Line #66 Literature/JulianComstock


1	[[quoteright:312:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/julian_comstock_8733.jpg]]
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3	''Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America'' is a {{Steampunk}} science-fiction novel by Creator/RobertCharlesWilson. Set in a future where the oil has long since run out, America has become a feudalistic theocracy, and 19th-century social norms have been revived, this novel tells the life story of the title character.
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5	Julian Comstock, nephew of President Deklan Comstock, has been sent out west for his own safety, since the President has executed the boy's father and has hostile intentions toward Julian himself. Julian's life with his friend Adam Hazzard and his teacher Sam Godwin is quite idyllic -- until the three are drafted into a war against "Mitteleuropa," a Dutch-German alliance seeking to control the northern waterways of what was once Canada...
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7	See also ''Literature/FitzpatricksWar'' for a similar premise, albeit with a more deconstructive bent.
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9	----
10	!!Tropes:
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12	* AfterTheEnd: The "End" being when the oil ran out. By the time the story starts, society has stabilized at a pre-ACW level.
13	* ApocalypseHow: Class 1, bordering on Class 2-a combination of resource depletion and climate change resulted in the collapse of industrial civilization.
14	* AristocratsAreEvil: Mr. Wieland is introduced beating his servant because his carriage threw a wheel.
15	* BadassBoast: Comstock designs his army's campaign flag with an astronaut's boot on a yellow circle and the inscription "WE WALKED ON THE MOON."
16	* BalanceOfPower: in the US between the Executive Branch, the Aristos, the armed forces and the Dominion (which used to be the United States Air Force until all the jet fuel ran out and it combined with Focus On The Family).[[note]]Both have major presences in Colorado Springs[[/note]]
17	* BigApplesauce: with Washington, DC flooded and abandoned, New York City is now the capital of the US. The Presidential Palace is located in what was Central Park.
18	* {{BFG}}: The US Army's "Trench Sweeper" (a handheld light machine gun), and the Mitteleuropans' "Chinese Cannon" (a long-range artillery piece that can be [[IKEAWeaponry broken down for transportation]]).
19	* BilingualBackfire: Calyxa is from Montreal and has a habit of [[HidingBehindTheLanguageBarrier delivering insults in French]]. This backfires when she does this to the powerful Dominion official Deacon Hollingshead, who replies in French that he's not an idiot and will have her arrested if she tries it again.
20	* BilingualBonus: Julian and Adam read a note home from a Dutch soldier, but since they don't speak Dutch, they ask their commanding officer what it means. Although the letter contains standard quotes that one might expect in a letter from a soldier (like I miss you and the kids) the officer lies and says it contains hate for the Americans. This leads to a humorous moment later in the novel where Adam yells a line from the letter to Dutch soldiers, hoping they will believe he is Dutch since he says they hate the Americans. In reality, the line translates as "I miss Fido, too" which leads to confused reactions from the Dutch.
21	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Julian dies of a virulent new "Pox" next to his lover, but his friends escape to France. In addition, Julian's successor seems to be continuing his efforts to curb the Dominion's power]]
22	* BuryYourGays:
23	** [[spoiler:Subverted; Deacon Hollingshead's daughter, who has had relations with women, was thought to have died when the Army of the Californias attacked the house she was in. Julian, however, had her secretly moved to Montreal beforehand.]]
24	** [[spoiler:Julian's own death is played straight.]]
25	* ButWhatAboutTheAstronauts: averted - a [[AbusivePrecursors "Secular Ancestors"]] book on space travel shows that although the Chinese landed people on the Moon in the 21st century, no permanent off-world bases were established before the oil ran out. Adam briefly muses on what life would be like on the moon, assuming from the bulky spacesuits that it must be rather cold.
26	* CensorshipBureau: Only Dominion-approved books may be read legally. After he becomes President, Julian sends troops to seize the Dominion archive of forbidden books and gladly delves into them.
27	* ChurchMilitant: Deacon Hollingshead. His objections to President Julian Conqueror's attempt to curb Dominion power [[ItsPersonal quickly turn into a grudge match between them.]]
28	* ClosestThingWeGot: Adam is shocked to find the miscreant Private Langers impersonating a Dominion Officer to give solace to the dying. He tells the doctor about the imposter only to get told he already knows. Turns out when Julian was given command of the campaign he dismissed all their Dominion Officers [[DidNotThinkThisThrough so now there's no-one to do the job of giving last rites]]. Adam has to admit that he's actually good at it (though he later gets in trouble for RobbingTheDead).
