protagonist gripes about the undefinable
nature of consciousness, references Haruki Murakami, and tries to muddle through what it means to be
human. In contrast to the abstract, desultory storytelling, Costain's line work is pin-point precise: an angel
shines with exquisitely pointillist detail, and a forest's shadows are a marvel of cross-hatching. Costain's day
job as an architect shows in his clean black-and-white compositions that carefully balance darkness and
light on each page. Yet, despite how well the aesthetic is executed, the meandering story feels as jumbled
and confusing as life itself. (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Entropy." Publishers Weekly, 16 Apr. 2018, p. 79. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A536532740/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=c36a017c.
Accessed 13 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A536532740
Entropy
Carrie Q. Contrary
Broken Pencil. .55 (Apr. 2012): p55.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2012 Broken Pencil
http://www.brokenpencil.com
Full Text:
Comic, Part Six, Aaron Costain, aaroncostain.com
This comic is not one of those each-issue-is-a-complete-story-in-the-series' comic. However, as a glimpse into what the larger story may be, it is an enticing introduction to what came before. Travelling down a road in the wilderness are two characters, one completely white and the other completely black. After breaking free of a jail on wheels masterminded by a dubious, and now absent, cat, the two flee into the wilderness with the black figure's clothes and a talking grasshopper. As they make their way through the trees they hear a yell, and are soon pursued by a monstrous, four-armed, crow-headed man. There are certainly elements of mythology and symbolism running rampant in this comic, all in the spirit of telling a good story.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Contrary, Carrie Q.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Contrary, Carrie Q. "Entropy." Broken Pencil, Apr. 2012, p. 55. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A290420101/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=93a4c40a. Accessed 13 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A290420101
Entropy
Harley R. Pageot
Broken Pencil. .48 (Summer 2010): p36.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2010 Broken Pencil
http://www.brokenpencil.com
Full Text:
Entropy
Mini comic, #4, Aaron Costain,
aaroncostain.com, $4
A person in a parka and ski goggles stands outside of a house with a formless humanoid bearing Hebrew lettering on its forehead. They spend eight pages walking around the empty house before the person in the parka encounters a talking grasshopper. The grasshopper rambles incoherently about religion for seven pages before being killed with the butt of a gun by the shapeless creature. The person in the parka and the creature proceed to go to sleep on the porch, spooning each other.
Perhaps reading the first three parts of this story would help make more sense of things. As it stands, this bears a strong semblance to the disjointed mutterings of that urine-soaked guy on the bus who rocks back and forth in his seat across the aisle from you. If you feel you can glean any meaning or understanding from this comic, I urge you to seek professional help. (Harley R. Pageot)
Pageot, Harley R.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Pageot, Harley R. "Entropy." Broken Pencil, Summer 2010, p. 36. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A241278976/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=85c37938. Accessed 13 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A241278976
QUOTED: "Entropy is an inherently fascinating, singularly unique, and 'reader compelling' story."
Entropy Aaron Costain
Internet Bookwatch. (Apr. 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com
Full Text:
Entropy
Aaron Costain
Secret Acres
200 Park Avenue South, 8th floor, New York, NY 10003
www.secretacres.com
9780996273985, $19.95, PB, 144pp, www.amazon.com
Aaron Costain is a Canadian cartoonist and architect in based in Toronto. "Entropy" is his graphic novel story that follows a golem with a surprisingly modern sensibility, and an even more modern sense of style, as he backtracks through millennia to understand his own creation. "Entropy" takes place at the intersection of the world's cultures. Mythologies and religions cross-pollinate, bleed into one another, and form a new soul from synthesis--or they will if our epic hero can outrun man-eating giants, a vicious army of crows, a mute doppelganger, an angel and one very manipulative, slave-driving cat. With its black-and-white illustrations, "Entropy" is an inherently fascinating, singularly unique, and 'reader compelling' story that is unreservedly recommended for personal and community library graphic novel collections.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Entropy Aaron Costain." Internet Bookwatch, Apr. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A539772419/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=9e3348c1. Accessed 13 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A539772419
QUOTED: "Aaron Costain’s Entropy is the type of book that begs you to never give up on it."
