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FMS Digest, v. 1, issues 1-5, February - July 1941
v.1:no.4: Page 3
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F M Z DIGEST Page Three THE SCIENCE-WEIRD CONTROVERSY By Carl Jacobi Condensed from FANTASITE April, 1941 Science fiction is science fiction and weird fiction is weird fiction, and never the twain shall meet. That may not be exactly a platitude, but fundamentally, considering the viewpoint of many fans, there's a lot of truth in those words. For close to two decades now readers have been divided into two camps, the science enthusiasts and the supporters of the weird tale, each refusing to read the other's favorite authors, each criticizing the other's plots and stories. During recent years the tendency has been to compromise between the two and quietly sidestep the differences of opinion. Let sleeping dogs lie, some one has said. But if a writer did that he'd run out of plots in no time. It is curious that this rivalry finds little support among the writers. Most of the men who pound a typewriter for publication and who have written one of these two types of fiction have tried their hands at the other. Usually they have a preference, but other than that I personally have never detected any rabid partisanship. At the end of the fence is a fictioneer who claims that almost any story could be re-written into a different background without harm. To prove his contention, this writer did change an adventure story into a western story and then altered the same tale into a detective yarn. In each case it was sold without difficulty. But when I suggested making it into fantasy, he shook his head. "Not a chance," he said. "You know well enough that fantasy, either science or weird is not formula material. They are types distinctly by themselves, fiction in which the background is an intrinsic part of ly a part of the plot. You don't make over old stories into fantasy; not if you want to sell them, you don't." If you accept this to be the case-- and I think most every fan will--why then need there be such a quarrel between the two? Fundamentally, both are written to entertain, and whereas some of the modern science fiction stories may be considered in some respects more mature, based as they are on social analogies and thus further removed from "escape" literature, the true weird tale lends itself to a tighter technique and perhaps smoother writing. let me hasten to add that these are generalities. Individual stories follow no channel. Perhaps one of the chief characteristics of the weird story which so many fans who dislike this type fail to appreciate, is what might be called the intellectual quality of its treatment. The reader is led to continue, not alone because of the thrills he encounters, but because of the strange academic spell cast over him by a mixture of onomatopoeic diction and congrous background. It is this perhaps which explains the success of the Lovecraft, the Smith and the Derlith weirds. A similar list of outstanding tales int he field of science fiction could of course be listed. Considering all this, the choice of the word fantasy, as a general classification for both types, was a fortunate one. it has done a great deal toward cementing the break between the two. Some form of fantasy will always be with us. Older than "The Arabian nights," newer than a streamliner, it will remain long after other forms of fiction have fallen by the wayside. UNIVOX[[?]] By Burton Filut From FRONTIER April, 1941 I love all men; Why should I then Build high a wall Around me, call It color, faith Or sect; and hate All others, when They too are men?
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F M Z DIGEST Page Three THE SCIENCE-WEIRD CONTROVERSY By Carl Jacobi Condensed from FANTASITE April, 1941 Science fiction is science fiction and weird fiction is weird fiction, and never the twain shall meet. That may not be exactly a platitude, but fundamentally, considering the viewpoint of many fans, there's a lot of truth in those words. For close to two decades now readers have been divided into two camps, the science enthusiasts and the supporters of the weird tale, each refusing to read the other's favorite authors, each criticizing the other's plots and stories. During recent years the tendency has been to compromise between the two and quietly sidestep the differences of opinion. Let sleeping dogs lie, some one has said. But if a writer did that he'd run out of plots in no time. It is curious that this rivalry finds little support among the writers. Most of the men who pound a typewriter for publication and who have written one of these two types of fiction have tried their hands at the other. Usually they have a preference, but other than that I personally have never detected any rabid partisanship. At the end of the fence is a fictioneer who claims that almost any story could be re-written into a different background without harm. To prove his contention, this writer did change an adventure story into a western story and then altered the same tale into a detective yarn. In each case it was sold without difficulty. But when I suggested making it into fantasy, he shook his head. "Not a chance," he said. "You know well enough that fantasy, either science or weird is not formula material. They are types distinctly by themselves, fiction in which the background is an intrinsic part of ly a part of the plot. You don't make over old stories into fantasy; not if you want to sell them, you don't." If you accept this to be the case-- and I think most every fan will--why then need there be such a quarrel between the two? Fundamentally, both are written to entertain, and whereas some of the modern science fiction stories may be considered in some respects more mature, based as they are on social analogies and thus further removed from "escape" literature, the true weird tale lends itself to a tighter technique and perhaps smoother writing. let me hasten to add that these are generalities. Individual stories follow no channel. Perhaps one of the chief characteristics of the weird story which so many fans who dislike this type fail to appreciate, is what might be called the intellectual quality of its treatment. The reader is led to continue, not alone because of the thrills he encounters, but because of the strange academic spell cast over him by a mixture of onomatopoeic diction and congrous background. It is this perhaps which explains the success of the Lovecraft, the Smith and the Derlith weirds. A similar list of outstanding tales int he field of science fiction could of course be listed. Considering all this, the choice of the word fantasy, as a general classification for both types, was a fortunate one. it has done a great deal toward cementing the break between the two. Some form of fantasy will always be with us. Older than "The Arabian nights," newer than a streamliner, it will remain long after other forms of fiction have fallen by the wayside. UNIVOX[[?]] By Burton Filut From FRONTIER April, 1941 I love all men; Why should I then Build high a wall Around me, call It color, faith Or sect; and hate All others, when They too are men?
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