The Detached Retina
BY BRIAN ALDISS
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
INTRODUCTION
THANKS FOR DROWNING THE OCELOT
‘A ROBOT TENDED YOUR REMAINS …’
The Advance of the Mega-machine
A NOTE
BETWEEN PRIVY AND UNIVERSE
Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
THE IMMANENT WILL RETURNS—2
A WHOLE NEW CAN OF WORMS
SCIENCE FICTION’S MOTHER FIGURE
I
II
STURGEON: THE CRUELTY OF THE GODS
THE DOWNWARD JOURNEY Orwell’s 1984
PEEP
CULTURE
Is it Worth Losing Your Balls For?
WELLS AND THE LEOPARD LADY
Lecture delivered at the International Wells Symposium
THE ADJECTIVES OF ERICH ZANN
A Tale of Horror
JEKYLL
ONE HUMP OR TWO
Lecture given at the IAFA Conference of the Fantastic
KAFKA’S SISTER
CAMPBELL’S SOUP
SOME EARLY MEN IN THE MOON
KALIYUGA, OR UTOPIA AT A BAD TIME
Talk given at the Annual MENSA meeting in Cambridge
UTOPIA: DREAM OR PIPE DREAM?
THE ATHEIST’S TRAGEDY REVISITED
THE PALE SHADOW OF SCIENCE
Address to the British Association for the Advancement of Science
DECADENCE AND DEVELOPMENT
THE VEILED WORLD
A Lecture given to the Oxford Psychotherapy Society
A PERSONAL PARABOLA
Speech delivered at the Natwest Fundación, Madrid
About the Author
Also part of The Brian Aldiss Collection
About the Publisher
This book owes its origins to two volumes published by Serconia Press in 1985 and 1986, The Pale Shadow of Science (hereafter PSS) and … And the Lurid Glare of the Comet (ALGC). The former volume was designed for my appearance as Guest of Honour at Norwescon, Seattle, March 1985. Both were the brainchild of Jerry Kaufman of Serconia Press.
Almost all the original articles have been greatly revised, thrown out, supplemented, or at least tampered with. New articles have been added. Their provenance is as follows:
‘Thanks for Drowning the Ocelot’—as Afterword in Orbit Science Fiction Yearbook Two (1989), edited by David S. Garnett.
‘A Robot Tended Your Remains …’—new.
‘Between Privy and Universe: Aldous Huxley (1894—1963)’—expanded from an article in Nature, August 1994.
‘The Immanent Will Returns—2’—new, but based on ‘Olaf Stapledon’ in The Times Literary Supplement (1983) and the Foreword to Robert Crossley’s Olaf Stapledon: Speaking for the Future (1994).
‘A Whole New Can of Worms’ (PSS, expanded)—published in Foundation (1982).
‘Science Fiction’s Mother Figure’ (PSS, expanded)—developed from ‘Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’ in Science Fiction Writers (1981), edited by E. F. Bleiler.
‘Sturgeon: The Cruelty of the Gods’ (ALGC, expanded from ‘Sturgeon: Mercury Plus X’)—as an obituary in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine (1986).
‘The Downward Journey: Orwell’s 1984’ (PSS)—in Extrapolation (1984).
‘Peep’ (PSS, expanded)—as Introduction to James Blish’s Quincunx of Time (1983).
‘Culture: Is it Worth Losing Your Balls For? (ALGC, expanded from ‘When the Future Had to Stop’, Vogue, 1986). Plus Introduction to The Alteration (Easton Press ed., 1993).
‘Wells and the Leopard Lady’—lecture given to the International Wells Symposium (1986) and in Parrinder and Rolfe, eds., H. G. Wells Under Revision (1990).
‘The Adjectives of Erich Zann: A Tale of Horror’—new.
‘Jekyll’—new.
‘One Hump or Two’—lecture given at IAFA Conference of the Fantastic #12. Reprinted as ‘Fantasy: US versus UK’ in Damon Knight’s Monad (March 1992).
‘Kafka’s Sister’—Introduction to Brian W. Aldiss, ed., My Madness, The Selected Writings of Anna Kavan’ (1990).
‘Campbell’s Soup’—new, based on a review in SFRA Review (1993).
‘Some Early Men in the Moon’—based on ‘The Raccolta of Filipo Morghen’ in Life on the Moon in 1768 (1990).
‘Kaliyuga, or Utopia at a Bad Time’—a talk given at the annual MENSA meeting, Cambridge, August 1994. Based in part on an article appearing in Locus (1994).
‘The Atheist’s Tragedy Revisited’ (PSS)—revised.
‘The Pale Shadow of Science’ (PSS)—address to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1984.
‘Decadence and Development’—new.
‘The Veiled World’—based on a talk given to The Oxford Psychotherapy Society, 1991.
‘A Personal Parabola’—adapted from a speech delivered in Madrid, January 1994.
WARNING: These essays are written by a man who produced his first SF short story at the age of eight. Writing has brought him joy and possibly saved him from a life of crime. The unifying theme here is his belief that all literature is a criticism of life, or someone’s life. Even when that was not the intention behind it.
Among the great range of talented artists working in the SF/fantasy field, the name of Jim Christensen is particularly cherished. Not only is he