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Other Worlds, v. 1, issue 2, February 1948

Page 3

OTHER WORLDS     page 3
THE KELLER ANTHOLOGY --- by Jacobus Hubelaire
All literature can be devided [sic] into definite groups, such as; drama, fiction, poetry, history, biography, travel or philosophical. Each of these can be subdivided. Drama can be either tragedy, comedy, or melodrama. Fiction has numerous forms, starting with the short story so prominent in the Arabian Nights, and continued in the Decameron, and later on in the work of Poe, Dusany, de la Mare and Henry James. The short story became the long novel, starting with TOM JONES and reaching maturity with Dickens, Thackery, Tolstoy, and Zola. In spite of the popularity of GONE WITH THE WIND and ANTHONY ADVERSE, the short story gained in appeal and reached its ultimate in the short-short story; which, after all, was well known thousands of years ago.
Various forms of story telling blossomed profusely. The science-fiction, weird, horror, western, space, all received support from pulp magazines, many of which, such as Weird Tales and Amazing, devoted entire issues to only one type. Consequently many writers wrote in only one style; often very fine tales, but with little change in plot. Thus we find a Merritt novel is very similar to any other Merritt novel--the environment many be Gobi or Alaska, but the plot remains unchanged. Smith writes only space tales, Lovecraft wrote only horror stories full of conflict between darkness and light.
In studying the personality of many of the great story writers of modern times it is interesting to find how definitely their style is influenced by early environment, heredity or disease. They writethe way they do because they cannot write in any other way. They are like the man who can paint only sunsets and therefore goes on painting all sunsets all his life. 
Lately I have had the opportunity of reading the galley sheets of an anthology of the writings of David H. Keller, soon to be published by THE AVALON PUBLISHING COMPANY, formed by Moskowitz and Sykora. The editor, Sam Moskowitz, feels that in this anthology he has been writing for fifty-two years.
The first impression gained from reading these stories is that of versatility. Here is a man who can write in varied styles, science-fiction, weird, horror, fantastic and psychological. He is as varied in plot as he is in style, and always he writes about real people. His characters react to the story situation as the common man or woman would, Keller would be lost on Mars or Saturn but he is very intimate with the man who lives next door to him. He knows, and is able to write about, humanity.
In spite of the excellancy of his horror stories there is no doubt about the fact that he loves his fellow man. He may deplore their weaknesses, see too clearly their vices, but always he holds out some hope that they will eventually reach the stars. He destroys the spoiled bread but always saves some yeast to start a new and better civilization. Thus, basically, he is an optimist.
Another outstanding feature of his writing is the love of beauty. At his best he writes beautifully of lovely things. Much of his prose has the singing, poetical quality of the old Greek dramas. This is especially shown in his novel THE SIGN OF THE BURNING HART, soon tobe [sic] reprinted by the N. F. F. F. and his collection of CORNWALL TALES to be published in 1948 by Tom Hadley.
The long novel in this anthology is LIFE EVERLASTING, considered by T. O'Connor Sloan to be the finest of the Keller Stories. In this story humanity is given life free from disease, vice and crime, but at the price of sterility. Everybody is good, all are healthy, all are free

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OTHER WORLDS page 3 THE KELLER ANTHOLOGY --- by Jacobus Hubelaire All literature can be devided [sic] into definite groups, such as; drama, fiction, poetry, history, biography, travel or philosophical. Each of these can be subdivided. Drama can be either tragedy, comedy, or melodrama. Fiction has numerous forms, starting with the short story so prominent in the Arabian Nights, and continued in the Decameron, and later on in the work of Poe, Dusany, de la Mare and Henry James. The short story became the long novel, starting with TOM JONES and reaching maturity with Dickens, Thackery, Tolstoy, and Zola. In spite of the popularity of GONE WITH THE WIND and ANTHONY ADVERSE, the short story gained in appeal and reached its ultimate in the short-short story; which, after all, was well known thousands of years ago. Various forms of story telling blossomed profusely. The science-fiction, weird, horror, western, space, all received support from pulp magazines, many of which, such as Weird Tales and Amazing, devoted entire issues to only one type. Consequently many writers wrote in only one style; often very fine tales, but with little change in plot. Thus we find a Merritt novel is very similar to any other Merritt novel--the environment many be Gobi or Alaska, but the plot remains unchanged. Smith writes only space tales, Lovecraft wrote only horror stories full of conflict between darkness and light. In studying the personality of many of the great story writers of modern times it is interesting to find how definitely their style is influenced by early environment, heredity or disease. They writethe way they do because they cannot write in any other way. They are like the man who can paint only sunsets and therefore goes on painting all sunsets all his life. Lately I have had the opportunity of reading the galley sheets of an anthology of the writings of David H. Keller, soon to be published by THE AVALON PUBLISHING COMPANY, formed by Moskowitz and Sykora. The editor, Sam Moskowitz, feels that in this anthology he has been writing for fifty-two years. The first impression gained from reading these stories is that of versatility. Here is a man who can write in varied styles, science-fiction, weird, horror, fantastic and psychological. He is as varied in plot as he is in style, and always he writes about real people. His characters react to the story situation as the common man or woman would, Keller would be lost on Mars or Saturn but he is very intimate with the man who lives next door to him. He knows, and is able to write about, humanity. In spite of the excellancy of his horror stories there is no doubt about the fact that he loves his fellow man. He may deplore their weaknesses, see too clearly their vices, but always he holds out some hope that they will eventually reach the stars. He destroys the spoiled bread but always saves some yeast to start a new and better civilization. Thus, basically, he is an optimist. Another outstanding feature of his writing is the love of beauty. At his best he writes beautifully of lovely things. Much of his prose has the singing, poetical quality of the old Greek dramas. This is especially shown in his novel THE SIGN OF THE BURNING HART, soon tobe [sic] reprinted by the N. F. F. F. and his collection of CORNWALL TALES to be published in 1948 by Tom Hadley. The long novel in this anthology is LIFE EVERLASTING, considered by T. O'Connor Sloan to be the finest of the Keller Stories. In this story humanity is given life free from disease, vice and crime, but at the price of sterility. Everybody is good, all are healthy, all are free