writing

This is probably the best analysis of the science fiction of the American 'Golden Age'. After going through all the difficulties in making a selection from the many texts available to him, Huntington settles on analysing the short stories in the 1970 compilation, 'The SF Hall of Fame'. Using these as a representative sample, he runs through them with clear analyses of their ideologies.

Probably more influenced by Freud than he might like to admit, Huntington reveals the repressed anxieties of the sf movement of this period, analysing the motivations for the intertia that would eventually push it out of time and into the radical 1960s. But ideological analysis is never kind, and he begins with something of an apology to those who idealise the American Golden Age as something of an idealistic time of the genre. For the contradictions in these stories are those of the American male of the period itself. Coming to terms with their adolescence, with fantasies of power, with their problems with women, sf is not so much an escapist genre as a sublimation of social conflict.

While it is not as pretty picture as those deep within the sf field might like to see in print, Huntington's extraordinary clarity and sociological commitment to the period at hand reveals some gems of insight. For instance, the way in which the technocracy and meritocracy of the 1950s and 60s is backed up by an ideology of autonomisation. In other words, the way in which reason for reason's sake becomes an excuse to justify images and behaviour that are often sadistic, sometimes racist and sexist. Yet this is not a simple ideological denunciation. For Huntington is always working from a historical, dialectical method that will return these problems to the social issues of the time. Far from being critical of sf authors, he will embed them in the problematic ideas of the long American 1950s.

This is an awesome analysis, and anyone even thinking of writing on the period or sf really should get a hold of this book. In this humble reviewers opinion, it sits with Darko Suvin's Metamorphosis, Mark Rose's Alien Encounters and a couple of other books I most likely haven't read yet as one of the great stuctural analyses of sf. Oh, and his book on H.G, Wells is fantastic too.

This is a very detailed look at certain aspects of SF - specifically, its 'ideology', including the idea of genius, the (perceived) danger of women, and the genre's love for aliens, robots and monsters. The age of the stories ranges from the earliest SF to the 1960s, which limits the scope of the book somewhat since great changes have occurred in the genre since 1970.

The quality of the writing is far from inspiring, but the case it argues is sound and rather persuasive. Not essential for every SF fan, but certainly worth a look.