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Fantasy Fiction Field, v. 9, issue 4, whole no. 145, October 15, 1943
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(conclusion of Biblio) ONWARD AND UPWARD WITH THE ARTS: SCIENCE-FICTION MAGAZINES; Angelica Gibbs; New Yorker; Feb. 14, 1943. -o0o0o0o- REVIEW: OUT OF THE SILENT PLANET by C.S. Lewis. 174 pp. NY MacMillian $2. - - - Almost from his beginning man has from time to time imagined a better world than the one he lived in. Sometimes, in the right minds, these imaginings have made literature; witness Plato's "Republic" and Bacon's "New Atlantis". The most modest imaginings of the author of "The Screwtape Letters" take the form of a spaceship journey to Mars and a relation of the life his hero finds there. Dr. Ransom, a Cambridge don, the Lemuel Gulliver of Mr. Lewis' romance, is kidnapped by two other Englishmen, one of whom, Weston, is crazed by science, the other, Devine, with greed. On Mars, or Malacandra (the Martian's name for their planet), Dr. Ransome escapes from his captors and explores the place on his own. On Mars three kinds of creatures, three species have reached rationality -the HROSSA, the SORNS, and the PFIFTRIGGI. It is significant that no one of them has exterminated the other two. They complement, one the other. The HROSSA excel in singing, in making poetry; the SORNS are good at philosophy and history; the PFIFLTRIGGI are excellent mechanics, making and shaping things. All are as good and wise as Swift's Houyhnhnms. And like the Houyhnhnms again, they are horrified by what Ransome tells them of man and his way on the earth -Thulcandra to them. Mr. Lewis' romance holds our interest yp to the denouement. Reading it one is from time to time reminded of such diverse sources as Satan's voyage through space, "Lost Horizon", H.G> Wells fantasies, "Robinson Crusoe" and "Gulliver's Travels." The author's Miltonic love of light gives his descriptions of space real splendor. His narrative flows easily, If the story lacks humor, most Utopias do; if it lacks Swiftian irony, it has its compelling moments when the reader loses himself in the make-believe, identifies himself with the hero. Such a moment is the return of Ransome to England and his native planet. Making his way out of the ship, Ransome rejoices in the beat of the rain on his body. Everyone says that a new world is just around the corner, but everyone is pretty vague about just what it is to be. The plain truth is that man has to imagine this new order before it can be realized. Mr. Lewis' romance is one step forward in the preliminary dreaming, the discovery of the mystery. -- But only a short step, for when the climax comes and the travelers finally stand before Oyarsa to speak their pieces and learn their fate, we feel let down that the wise ruler of Malacandra has so little to offer us. Weston declares the right of the superior race to exterminate the inferior. He wants the people of the earth to live forever, even after the sun has cooled. "He wants our race to last for always, I think," Ransome translates him to Oyarsa, "and he hopes they will leap from world to world, always going to a new sun when an old one dies. As you see, Weston is one jump ahead of the Nazis. Oyarsa tells Weston that his people once had a similar temptation put into their minds by the Bent One, the lord of the earth, who was hurled, like Satan, from heaven into the air of earth to our confusion. But Oyarsa made short work of that, and his people lost fear and gained peace. Unfortunately, it seems to be the peace that passeth all understanding. If we Thulcandrans are to get into governments everywhere more of the good which beats in the heart of the average man, we will have to think out of our own ways and means. Both Oyarsa and Mr. Lewis leave the problem of our deliverance from evil deep among the Mysteries. -H. Reynolds TIMES WANTED: King in Yellow; Lest Darkness Fall; Mar. '43 Startling; Jan. '34 WEIRD; Nov. 12, 38 ARGOSY (or typed MS of MERRITT story) June Oct Dec. '39 Strange Stories; Swords of Mars; Aug. '39 Feb. '41 Astounding May '30 Ast. -- FROM: UNGER - 6401-24 Ave Brooklyn, New York TO:
