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In Search of Wonder |
Review by |
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| introduction by Anthony Boucher
Advent, Chicago (via NESFA Press) |
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402 pages |
January 2007 | ||||||||||
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| In Search of Wonder is the foundational work of science fiction criticism, as Sam Moskowitz's The Immortal Storm: A History of Science Fiction Fandom is the foundational history of its organized readership. Most of the material appeared as articles or columns, first collected as a book in 1956. The third edition is substantially longer than previous editions. This book is not a history, more a grab-bag of Damon Knight's critical writing, with some chapters which are memoir, or how-to-write, or definitional overview. The memoirs seem to me more enjoyable than Knight's autobiographical The Futurians. There is a technically annotated version of a short story by Knight himself. And for a definition, or definitions, of science fiction, Knight has tried longer and with better success than almost anyone. Knight revels in comparing and contrasting, both within and without science fiction and fantasy. An example:
The dissection of The World of Null-A in "Cosmic Jerrybuilder: A. E. van Vogt" is expanded from Knight's fanzine essay, published shortly after van Vogt's impressive novel's serialization in Astounding in 1945. Reading this chapter in the first edition of In Search of Wonder was a baptism of fiery darts for my teenage critical faculties. The chapter "One Sane Man: On non-fiction, there is a review of The Immortal Storm by Sam Moskowitz; and a chapter on "The Excluded Data: Charles Fort" heralds Knight's book-length biography-analysis, Charles Fort: Prophet of the Unexplained. Given the grab-bag format, what are the weaknesses of the criticism of In Search of Wonder? I think Damon Knight's view of John W. Campbell as editor of Astounding Science Fiction is much too shallow, as are the mentions of Edward E. Smith Knight's modern outlook is dating itself with these. James H. Schmitz is mentioned only once, albeit quite positively. Both Murray Leinster and Fritz Leiber are mentioned multiple times, but discussed too little. And too many truly worthless stories are covered, which don't even deserve mention as horrible examples. A few words of warning: In Search of Wonder is full of plot spoilers. It's meant for aficionados who already are fairly well read in the science-fiction field and curious about its structure and history, rather than for those who mainly are looking for good stories to read and bad stories to avoid. That said, it is a critical landmark.
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© 2007 Robert Wilfred Franson |
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