Volume 1, Number 8 · December 12, 1963
Science Fiction
By John Hollander
A Voyage To Arcturus
by David Lindsay
Macmillan, 244 pp., $4.95
Russian Science Fiction
An Anthology, ed. by Robert Magidoff
New York University, 280 pp., $5.00
The distinctions between true science fiction and what is called fantasy literature are zealously guarded even by consumers of the magazines which publish both sorts of material. In general, science fiction appears to be more toughminded, and its aficionados tend to think of the fantasy product as being somehow intellectually inferior. And yet the evidence is strong that the same sort of people like both sorts of thing; it would be hard to tell whether a rather typical kind of anti-literary, know-nothing, do-it-yourself American intelligence, that of an engineer or a technician, would gravitate more towards one than another. (Nasty footnote on the two cultures: It is said that M.I.T. decided to start up a decent humanities program when a shockingly high percentage of a group of students interviewed declared that the book that had been most important to them was The Robe). Indeed, it is a moot point whether never having read anything good would make one prefer science fiction's gimmickry or fantasy's romantic corn.
Review, 1354 words
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