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Thing, whole no. 1, Spring 1946
Page 13
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STEForum This session conducted by JACK SPEER Socratic dialogue on the psychological aspects of Fantasy, no less. ANALESTOS: Let me read you a passage from You Can't Go Home Again, which is a non-fantasy novel: "Young man," she said, "I've been a long time livin' on this earth, and as the fellow says, the world do move! You've got your life ahead of you, and lots to learn and many things to learn and many things to do -- but let me tell you somethin', boy!" and all at once she looked at him in a straight and deadly fashion. "Go out and see the world and get your fill of wanderin'," she cried, "and then come back and tell me if you've found a better place than home! I've seen great changes in my time, and I'll see more before I die. There are great things yet in store for us -- great progress, great inventions -- it will all come true. Perhaps I'll not live to see it, but you will! We've got a a fine town here, and fine people to make it go" etcetera. That's a marvelously sharp picture of a common American type. PROTELAMNES: Fortunately not too common. Yeah, I've read the book -- I'd call it a book rather than a novel. ANALESTOS: Well, this is one passage which actually belongs in the story. And it's such things as this that justify plowing through the book. Now, take science-fiction... PROTELAMNES: I'll take it. Here's a little observation on human nature, from Green Splotches: "Civilization has the unfortunate effect of slowing up men's mental operations in emergencies. Indeed, civilization places such a premium on foresight that a civilized man lacks ability to live from instant to instant. The ordinary American lives usually in the next month or next year, but he is rarely at home in the 'now' and 'here'." I guess that proves that stef can compete with mundane fiction in psychological observation. A: Hold on a minute, and turn your attention to the fantasy element in Green Splotches. Remember it? P: Vaguely. Something about plant-men visiting Earth and carrying off specimens. A: Right. The science-fictional element is uninteresting as well as inconsistent and unscientific. For the sake of passages such as you've just read, we can forgive Stribling this, and consider the story well worth while. But I must ask: Couldn't just as good a story--better, in fact--have been written without introducing any stefnal element? P: Umm. A: The same embarassing question can be asked about several recent stories in the pulps. Yet those stories are welcomed by readers who have, without quite realizing it, acquired a hunger for more than blood and thunder and superscience. P: Surely you don't think good characterization and good writing should be outlawed from science-fiction!
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STEForum This session conducted by JACK SPEER Socratic dialogue on the psychological aspects of Fantasy, no less. ANALESTOS: Let me read you a passage from You Can't Go Home Again, which is a non-fantasy novel: "Young man," she said, "I've been a long time livin' on this earth, and as the fellow says, the world do move! You've got your life ahead of you, and lots to learn and many things to learn and many things to do -- but let me tell you somethin', boy!" and all at once she looked at him in a straight and deadly fashion. "Go out and see the world and get your fill of wanderin'," she cried, "and then come back and tell me if you've found a better place than home! I've seen great changes in my time, and I'll see more before I die. There are great things yet in store for us -- great progress, great inventions -- it will all come true. Perhaps I'll not live to see it, but you will! We've got a a fine town here, and fine people to make it go" etcetera. That's a marvelously sharp picture of a common American type. PROTELAMNES: Fortunately not too common. Yeah, I've read the book -- I'd call it a book rather than a novel. ANALESTOS: Well, this is one passage which actually belongs in the story. And it's such things as this that justify plowing through the book. Now, take science-fiction... PROTELAMNES: I'll take it. Here's a little observation on human nature, from Green Splotches: "Civilization has the unfortunate effect of slowing up men's mental operations in emergencies. Indeed, civilization places such a premium on foresight that a civilized man lacks ability to live from instant to instant. The ordinary American lives usually in the next month or next year, but he is rarely at home in the 'now' and 'here'." I guess that proves that stef can compete with mundane fiction in psychological observation. A: Hold on a minute, and turn your attention to the fantasy element in Green Splotches. Remember it? P: Vaguely. Something about plant-men visiting Earth and carrying off specimens. A: Right. The science-fictional element is uninteresting as well as inconsistent and unscientific. For the sake of passages such as you've just read, we can forgive Stribling this, and consider the story well worth while. But I must ask: Couldn't just as good a story--better, in fact--have been written without introducing any stefnal element? P: Umm. A: The same embarassing question can be asked about several recent stories in the pulps. Yet those stories are welcomed by readers who have, without quite realizing it, acquired a hunger for more than blood and thunder and superscience. P: Surely you don't think good characterization and good writing should be outlawed from science-fiction!
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