Barfield´s self-allegory

"Night Operation" isn't really a dystopian science fiction novel about fear of terrorism. That's just the marketing pitch. Nor was Owen Barfield one of the 20th century's most significant philosophers, as stated at the back cover. The fact that "Night Operation" is published by Barfield Press UK gives the game away! We're talking about some rather high-handed, posthumous promotion of Barfield's ideas by a small group of admirers.

Owen Barfield was a life-long Anthroposophist. His fame derives from his friendship with C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. The short story "Night Operation" doesn't even come close to Lewis' Narnia cycle or Tolkien's LOTR, however. In fact, Barfield mostly wrote non-fiction, his only well known book being the curious (and perhaps crypto-Anthroposophical) philosophical tractate "Saving the appearances".

Another problem with "Night Operation" is that you probably need to be a scholarly expert on Barfield's non-fiction to really understand it. The main character, Jon, is really an allegorized version of Barfield himself. Jon's friends Jak and Peet symbolize Lewis and Cecil Harwood. The latter was a leader of the British Anthroposophical Society.

Jon, Jak and Peet live in a futuristic society built underground in the sewage system of an abandoned city. All meaningful education has been abolished, and the population is completely obsessed with sex, fecal matter and vomit. This is Barfield's parody of the degeneration of modern society, in particular modern art. The Underground looks like Huxley's Brave New World minus the recreational drugs. Small wonder Jak, Jon and Peet want to get out! Other traits of the story are more reminiscent of "1984". People in The Underground speak a kind of Newspeak stripped of all words such as "honour", "holy", "chaste" and "virtue". Unfortunately, Barfield also comes across as an anti-feminist and homophobe. Feminists are apparently driven by Freudian envy, resenting the potent male reproductive organ. Yawn.

Eventually, the three dead White males stage a break-out and manage to reach the Earth's surface (here the story presumably alludes to Plato's allegory of the cave). They witness the "night operation", a kind of UFO phenomenon which turns out to be spiritual, although it's somewhat unclear what the UFOs actually do. Replenish the Earth's energy fields? Incarnate as humans? After some deliberation, Jon, Jak and Peet return to the underground city in order to create a dissident movement. There the story ends.

"Night Operation" is plain boring, lacks both suspense and real plot development, and is impossible to really understand unless you have a working knowledge of both Barfield and Lewis. The work might also contain hidden Anthroposophical references which I don't understand. The night operation itself is an obvious candidate. Essentially, this is Barfield's self-allegory.

Two stars.