29	* CorruptChurch: The Dominion of Jesus Christ on Earth, a theocratic body that acts as a branch of government. It's since absorbed the vast majority of whatever Christian group it deems acceptable, with Catholics having some degree of autonomy. On the other hand, it's been purging American society of heretics (Christian, atheist or otherwise) while just barely tolerating Jews.
30	* DaysOfFuturePast: The social mores of the 19th century were actively restored. Society and technology in general are a mix of this and UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, or rather "imperfect" recreations of them. Justified in part, due to a good deal of modern technology becoming useless with the End of Oil. Not to mention the whole thing being a deliberate effort to create an "idealized" version of Americana.
31	* DeadGuyOnDisplay: Julian's attempted assassin - and after Julian thinks about it a bit, [[spoiler:his uncle Deklan as well]] gets their heads impaled on the walls of the Presidential Palace. Adam has no sympathy for either of them, but doesn't approve as it makes Julian look as barbaric as President Deklan was.
32	* DefeatMeansFriendship: When trying to flee the draft in a train, Adam fought a man named Lymon Pugh and lost; this loss caused the other runaways to accept him, since it showed that he didn't see himself as "better." Lymon then approaches Adam for an apology; after sorting out the misunderstanding that led to the fight, Adam ends up teaching Lymon how to read.
33	* DeliberateValuesDissonance: With the regression in technology has come a regression of social values. Feminism, LGBT rights, and religious freedom have all ceased to exist.
34	* DidYouDie:
35	-->The reader, if not versed in recent history, may be anxious to discover whether or not Julian and I were killed on Independence Day.
36	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The President is not guarded by the Secret Service but a military unit known as the [[UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein Republican Guard]].
37	* DraftDodging: Adam, Julian and Sam buy places on a semi-legal train to avoid being caught by a press gang; ironically the people running the train sell them out to another group further down the line.
38	* {{Eagleland}}: A ''very'' unsympathetic mix of #1 and #2...at least until Julian takes charge.
39	* EnforcedTechnologyLevels: Society is kept at a sustainable 19th-century level of technology in the PostPeakOil world, and the theocracy preaches against the Years of Vice and Profligacy. Of course, this also helps sustain their power, as a more advanced level of technology would require a more literate population; currently most of the workforce are kept in IndenturedServitude that's slavery in all but name.
40	* EvilUncle: Deklan Comstock, who's also a PresidentEvil.
41	* ExpandedStatesOfAmerica: By the time of the novel, the US stretches from Canada to as far south as Panama.
42	* {{Expy}}: Julian Comstock himself is a futuristic version of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_(emperor) Julian the Apostate]], who himself was known for his attempt to reduce the power of Christianity in an effort to restore to past secular glory in his short reign. Furthermore, his early life as an orphan due to the death of his father by his relative (Deklan playing the role of Constantius II, who murdered Julian's father), his rise to leadership due to his military aptitude, and his scholarly background with disdain for Christianity.
43	* FeudalFuture: Because people during the End needed to eat, they willingly (at least according to Dominion-approved history) became serfs. Unfortunately, the system of serfdom became entrenched, persisting into the relative prosperity of post-Peak Oil society. In addition, the return of an industrial working class in the cities is beginning to put said serfdom to the test.
44	* FightingForAHomeland: It's suggested that the the Mitteleuropan armies at large, much of which are of Dutch descent continue fighting on so as to find a new place to call their own after their ''old'' homeland drowned beneath the waves.
45	* FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: Adam Hazzard tells the story of Julian Comstock as the first person narrator.
46	* FutureImperfect: The Dominion is deliberately cultivating this trope in the hopes of both maintaining their power and permanently damning the "Secular Ancients." The Dominion-approved movie ''Eula's Choice'' has the "Secular Police" arresting a man purely for preaching about religion. The idea of man on the Moon is regarded as a fairy tale, and Adam can hardly believe it even when he finds a book on the subject in a Tip. Later he and Julian find the same book in the Dominion archive of banned books.
47	* GeneralFailure: Deklan, who runs the War in Labrador so incompetently he's deposed by the army.
48	* GlobalIgnorance
49	** The Mitteleuropans are referred to as Dutch, which is actually a corruption of ''Duetsche'', because that European empire is run from former Germany. Ironically most of the soldiers and settlers they send to Labrador actually are Dutch.
50	** New York City has a large population of "Egyptians", who are implied to be refugees from all across the Middle East.
