DIY History | Transcribe | Hevelin Fanzines | Voice of the Imagination, whole no. 24, August 1942

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Voice of the Imagination, whole no. 24, August 1942

Page 9

IMAGI-NATION   9
times enamoured of clubs, organizations & fraternities, & of British fans through their various stages of development — socialism, sex, semantics, seems to be a frequent trend.    
    Which brings me to 'Horizon' possibly the highest-
browed of all highbrow magazines over here at present. The editorial In
current issue argues that artists in general don't know enough about science &
since war tends to stifle artistic achievement they should spend their time coming to terms with science.    'The ideal'  (I quote) 'would be a crop of writers who could not say "I love you" without understanding exactly what is meant by I, love, and you—in the language of biology, psychology, philosophy and semantics.....How should such a writer tackle science? It is clear that most writers have no time to undergo any scientific training—there are, however, certain books that make the subject easy. One is 'The Science of Life'  by H.G.   Wells & Julian Huxley. ,..this
is the most fascinating of all compendiums and contains incidentally, for those who know how to find them, the plots of about fourteen hundred novels.......' And
so on to the final sting in the tail 'It may be said that nothing is more tiresome
than an artist with a half-baked knowledge of science....'    How true. 
     Why I should bring all this in is rather obscure but since I am writing I may as well write about something. (Unlike so many people.)"

Bill Temple in a letter dated just the day before the preceding, proceeding from 7 Elm Rd. Wembley, Middlesex, Eng. "I hold with this new system of printing only the interacting extracts from letters, as distinct from presenting reasonable facsimiles of same (I gather this phase is current in the States - why?) complete with spelling errors disguised as Ackermanese, blots, fingerprints, & bits of egg (not that you'll get any egg from this side - chickens are grown in bottles over here, owing to the scarcity of eggs). Of course, this means that I'll never see any of my letters in
VoM again, but I always did hanker to be a martyr in the cause of progress.
     The Rogues Gallery cover is an absorbing piece of work, especially to a physsiog-
onom— physiogmist— no, physiogomnist— dammit— (Ackermanese, where art thou?) — Fiziognommist, I've got a ray-gun like Daugherty's, only I didn't know it was a ray-gun. Think—I might have killed someone! Or does it just paralyse you? The cost of the upkeep of it certainly paralyses me. 
     The letters speak for themselves, which saves you an' me bother."
     Speaking of letters' speaking for themselves, here's one that's beginning to set up an echo: "Will you
please announce in VOM that I am again resigning from fandom."    And the customary
PS.
     Roland Forster de la Rojala Aviada Fort skribas en las sciencefikcia lingyo de Anglio:
"Eble vi miras ricevinte ci tium leteren Esperantan de preskah nekonata stefane, kiun vi certe ne sciis esti Esperantisto. Mi nur komencis lerni Esperanto antatf malpli ol tri monatoj.    En Marto nunjara, kiam mi vizitis Michael Rosenblum, mi vidis liajn lernolibrojn Esperantajn, kaj mi decidis ke la lerno de tia Lingvo farus flankokupon tre interesan. Je preskau la sama tempo, mi renkontis ci tie Dave fccllwain,