"In Costain’s telling, the journey through an isolated landscape compiled of religious mythology distilled to the essence isn’t much different from any typical post-apocalyptic adventure. But instead of this post-apocalyptic world being a result of our science going wrong or nature revolting against us, it’s created from our mania for explanations crowding us out."
Review: Aaron Costain’s ‘Entropy’ suggests there might be too much to think about
07/11/2018 5:00 PM BY JOHN SEVEN LEAVE A COMMENT
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Aaron Costain’s Entropy is the type of book that begs you to never give up on it. It’s built into the story itself, which follows a humanoid’s journey through a surrealistic fable as it tries to explain itself through a variety of mythologies and theologies colliding. The humanoid’s challenge is to keep searching, even as it becomes unsure that clarity is a possibility in this or any universe, and that’s the reader’s as well. Hints are offered, but what do they mean?
You might as well ask that about any holy book, any proverb, anything designed to be illustrative of the mysteries of existence. These aids to the ultimate truth bask in their own obscurity and function in circular logic. They burst open with further mysteries. They make enlightenment into a sensation felt just before you go on a further journey, rather than at the end of one. The search for the truth is perpetual. You have to decide for yourself what constitutes its ends.
That’s the one lesson Costain’s dark humanoid can take away from his journey. Wandering around a world where, as near as anyone can tell, humanity has been wiped out by a punishing flood, while animals still exist and have either advanced into intelligent modes or continuing the same modes that have been part of human mythology forever at this point, the humanoid attempts to collate his experience through a series of origin stories that evoke the legends of numerous religions.
The flood itself, while contained in other mythologies, references Christianity pretty directly, and the humanoid is faced with not only finding an explanation for who he is and where he came from, but who his creator is, and the relationship between the force in the universe that makes things happen and the force that gets things started. Are these the same things? Are they different but related? Or do they operate without any knowledge of each other? Is creation a wholly separate action in the universe from the forward movement that creation eventually takes? And what is it when a creation duplicates itself? Is the creation now a god? Is that even the right question?
All these questions fold into themselves in Costain’s narrative as the humanoid — specifically, I should point out, described on the back cover as a golem, which makes sense, since he is made of the earth — tries to parse them out. But when another humanoid is created from our original humanoid, then the questions begin to crowd around even further and the humanoids become dependent on the explanations of other creatures to find any clarity — a bug, a cat, each with their own agendas attached to the stories they tell.
As the two humanoids continue on their journey — like Gilgamesh in a parka, with good jokes and deadpan vulgarities — events begin to mirror religious narratives as we have encountered them — being swallowed by a giant creature, for instance — but in such a way that no one trapped within the story is quite sure of what to make of them. And isn’t that what the history of religious thought is? A piling up of stories meant to thrill and clarify the explanation of something that no one really knows? Don’t all these religious stories function as a clash of fantastic experiences with outlandish explanations and nuanced mysteries that can never be answered coherently?
In Costain’s telling, the journey through an isolated landscape compiled of religious mythology distilled to the essence isn’t much different from any typical post-apocalyptic adventure. But instead of this post-apocalyptic world being a result of our science going wrong or nature revolting against us, it’s created from our mania for explanations crowding us out. There are no humans in Costain’s world because there is barely room for them — there’s really only space for our ideas, which is just so much grasping into the vacuum. We’ve been defeated by our own desperation to explain ourselves and our universe, and the psychological clutter created by it all.
If entropy is an inevitable disorder in the universe, Costain suggests that it is created by the human desire for order — and that is the creation we should be concerned with.
John Seven
Journalist and children’s book writer living in North Adams, Massachusetts. Author of ‘A Rule Is To Break: A Child’s Guide To Anarchy,’ ‘Happy Punks 1-2-3,’ ‘Frankie Liked To Sing,’ and others. My latest children’s books are ‘Gorilla Gardener: How To Help Nature Take Over The World’ and ‘We Say NO: A Child’s Guide To Resistance.’