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Horizons, v. 7, issue 4, whole 27, June 1946
Page 6
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dents of the village. Hawthorne went back to Bunyan for inspiration in "The Celestial Railroad" -- it is an addition to "Pilgrim's Progress", and contains a type of real humor and wry satire that is absent from most of Hawthorne. "Feathertop" is the title of the "Moralized Legend" wherein the scarecrow is brought to life and introduced into the world. His experience there is not of the happier kind. The hero of "Egotism; or, the Bosom Serpent" has a snake in his heart, and Hawthorne gravely points out in a footnote that there really are such things as tapeworms. "The Angel of the Beautiful" is among the finest of Hawthorne's short stories. Its blend of the significant with pure fiction is at just the right degree. The young man, suffering from a practically hopeless love, builds for himself intricate mechanical contrivances, ruins one after another, and eventually achieves a mechanical butterfly. It suffers the fate of its predecessors, but "When the artist rose high enough to achieve the beautiful, the symbol by which he made it perceptible to mortal senses became of little value in his eyes while his spirit possessed itself in the enjoyment of the reality." Another book of short stories took its title from "The Snow-Image". This strange predecessor of Mr. O'Malley is first noticed by a couple of children to be alive. When the father of the family insists on bringing it into the house and the intimacy of the family circle, it does what any other snow image would do, confronted by a warm fire. "The Great Stone Face' barely gets in under the wire as fantasy; it can be considered as an example of nature improving on art, for the image of a big face on a mountain inspires men with the longing to resemble it. "Ethan Brand" is also in this collection. "The Devil in Manuscript" is another of the borderline tales, with an unfortunate writer as its subject, and what happens when he tries to burn up his fiction. One other element in Hawthorne's fiction should not go unmentioned. It is next to his use of symbolism, the most important: the manner in which he treats the psychology of men and women who are confronted with sin. It pervades the four mature novels, and many of the short stories, and goes back to Adam and Eve (about whom he wrote one story) and Cain and Abel. Two of the novels are concerned wholly with the effect of a sin on a crime never committed, while "The Blithedale Romance" deals largely with the same sort of situation that Ethan Brand fell into. This very elemental struggling of the conscience, and the mental processes which the characters undergo, are not too far removed from the "psychological fantasy" of today. -:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: Through VAPA with Rod and Camera The half-formed intention referred to at the top of the first page has taken on definite shape: this issue of Horizons will go out through the VAPA, if all goes well and it finds favor in the eyes of the heads of that organization. F[?]APA members will please to look the other way for the next few paragraphs, although I might unexpectedly write something in this commentary which will be intelligible to non-VAPA members. It remains to be seen whether I can summon up the energy to adopt Norman Stanley's scheme in the future, and issue separate editions of Horizons for each organization. But the membership of the two does not overlap so much that any great amount of duplication will result in any event. I also realize the perilous position in which I have placed myself, by this action. I have once again raised the controversy over the comparative intelligence of myself and the clams, which Norman Stanley was kind enough to settle in Fan-Tods, But it is well to live dangerously! Stefantasy and Stuffanosense: Danner's work can't be praised highly enough. As far as achievement is concerned, he far outshines previous typesetters of fan fame like William Crawford and Conrad Ruppert. Morever, the Danner magazine is both a sheer delight to the eye and something fine to read. The humor is genuine, the ads are the finest things of their kind I've even seen, and the issuance of entire printed magazine that must have required a month's spare time,
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dents of the village. Hawthorne went back to Bunyan for inspiration in "The Celestial Railroad" -- it is an addition to "Pilgrim's Progress", and contains a type of real humor and wry satire that is absent from most of Hawthorne. "Feathertop" is the title of the "Moralized Legend" wherein the scarecrow is brought to life and introduced into the world. His experience there is not of the happier kind. The hero of "Egotism; or, the Bosom Serpent" has a snake in his heart, and Hawthorne gravely points out in a footnote that there really are such things as tapeworms. "The Angel of the Beautiful" is among the finest of Hawthorne's short stories. Its blend of the significant with pure fiction is at just the right degree. The young man, suffering from a practically hopeless love, builds for himself intricate mechanical contrivances, ruins one after another, and eventually achieves a mechanical butterfly. It suffers the fate of its predecessors, but "When the artist rose high enough to achieve the beautiful, the symbol by which he made it perceptible to mortal senses became of little value in his eyes while his spirit possessed itself in the enjoyment of the reality." Another book of short stories took its title from "The Snow-Image". This strange predecessor of Mr. O'Malley is first noticed by a couple of children to be alive. When the father of the family insists on bringing it into the house and the intimacy of the family circle, it does what any other snow image would do, confronted by a warm fire. "The Great Stone Face' barely gets in under the wire as fantasy; it can be considered as an example of nature improving on art, for the image of a big face on a mountain inspires men with the longing to resemble it. "Ethan Brand" is also in this collection. "The Devil in Manuscript" is another of the borderline tales, with an unfortunate writer as its subject, and what happens when he tries to burn up his fiction. One other element in Hawthorne's fiction should not go unmentioned. It is next to his use of symbolism, the most important: the manner in which he treats the psychology of men and women who are confronted with sin. It pervades the four mature novels, and many of the short stories, and goes back to Adam and Eve (about whom he wrote one story) and Cain and Abel. Two of the novels are concerned wholly with the effect of a sin on a crime never committed, while "The Blithedale Romance" deals largely with the same sort of situation that Ethan Brand fell into. This very elemental struggling of the conscience, and the mental processes which the characters undergo, are not too far removed from the "psychological fantasy" of today. -:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: Through VAPA with Rod and Camera The half-formed intention referred to at the top of the first page has taken on definite shape: this issue of Horizons will go out through the VAPA, if all goes well and it finds favor in the eyes of the heads of that organization. F[?]APA members will please to look the other way for the next few paragraphs, although I might unexpectedly write something in this commentary which will be intelligible to non-VAPA members. It remains to be seen whether I can summon up the energy to adopt Norman Stanley's scheme in the future, and issue separate editions of Horizons for each organization. But the membership of the two does not overlap so much that any great amount of duplication will result in any event. I also realize the perilous position in which I have placed myself, by this action. I have once again raised the controversy over the comparative intelligence of myself and the clams, which Norman Stanley was kind enough to settle in Fan-Tods, But it is well to live dangerously! Stefantasy and Stuffanosense: Danner's work can't be praised highly enough. As far as achievement is concerned, he far outshines previous typesetters of fan fame like William Crawford and Conrad Ruppert. Morever, the Danner magazine is both a sheer delight to the eye and something fine to read. The humor is genuine, the ads are the finest things of their kind I've even seen, and the issuance of entire printed magazine that must have required a month's spare time,
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