I, Reader

I, Lucifer, Fallen Angel, Prince of Darkness, Bringer of Light, Ruler of Hell, Lord of the Flies, Father of Lies, Apostate Supreme, Tempter of Mankind, Old Serpent, Prince of This World, Seducer, Accuser, Tormentor, Blasphemer, and without doubt Best Fuck in the Seen and Unseen Universe (ask Eve, that minx)...

— Lucifer

I tracked down this book after reading Duncan’s newer work, The Last Werewolf.  I was struck by Duncan’s ability to fully use the diary format and his incredibly bizarre grammatical constructions. Also the book about werewolves made me cry. So, there’s that.  Anyway, I became slightly obsessed with the book and wanted to read some of his other novels.

I, Lucifer seemed to be the next logical choice as I’ve always loved stories that feature Old Scratch as a character or protagonist. By the blurb on the back it appears as another story about Satan’s fall and teases that the devil “finds himself understanding what it’s like to be us.”

Yes, that’s what I need! I must know Lucifer’s side of things. Something I haven’t read before in: Paradise Lost, Memnoch the Devil, Letters from the Earth, or played as Demon: The Fallen and In Nomine. Snark aside, there are some archetypes that I never get tired of. Instead I usually check out new interpretations of the same story to see what’s different, new, rehashed, deconstructed, and so on.

The plot follows Lucifer in his month spent on Earth wearing a suicidal writer’s body like a cheap suit. Lucifer himself reveals the story to us. In this capacity he’s the best unreliable narrator and the best user of stream of consciousness I’ve read recently. The stream of consciousness is as disjointed as one might expect for an alien immortal consciousness that was present at the creation of all things to be squashed down into a human mind. This physical joy ride comes on the behalf of God who offers the Devil a deal. Live like a chaste human, die, and then come to heave no questions asked to be reinstated as a minor angel; a reverse Faustian pact essentially where the Trickster will give up all his immortal powers for a much longer judgment period.

Lucifer scoffs at the whole idea of salvation and sees the reinstatement as an angel as a slight jab at his “well known pride.” He does however; enjoy the prospect of getting away from the normal torturous duties of hell.  He mucks about in the body doing Hunter S. Thompson level of drugs and generally anything else he can to drive the body he’s in directly six feet under.  For being the devil he does seem to have some limitations for the suffering he brings into the world.  For instance, there is one (of many) disturbing passages where Lucifer wonders what it would be like to commit a rape.  For several paragraphs, like Declan’s body, we are unable to think about anything other than stalking a poor woman back to her apartment and when things are about to get incredibly uncomfortable a few angels show up to tell him to knock it off.  He can be self-indulgent just not commit any mortal sins that will stick to Gunn’s soul.

When I started to read the book I really felt sorry for the meat sack that Lucifer was using. Declan Gunn started out as a schlub who had one hit book, became an insufferable ass, and alienated everyone.  He decides to take one final bath and winds up worse than dead, undead possessed by the devil.

Lucifer’s story arc does tip toe toward the idea that anyone can repent but it seems heavily inferred that when something goes according to plan, particularly God’s plan, you either are saved or doomed to a predestined outcome seen only by the creator and relayed by his winged messengers.

The book held my attention easy enough and provided me with some neat new ideas. For instance, even though Lucifer is a fallen angel that does stop him from suffering from the evil in the world because at the base of his existence he still is part of the angelic host.

 I really enjoyed most of the book but as a caveat, some of the content in the book made me quite embarrassed to be reading it. I can’t really recommend it to anyone for this reason. Although, if you happen to be around it you should thumb through it.

As an interesting side note, Glen Duncan lived with a musician, Stephen Coates of The Real Tuesday Weld, when he was writing the book. Coates made an accompanying album as a sort of soundtrack to the book. The Real Tuesday Weld album I, Lucifer  has an odd feel to it. Not one I would have immediately thought of either as Coates describes his music as "antique beat" a blending of jazzy dance hall numbers and electronica dance.