kiu: mi sciis? estas tre entuziasma Esperantiston.    (Mistera afero estas, ke ni am-
bau estis dum tri monatoj ce la sama aviadstacio kaj ne renkontis unu la alian.)
De tiam ni trovis ci tie kelkajn aliajn Esperantistojn, kaj ni klopodas formi Es-
perantan Klubon.    Parenteze—rtu el niaj novetrovitaj samideanoj es^as nekonataj
stefanoj.    Ankatt, Dave petas ke mi diru al vi ke S-ro John W. Holland, I.E.L delegito kaj Sefperanto de Tutmonda Junular-Organizo, nun legas 'Weird Tales1, kaj tAstounding! kaj §c abonas 'Fido'. Dave esperas ke S-io Holland baldati estas vera stefano." Forster continues, telling how he, Mcllwain & author Eric Frank Russell have stf mtgs almost nitely, Russell recounting his experiences in New York, about stfans everywhere, about the world of writing.    During "stf suppers" at the canteen they heatedly argue politix, filosofy, literature, etc.    Vivu EsperantoI Longe vivu Rofo de la Rafo, k la plej elkorajn salutojn de Mirta Forsto al Dejmikil.,.
     David R. Evans puts in an appearance for Australia, riting--hm--one day after Hanson, from 130 Brook St, Coogee, NSW: "I think the drink question is causing a little bother among you chaps in U.S.A. It was something of a coincidence, therefore, that I recently read an article 'In Praise of Alcohol* by Edward Podolsky, in an old 'The Modern Thinker*, a slick magazine dated 1933." The spirit of which, summarized from Evans' 4 pgs, was as follows: Fresh air good for the human organism—but too much upsets the body's
gas equilibrium & causes convulsions. One even can drink too much water. And it
is so of all things, not so?   How many famous men have drunk & praised alcohol, including Plato, Aeschylus, Shakespeare, London & Poe.    It has been recorded Poe's
greatest creations came into being when he was inebriated.    And Evans names a certain fantasy riter who, "in a personal letter to me, did not conceal his affection towards alcohol.
       In view of all this, I find myself merely slightly amused at the hysterical outbursts of puritanical VOMites when commenting on the 'evilness'
of the more 'boisterous among you there." 'Temperance in all things' is Evans' motto but he also calls for more tolerance for the drinkers on the part of the teetotallers, espeshly those fans for whom it is no effort to abstain. Has theory
which may be of interest to the audience, that delirium tremens is a peep into another dimension made possible by absolute oblivion to surrounding realities, a greatly stimulated brain action & a greater optical perception. 
     "In conclusion, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that Jesus Christ, when walking in on a wedding party and found that there was only water for the guests to drink, was sport enough to "turn the water into wine". Keen bible students will not deny the record of this historic fact."
     Could Tucker be keeping Company with the spirits of Poe, Plato & Co? "Will you please announce in VOM~-" etc. This off-again--on-again attitude of Pong's is driving FandM, if not fandom, to drink!

