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Imagination, v. 1, issue 8, whole no. 8, May 1938
Page 8
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8 FLITE FROM FANTASY Allen Glasser[[?]] In the jargon of psychiatrists the word "fantasy" denotes an escape from reality. I don't know what they would call an escape from fantasy--but I do know that such escape is impossible. Some 4 years ago after having been a fairly regular follower of the various fantasy magazines my interest waned & I ceast to read them. My only knowledge of them thereafter came thru random, indirect contacts. However I soon discoverd that fantasy as a subject of popular interest was not confined to 3 or 4 pulp periodicals. Right after I'd dropt the regular fantasy mags and the comic section of my Sunday newspaper sprouted a new feature--FLASH GORDON. As you know, Flash's adventures represent fantasy in its most familiar (if not most admirable) form; & so at weekly intervals the stf subject continued to thrust itself upon me. Since then I have encountered fantasy in several other comic strips--most recently in Popeye's hilarious affair with the Martians. Radio, stage & screen, with their increasingly frequent presentations of this nature, also served to keep me from forgetting fantasy during this period. But if there was one place I never expected to run across this subject it was the scholarly North American Review. Yet it was in the pages of this erudite journal that I chanced upon Clemence Dane's article called "American Fairy-Tale". As readers of IMAGINATION! may know, this article recognized popular fantasy as a now & important development in American literature. Now at last I realized to what stature this type fiction had grown; & I understood why it was no longer limited to the few mediums I had known in the past. All this may sound pretty obvious to the regular fantasy fan; but to one who had been completely out of touch with this field, like myself, it was a revolation. I am convinced now that fantasy, in its various manifestations, has attained such popularity that one simply can't escape from it--but, after all, who really wants to? IMAGI-NIK-NAX: Ler[[?]] Neorly[[?]] "A knock or a boost--from someone in California, it always makes one feel great. "I am very glad to know that my efforts, though very poorly executed, are not always thrown into the waste basket. I really do not mind criticism. On the contrary, it helps us realize the rut we are in, unavoidably driven there by our daily routine. "I am not trying to offer you any alibies, but if you knew the amount of work I have to turn out daily, I am pretty sure that all my critics would have, now and then an encouraging word rather than a hard merciless brick." Lowell Howard Morrow[[?]] "It has been my observation that the young men and women and the boys and girls of today often display a keener perception of literary efforts than their elders." "No, I'm not sensitive about my name. Many people insist on writing my first name 'Otto' and my second 'Albert.' Some, also, have their own ways of spelling Kline, Such as Klein, Cline, Clyne, etc. ~~ But you know the old saying about the rose--" Otis Albert Kline
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8 FLITE FROM FANTASY Allen Glasser[[?]] In the jargon of psychiatrists the word "fantasy" denotes an escape from reality. I don't know what they would call an escape from fantasy--but I do know that such escape is impossible. Some 4 years ago after having been a fairly regular follower of the various fantasy magazines my interest waned & I ceast to read them. My only knowledge of them thereafter came thru random, indirect contacts. However I soon discoverd that fantasy as a subject of popular interest was not confined to 3 or 4 pulp periodicals. Right after I'd dropt the regular fantasy mags and the comic section of my Sunday newspaper sprouted a new feature--FLASH GORDON. As you know, Flash's adventures represent fantasy in its most familiar (if not most admirable) form; & so at weekly intervals the stf subject continued to thrust itself upon me. Since then I have encountered fantasy in several other comic strips--most recently in Popeye's hilarious affair with the Martians. Radio, stage & screen, with their increasingly frequent presentations of this nature, also served to keep me from forgetting fantasy during this period. But if there was one place I never expected to run across this subject it was the scholarly North American Review. Yet it was in the pages of this erudite journal that I chanced upon Clemence Dane's article called "American Fairy-Tale". As readers of IMAGINATION! may know, this article recognized popular fantasy as a now & important development in American literature. Now at last I realized to what stature this type fiction had grown; & I understood why it was no longer limited to the few mediums I had known in the past. All this may sound pretty obvious to the regular fantasy fan; but to one who had been completely out of touch with this field, like myself, it was a revolation. I am convinced now that fantasy, in its various manifestations, has attained such popularity that one simply can't escape from it--but, after all, who really wants to? IMAGI-NIK-NAX: Ler[[?]] Neorly[[?]] "A knock or a boost--from someone in California, it always makes one feel great. "I am very glad to know that my efforts, though very poorly executed, are not always thrown into the waste basket. I really do not mind criticism. On the contrary, it helps us realize the rut we are in, unavoidably driven there by our daily routine. "I am not trying to offer you any alibies, but if you knew the amount of work I have to turn out daily, I am pretty sure that all my critics would have, now and then an encouraging word rather than a hard merciless brick." Lowell Howard Morrow[[?]] "It has been my observation that the young men and women and the boys and girls of today often display a keener perception of literary efforts than their elders." "No, I'm not sensitive about my name. Many people insist on writing my first name 'Otto' and my second 'Albert.' Some, also, have their own ways of spelling Kline, Such as Klein, Cline, Clyne, etc. ~~ But you know the old saying about the rose--" Otis Albert Kline
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