Congo (novel)

1980 novel by Michael Crichton

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Congo

First edition cover

Author| Michael Crichton
Language| English
Genre| Science fiction novel,
Adventure novel
Publisher| Knopf

Publication date

| November 12, 1980 [1]
Publication place| United States
Media type| Print (hardcover)
Pages| 348
ISBN| 0-394-51392-4
OCLC| 6602970

Dewey Decimal

| 813/.54 19
LC Class| PS3553.R48 C6 1980
Preceded by| Eaters of the Dead
Followed by| Sphere

Congo is a 1980 science fiction novel by Michael Crichton, the fifth under his own name and the fifteenth overall. The novel centers on an expedition searching for diamonds and investigating the mysterious deaths of a previous expedition in the dense tropical rainforest of the Congo. Crichton calls Congo a lost world novel in the tradition founded by Henry Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines, featuring the mines of that work's title.

## Plot summary

[edit]

The novel is set in 1979 and opens with the death of all members of an expedition to the rainforests of the Virunga region in the heart of the Congo. The team is suddenly attacked and killed while searching for deposits of diamonds in the (fictional) lost city of Zinj. A video transmitted from the expedition via satellite to the base station in Houston shows what appears to be grey-haired gorillas carrying out the killing.

Another expedition, led by Karen Ross, is launched to investigate the death of the first team as well as to find Zinj, where there are believed to be deposits of a certain diamond, the type IIb, which are naturally boron-doped and thus useful as semiconductors. Included in the team are the half-White and half-Indian African mercenary Charles Munro, as well as a female mountain gorilla named Amy, who has been trained to communicate with humans using sign language, and her trainer Peter Elliot. Time is of the essence, as a rival consortium from corporations in Japan, Germany, and the Netherlands are also searching for the diamonds.

Eventually, Ross and her expedition reach Zinj and discover the consortium's camp, like the original expedition's camp, in ruins and completely devoid of life. Ross and her team are then attacked at night by the same gorillas who killed the first two camps, resulting in a brief & stressful fight in which several gorillas are killed.

After studying the corpses and performing a rudimentary field autopsy, Elliot comes to the conclusion that these animals are not "true" gorillas by modern biological standards, nor kakundakari (an African primate cryptid), but gorilla/chimpanzee, possibly human hybrids. Their height & mass is much closer to humans, and exhibit behavior unlike normal gorillas: they are highly aggressive, partially nocturnal, and are extremely social, forming troops of over a hundred, compared to a mere dozen formed by silverbacks. Elliot intends to name them Gorilla elliotensis after himself.

Afterwards, Ross, Elliot, Munro, and their team explore the ruins and discover mysterious bas-relief frescoes that are at first illegible. But with Ross’s use of the ERTS computer & infrared technology, the relief’s paintings are revealed through digital reconstruction, and show that these apes were bred & trained by the ancient inhabitants of Zinj to serve as ruthless & uncompromising guards who would protect the city at night (hence why they attack the camp at night), and leave it guarded by warriors during the day. These same gorillas also have a complex vocal language that sounds much like wheezing, and they can even communicate via sign language (created by the people who bred & trained the apes). These creatures are tool users as well, and can craft crude paddle like weapons they use to smash skulls in a cymbal like manner (one was left by the gorillas when one of Munro’s men was taken from the camp & killed, and Amy was found next to her mother’s corpse who had her skull crushed). After several more attacks and the loss of contact with the ERTS HQ due to a massive solar flare, Elliot, with the help of Amy, finds a way to translate the language of the mysterious gorillas (she refers to them as "bad gorillas") and piece together three messages ("go away", "no come", "bad here") which are used by Amy, who comes to Peter’s rescue when he stumbles down into the gorilla’s valley. At night when the beasts come to attack, Elliot is able to play Amy’s recorded messages for them. The apes stop fighting the humans and become confused, leaving the camp alone.

Their victory is cut short by the eruption of the nearby volcano (accelerated by explosives placed by Ross for her geological surveys to uncover more diamonds in the mine) which buries the city, the diamond fields and all proof of the "new" species under 800 meters of lava. Ross, Elliot, Amy, Munro, Kahega, and the last porter are forced to run for their lives. Cornered in the consortium’s downed plane by the cannibalistic kigani, the team manages to find a hot air balloon in the cargo hold and uses it to escape.

In an epilogue, it is revealed that Munro was able to retrieve 31 carats of the valuable diamonds and sold them to Intel for use in a revolutionary new computer processor, while Amy was reintroduced into the wild and was later observed teaching her offspring sign language.

