ENGLAND—A.D. 1950
A Shocker That Shocks and Throws Some Shrewdly Aimed Mud at Mankind For Good Measure
CAN recall having read only two recent novels of the ‘"‘scientific fantasy" class that repay the effort of wading through masses of improbabilitties. The first was Aldous Huxley’s magntficen' satire "Brave New World," and the second Andrew Marvell’s magnifcent shocker, "Minimum Man." But before vou are misled by enthusiasm I must admit Lf tried out "Minimum Man" on a girl who norm ally enjoys shockers, and she said: "4 didn’t like it. It was too creepy. Bute anyway, I learned the meaning of the word ‘asexual’ !" Which is as good a comment as auy Readers who are fond of expurgatec murders and pretty Joye stories are hereby warned off. "Minimum Man" should be read only by people unlikely to get nightmares from their reading: und by people who have no rooted objection to having unplewsantly true remarks made about the’ stupidity of human nature and human institutions. All in all, the book is about the most skilful blend of sensationalism and slick cynicism I have yet come across, First Novel >? The conservative Golanez dustcover tells us nothing about Author Marvell, | find it hard to believe it ix a first novel, but if so, Author Marvell can count on 10 per cent, of my S/6G when he publishes his next book. "Minimum Man" is told with the adroit literary worthiness of a Buchan aud the speed and clarity of a "Sapper." The story is set in the year 1950, England has suffered a Fascist revolution and is rotting merrily along uncer the thumb of Dictator Jellaby, an ipglicised version of ITfitler-a_ cross between "Jix.’ Oswald Mosley, and Hore-Belisha, Shortly after the revolution a Flee: Street journalist named Swan stumbles hy aceident on traces of a colony of biological freaks in Wales--foot-high. hairy human beings who, in the pro cess of deviating from their species. have inherited all that is useful of buman intelligence (plus a few refinements such as telepathic communication and a 10-week gestation period), and have shed all traces of inherited prejudice and handicapping emotions. Swan follows their fortunes to the end. This, you say, all sounds highly improbable, Apparently, after all, ‘‘Mini-
mum Man" is just another of "those stories... .° £ assure you you're wrong. Mr. Marvell makes it all seem higkly possible-almost, in fact, probable. Few of his readers will be bio logists enough to poke fingers throug! the reasoning of the story. And then? Minimum Man proceeds to put inte use all his advantages. One is at first repelled by his freakishness, terrified by his amorality. Then, with consummate skill, the author proceeds. to demonstrate the superiority of this new species. Minimum Man ig jus? about as far ahead of Maximum Man as Maximum Man was ahead of the greater anthropoids. You end up bs admiring Minimum Man wholeheartedly and saying unhappily. to yourself that it is time these bumbling, irrational, decadent humans were ont of the way. A nice piece of work, that, Mr. Marvell! 1 did not suspect you would eyer induce a spark of sympathy for your strange little creations, hut you end up hy making everyone wholeheartedly giad of Jellaby’s downfall and whole: heartedly glad that Minimum Man won his fight for survival. Incidentally, this fantastic, bloodthirsty and almost too-bighly-exciting story gets rid of some shrewd satire on the side. I refuse to believe that satire was the mainspring of the book _ hecause, for all the fact that man’s failings are nicely stated, there is little originality and less philosophical depth in Mr. Marvell’s observations. There is just enough second-hand philosophy in the book to make it palatable for educated readers. Here, however, is a sood sample of the slick whip-cracking that will leaven interest in a tense and dramatically knit tale. Mankind Tricked Sars Swan, discussing humanity with a Minimnm Woman:--"Nature postulated in human heings a profound distaste for reproducing themselves. Nature seems to have said at the beginning: these humans will not find life so well worth living that they will wish to perpetuate it. So they must be trapped by subtle devices into begetting children, They musi be bribed with special pleasure mechanisms in the nerves, the ordinary reasoning processes must he atrophied, their brains must be twisted and pulped and mashed into submission. The process of
reproduction is divorced of all reason and is to a man looking at it objectively, a distasteful fraud of the most blatant kind." And I do appreciate Mr. Marvell’s treatment of the Popular Press. I hazard the guess he is himself a journalist. Surely no one but a journalist could be quite so accurate with mud. (Continued on next page.}
Yes, "Minimum Man" is a book you should enjoy, if you ean gtand hairraising creepiness and a rather acid, but nonetheless good joke, on yourself, "Minimum Man-or Time to Begone." by Andrew Marvell (Gollancz, London). Our copy from the publishers.
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Radio Record, 3 June 1938, Page 29
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824ENGLAND—A.D. 1950 Radio Record, 3 June 1938, Page 29
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