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Acolyte, v. 1, issue 4, Summer 1943
Page 15
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NOTES ON INTERPLANETARY FICTION by H. P. Lovecraft -oOo- (This article was originally published in [[underline]]The Californian[[end underline]], Winter 1935, and is reprinted here through the courtesy of August Derleth and Hyman Bradofeky.) -oOo- Despite the current flood of stories dealing with other worlds and universes, and with intrepid flights to and from them through cosmic space, it is probably no exaggeration to say that not more than a half-dozen of these things, including the novels of H. G. Wells, have even the slightest shadow of a claim to artistic seriousness or literary rank. Insincerity, conventionality, triteness, artificiality, false emotion, and puerile extravagance reign triumphant throughout this overcrowded genre, so that none but its rarest products can possibly claim a truly adult status and the spectacle of such persistent hollowness has led many to ask whether, indeed, any fabric of real literature can ever grow out of the given subject matter. The present commentator does not believe that the idea of space-travel and other worlds is inherently unsuited to literary use. It is, rather, his opinion that the omnipresent cheapening and misuse of that idea is the result of a widespread misconception; a misconception which extends to other departments of weird and science fiction as well. This fallacy is the notion that any account of impossible, improbable, or inconceivable phenomena can be successfully presented as a commonplace narrative of objective acts and conventional emotions in the ordinary tone and manner of popular romance. Such a presentation will often "get by" with immature readers, but it will never approach even remotely the field of aesthetic merit. Inconceivable events and conditions form a class apart from all other story elements, and can not be made convincing by any mere process of casual narration. They have the handicap of incredibility to overcome; and this can be accomplished only through a careful realism in every [[underline]]other[[end underline]] phase of the story, plus a gradual atmospheric or emotional building-up of the utmost subtlety. The emphasis, too, must be kept right---hovering always over [[underline]]the wonder of the central abnormality itslef[[end underline]]. It must be remembered that any violation of what we know as natural low is [[underline]]in itself[[end underline]] a far more tremendous thing than any other event or feeling which could possibly affect a human being. Therefore in a story dealing with such a thing we can not expect to create any sense of life or illusion of reality if we treat the wonder casually and have the characters moving about under ordinary motivations. The characters, though they must be natural, should be subordinated to the central marvel around which they are grouped. The true "hero" of a marvel tale is not any human being, but simply a [[underline]]set of phenomena[[end underline]]. Over and above everything else should tower the stark, outrageous monstrousness of the one chosen departure from nature. The characters should react to it as real people would react to such a thing if it were suddenly to confront them in daily life; displaying the almost soul-shattering amazement which anyone would naturally display instead of the mild, tame, quickly-passed-over emotions prescribed by cheap popular convention. Even when the wonder is once to which the characters are assumed to be used, the sense of awe, marvel and strangeness which the reader would feel in the presence of such a thing must somehow be suggested by the author. When in account of a marvellous trip is presented without the colouring of appropriate emotion, we never feel the hest degree of vividness in it. We do not get the spine- -- 15 --
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NOTES ON INTERPLANETARY FICTION by H. P. Lovecraft -oOo- (This article was originally published in [[underline]]The Californian[[end underline]], Winter 1935, and is reprinted here through the courtesy of August Derleth and Hyman Bradofeky.) -oOo- Despite the current flood of stories dealing with other worlds and universes, and with intrepid flights to and from them through cosmic space, it is probably no exaggeration to say that not more than a half-dozen of these things, including the novels of H. G. Wells, have even the slightest shadow of a claim to artistic seriousness or literary rank. Insincerity, conventionality, triteness, artificiality, false emotion, and puerile extravagance reign triumphant throughout this overcrowded genre, so that none but its rarest products can possibly claim a truly adult status and the spectacle of such persistent hollowness has led many to ask whether, indeed, any fabric of real literature can ever grow out of the given subject matter. The present commentator does not believe that the idea of space-travel and other worlds is inherently unsuited to literary use. It is, rather, his opinion that the omnipresent cheapening and misuse of that idea is the result of a widespread misconception; a misconception which extends to other departments of weird and science fiction as well. This fallacy is the notion that any account of impossible, improbable, or inconceivable phenomena can be successfully presented as a commonplace narrative of objective acts and conventional emotions in the ordinary tone and manner of popular romance. Such a presentation will often "get by" with immature readers, but it will never approach even remotely the field of aesthetic merit. Inconceivable events and conditions form a class apart from all other story elements, and can not be made convincing by any mere process of casual narration. They have the handicap of incredibility to overcome; and this can be accomplished only through a careful realism in every [[underline]]other[[end underline]] phase of the story, plus a gradual atmospheric or emotional building-up of the utmost subtlety. The emphasis, too, must be kept right---hovering always over [[underline]]the wonder of the central abnormality itslef[[end underline]]. It must be remembered that any violation of what we know as natural low is [[underline]]in itself[[end underline]] a far more tremendous thing than any other event or feeling which could possibly affect a human being. Therefore in a story dealing with such a thing we can not expect to create any sense of life or illusion of reality if we treat the wonder casually and have the characters moving about under ordinary motivations. The characters, though they must be natural, should be subordinated to the central marvel around which they are grouped. The true "hero" of a marvel tale is not any human being, but simply a [[underline]]set of phenomena[[end underline]]. Over and above everything else should tower the stark, outrageous monstrousness of the one chosen departure from nature. The characters should react to it as real people would react to such a thing if it were suddenly to confront them in daily life; displaying the almost soul-shattering amazement which anyone would naturally display instead of the mild, tame, quickly-passed-over emotions prescribed by cheap popular convention. Even when the wonder is once to which the characters are assumed to be used, the sense of awe, marvel and strangeness which the reader would feel in the presence of such a thing must somehow be suggested by the author. When in account of a marvellous trip is presented without the colouring of appropriate emotion, we never feel the hest degree of vividness in it. We do not get the spine- -- 15 --
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