51	* GlobalWarming: Washington DC is a swamp, it doesn't snow in central Canada until November, and the US and Mitteleuropa are fighting a war over Labrador, Nunavut and the now-open Northwest Passage. In passing it's mentioned the Mitteleuropan army is mostly composed of displaced Dutch whose homeland is now under water.
52	* GratuitousForeignLanguage: Adam grabs a short letter off of a dead Mitteleuropan soldier; it is in untranslated Dutch.
53	* GratuitousFrench: Several of Calyxa's lines are in untranslated French.
54	* InsistentTerminology: Aristocrats prefer to be called "Eupatridians."
55	* LoopholeAbuse:
56	** Admiral Fairfield swears that the US Navy will turn up to support Julian's land campaign even if his flagship ''Basilisk'' is the only one left. The ''Basilisk'' is indeed the only ship that turns up because President Deklan has ordered the Navy to abandon Julian's division, so Fairchild gives what support he can under the guise of covering the Navy's withdrawal. Ironically this is what causes the UriahGambit to fail, as he takes back Adam's dispatches as well and a newspaper publishes them, make Deklan's scheme obvious to all concerned.
57	** Adam finds his wife and Julian's mother under house arrest. Rather than keep shouting to them from the street, he points out to the sentry that under regulations a superior officer (Adam is a colonel by now) can relieve him while he goes and [[FoodAsBribe gets something to eat]].
58	* LostSuperweapon: Tanks, planes, satellites - all gone once the oil ran out.
59	* LudicrousGibs: There is a scene where Adam describes how soldiers' innards spill out in battle.
60	* MeaningfulName: Julian Comstock shares many traits with the Roman emperor [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_the_Apostate Julian the Apostate]].
61	* MonumentalDamage: An otherwise intact (Secular-era) cathedral in Montreal gets destroyed during a ''Mitteleuropan'' artillery strike. In New York, a remnant of the Statue of Liberty is preserved as an exhibit.
62	* MostWritersAreWriters
63	* NostalgiaFilter:
64	** Averted by the Dominion, who portrays the civilization of the "Secular Ancestors" as a corrupt Babylon filled with such evils as pornography and the separation of church and state. In addition, since it's been a century since the "False Tribulation" no one has any first-hand memories of "the Oil Florescence".
65	** It's also played straight by the Dominion as well, given that it espouses a distorted and overtly idealized version of 19th Century Americana crossed with elements of pre-industrial feudalism.
66	* PleaseSelectNewCityName: The western part of the former Canada is "Athabaska"; English-speakers call Japan "Nippon", etc.
67	* PresidentForLife: In the future, Presidents rule for life and choose their successors, just like the Emperors of the Roman Empire.
68	* RagnarokProofing:
69	** Averted; scavenged electronics don't work anymore, scavenged books have brittle pages, and most late 20th-early 21st century movies do not survive -- the few that ''do'' survive have serious damage.
70	** [[spoiler:The ending has Adam write a novel about some boys who get an old spacecraft to fly to the moon. A reader points out that even the smartest people would not be able to get a badly-aged spacecraft to fly.]]
71	* RecycledInSpace: The gist of the plot is essentially the tale of Julian the Apostate transplanted to a post-apocalyptic [[Videogame/BioshockInfinite Columbia]].
72	* ReluctantRuler: Deconstructed with Julian, who regards being made President after his uncle is deposed as a FateWorseThanDeath. As a result he puts little effort into the pragmatic political maneuvering needed to survive in the position--picking a fight with the powerful Dominion church, ignoring the Senate, giving arbitrary orders to the military without thinking of the consequences, and [[WhileRomeBurns losing himself in his personal interests in Theatre and Philosophy the worse things get]].
73	* RuinsOfTheModernAge: There are still a good deal of abandoned ruins in the countryside, but many have long been salvaged of anything useful. Places like Montreal and New York on the other hand still preserve some shreds of their pre-Fall glory but for the most part have been cannibalized to the point of being unrecognizable. While Washington DC in particular is mentioned as a swamp ruin which the government has been trying to reclaim for years.
74	* RuleOfDrama: Parodied when Julian writes a play on the work of Charles Darwin, but realises it's rather uninteresting. So Adam consults a famous author who says it just needs a few additions to spice it up. Like a LoveTriangle, and songs, and a fight with pirates, and a [[MisplacedWildlife lion]], and a ClimbingClimax DuelToTheDeath on the [[TheMountainsOfIllinois Alps of Oxford]]...none of which happened to the real Darwin. Regardless, all these elements are added to the play and it's a roaring success.
