Jerry Cornelius
Jerry Cornelius is a fictional character created by author Michael Moorcock. The character is an urban adventurer and an incarnation of the author's Eternal Champion concept. Cornelius is a hipster of ambiguous and occasionally polymorphous gender. Many of the same characters feature in each of several Cornelius books, though the individual books have little connection with one another, having a more metafictional than causal relationship. The first Jerry Cornelius book, The Final Programme, was made into a 1973 film starring Jon Finch and Jenny Runacre. Notting Hill in London features prominently in the stories.
Overview
The series draws plot elements from Moorcock's Elric series, as well as the Commedia dell'Arte. Moorcock hints in many places that Cornelius may be an aspect of the Eternal Champion. Characters from the Cornelius novels show up in much of Moorcock's other fiction: The Dancers at the End of Time series has a character called Jherek Carnelian who is the son of Lord Jagged of Canaria, and there are several hints in the series that Lord Jagged may be a guise of Jerry Cornelius; the Cornelius-series character Una Persson also appears in the "Dancers" series and the Oswald Bastable books, and may also be the character Oona in the later Elric books; Colonel Pyat has his own non-SF series of books by Moorcock, beginning with Byzantium Endures.At least five other variants of the name occur in other Moorcock works. A space pirate named Captain Cornelius appears in Moorcock's Doctor Who novel, The Coming of the Terraphiles.
[The Cornelius Quartet]
In these four novels Jerry undergoes transformations, dies, is reborn, spends one entire novel as a shivering wreck, and eventually discovers his true natures. Moorcock strenuously objects to his character being depicted as a 'secret agent'. There are almost no elements of the spy genre in the Cornelius stories.- The Final Programme
- A Cure for Cancer
- The Condition of Muzak
Main characters
- Jerry Cornelius, secret agent, superhero, adventurer, all things to all men. A figure of almost complete anarchy. Typically destroys repressive authority. Later exposed as a false Harlequin, a tragic Pierrot at heart, or simply an adolescent fantasy.
- Miss Brunner, Jerry's opposite. Representing stifling authority. Also follows a more mystical path than Jerry's fatalistic realism.
- Bishop Beesley, endlessly corrupt gluttonous villain. Thirsts for power, money, pleasure.
- Una Persson, a female version of Jerry, even to the extent of being Catherine's lover. In The Condition of Muzak she is revealed to be a true Harlequin.
- Catherine Cornelius, Jerry's sister and incestuous lover. Usually dies tragically. Often pregnant by Jerry. In some stories, a masochistic figure.
- Major Nye, a retired British Army officer, participant in secret missions, and Una Persson's sometime lover.
- Colonel Pyat, a Russian emigre officer, also a sometime lover of Una Persson.
- Cornelius Brunner, proclaimed Messiah of the Age of Science, a hermaphrodite amalgam of Jerry Cornelius and Miss Brunner in The Final Programme.
- Professor Hira, occasionally another of Jerry's lovers. Counterpart to Jerry's character, always calm and in control.
- Frank Cornelius, Jerry's scheming brother, Cain to Jerry's Abel. Usually killed by Jerry, but always returns.
- Mrs. Cornelius, fat, libidinous, foul-mouthed mother to Frank, Jerry and Catherine. The quintessential urban survivor, a modern Mother Courage.
- 'Shaky' Mo Collier, a companion on many adventures, and also supplier of many and varied drugs to almost everyone. He almost acts as Jerry's right-hand man always there when needed, although somewhat unreliable in execution of tasks.
Novels
- The Final Programme
- A Cure for Cancer
- The Condition of Muzak
Collections
- The Lives and Times of Jerry Cornelius
Associated novels
- The Adventures of Una Persson and Catherine Cornelius in the Twentieth Century
- The Distant Suns
- Doctor Who: The Coming of the Terraphiles
Novellas
- The Entropy Tango
- The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle. Ties the Sex Pistols in with the Cornelius mythos.
