In 'The Alteration' by Kingsley Amis, the author explores an alternative history where the Protestant Reformation never occurred, leading to a world dominated by a Roman Catholic theocracy. The story revolves around Hubert Anvil, a young boy with a remarkable singing voice who is chosen for a surgical alteration to preserve his talent for the church. As Hubert grapples with the expectations placed upon him by the church and his own desires, the narrative delves into themes of power, religion, and the abuse of authority. The book combines elements of satire, dystopia, and alternate history to create a thought-provoking and engaging narrative that challenges the reader to consider the consequences of a world shaped by different historical events.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings for The Alteration include discussions of castration, depiction of authoritarian control, cultural repression, and themes of forced bodily alteration.
From The Publisher:
BOOKER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR
Set in a world in which the Reformation failed, this award-winning science fiction tale is "one of the best . . . alternate-worlds novels in existence" (Philip K. Dick)
In Kingsley Amis's virtuoso foray into virtual history it is 1976, but the modern world is a medieval relic, frozen in intellectual and spiritual time ever since Martin Luther was promoted to pope back in the sixteenth century. Stephen the Third, the king of England, has just died, and Mass (Mozart's second requiem) is about to be sung to lay him to rest. In the choir is our hero, Hubert Anvil, an extremely ordinary ten-year-old boy with a faultless voice. In the audience is a select group of experts whose job is to determine whether that faultless voice should be preserved by performing a certain operation. Art, after all, is worth any sacrifice.
How Hubert realizes what lies in store for him and how he deals with the whirlpool of piety, menace, terror, and passion that he soon finds himself in are the subject of a classic piece of counterfactual fiction equal to Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle.
The Alteration won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science-fiction novel in 1976.
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The Alteration?
About the Author:
Kingsley Amis was born in south London in 1922 and was educated at the City of London School and St John's College, Oxford. After the publication of Lucky Jim in 1954, Kingsley Amis wrote over twenty novels, including The Alteration, winner of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, The Old Devils, winner of the Booker Prize in 1986, and The Biographer's Moustache, which was to be his last book. He also wrote on politics, education, language, films, television, restaurants and drink. Kingsley Amis was awarded the CBE in 1981 and received a knighthood in 1990. He died in October 1995.
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