75	* ScienceIsBad: Biological evolution is a "discredited creed", and arguing in favor of it is heresy.
76	* SelectiveObliviousness: While Adam is in no way unintelligent, and can sometimes be very perceptive, he does often think how nice it would be for Julian to find a wife, even as Julian [[spoiler: dies in the arms of his male lover, who refuses to leave Julian's side, even thought it means his own death.]]
77	* SchizoTech:
78	** Seems to be a mixture from roughly the Civil War to about the First World War. Telegraphs seem common, as do steam engines, but telephones and all sorts of wireless communication systems seem non-existent. Only a single reference to an internal combustion engine is made, and it is an alcohol fueled generator at that. Electricity exists only for illumination and only then for those who can afford their own generation system and typewriters are hand-made by craftsmen. No cars or airplanes, yet there are silent films- although going to see one is a much grander affair then it is now. Machine guns are available to cavalry units, yet Artillery now exists only in the form of Cannons- The U.S. Navy seems to have forgotten the lesson of the Monitor.
79	** Major cities like Montreal and New York were (re)built over the remains of their 21st Century incarnations, with some shreds of modern architecture or "original" city blocks still surviving here and there beneath the generally Victorian/Edwardian aesthetics.
80	* ScreamingBirth: Played for laughs when screaming breaks out as Calyxa is giving birth. Adam races upstairs to find the doctor and midwife cowering in fear at the horrible creature peering through the window. Even though he's high on opium given to calm him down, Adam just shoos away the giraffe (which is allowed to wander the grounds of the Presidential Palace) and closes the window.
81	* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: When a war correspondent plagiarizes Adam's writing on Julian's heroics in the war, he goes to the editor to complain. The correspondent blandly denies the charge while the editor tries to intimidate Adam into signing a retraction. Adam agrees but calls in a witness for his signature--who happens to be the President's nephew, Julian Comstock. Cue OhCrap from all concerned and Adam gets his money repaid and a profitable writer's contract on the spot. The editor offers to fire the correspondent as well, but Adam graciously accepts his (expensive handmade) typewriter instead.
82	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Julian's mother and Adam's wife know full well that Julian's Presidency is not going to last for long and make preparations to escape to France. Once they see the President's mother leaving with all her baggage even Julian's PraetorianGuard, handpicked from the former soldiers he commanded, realise what's happening and proceed to loot the Palace and leave. Adam can't bring himself to condemn them, knowing their job or even life prospects are limited in whatever new regime will come afterwards.
83	* ShowWithinAShow:
84	** ''Eula's Choice'', a blatant propaganda piece of Dominion-approved history. Later on, Julian makes his own movie about Charles Darwin, which is hardly any better when it comes to historical accuracy or anti-religious propaganda.
85	** Julian loots the Dominion's collection of banned media he and Adam watch a surviving thirty-minute segment of the 1959 CozyCatastrophe movie ''Film/OnTheBeach''. They find it somewhat confusing.
86	* SleevesAreForWimps: Oddly enough, present among female Aristos who show off the vaccination scars on their arms as a fashion statement. What's more, [[WorstAid the vaccinations are generally made with useless-at-best substances such as pond water that can actually spread disease]].
87	* StillWearingTheOldColors: In a twisted sense, officials of the Dominion don attire based on the dress uniforms of the United States Air Force, a nod to their origins in the USAF.
88	* SurvivorGuilt: Instead of being glad the US Navy turned up for a BigDamnHeroes, Julian just thinks the death of all his men killed in his failed attack was AllForNothing, as he could have just waited a few more days. He drops several hints that [[DeathSeeker he wishes he was killed in that attack]].
89	* TakeOverTheWorld: The Dominion's ultimate goal, because [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans the second coming of Christ justifies the means.]]
90	* TheThemeParkVersion: Of late 19th Century and UsefulNotes/WorldWarI America, which the Dominion and its supporters deliberately cultivated over generations.
91	* UriahGambit: Deklan Comstock sends Julian up to Labrador at the head of an army and then withholds reinforcements and naval support. The young general survives long enough for Deklan to be deposed and the Navy to come to his rescue.
92	* WhileRomeBurns: While the Army of the Laurentians rebels and advances on New York City, and plague starts to appear on Manhattan, Julian is focused on completing his Charles Darwin biopic.
93	* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Literal for Adam and Julian. Adam's father was a preacher for a snake-handling religious sect, so he at least knows how to handle them, and which ones are venomous. Julian doesn't and finds them terrifying.

Context Literature / JulianComstock