Thursday 27 June 2013

Pyrexia

While in France in the 1970’s composer Simon Jeffes fell prey to a bout of food poisoning which left him with a fever. During his illness he experienced an initially disturbing fever-dream of a dystopian future inhabited by de-humanised, soulless people.  In this land of the lost there was only one salvation, an odd bar called ‘The Penguin Café’ which had its own band playing comforting, familiar music. 

After his recovery he first wrote a poem which, aptly for this blog, began - 

“I am the proprietor of the Penguin Café
And I will tell you things at random”
He then went on to write music copying the style he heard in his dream. Thus was born the ‘Penguin Café Orchestra’ with its minimalist, dreamlike and often quirky melodies. The music is now shamelessly used in TV advertising and in film but I still love to hear the albums.




Many others have also claimed inspiration following dreams - from Mary Shelly’s story of Frankenstein to the unusual invention of the sewing machine. Film maker James Cameron in a fever dream saw a gleaming, skeletal robot dragging itself toward him with knives for hands. And thus was born the Terminator! My own experiences with fever induced visions have been far less financially rewarding, but I do vividly remember one odd experience.

After what must have been a dodgy pizza in York (and following the customary bodily cleansing from the inside out!) I retired to my bed and stayed there for the better part of 24 hours. As I lay there I began to imagine that my body was a star-ship flying through space. The ship was being attacked by a horde of aliens, who like a virus were spreading through me. Defending my body/ship was an army of space-marine / numskulls! The two sides fought with each other across the many decks and section of my body.  


This seemed to go on for hours with different skirmishes taking place simultaneously. While Squad A was successfully holding back an attack in my right leg, Squad B were in retreat beneath my rib-cage. This second attack was doubly worrying as the alien’s ultimate goal was to reach my heart. I, meanwhile, was nothing more than a spectator. I was essentially a sentient computer which inhabited the ship but was housed in the brain and unable to directly engage the enemy. After what seemed like an eternity and after many casualties, the invaders were quashed and with the breaking of the fever the mighty ‘SS BO’ was free to boldly sail off across the stars and have a meteor shower…


But for the very best tale centered round a period of perplexing-pyrexia I recommend you read the short-story ‘Fever Dream’ by Ray Bradbury. Never has a fever been more chilling… 


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