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Fantasy Comentator, v. 1, issue 1, December 1943
Page 12
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12 FANTASY COMMENTATOR But Collier is not to be commended merely for his ideas and the novel manner in which he treats them; his style is easily his forte. Completely free from Gothic trappings and the usual banal cliches that characterize the field of fantasy, it is modern, sharp and incisive; moreover, it has that delightful habit of ironically exploiting human inconsistencies and ridiculing gaily the emptiness of modern manners. Small wonder, therefore, that Collier's work is so highly successful, and that his writings have been characterized as "fairy tales that would cause the brothers Grimm to glance fearfully over their shoulders and Wilkie Collins to toss in his sleep". Your reviewer was fortunate enough to have obtained an advance copy of the book before publication, and after a joyous evening there-with promptly decided that John Collier was undoubtedly the outstanding exponent in the decade of the short fantasy story. With the appearance of Eric Knight's anthology a year later this opinion was nearly equalled---the only time it has been even nearly approached; and now, nearly three years after that initial introduction to Collier, my mind is the same: gentlemen, that judgement stands. SAM SMALL FLIES AGAIN: the Amazing Adventures of the Flying Yorkshireman by Eric Yorkshireman by Eric Knight. ix-285pp. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1942. $2.50. In its own more robust way, this volume is to its year what the preceeding one was to 1941. If you're not familiar with Sam Small---and that's something you should be ashamed to admit---here's the chance to get acquainted. And if you already know Yorkshire's outstanding inhabitant, you mustn't miss the opportunity of hearing more about him. Fantasy followers first met Mr. Small in Eric Knight's "Flying Yorkshireman" about four years ago; that novelette is including here, so you can refresh your memory by rereading how it is possible for a man to just up and fly--all you need is complete Faith. (Maybe that California climate helped, but you must decide for yourself, for the author doesn't commit himself on the matter.) In that adventure Sam Small put not only all California into an uproar because of his antics, but New York City as well. In fact the results were so disastrous that he ended by flying back across the Atlantic to his home town of Polkingthorpe Brig. "Tyke" is Yorkshire for "dog", and it is in "Sam Small's Tyke" that his adventures with one on which a gypsy had cast a spell are hilariously recounted. It seemed that the tyke, Flurry, could talk; moreover, she could---and, in various embarrassing situations, did!---turn into a human being. Maybe it was lucky that Mully, Sam's wife, was away while most of this was transpiring; but the way events turned out, it was rather unlucky, too---especially when she finally returned--- Sam Small flies again in "The Truth about Rudolph Hess"; here is narrated how he was able to ferry Rudolph to Scotland and foil Germany's attempted invasion of Britain at the same time, which was no small task, even for Sammywell Small. And "Sam Small's Better Half" tells how Sam personally demonstrated the condition of schizophrenia (the word becomes "schizoperennial" in Yorkshire) by actually splitting into two physically distinct individuals. Which raised merry Cain, for each one insisted that he, not the other, was the real Mr. Small. This latter tale, incidentally, appeared in Philip van Doren Stern's recent anthology [title underlined] The Moonlight Traveller (1943). The rollicking mirth of Mr. Knight's fancy reaches a climax in "Never Come Monday", a story introducing old Capper Wambly, Polkingthorpe Brig's knocker-up. It is the task of the knocker-up to make the rounds of the village early in the morning, tapping bedroom windows with is pole to awaken people in time
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12 FANTASY COMMENTATOR But Collier is not to be commended merely for his ideas and the novel manner in which he treats them; his style is easily his forte. Completely free from Gothic trappings and the usual banal cliches that characterize the field of fantasy, it is modern, sharp and incisive; moreover, it has that delightful habit of ironically exploiting human inconsistencies and ridiculing gaily the emptiness of modern manners. Small wonder, therefore, that Collier's work is so highly successful, and that his writings have been characterized as "fairy tales that would cause the brothers Grimm to glance fearfully over their shoulders and Wilkie Collins to toss in his sleep". Your reviewer was fortunate enough to have obtained an advance copy of the book before publication, and after a joyous evening there-with promptly decided that John Collier was undoubtedly the outstanding exponent in the decade of the short fantasy story. With the appearance of Eric Knight's anthology a year later this opinion was nearly equalled---the only time it has been even nearly approached; and now, nearly three years after that initial introduction to Collier, my mind is the same: gentlemen, that judgement stands. SAM SMALL FLIES AGAIN: the Amazing Adventures of the Flying Yorkshireman by Eric Yorkshireman by Eric Knight. ix-285pp. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1942. $2.50. In its own more robust way, this volume is to its year what the preceeding one was to 1941. If you're not familiar with Sam Small---and that's something you should be ashamed to admit---here's the chance to get acquainted. And if you already know Yorkshire's outstanding inhabitant, you mustn't miss the opportunity of hearing more about him. Fantasy followers first met Mr. Small in Eric Knight's "Flying Yorkshireman" about four years ago; that novelette is including here, so you can refresh your memory by rereading how it is possible for a man to just up and fly--all you need is complete Faith. (Maybe that California climate helped, but you must decide for yourself, for the author doesn't commit himself on the matter.) In that adventure Sam Small put not only all California into an uproar because of his antics, but New York City as well. In fact the results were so disastrous that he ended by flying back across the Atlantic to his home town of Polkingthorpe Brig. "Tyke" is Yorkshire for "dog", and it is in "Sam Small's Tyke" that his adventures with one on which a gypsy had cast a spell are hilariously recounted. It seemed that the tyke, Flurry, could talk; moreover, she could---and, in various embarrassing situations, did!---turn into a human being. Maybe it was lucky that Mully, Sam's wife, was away while most of this was transpiring; but the way events turned out, it was rather unlucky, too---especially when she finally returned--- Sam Small flies again in "The Truth about Rudolph Hess"; here is narrated how he was able to ferry Rudolph to Scotland and foil Germany's attempted invasion of Britain at the same time, which was no small task, even for Sammywell Small. And "Sam Small's Better Half" tells how Sam personally demonstrated the condition of schizophrenia (the word becomes "schizoperennial" in Yorkshire) by actually splitting into two physically distinct individuals. Which raised merry Cain, for each one insisted that he, not the other, was the real Mr. Small. This latter tale, incidentally, appeared in Philip van Doren Stern's recent anthology [title underlined] The Moonlight Traveller (1943). The rollicking mirth of Mr. Knight's fancy reaches a climax in "Never Come Monday", a story introducing old Capper Wambly, Polkingthorpe Brig's knocker-up. It is the task of the knocker-up to make the rounds of the village early in the morning, tapping bedroom windows with is pole to awaken people in time
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