## Adaptations

[edit]

Crichton wanted to produce a modern-day version of King Solomon's Mines. He pitched the idea to 20th Century Fox who bought the film rights before the story had even been written. This rapid development resulted in Crichton suffering writer's block, which he treated by spending time in an isolation tank.[2] Crichton received a $1.5 million advance for the novel, screenplay and as a directing fee. He had never worked that way before, usually writing the book then selling it. He eventually managed to finish the book and it became a best seller.[3] Crichton started writing the screenplay in 1981 after completing the film Looker.[4] He had enjoyed working with Sean Connery on The Great Train Robbery and wrote Congo hoping to make the film version with Connery in the lead and Crichton to direct.[3] In 1987 he was still hoping to make the film with Connery and Crichton himself directing but this did not happen.[5] Connery did go on to play Allan Quatermain \- the character who provided the inspiration for Munro - in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

In 1995, a film version of Congo was released, directed by Frank Marshall and starring Laura Linney, Dylan Walsh, Ernie Hudson, Tim Curry, Grant Heslov, Joe Don Baker, and Shayna Fox as the voice of Amy. It received negative reviews from critics, and was nominated for several Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Picture.

In 1984, Telarium released a graphic adventure video game based on Congo. Because Crichton had sold all adaptation rights to the novel, he set the game—named Amazon—in South America, and Amy the gorilla became Paco the parrot.[6]

## Influences

[edit]

The use of language by gorillas was inspired in part by the efforts of Dr. Penny Patterson to teach American Sign Language to Koko.[7]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Kirkus Reviews - Congo".
2. ^ McDOWELL, EDWIN (February 8, 1981). "BEHIND THE BEST SELLERS: Michael Crichton". New York Times. p. BR8.
3. ^ a b "CRICHTON DIPS INTO THE TANK: MICHAEL CRICHTON". Los Angeles Times. May 6, 1980. p. g1.
4. ^ Buckley, Tom (February 6, 1981). "At the Movies: How Resnais made a success with science". New York Times. p. C12.
5. ^ Gorner, Peter (June 24, 1987). "An author of pleasurable fear: Michael Crichton takes fiction where you wouldn't want to go". Chicago Tribune. p. D1.
6. ^ Maher, Jimmy (October 11, 2013). "From Congo to Amazon". The Digital Antiquarian. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
7. ^ Reis, Laurie (July 8, 2015). "Happy Birthday, Koko the Gorilla". MichaelCrichton.com. Archived from the original on April 9, 2016. Retrieved November 5, 2019.

* v
* t
* e

Michael Crichton

Bibliography

Novels|

* The Andromeda Strain (1969)
* The Terminal Man (1972)
* The Great Train Robbery (1975)
* Eaters of the Dead (1976)
* Congo (1980)
* Sphere (1987)
* Jurassic Park (1990)
* Rising Sun (1992)
* Disclosure (1994)
* The Lost World (1995)
* Airframe (1996)
* Timeline (1999)
* Prey (2002)
* State of Fear (2004)
* Next (2006)
* Pirate Latitudes (2009) *
* Micro (2011) *
* Dragon Teeth (2017) *
* Eruption (2024) *

Novels written
under pseudonyms|

* Odds On (1966)
* Scratch One (1967)
* Easy Go (1968)
* A Case of Need (1968)
* Zero Cool (1969)
* The Venom Business (1969)
* Drug of Choice (1970)
* Dealing: or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues (1970)
* Grave Descend (1970)
* Binary (1972)

Post-Crichton novels|

* The Andromeda Evolution (2019)

Non-fiction|

* Five Patients (1970)
* Jasper Johns (1977)
* Electronic Life (1983)
* Travels (1988)

Films directed|

* Pursuit (1972)
* Westworld (1973)
* Coma (1978)
* The First Great Train Robbery (1978)
* Looker (1981)
* Runaway (1984)
* Physical Evidence (1989)

Films written|

* Extreme Close-Up (1973)
* Westworld (1973)
* Coma (1978)
* The First Great Train Robbery (1978)
* Looker (1981)
* Runaway (1984)
* Jurassic Park (1993)
* Rising Sun (1993)
* Twister (1996)

Television series|

* Beyond Westworld (1980)
* ER (1994–2009)
* Westworld (2016–2022)

Adaptations|

* The Andromeda Strain (1971)
* Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues (1972)
* The Carey Treatment (1972)
* Pursuit (1972)
* The Terminal Man (1974)
* The First Great Train Robbery (1978)
* Jurassic Park (1993)
* Rising Sun (1993)
* Disclosure (1994)
* Congo (1995)
* The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
* Sphere (1998)
* The 13th Warrior (1999)
* Timeline (2003)
* The Andromeda Strain (2008)

Video games|

* Amazon (1984)
* Westworld 2000 (1996)
* Timeline (2000)
* Jurassic Park series

Franchises|

* Westworld (1973–2022)
* Jurassic Park (1993–present)

Related|

Antarctica cooling controversy

* *Released posthumously

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Germany

*[OCLC]: Online Computer Library Center number
*[LC Class]: Library of Congress Classification
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