The
Cure opens in the projected future of 2407. Main character Gemm and his genetically cloned twin and mate
Gemma live in a society which is regulated by principles of harmony,
submission, control. Face–masks, numeric identity codes, electronic controls
and surveillance systems dominate this utopian world. Behaviour is ordered and expressions of emotion or feeling (especially
through singing or music) are seen as highly dangerous and deviant. Gemm is
discovered to have an innate musical sensibility, and for this he is to be
severely punished.

Gemm is transported from this
known world of hologram experiences, order, harmony and regulation and back in
time into the rough and tumble world of 13^th century Strasbourg
where he “becomes” teenage Johannes, a Jewish moneylender boy. As the threat of plague approaches
Strasbourg, anti-Semitism increases to fever pitch. Johannes’ life and the lives of his family are in increasing danger,
until, at the point of death, he is transported back to the utopian world of
the story’s outset.

The story’s time-travel
device is not especially complicated. There
is no travelling back and forth between the different eras, and the futuristic
section serves really as a frame for the historically accurate aspects of the
story. After what seems like an effective
exorcism of his musical inclinations, Gemm is deemed by his elders to be cured
of his love for music and the uninhibited responses that it calls forth. So he is transported back to 2407. But Gemm
finds that he is unable to leave his liberating discovery alone.  Having been allowed into a place where people
wear no masks, where their feelings are shown, Gemm is now motivated by a mission
to share this liberating discovery.

The novel’s brief epilogue
testifies to the historical accuracy of the facts of the historical segment of
the narrative. In its way, the novel also
acknowledges the ongoing and incipient tension against Jews in Europe, and the
ease with which Hitler rekindled this prejudice in the 20^th century.
The novel’s themes are thus more to do with anti-Semitism and prejudice as they
are about futurism and time travel.

<© 2001 Judith Catton

Judith Catton is a teacher and librarian
with a longstanding interest in children’s literature. After completing
graduate study in Library and Information Science, and in English in Ontario,
Canada, she has worked as a children’s specialist in public libraries in both
Canada and New Zealand. Her professional interests span children’s literature
and learning, and information literacy. Her current professional focus is full-time
teaching in a New Zealand primary school.

Categories: Fiction