Saving...

IMAGI-NATION 9 times enamoured of clubs, organizations & fraternities, & of British fans through their various stages of development — socialism, sex, semantics, seems to be a frequent trend. Which brings me to 'Horizon' possibly the highest- browed of all highbrow magazines over here at present. The editorial In current issue argues that artists in general don't know enough about science & since war tends to stifle artistic achievement they should spend their time coming to terms with science. 'The ideal' (I quote) 'would be a crop of writers who could not say "I love you" without understanding exactly what is meant by I, love, and you—in the language of biology, psychology, philosophy and semantics.....How should such a writer tackle science? It is clear that most writers have no time to undergo any scientific training—there are, however, certain books that make the subject easy. One is 'The Science of Life' by H.G. Wells & Julian Huxley. ,..this is the most fascinating of all compendiums and contains incidentally, for those who know how to find them, the plots of about fourteen hundred novels.......' And so on to the final sting in the tail 'It may be said that nothing is more tiresome than an artist with a half-baked knowledge of science....' How true. Why I should bring all this in is rather obscure but since I am writing I may as well write about something. (Unlike so many people.)" Bill Temple in a letter dated just the day before the preceding, proceeding from 7 Elm Rd. Wembley, Middlesex, Eng. "I hold with this new system of printing only the interacting extracts from letters, as distinct from presenting reasonable facsimiles of same (I gather this phase is current in the States - why?) complete with spelling errors disguised as Ackermanese, blots, fingerprints, & bits of egg (not that you'll get any egg from this side - chickens are grown in bottles over here, owing to the scarcity of eggs). Of course, this means that I'll never see any of my letters in VoM again, but I always did hanker to be a martyr in the cause of progress. The Rogues Gallery cover is an absorbing piece of work, especially to a physsiog- onom— physiogmist— no, physiogomnist— dammit— (Ackermanese, where art thou?) — Fiziognommist, I've got a ray-gun like Daugherty's, only I didn't know it was a ray-gun. Think—I might have killed someone! Or does it just paralyse you? The cost of the upkeep of it certainly paralyses me. The letters speak for themselves, which saves you an' me bother." Speaking of letters' speaking for themselves, here's one that's beginning to set up an echo: "Will you please announce in VOM that I am again resigning from fandom." And the customary PS. Roland Forster de la Rojala Aviada Fort skribas en las sciencefikcia lingyo de Anglio: "Eble vi miras ricevinte ci tium leteren Esperantan de preskah nekonata stefane, kiun vi certe ne sciis esti Esperantisto. Mi nur komencis lerni Esperanto antatf malpli ol tri monatoj. En Marto nunjara, kiam mi vizitis Michael Rosenblum, mi vidis liajn lernolibrojn Esperantajn, kaj mi decidis ke la lerno de tia Lingvo farus flankokupon tre interesan. Je preskau la sama tempo, mi renkontis ci tie Dave fccllwain, kiu: mi sciis? estas tre entuziasma Esperantiston. (Mistera afero estas, ke ni am- bau estis dum tri monatoj ce la sama aviadstacio kaj ne renkontis unu la alian.) De tiam ni trovis ci tie kelkajn aliajn Esperantistojn, kaj ni klopodas formi Es- perantan Klubon. Parenteze—rtu el niaj novetrovitaj samideanoj es^as nekonataj stefanoj. Ankatt, Dave petas ke mi diru al vi ke S-ro John W. Holland, I.E.L delegito kaj Sefperanto de Tutmonda Junular-Organizo, nun legas 'Weird Tales1, kaj tAstounding! kaj §c abonas 'Fido'. Dave esperas ke S-io Holland baldati estas vera stefano." Forster continues, telling how he, Mcllwain & author Eric Frank Russell have stf mtgs almost nitely, Russell recounting his experiences in New York, about stfans everywhere, about the world of writing. During "stf suppers" at the canteen they heatedly argue politix, filosofy, literature, etc. Vivu EsperantoI Longe vivu Rofo de la Rafo, k la plej elkorajn salutojn de Mirta Forsto al Dejmikil.,. David R. Evans puts in an appearance for Australia, riting--hm--one day after Hanson, from 130 Brook St, Coogee, NSW: "I think the drink question is causing a little bother among you chaps in U.S.A. It was something of a coincidence, therefore, that I recently read an article 'In Praise of Alcohol* by Edward Podolsky, in an old 'The Modern Thinker*, a slick magazine dated 1933." The spirit of which, summarized from Evans' 4 pgs, was as follows: Fresh air good for the human organism—but too much upsets the body's gas equilibrium & causes convulsions. One even can drink too much water. And it is so of all things, not so? How many famous men have drunk & praised alcohol, including Plato, Aeschylus, Shakespeare, London & Poe. It has been recorded Poe's greatest creations came into being when he was inebriated. And Evans names a certain fantasy riter who, "in a personal letter to me, did not conceal his affection towards alcohol. In view of all this, I find myself merely slightly amused at the hysterical outbursts of puritanical VOMites when commenting on the 'evilness' of the more 'boisterous among you there." 'Temperance in all things' is Evans' motto but he also calls for more tolerance for the drinkers on the part of the teetotallers, espeshly those fans for whom it is no effort to abstain. Has theory which may be of interest to the audience, that delirium tremens is a peep into another dimension made possible by absolute oblivion to surrounding realities, a greatly stimulated brain action & a greater optical perception. "In conclusion, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that Jesus Christ, when walking in on a wedding party and found that there was only water for the guests to drink, was sport enough to "turn the water into wine". Keen bible students will not deny the record of this historic fact." Could Tucker be keeping Company with the spirits of Poe, Plato & Co? "Will you please announce in VOM~-" etc. This off-again--on-again attitude of Pong's is driving FandM, if not fandom, to drink!