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Southern Star, v. 1, issue 3, August 1941
Page 28
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The Munsey Panorama SOUTHERN STAR Page 28 column, but it was listed for the benefit of two types of fan: those who are interested in prophetic parallels, and those who would like to hear about one of the very earliest efforts of a man who later became famous as an author of fantasy. Here, with the nation on the brink of war, our intrepid hero uncovers a plot on the part of an assistant secretary of the navy (no parallel intended) to deliver Hawaii into the hands of the Japanese fleet. THE ELIXER OF HATE, by George Allan England. Serial, 4 parts, August, 1911. Dr. Granville Dennison, old and about to die, hears through a friend that the secret of eternal life has been discovered by a scientist named Pagani. Dennison rushes to the villa of Pagani at Cette, on the Mediterranean, begs to be made young again. The old scientist refuses to give Dennison any of the wonderful elixir, on the ground that experiments have not been completed, and he suggests further that his visitor doesn't realize what he is asking. But Dennison is frenzied with the fear of death. He seizes a cup of the elixir and drains it. A number of fine passages follow, as an otherwise normal man reacts to the staggering knowledge that he is beginning to grow younger. Pagani is enraged at the American's treasonable act, yet looks forward with ghoulish pleasure to the results of the experiment; and at about this point the reader's attitude toward the main characters is likely to undergo a change. Dennison, who has heretofore been in the role of culprit, begins to elicit your sympathy; whereas Pagani, who at first seemed kindly, wise, farsighted, rapidly develops into a particularly odious villain. It is revealed that coffins secreted in a chamber under the villa contain the bodies of eighteen persons who have at various times disappeared from the world, and the explanation is not hard to guess. Continuing to grow youthful, Dennison soon enjoys the happiest day of his life -- a day on which he falls in love with Pagani's niece, Stasia. But always he is faced with the horrible thought that he is a human guinea pig, and that he doesn't know what the end will be. Finally, as he sees signs that he is becoming a child, he attempts suicide, but the poison has no effect. Pagani enthusiastically awaits the end of the experiments, but one thing he has failed to take into account, and that is that while Dennison is now a boy of ten or twelve in body, his mind is the same as before. Pretending an interest in toys, Dennison, now living only for revenge, secretly plans the death of the scientist. He makes deadly arrows for a toy bow, and when the chance presents itself, he kills Pagani, then throws himself into the sea. Of necessity, the tale is a tragedy and a character study, and in two or three spots it reaches the heights. Though literary faults are in evidence, they are more than balanced by the tenseness and cleverness of movement. Something about it reminds you of Wells; perhaps the abundance of interesting detail. And the ending -- the last page -- well, Joseph Conrad could hardly have done it better. It is utterly sad, quietly and beautifully so. I think I have never read a more impressive last page. I couldn't say more and do it justice -- I can only say that you ought to read it. THE SINGING DEVIL, by Buffington Phillips. Complete novel, 42pp, September, 1911. Hundreds of years before Columbus, said the legend, Frey Aymas sailed westward from Cadiz and discovered a great strange lang which he
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The Munsey Panorama SOUTHERN STAR Page 28 column, but it was listed for the benefit of two types of fan: those who are interested in prophetic parallels, and those who would like to hear about one of the very earliest efforts of a man who later became famous as an author of fantasy. Here, with the nation on the brink of war, our intrepid hero uncovers a plot on the part of an assistant secretary of the navy (no parallel intended) to deliver Hawaii into the hands of the Japanese fleet. THE ELIXER OF HATE, by George Allan England. Serial, 4 parts, August, 1911. Dr. Granville Dennison, old and about to die, hears through a friend that the secret of eternal life has been discovered by a scientist named Pagani. Dennison rushes to the villa of Pagani at Cette, on the Mediterranean, begs to be made young again. The old scientist refuses to give Dennison any of the wonderful elixir, on the ground that experiments have not been completed, and he suggests further that his visitor doesn't realize what he is asking. But Dennison is frenzied with the fear of death. He seizes a cup of the elixir and drains it. A number of fine passages follow, as an otherwise normal man reacts to the staggering knowledge that he is beginning to grow younger. Pagani is enraged at the American's treasonable act, yet looks forward with ghoulish pleasure to the results of the experiment; and at about this point the reader's attitude toward the main characters is likely to undergo a change. Dennison, who has heretofore been in the role of culprit, begins to elicit your sympathy; whereas Pagani, who at first seemed kindly, wise, farsighted, rapidly develops into a particularly odious villain. It is revealed that coffins secreted in a chamber under the villa contain the bodies of eighteen persons who have at various times disappeared from the world, and the explanation is not hard to guess. Continuing to grow youthful, Dennison soon enjoys the happiest day of his life -- a day on which he falls in love with Pagani's niece, Stasia. But always he is faced with the horrible thought that he is a human guinea pig, and that he doesn't know what the end will be. Finally, as he sees signs that he is becoming a child, he attempts suicide, but the poison has no effect. Pagani enthusiastically awaits the end of the experiments, but one thing he has failed to take into account, and that is that while Dennison is now a boy of ten or twelve in body, his mind is the same as before. Pretending an interest in toys, Dennison, now living only for revenge, secretly plans the death of the scientist. He makes deadly arrows for a toy bow, and when the chance presents itself, he kills Pagani, then throws himself into the sea. Of necessity, the tale is a tragedy and a character study, and in two or three spots it reaches the heights. Though literary faults are in evidence, they are more than balanced by the tenseness and cleverness of movement. Something about it reminds you of Wells; perhaps the abundance of interesting detail. And the ending -- the last page -- well, Joseph Conrad could hardly have done it better. It is utterly sad, quietly and beautifully so. I think I have never read a more impressive last page. I couldn't say more and do it justice -- I can only say that you ought to read it. THE SINGING DEVIL, by Buffington Phillips. Complete novel, 42pp, September, 1911. Hundreds of years before Columbus, said the legend, Frey Aymas sailed westward from Cadiz and discovered a great strange lang which he
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