Book Review: In Search of Wonder: Essays on Modern Science Fiction by Damon Knight

In Search of Wonder: Essays on Modern Science Fiction by Damon Knight

Trade Paperback, 462 pages

Published November 2014 by Advent Publishers (first published 1956)

One major effect of doing the Dickheads podcast is that I have become much more serious about being a scholar of the genre. While the title of the book suggests that it covers "modern" sci-fi you have to realize that the first edition of this book was published in 1955 and despite editions in 1967 and 2014 the books in the genre it covers is far from modern. This book first got on my radar because I was looking for background info on Editor/Author Tony Boucher (who wrote the introduction)for an upcoming tribute episode. When I saw what this book was I knew I had to read it.

The concept of this book is simple. In the early days of the genre, I am talking the 30s right after Hugo Gernsback coined the term Scientific Fiction that later got shorten to Science Fiction and eventually Sci-fi deep critical analysis of the genre didn't exist. There were short reviews in the Amazing Stories and fanzines of the time but most came off like catalog entries more than thoughtful reviews. Enter Oregon writer Damon Knight whose most famous work is the short story "To Serve Man" which was turned into a Twilight Zone episode with the famous "It's a cookbook!" twist.

While that is the only time Knight's work penetrated the mainstream he was a titan in the genre from the early 40s until his death in 2002. He was the founder of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), cofounder of the Milford Writer's Workshop with author Judith Merrill and his wife Author Kate Wilham., and co-founder of the Clarion Writers Workshop. While he wrote hundreds of short stories and a dozen novels it is his criticism and non-fiction history of the early New York writers The Futurians (Reviewed here three months ago)that are most exciting to me.

While this book is clearly not a complete history of the early 20th century Science Fiction that is the purpose it will serve at this point. While heavily colored by Knight's very strong opinions, this book taught me of several dozen important works from that era that I had never heard of. Several I am excited to read. These are not just works of standard genre titans, although the works of Heinlein, Asimov and Bradbury are all covered. That is great but what excited me more was learning about mainstream novels of the era with speculative elements and titles that came from Russian authors. That is just two examples. Knight has the genre of the era covered in detail. I don't know how else I would have ever heard about We by Eugene Zamiatin which sounds like a Russian 1984, but it predates the Orwell novel having been banned by the Russians in the late 20s.

Some of the highpoints of this book include autobiographical chapters that explain how Knight joined and interacted with famous editors and writers, help to found some of the genre's most famous workshops and his method of writing his own stories. His breakdowns of novels from genre classics to lost novels are brutally honest and times came off too harsh to me. While I agreed with some of his critiques there were moments I found myself shaking my head as he tore classics to shreds. Knight respected Bradbury for example as a writer but thought he was a joke as a science fiction writer. He hated novels like Matheson's I Am Legend and was not a fan of the author who I consider to be one of the best use a typewriter.

His takedown of Van Vogt's World of Null-A (The last book I read before this) is almost as much of a classic as the novel he ripped shreds. Indeed he devotes an entire chapter to the absolute homicide of Van Vogt's novel that becomes a brutally harsh takedown of tropes and themes the author used over and over. This chapter is the best example of what Knight does as a critic. He dissects plot holes, studies what works and doesn't about the characters and clearly was not impressed by the science. This kinda cracked me up because Philip K Dick always listed this novel as one of his biggest influences. Knight is really picking Van Vogt apart for many of the things Dick did constantly, like random plotting, think characters and random directions of the narrative. That said Knight enjoyed PKD's first novel the Solar Lottery as was not as hard on him as some.

"This is architectural plotting, a rare and inhumanly difficult thing; and who in blazes ever expected Dick to turn up as one of the few masters of it." (67 edition)

So Knight devotes entire chapters to Heinlein, Asimov, Bradbury, Sturgeon, Fort, Kuttner and Moore, Blish, and Dick. Histories and backgrounds on the editors are there and valuable. Essays about writing workshops, symbolism, using science defining Science Fiction, writing Science Fiction(really great essay!) and how he saw the genre going.

I loved this book. I think as I work through the two dozen titles I added to my good reads 'Want To Read' shelf I think the impact of this book will continue long after I finished it. I think this will be a valuable book that will remain on my shelf for reference. I don't think this is a must-read but for fans of the genre but for scholars or writers serious about the craft this book is pretty goddamn valuable.