- The Alchemist's Question
- Firing the Cathedral
Short fiction
- "The Peking Junction"
- "The Delhi Division"
- "The Tank Trapeze"
- "The Nature of the Catastrophe"
- "The Swastika Set-up"
- "The Sunset Perspective"
- "Sea Wolves"
- "Voortrekker"
- "Dead Singers"
- "The Longford Cup"
- "The Entropy Circuit"
- "The Entropy Tango"
- "The Murderer's Song"
- "The Gangrene Collection"
- "The Roumanian Question"
- "The Dodgem Decision"
- "All the Way Round Again"
- "The Spencer Inheritance"
- "The Camus Connection"
- "Cheering for the Rockets"
- "Modem Times"
- "A Twist in the Lines"
- "Pegging the President"
In other media
Comics
- "The Adventures of Jerry Cornelius", co-written with M. John Harrison and illustrated by Mal Dean
- "Midnight Kiss", written by Tony Lee and illustrated by Ryan Stegman
- "The Airtight Garage" by Moebius.
Film adaptations
- The Final Programme was a 1973 movie adaptation of The Final Programme, directed by Robert Fuest
Musical adaptations
- "The Entropy Tango" by Spirits Burning
- "Every Gun Plays Its Own Tune" by Spirits Burning
- "Needle Gun" by Hawkwind
- "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" by Blue Öyster Cult
- "Kings of Speed" by Hawkwind
Origin of the name
Work inspired by Jerry Cornelius
Moorcock encouraged other authors and artists to create works about Jerry Cornelius, in a sort of early open source shared world attempt at open brand sharing. One example is Norman Spinrad's The Last Hurrah of the Golden Horde; another is Mœbius's The Airtight Garage. The Nature of the Catastrophe, a collection of Jerry Cornelius stories and comic strips which had appeared in New Worlds by various hands, was published in 1971. It includes works by Moorcock himself, James Sallis, Brian Aldiss, Langdon Jones, M. John Harrison, Richard Glyn Jones, Alex Krislov and Maxim Jakubowski.The story "...the price is worth it." by Graeme K Talboys and the subsequent novels in the Stormlight quartet are centred on Charlie Cornelius, a daughter of the Cornelius clan with uncertain parentage.
In comics various writers have used elements of the character, most notably Bryan Talbot's character Luther Arkwright. Currently, Image publishes Matt Fraction's Casanova series which also pays homage to Cornelius. Tony Lee's Midnight Kiss actually features Cornelius, with Michael Moorcock's blessing.. Grant Morrison created an Oscar Wilde-inspired steampunk version of Jerry Cornelius in Sebastian O, the original Vertigo mini-series. Another Morrison character, Gideon Stargrave of The Invisibles, is one of the few interpretations of the character that Moorcock has issues with, as he considers the character little more than a straight lift of Cornelius.
The name of the protagonist of The Airtight Garage was changed in later editions to "Lewis Carnelian". In 2006, on his website, Moorcock himself wrote:
Bad Voltage, a 1980s cyberpunk novel by Jonathan Littell that also dealt with themes of bisexuality and violence, features guest appearances by a decidedly has-been Jerry Cornelius and a substance-abusing 'Shaky' Mo Collier. The independent comic Elf-Thing featured not only Cornelius but members of his supporting cast in a very close homage. Cornelius is also seen in Alan Moore's ' as a child. Cornelius appears in the second part of Alan Moore's three-part comic '. Jerry Cornelius also appears briefly in Neurotwistin', a French novel by :fr:Laurent Queyssi|Laurent Queyssi. The 1996 White Wolf anthology Pawn of CHAOS features new Cornelius stories by John Shirley, Caitlín R. Kiernan & Nancy Collins.
You can also find a version of Jerry Cornelius in Michael Moorcock's 1999 graphic novel "Multiverse". There is an ongoing presentation of new Cornelius stories on Moorcock's Jeremiah Cornelius Facebook page.
Carter Kaplan plays a variation on Jerry Cornelius in his novel Tally-Ho, Cornelius!.
Author Bruce Sterling has described his recurring character Leggy Starlitz, star of a series of short stories and the novel Zeitgeist, as "a nonlinear descendant of Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius."