Davy by Edgar Pangborn
"Davy" is a science fiction novel set in a post-apocalyptic world following a nuclear holocaust and subsequent disasters that have decimated human civilization. The story unfolds in a future New England, where a new society has emerged, dominated by the Holy Murcan Church, which suppresses free thought and knowledge. The protagonist, Davy, begins his journey at the age of twenty-eight, documenting his experiences through a series of intertwined stories that reflect his coming-of-age and the societal struggles of his time.
Davy's background is tumultuous; he was born in a whorehouse and raised in an orphanage, eventually running away as a teenager, which leads him to a life full of adventures. Along the way, he encounters various characters, including pious giants and independent entertainers, who play significant roles in his personal development. As Davy and his wife Nickie work to promote enlightenment and challenge the dogma of the Church, they face resistance and ultimately a rebellion that forces them to flee.
The narrative explores themes of ignorance versus enlightenment, personal growth, and the pursuit of knowledge in a regressive society. As the story concludes, Davy embarks on a journey across uncharted waters, symbolizing his ongoing quest for understanding and connection in a transformed world.
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Subject Terms
Davy
First published: 1964
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—post-holocaust
Time of work: The twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth century
Locale: New England, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Azores
The Plot
Davy’s coming-of-age story is not unique to science fiction, and Edgar Pangborn has no use for typical science-fictional devices such as spaceships and ray guns. Nevertheless, Davy is science fiction because of its vivid future world. In the late twentieth century—the “Old Time”—nuclear holocaust, plagues, and increases in world temperature and ocean levels destroyed human civilization. After about a hundred years, in the vast wilderness of what once was New England, a new civilization began to grow, a collection of small, bellicose countries dominated by the Holy Murcan Church, an organization forbidding books, free thought, gunpowder, and atoms. Because the Old Time people squandered the world’s resources and the remnants of humanity have lost the Old Time science, the fragile civilization is ignorant and superstitious.
In the year 331 of this transformed world, Davy, at the age of twenty-eight, begins writing several intertwining stories: his growth to manhood, his relationship with his wife, their attempt to enlighten the benighted age, their founding of a colony, and the history of his era. The most compelling conflict in Davy next to that between enlightenment versus ignorance is Davy’s struggle to tell his stories honestly and effectively.
Red-haired Davy was born in a whorehouse, reared in an orphanage, and bonded out as a yard-boy for a tavern. At the age of fourteen, he runs away, in the process accidentally committing his first homicide, having sex for the first time, and stealing an Old Time French horn. Thus begin Davy’s picaresque adventures.
With help from the fascinating people he meets as he journeys through his wild world, Davy learns to play his horn, loses his religious superstitions, and becomes a free-thinking and loving person. Davy first joins company with Jed Sever, a sensitive and pious giant; Sam Loomis, a laconic loner; and Vilet, a sensual prostitute. After several adventures, including a comic scene with a “quackpot” medium and a tragic scene with a tiger, Davy and Sam join Rumley’s Ramblers. The Ramblers are a communal troupe of independent entertainers who travel through the New England territories performing music and plays, selling homemade cure-alls, and passing along news.
When Davy leaves the Ramblers after several years, he meets and marries Nickie, a “sweet pepperpot” noblewoman who belongs to the Society of Heretics, an underground organization that promotes enlightenment and resists the church’s dogma. Through Nickie, Davy meets her cousin Dion, Regent of Nuin. Nickie and Dion educate Davy in Old Time literature and ideas, and Davy and Nickie help Dion try to drag their country out of the dark ages. Their heretical ideas, such as abolishing slavery and promoting free education, meet with disapproval from the Holy Murcan Church, which foments a rebellion. The Heretics lose the war and flee Nuin on a ship into the unknown waters of the Atlantic. It is during this voyage and subsequent establishing of a colony in the Azores that Davy begins to write his book. The novel concludes with Davy setting sail to continue lovingly exploring the uncharted territories of world and mind.