SCIENCE FICTION SURVEYED

Press, Volume C, Issue 29513, 13 May 1961, Page 3

SCIENCE FICTION SURVEYED

New Maps of Hell. By Kingsley Amis. Gollancz. 156 pp. Index.

It is just possible that Mr Amis’s admirers may be perplexed by “New' Maps of Hell.” In his preface the author writes: “The text here printed bears a strong resemblance to a series of lectures delivered by me in the spring of 1959 as part of the 1958-59 programme of the Christian Gauss seminars in criticism at Princeton University.” In other words the reader has before him the exhilarating prospect of a course of lectures by the creator of “Lucky Jim.” The first paragraph opens in characteristic style: “Those Who have never seen a living Martian can scarcely imagine the strange horror of its appearance.” Mr Amis then has some exuberant moments with “king—or even emperorsize ants.” There is the occasional reference to the B.E.M. (bug-eyed monster). But “Amazing Stories,” "Fantastic Universe,” and “Astounding Science Fiction,” which provide Mr Annis with the raw material for 'his studies, are really rather trivial. Though full of fun for condescending intellectuals, they soon become monotonous. George Orwell probably realised this, when in an early number of “Hbrison” he wrote his brief and stimulating essay on “Boys' Papers”—a classic of its kind. In the second half of his course of lectures, Mr Amis discusses the more ambitious works of science fiction. He leaves short stories like “The Pond” (in w'hich “a nasty old man who spends his time stuffing frogs is got hold of by the surviving frogs and stuffed by them W’ith slime”), and gives his critical attention to larger W’orks. Some of these obviously deserve full marks for ingenuity. The works of Ray Bradbury provide a favourable example. “Farenheit 451” tells the story of Montag, the fireman, who with his colleagues rushes off “to burn somebody’s house down, one with books in it, under the regulations of the Fireman of America, established, 1790. to burn English - influenced books in the Colonies. First Fireman: Benjeman Frank-

lin.” There are at least two good dramatic strokes in “Fahrenheit 451,” the first when a creature called the Mechanical Hound. “constructed to hunt, down bookowners and other heretics looks up from its kennel in the fire station and growls at the hero; the second when Montag goes off on duty with the engine and finds that the alarm refers to his own house.”

There are numerous novels in which space time is distorted with horrifying results. In “The Xi Effect,” when this distortion takes place, “the faces of the people were undergoing some subtle alteration. This was noticeable in the irregular position of the mouth with .respect to the nose and eyes, together with an apparent thickening and bending of the jaw and forehead, such as he had once seen in patients whose bony structure had undergone prolonged softening from osteitis deformans.”

Many full-length novels deal with invaders from other worlds, or with men on Mars. “A wide muddy lake swarming with swimming things . . . strange white foliage all around the ship and incredibly huge pulpy monsters attacking and eating each other on all sides. We almost landed in the lake right on the soft edge. The mud can’t hold the ship’s weight. . . . Where are you? Answer if possible. We are sinking. Where are you?” In conclusion it is perhaps permissible to wonder what Mr Amis’s Princeton audience thought when he invited them to subscribe to “Star Science Fiction Stories,” or how they responded to his quotation from “Legacy of Terror.” “That’s right. I’m an associate professor at the university: English Lit’s my racket, but I got me a degree in entymology, too.” The professor is explaining himself to Holly, “a six-foot tall siren in abbreviated shorts and light cotton sweater.” It should be added that “New Maps of Hell” has an exhaustive and amusing index. “Drop Dead” (Simak) precedes Dunsany Lord Edward, J.M.D., and Morris William is followed by Morton. Jelly Roll.