Camp Concentration by Thomas M. Disch (book review).
I’m always a little curious when MSN’s main page has a topic on important science fiction books. Are they going to include classic novels or focus on current authors and ignore our history? I was ticking off those I’ve read and Tom Disch’s novel. ‘Camp Concentration’ came up.
Originally, I thought the title was suggesting concentration camps a la World War Two. It’s not. It’s more to do with human guinea pigs selected from prisons being given an intelligence-enhancing drug but having a fatal side effect. We see events through the diary of prisoner and poet Louis Sacchetti as he is transferred to this rather cushy prison, Camp Archimedes, but not knowing why.
‘Camp Concentration’ is divided into two books. The first part is with dates, and the second by numbers. Plot details indicating that the drug is based on a syphilis derivative are only found on the back cover. If the drug enhances intelligence, it does so differently than in the novel ‘Flowers for Algernon’ by Daniel Keyes. Sacchetti just writes a short story.
In some ways, the second section of the book is more like a stream of consciousness, and I’m still not sure where it leads. The strength of Disch is the quality of his writing, even if I don’t think it’s one of his better books. It is primarily a matter of personal preference. If you like profound reading, then the book will appeal to you.
I should point out that the ‘n-’ word pops up a few times. Please remember that this book was written in 1968, and the character who uses the word, Mordecai Washington, is Black; it was not unusual for Black individuals to use that term. Quite what colour Sacchetti is isn’t disclosed, but the word isn’t directed at him.
GF Willmetts
September 2025
(pub: Vintage Books, 1968 copyright reissued 1993. 184 page small enlarged paperback. Price: varies and there are different copies out there. ISBN: 0-378-70545-7).
check out website: www.vintagebooks.com
