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Scientifictionist, v. 2, issue 1, November 1946-January 1947
Page 8
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concept of time and keep no reckoning of years. As one of them says, in the course of a very interesting philosophical discussion of the meaning of time. "When I was younger, I read some of the books of the ancients; they spoke continually of time. The words which we now use, that have no metaphysical significance, they used as a sort of measure, whereby they thought they could attach themselves to the dead, to that which is gone and done with. But the dead are dead, and they exist no more. We do not understand any difference between things that are dead; we do not understand what you mean when you speak of time." This is a naïve viewpoint, but the people of this future age appear to have no need of more sophisticated notions, as their existence is a child-like and carefree one in a world in which every want is supplied by smoothly functioning machines. Theirs is a static culture in which the race lives in the utopia created by its ancestors. It is interesting to note that here once again Wertenbaker has anticipated a theme which later was to be favored by a number of authors, and most notably by Don A. Stuart. Our whilom professor finds it difficult to comprehend the fact that all his old acquaintances have been dead for thousands, perhaps millions, of years, when it seems but yesterday that he was with them. Particularly this is so of the girl, Elaine Stafford, whom he had loved. In a book of latter-day geographical curiosities he reads of a sealed vault situated in the ruins of the ancient city of Shika (Chicago). It is inscribed simply with the legend, "The Tomb of Elaine", and is an object of veneration by the savage tribesmen of the region, who worship its unknown occupant as their foreordained queen who will one day come forth and bring warmth to their frozen land. To the professor the similarity of the names seems more than a coincidence. It is as though it were intended as a message across the ages to him. By means of one of the wingless, simply-operated, airships of the future era, he flies from Egypt (where he had awakened) to Mexico, where he obtains further information from a scientific group there. He then proceeds northward to Shika, and there finds the tomb, as described, of "Elaine" -- some Elaine. Happily for the professor, it is his own Elaine which he finds upon opening the vault. She is as he remembers her, and perfectly preserved by the same treatment that he had undergone. He awakens her by the method used in his own case. So it is that the lovers are united, for it was indeed the case that Elaine had loved him, too, in their former life. When the professor's colleague has returned to tell her of his death, she had taken her life that she might be similarly preserved until the day when the two could be awakened together by their friend. Apparently the latter had failed in his quest for the revivification technique, and left it to the men of some future time to write the final act in the drama of this Romeo and Juliet of science-fiction. A tale which is frankly sentimental is very much a rarity in science-fiction. The sentimental element is not altogether uncommon in good s-f, despite the perennial assertions of readers who insist that it should have no place therein. But in most such instances it is incidental to the plot. The scientifictional love story and the tale in which sentiment otherwise predominates are forms which have been attempted only infrequently and by very few s-f authors. Other than Wertenbaker, we may mention C.L. Moore, Asimov (himself a one-time critic of love-interest!), and Weinbaum, who have produced notable examples of the sentimental story. Yet when tastefully handled it turns out to be a very effective story form. This is the case with ELAINE'S TOMB, in which the love story, as narrated by the protagonist, is contrapuntal to the nostalgic mood of the "lonesome latter days" in which the story is set. Wertenback was at his best as a creator of moods. ELAINE'S TOMB was G. Peyton Wertenbaker's last appearance in Amazing Stories. To the best of your reviewer's knowledge, the five stories we have reviews here constituted his entire scientifictional output. His was an unusual style, and one wishes he had written more. The end. page 8
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concept of time and keep no reckoning of years. As one of them says, in the course of a very interesting philosophical discussion of the meaning of time. "When I was younger, I read some of the books of the ancients; they spoke continually of time. The words which we now use, that have no metaphysical significance, they used as a sort of measure, whereby they thought they could attach themselves to the dead, to that which is gone and done with. But the dead are dead, and they exist no more. We do not understand any difference between things that are dead; we do not understand what you mean when you speak of time." This is a naïve viewpoint, but the people of this future age appear to have no need of more sophisticated notions, as their existence is a child-like and carefree one in a world in which every want is supplied by smoothly functioning machines. Theirs is a static culture in which the race lives in the utopia created by its ancestors. It is interesting to note that here once again Wertenbaker has anticipated a theme which later was to be favored by a number of authors, and most notably by Don A. Stuart. Our whilom professor finds it difficult to comprehend the fact that all his old acquaintances have been dead for thousands, perhaps millions, of years, when it seems but yesterday that he was with them. Particularly this is so of the girl, Elaine Stafford, whom he had loved. In a book of latter-day geographical curiosities he reads of a sealed vault situated in the ruins of the ancient city of Shika (Chicago). It is inscribed simply with the legend, "The Tomb of Elaine", and is an object of veneration by the savage tribesmen of the region, who worship its unknown occupant as their foreordained queen who will one day come forth and bring warmth to their frozen land. To the professor the similarity of the names seems more than a coincidence. It is as though it were intended as a message across the ages to him. By means of one of the wingless, simply-operated, airships of the future era, he flies from Egypt (where he had awakened) to Mexico, where he obtains further information from a scientific group there. He then proceeds northward to Shika, and there finds the tomb, as described, of "Elaine" -- some Elaine. Happily for the professor, it is his own Elaine which he finds upon opening the vault. She is as he remembers her, and perfectly preserved by the same treatment that he had undergone. He awakens her by the method used in his own case. So it is that the lovers are united, for it was indeed the case that Elaine had loved him, too, in their former life. When the professor's colleague has returned to tell her of his death, she had taken her life that she might be similarly preserved until the day when the two could be awakened together by their friend. Apparently the latter had failed in his quest for the revivification technique, and left it to the men of some future time to write the final act in the drama of this Romeo and Juliet of science-fiction. A tale which is frankly sentimental is very much a rarity in science-fiction. The sentimental element is not altogether uncommon in good s-f, despite the perennial assertions of readers who insist that it should have no place therein. But in most such instances it is incidental to the plot. The scientifictional love story and the tale in which sentiment otherwise predominates are forms which have been attempted only infrequently and by very few s-f authors. Other than Wertenbaker, we may mention C.L. Moore, Asimov (himself a one-time critic of love-interest!), and Weinbaum, who have produced notable examples of the sentimental story. Yet when tastefully handled it turns out to be a very effective story form. This is the case with ELAINE'S TOMB, in which the love story, as narrated by the protagonist, is contrapuntal to the nostalgic mood of the "lonesome latter days" in which the story is set. Wertenback was at his best as a creator of moods. ELAINE'S TOMB was G. Peyton Wertenbaker's last appearance in Amazing Stories. To the best of your reviewer's knowledge, the five stories we have reviews here constituted his entire scientifictional output. His was an unusual style, and one wishes he had written more. The end. page 8
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