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The Science Fiction Fan, v. 4, issue 5, whole no. 41, December 1939
Page 4
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4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . FAN undoubted lustre. Weinbaum's position in literature will rest upon (a) a few stories in the science-fiction or fantasy vein (b) "Dawn of Flame", and (c)"The New Adam". In the first category are several original, highly diverting yarns, such as "The Man Moon", "A Martian Odyssey" "The Lotus Eaters", "The Worlds of If", "The Adaptive Ultimate" and others. Several traits characterize these stories. They are really "science-fiction", i.e. they combine a modicum of science with a heavy dash of improbability and fantasy. The plots are new - not heavy handed and laborious attempts at being different, but just "new" beacuse the author, apparently without effort, thought of them first. The characters are real -- not puppets, wooden at that, with no Edgar Bergen to animate them, but genuine, living people. These three traits are essential to good "science-fiction", and Weinbaum had them. But over and above, he also was striving to put thought, intelligence, philosophy into the stories so that they became more than mere adventure tales. It is obvious that Weinbaum had developed a mode of thought all his own, a mode not entirely palatable but one which was essentially his and which, in sugar coated form, he was passing on to his readers. I refer to his growing belief in instability, impermanance and general chance in the universe, a belief that rejected "Ultimate Causes" or any supernatural mechanism. "Dawn of Flame" to my mind was an aberration I hastent to add(before infuriated readers start heaving brickbats) that it is an engrossing tale, well written, and in some literary respects superior to what Weinbaum had previously written. It had social significance - also of a kind unpalatable and enraging to many - and a unique reversal of roles, but it definitely broke with
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4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . FAN undoubted lustre. Weinbaum's position in literature will rest upon (a) a few stories in the science-fiction or fantasy vein (b) "Dawn of Flame", and (c)"The New Adam". In the first category are several original, highly diverting yarns, such as "The Man Moon", "A Martian Odyssey" "The Lotus Eaters", "The Worlds of If", "The Adaptive Ultimate" and others. Several traits characterize these stories. They are really "science-fiction", i.e. they combine a modicum of science with a heavy dash of improbability and fantasy. The plots are new - not heavy handed and laborious attempts at being different, but just "new" beacuse the author, apparently without effort, thought of them first. The characters are real -- not puppets, wooden at that, with no Edgar Bergen to animate them, but genuine, living people. These three traits are essential to good "science-fiction", and Weinbaum had them. But over and above, he also was striving to put thought, intelligence, philosophy into the stories so that they became more than mere adventure tales. It is obvious that Weinbaum had developed a mode of thought all his own, a mode not entirely palatable but one which was essentially his and which, in sugar coated form, he was passing on to his readers. I refer to his growing belief in instability, impermanance and general chance in the universe, a belief that rejected "Ultimate Causes" or any supernatural mechanism. "Dawn of Flame" to my mind was an aberration I hastent to add(before infuriated readers start heaving brickbats) that it is an engrossing tale, well written, and in some literary respects superior to what Weinbaum had previously written. It had social significance - also of a kind unpalatable and enraging to many - and a unique reversal of roles, but it definitely broke with
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