Transcribe
Translate
PSFS News, v. 5, issue 6, July 1945
Page 12
More information
digital collection
archival collection guide
transcription tips
July, 1945 PSFS NEWS Page 12 * * * * * * * * * * * * * Keller's writing style because after years of practice he became proficient at saying what he wanted to say in as few words as possible? If he achieved by understatement what Wolfe never achieved in flamboyance is he necessarily inferior? Can they deny that few living writers have ever written an ending as powerful as that for "The Thing In The Cellar"? The psychological import of that story was numbing. The only thing comparable was his own grotesque tale "No More Tomorrows," which would have failed with the addition of one superfluous word. Wolfe would never have had the self-restraint to omit a last powerful expletive. All his life Keller strove for the "beautiful story." He achieved that beauty of style many times, incomparably blended with a note of horror that Lovecraft might have envied. He mistakenly believed he was writing the "beautiful story" when he wrote "The Golden Bough," "Binding De-Luxe," "Creation Unforgivable," and the likable Corwall series for old Weird Tales, the last of which appeared in Stirring Science Stories. These were readable, but ineffective sort of things. It was in the novel that Keller achieved his dream of literary beauty. In "The Metal Doom" he chronicled the break-down and rebuilding of civilization in a manner surpassed only by McClary's "Rebirth." And in "Life Everlasting" he paints an unforgettable canvas of the human race at long last attaining immortality, but at a price -- sterility! No disease, no fear of death, a boundless future in which to live and love and be happy. And step by step, incident by incident, with incisive, indefeatable logic Dr. Keller, master of psychology, shows discontent and finally open rebellion against the childless state of immortality. Led by the women the people appeal for and achieve their normal mortal state, attendent with all its ills and disasters. Perpetuation of the race is true immortality. "The Conquerors" was a fine novel as far as science fiction novels go, but in its sequel, "The Evening Star," David H. Keller reached his zenith. Rarely have beauty of style and fecundity of ideas blended in a happier union. The great science of man unaccountably defeated by undiscovered natural laws. Pell-mell in retreat from the Evening Star he had hoped to conquer, the very genes of his body altered by unknown emanations, man at bay, defeated, his science gone. But he retrieves the secret weapon of his soul -- courage. And with all hope of retreat blasted he achieves a victory of spirit that halts for a moment the blind, mindless course of natural law. "The Evening Star" is David H. Keller's greatest science fiction story. David H. Keller's style was as studied and deliberate in its own fashion as that of the late H. P. Lovecraft. Keller deliberately wrote the way he did. Sometiems the results were sorry duds, as were all-too-many of Lovecraft's. But occasionally his style and subject matter "clicked" and the result was stories possessing the great power and scope of "Life Everlasting," "The Evening Star," "No More Tomorrows," "The Thing In The Cellar" and others. But more often than any author in the history of science fiction, his style and his stories were readable. He was consistantly readable and enjoyable to a greater extent than any other writer in the history of fantastic literature. In his own inimitable style he created the lovable detective "Taine, of San Francisco," who
Saving...
prev
next
July, 1945 PSFS NEWS Page 12 * * * * * * * * * * * * * Keller's writing style because after years of practice he became proficient at saying what he wanted to say in as few words as possible? If he achieved by understatement what Wolfe never achieved in flamboyance is he necessarily inferior? Can they deny that few living writers have ever written an ending as powerful as that for "The Thing In The Cellar"? The psychological import of that story was numbing. The only thing comparable was his own grotesque tale "No More Tomorrows," which would have failed with the addition of one superfluous word. Wolfe would never have had the self-restraint to omit a last powerful expletive. All his life Keller strove for the "beautiful story." He achieved that beauty of style many times, incomparably blended with a note of horror that Lovecraft might have envied. He mistakenly believed he was writing the "beautiful story" when he wrote "The Golden Bough," "Binding De-Luxe," "Creation Unforgivable," and the likable Corwall series for old Weird Tales, the last of which appeared in Stirring Science Stories. These were readable, but ineffective sort of things. It was in the novel that Keller achieved his dream of literary beauty. In "The Metal Doom" he chronicled the break-down and rebuilding of civilization in a manner surpassed only by McClary's "Rebirth." And in "Life Everlasting" he paints an unforgettable canvas of the human race at long last attaining immortality, but at a price -- sterility! No disease, no fear of death, a boundless future in which to live and love and be happy. And step by step, incident by incident, with incisive, indefeatable logic Dr. Keller, master of psychology, shows discontent and finally open rebellion against the childless state of immortality. Led by the women the people appeal for and achieve their normal mortal state, attendent with all its ills and disasters. Perpetuation of the race is true immortality. "The Conquerors" was a fine novel as far as science fiction novels go, but in its sequel, "The Evening Star," David H. Keller reached his zenith. Rarely have beauty of style and fecundity of ideas blended in a happier union. The great science of man unaccountably defeated by undiscovered natural laws. Pell-mell in retreat from the Evening Star he had hoped to conquer, the very genes of his body altered by unknown emanations, man at bay, defeated, his science gone. But he retrieves the secret weapon of his soul -- courage. And with all hope of retreat blasted he achieves a victory of spirit that halts for a moment the blind, mindless course of natural law. "The Evening Star" is David H. Keller's greatest science fiction story. David H. Keller's style was as studied and deliberate in its own fashion as that of the late H. P. Lovecraft. Keller deliberately wrote the way he did. Sometiems the results were sorry duds, as were all-too-many of Lovecraft's. But occasionally his style and subject matter "clicked" and the result was stories possessing the great power and scope of "Life Everlasting," "The Evening Star," "No More Tomorrows," "The Thing In The Cellar" and others. But more often than any author in the history of science fiction, his style and his stories were readable. He was consistantly readable and enjoyable to a greater extent than any other writer in the history of fantastic literature. In his own inimitable style he created the lovable detective "Taine, of San Francisco," who
Hevelin Fanzines
sidebar
