One of Michael Moorcock's most popular fictional creations was Jerry Cornelius, a kind of hip secret agent of ambiguous and occasionally polymorphous sexuality; the same characters featured in each of several Cornelius books, but the individual books had little connection with one another, as a variation of the multiverse theme. The first Jerry Cornelius book, The Final Programme was made into a feature film starring Jon Finch and Jenny Runacre .

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: for example, Moorcock's Dancers at the End of Time series has a character called Jherek Carnelian ; Una Persson appears in the Dancers series, the Oswald Bastable books, and possibly as Oona in the latest Elric books; and Colonel Pyat has his own non-SF series of books by Moorcock, beginning with Byzantium Endures. The location of Notting Hill in London features promimently.

Moorcock encouraged other authors and artists to create works about Jerry Cornelius, in a sort of early open source attempt at open brand sharing. One example is Norman Spinrad's The Last Hurrah of the Golden Horde; another is Moebius's The Airtight Garage.

Notable characters

• Jerry Cornelius
• Miss Brunner
• Bishop Beesley
• Una Persson
• Catherine Cornelius
• Major Nye
• Professor Hira

Bibliography

Novels

• The Final Programme
• A Cure for Cancer
• The English Assassin
• The Condition of Muzak

Other books

• The Lives and Times of Jerry Cornelius
• The Adventures of Una Persson and Catherine Cornelius in the Twentieth Century
• The Entropy Tango
• The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (a.k.a. Gold Diggers of '77)
• The Alchemist's Question (novella)
• Firing the Cathedral (novella)

Shorter fiction

• "The Peking Junction"
• "The Delhi Division"
• "The Tank Trapeze"
• "The Adventures of Jerry Cornelius" (a.k.a. "The English Assassin")
• "The Nature of the Catastrophe"
• "The Swastika Set-up"
• "The Sunset Perspective"
• "Sea Wolves"
• "Voortrekker"
• "Dead Singers" (not to be confused with the non-Jerry Cornelius story of the same title)
• "The Longford Cup"
• "The Entropy Circuit"
• "The Entropy Tango"
• "The Murderer's Song"
• "The Gangrene Collection"
• "The Roumanian Question"
• "The Dodgem Decision" (a.k.a. "The Dodgem Division")
• "All the Way Round Again" (a.k.a. "The Enigma Windows")
• "Cheering for the Rockets"
• "The Spencer Inheritance"

Adaptations

• The Final Programme (movie) was a 1973 movie adaptation of The Final Programme, directed by Robert Fuest

Musical Adaptations

• "Needle Gun" by Hawkwind (The Chronicle Of The Black Sword, 1985)
• "Veteran of the Pyschic Wars" by Blue Öyster Cult (Heavy Metal: Music From The Motion Picture, 1981)

See also

• bisexuality
• Sex in science fiction

External links

• http://www.multiverse.org/
• http://www.novymir.com.au/terminalcafe/jerry.html
• http://www.jaybabcock.com/cornelius.html
• Link to pictures of original cover art and blurbs
• In Lighter Vein: A note on the Jerry Cornelius Tetralogy - in which Michael Moorcock explains his intentions behind the style of seeming randomness of the books.