Camp Concentration

Thomas M. Disch's Camp Concentration was first published as a novel in 1968; it previously appeared in four installments in New Worlds (1967). It's an unusual variation on the science-fiction themes of medically-enhanced intelligence and doomsday weapons.

The novel takes the form of a journal written from May to December of an unknown year in the near future. Its first part contains entries dated from May to June; the second part gives no dates for its entries but numbers them from 1 to 100.

• Book One
  • May
  • June 2 to June 15
  • June 16 to June 22
• Book Two

All notes refer to the 1999 Vintage Books trade paperback edition; see Editions for others.

The "Summary" section on each page gives away some plot details, so avoid it if you're reading the book for the first time. The rest of the notes don't discuss any significant events that haven't already happened at that point.

Epigram

From the religious allegory The Pilgrim's Progress (1678).

Major characters

• Louis Sacchetti, the narrator, a poet who has been imprisoned for his anti-war activism
• Humphrey Haast, a retired Army general who is overseeing secret experiments on prisoners
• Dr. Aimée Busk, chief researcher in the project
• Mordecai Washington, George Wagner, Barry Meade, and other prisoners
• Dr. Skilliman, a physicist who takes over the project in Book Two

Other reading

• Camp Concentration on Matthew Davis's Disch site