The Baroque Cycle

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The Baroque Cycle, a series of books written by Neal Stephenson, appeared in print in 2003 and 2004. The cycle contains eight novels originally published in three volumes:

  • Quicksilver, Vol. I of the Baroque Cycle
    • Book 1 - Quicksilver
    • Book 2 - The King of the Vagabonds
    • Book 3 - Odalisque
  • The Confusion, Vol. II of the Baroque Cycle
    • Book 4 - Bonanza
    • Book 5 - The Juncto
  • The System of the World, Vol. III of the Baroque Cycle
    • Book 6 - Solomon's Gold
    • Book 7 - Currency
    • Book 8 - The System of the World

The story follows the adventures of a cast of characters who find themselves amidst some of the central events of late 17th and early 18th centuries Europe. Despite its historical fiction nature, the author characterises the work as science fiction due to the presence of a few anomalous occurrences and its focus on science and technology. The sciences of cryptology and numismatics feature heavily in the series.

Quicksilver takes place mainly in the years between the Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in England (1660) and the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

The Confusion follows Quicksilver without temporal interruption, but ranges geographically from Europe and the Mediterranean through India to Manila, Japan, and Mexico.

The System of the World takes place principally in London in 1714, about 10 years after the events of The Confusion.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The books feature considerable sections concerning alchemy, with protagonists including Isaac Newton, Nicolas Fatio de Duillier and sundry other Europeans of note during late 17th and early 18th centuries. The principal Alchemist of the tale is the mysterious Enoch Root, who also features in the contemporary novel Cryptonomicon.

Contents

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Main characters

  • Eliza, a Qwghlmian girl abducted into slavery, and later freed, who becomes a spy and a financier
  • Enoch Root, a mysterious personage who flickers about Europe and who never ages, may have certain other preternatural qualities
  • Jack Shaftoe, an adventurer/criminal of high intelligence but questionable sanity
  • Bob Shaftoe - brother of Jack Shaftoe
  • Daniel Waterhouse, English scientist and political activist
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Other characters

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Historical figures who appear as characters in the novel

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Quote

"Why Baroque? Because it is set in the Baroque, and it is baroque. Why Cycle? Because I am trying to avoid the T-word ("trilogy"). In my mind this work is something like 7 or 8 connected novels. These have been lumped together into three volumes because it is more convenient from a publishing standpoint, but they could just as well have been put all together in a single immense volume or separated into 7 or 8 separate volumes. So to slap the word "trilogy" on it would be to saddle it with a designation that is essentially bogus.

Having said that, I know everyone's going to call it a trilogy anyway. " — Neal Stephenson

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Deviations from real history

  • The IJsselmeer did not exist in the 17th and 18th centuries: it originated only in 1932. The equivalent body of water had the name of the Zuiderzee. Note, too, the correct capitalization: it should be IJsselmeer, not Ijsselmeer.
  • The yo-yo never existed as a bladed weapon, although inhabitants of the Philippines used a non-returning weapon otherwise similar in concept (but made from stone) in the 16th century.
  • Blackbeard is shown aboard the "Queen Anne's Revenge" in 1713. He in fact did not take possession of that ship until 1717.
  • Quicksilver begins in 1713 with the execution of a witch on Boston Common. But the last such execution in Boston took place in 1688. [1] (Stephenson probably chose that scene to complete the symbolic bracketing of the cycle; it begins with a witch-hanging — a vestige of the Middle Ages — and ends with Daniel inspecting a steam engine — the birth of the Industrial Revolution.)
  • Nicotine appears in pure form in the series, although it was first isolated in 1828.
  • Slavery did not exist in France (colonies excluded) during the 17th century — "nulle personne n'est esclave en ce royaume" — so Abigail cannot be kept there in slavery by Lord Upnor.
  • Jack Ketch died in 1686, but makes a very colorful addition to the novel's events of 1714.
  • Jack escapes from Cairo by water to the Red Sea; but the Suez Canal was not built until 1869, and ancient canals linking the Nile and the Red Sea had long been destroyed.
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External links

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