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Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 10, Spring 1946
Page 241
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FANTASY COMMENTATOR 241 of universe-encompassing scope which leaves the reader confused rather than awed. After a beautifully executed background and a well-developed opening two-thirds, Van Vogt preceeds to awe himself with the possibility of expanding his stage to embrace an entire cosmos. As a result the novel becomes dull and uninteresting, and, considering the excellent earlier work of this author, flawed to a disappointing extent. Its impossibly complex plot boils down to something like this: With the help of a warlike member of an intergalactic community, a certain group of men are attempting domination of Earth. They plan the distortion and eventually complete overthrow of the games-machine, which is theoretically all-perfect and which was designed to select all officials for Earth and Venus on the basis of merit. Opposition to this plan comes from a mutant that appeared hundreds of years ago and made numerous copies of himself. Gilbert Gosseyn is a copy of the original mutant; "X", a member of the rebelling forces who is working against them from the inside, is himself another copy; and the key to the entire mystery is "the master chessman" whose identity is never revealed. Although the games-machine is destroyed according to plan, the rebels are frustrated in the end by the invisible master chessman, and Gosseyn, the only copy of the superman left alive, sets about to repair the great damage done to the Earth. The supposedly staggering implication of all this--viz., that the galactic struggle for power in itself but a tiny segment in an even mightier drama---never receives adequate expression or development. "The World of A" is likewise marred by a characteristic found in nearly all of Van Vogt's plots: after starting in medias res with both the hero and the reader completely befuddled, and proceeding at a relatively leisurely pace in opening chapters, the author proceeds to pack a solution into an ending so abbreviated that half of the possibilities he has evoked remain unexplained. Victor Stott, of Beresford's Hampdenshire Wonder, is a magnificent intelligence that never develops beyond the period of adolescence. In his all too short lifetime he assimilates most of the collected knowledge of mankind and finds in all of it the recurring fallacy of limited thinking. Almost completely emotionless, he succeeds in arousing the superstitious fear and hate of the ignorant countryfolk residing near him. This culminates in the mysterious murder that ends prematurely the life of a truly great brain, for had Stott lived to attain adulthood the advances possible would have been almost unimaginable. Manuel de Soto, the laboratory giant in "Seeds of Life," makes gigantic strides in advancing the human race. Supremely contemptuous of the world's financial lusts, he turns from inorganic research to the climaxing experiment of his life. But at the most crucial point of his experiments he is again exposed to the same radiation that rendered him superhuman. A retrogression occurs, and he loses control of his experiments in the creation of artificial life, finally being destroyed by a monstrosity he himself had brought into being. Like Manuel de Soto, the Intelligence Gigantic is of the objective type, and capitalizes easily upon the fear and hate surrounding him. All but completely invincible because of his titanic mentality, he achieves control of the world within a relatively short time after his creation. Monumental advances are achieved, but the common man is completely oppressed. Motionless and artificial being that he is, the Intelligence Gigantic makes no provision for the emotional happiness of others. His downfall and the obliteration of his works occur at the hands of his creator, and after a period of brief stagnation the world proceeds forward once more in its usual erratic way. "The Mental Ultimate" is exactly what the title suggests---the ultimate in human mentality. Time, space, everything in the cosmos lie unriddled within his brain; everything, indeed, except the question of his own existence. Even death has been forestalled. But nature compensates for everything, and as centuries pass by he diminishes in stature until finally, long after Earth has ceased to exist, he becomes a pure mentality divorced from all body. Gradually even
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FANTASY COMMENTATOR 241 of universe-encompassing scope which leaves the reader confused rather than awed. After a beautifully executed background and a well-developed opening two-thirds, Van Vogt preceeds to awe himself with the possibility of expanding his stage to embrace an entire cosmos. As a result the novel becomes dull and uninteresting, and, considering the excellent earlier work of this author, flawed to a disappointing extent. Its impossibly complex plot boils down to something like this: With the help of a warlike member of an intergalactic community, a certain group of men are attempting domination of Earth. They plan the distortion and eventually complete overthrow of the games-machine, which is theoretically all-perfect and which was designed to select all officials for Earth and Venus on the basis of merit. Opposition to this plan comes from a mutant that appeared hundreds of years ago and made numerous copies of himself. Gilbert Gosseyn is a copy of the original mutant; "X", a member of the rebelling forces who is working against them from the inside, is himself another copy; and the key to the entire mystery is "the master chessman" whose identity is never revealed. Although the games-machine is destroyed according to plan, the rebels are frustrated in the end by the invisible master chessman, and Gosseyn, the only copy of the superman left alive, sets about to repair the great damage done to the Earth. The supposedly staggering implication of all this--viz., that the galactic struggle for power in itself but a tiny segment in an even mightier drama---never receives adequate expression or development. "The World of A" is likewise marred by a characteristic found in nearly all of Van Vogt's plots: after starting in medias res with both the hero and the reader completely befuddled, and proceeding at a relatively leisurely pace in opening chapters, the author proceeds to pack a solution into an ending so abbreviated that half of the possibilities he has evoked remain unexplained. Victor Stott, of Beresford's Hampdenshire Wonder, is a magnificent intelligence that never develops beyond the period of adolescence. In his all too short lifetime he assimilates most of the collected knowledge of mankind and finds in all of it the recurring fallacy of limited thinking. Almost completely emotionless, he succeeds in arousing the superstitious fear and hate of the ignorant countryfolk residing near him. This culminates in the mysterious murder that ends prematurely the life of a truly great brain, for had Stott lived to attain adulthood the advances possible would have been almost unimaginable. Manuel de Soto, the laboratory giant in "Seeds of Life," makes gigantic strides in advancing the human race. Supremely contemptuous of the world's financial lusts, he turns from inorganic research to the climaxing experiment of his life. But at the most crucial point of his experiments he is again exposed to the same radiation that rendered him superhuman. A retrogression occurs, and he loses control of his experiments in the creation of artificial life, finally being destroyed by a monstrosity he himself had brought into being. Like Manuel de Soto, the Intelligence Gigantic is of the objective type, and capitalizes easily upon the fear and hate surrounding him. All but completely invincible because of his titanic mentality, he achieves control of the world within a relatively short time after his creation. Monumental advances are achieved, but the common man is completely oppressed. Motionless and artificial being that he is, the Intelligence Gigantic makes no provision for the emotional happiness of others. His downfall and the obliteration of his works occur at the hands of his creator, and after a period of brief stagnation the world proceeds forward once more in its usual erratic way. "The Mental Ultimate" is exactly what the title suggests---the ultimate in human mentality. Time, space, everything in the cosmos lie unriddled within his brain; everything, indeed, except the question of his own existence. Even death has been forestalled. But nature compensates for everything, and as centuries pass by he diminishes in stature until finally, long after Earth has ceased to exist, he becomes a pure mentality divorced from all body. Gradually even
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