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(conclusion of Biblio) ONWARD AND UPWARD WITH THE ARTS: SCIENCE-FICTION MAGAZINES; Angelica Gibbs; New Yorker; Feb. 14, 1943. -o0o0o0o- REVIEW: OUT OF THE SILENT PLANET by C.S. Lewis. 174 pp. NY MacMillian $2. - - - Almost from his beginning man has from time to time imagined a better world than the one he lived in. Sometimes, in the right minds, these imaginings have made literature; witness Plato's "Republic" and Bacon's "New Atlantis". The most modest imaginings of the author of "The Screwtape Letters" take the form of a spaceship journey to Mars and a relation of the life his hero finds there. Dr. Ransom, a Cambridge don, the Lemuel Gulliver of Mr. Lewis' romance, is kidnapped by two other Englishmen, one of whom, Weston, is crazed by science, the other, Devine, with greed. On Mars, or Malacandra (the Martian's name for their planet), Dr. Ransome escapes from his captors and explores the place on his own. On Mars three kinds of creatures, three species have reached rationality -the HROSSA, the SORNS, and the PFIFTRIGGI. It is significant that no one of them has exterminated the other two. They complement, one the other. The HROSSA excel in singing, in making poetry; the SORNS are good at philosophy and history; the PFIFLTRIGGI are excellent mechanics, making and shaping things. All are as good and wise as Swift's Houyhnhnms. And like the Houyhnhnms again, they are horrified by what Ransome tells them of man and his way on the earth -Thulcandra to them. Mr. Lewis' romance holds our interest yp to the denouement. Reading it one is from time to time reminded of such diverse sources as Satan's voyage through space, "Lost Horizon", H.G> Wells fantasies, "Robinson Crusoe" and "Gulliver's Travels." The author's Miltonic love of light gives his descriptions of space real splendor. His narrative flows easily, If the story lacks humor, most Utopias do; if it lacks Swiftian irony, it has its compelling moments when the reader loses himself in the make-believe, identifies himself with the hero. Such a moment is the return of Ransome to England and his native planet. Making his way out of the ship, Ransome rejoices in the beat of the rain on his body. Everyone says that a new world is just around the corner, but everyone is pretty vague about just what it is to be. The plain truth is that man has to imagine this new order before it can be realized. Mr. Lewis' romance is one step forward in the preliminary dreaming, the discovery of the mystery. -- But only a short step, for when the climax comes and the travelers finally stand before Oyarsa to speak their pieces and learn their fate, we feel let down that the wise ruler of Malacandra has so little to offer us. Weston declares the right of the superior race to exterminate the inferior. He wants the people of the earth to live forever, even after the sun has cooled. "He wants our race to last for always, I think," Ransome translates him to Oyarsa, "and he hopes they will leap from world to world, always going to a new sun when an old one dies. As you see, Weston is one jump ahead of the Nazis. Oyarsa tells Weston that his people once had a similar temptation put into their minds by the Bent One, the lord of the earth, who was hurled, like Satan, from heaven into the air of earth to our confusion. But Oyarsa made short work of that, and his people lost fear and gained peace. Unfortunately, it seems to be the peace that passeth all understanding. If we Thulcandrans are to get into governments everywhere more of the good which beats in the heart of the average man, we will have to think out of our own ways and means. Both Oyarsa and Mr. Lewis leave the problem of our deliverance from evil deep among the Mysteries. -H. Reynolds TIMES WANTED: King in Yellow; Lest Darkness Fall; Mar. '43 Startling; Jan. '34 WEIRD; Nov. 12, 38 ARGOSY (or typed MS of MERRITT story) June Oct Dec. '39 Strange Stories; Swords of Mars; Aug. '39 Feb. '41 Astounding May '30 Ast. -- FROM: UNGER - 6401-24 Ave Brooklyn, New York TO:
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