American Science Fiction: Four Classic Novels 1968–1969 (Library of America), edited by Gary K. Wolfe

These “classics” are mediocre at best

I’ve always been a big fan of the Library of America. Mostly I’m familiar with their volumes of classic literature in the black and white dustjackets. When it comes to that sphere of publishing, they put together the best-edited and best-produced books in the business. When I saw that this volume on American Science Fiction was being offered as a Kindle Daily Deal, I snatched it up, expecting that it would reflect the smart editorial choices and general excellence I’ve come to expect from the Library of America. American Science Fiction: Four Classic Novels 1968–1969, however, proved to be a major disappointment. Although I enjoy reading vintage science fiction from this era, these selections did not impress me at all. Two of the books were terrible, and two were mediocre at best. The four authors featured are all well-respected in the genre, and these books have maybe won Nebula or Hugo Awards, but I don’t always agree with the arbiters of taste who hand out such accolades. If these four books are indeed regarded as “classics” of the genre, then they are vastly overrated.

Past Master is the debut novel by R. A. Lafferty. In the 26th century, an Earth colony on a far-off planet is facing unrest in their utopian community, so they reach back in time to abduct Sir Thomas More, author of the original Utopia, to rescue their government. The book is filled with bad ideas, nonsensical language, meaningless dialog, and silly attempts at humor that aren’t funny. Even worse is Picnic on Paradise by Joanna Russ. This novel is ostensibly a wilderness adventure, devoid of adventure, in which Alyx of Tyre (a recurring character for Russ) leads a band of frequently weeping idiots on a pointless trek through the mountainous terrain of a planet ironically named Paradise. Like Lafferty, Russ takes so many liberties with the English language that her prose reads like fruitless nonsense.

The other two selections in the volume fare better by at least being readable. Like the two aforementioned, both take place in a distant future after mankind has populated many worlds. Samuel R. Delany’s novel Nova has a decent story about interstellar voyagers aiming to fly through a star as it goes nova. It just gets too bogged down in an overly melodramatic space opera and a bunch of tangential digressions about Delany’s pet interests (tarot cards, for example) that in no way contribute to the main plot of the narrative. The best novel in the collection, and that’s not saying much, is Jack Vance’s Emphyrio. Man’s interstellar colonies are governed by a sort of medieval feudalism, which Vance uses to advance his libertarian theories of economics. Inspired by the legend of a Christ-like martyr named Emphyrio, a young hero decides to resist the ruling empire. Unlike the other showings in this collection, Vance is at least a good craftsman of the English language and a thoughtful storyteller who can write science fiction that doesn’t defy logic.

The Library of America has published at least three other volumes in this series of American Science Fiction collections, all edited by Gary K. Wolfe. I am familiar with a few of the novels included in those other volumes, such as the excellent Way Station by Clifford D. Simak in the 1960–1966 collection. After being disappointed by Wolfe’s selections in this 1968–1969 volume, however, I don’t have confidence that another volume of science fiction from the LOA would be worth my money or time.

Novels in this collection (all previously reviewed at Old Books by Dead Guys)

Past Master by R. A. Lafferty 

Picnic on Paradise by Joanna Russ 

Nova by Samuel R. Delany 

Emphyrio by Jack Vance

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Emphyrio by Jack Vance

Another Christ-like slayer of oligarchies

Jack Vance’s science fiction novel Emphyrio was first published in the June 1969 issue of Fantastic Science Fiction and released in book form later that same year. The story takes place in the distant future, after mankind has mastered interstellar travel and populated many worlds. The teenaged protagonist Ghyl Tarvoke lives in the city of Ambroy in the country of Fortinone on the planet Halma. Despite the technology for space travel, the civilization on Halma is rather medieval in nature, calling to mind the worlds of Game of Thrones or The Witcher, but without the magic or monsters. The lives of Ambroy’s citizens are determined largely by their affiliation to one of numerous trade guilds. The planet is renowned for its export of handicrafts, so much so that the wealthy lords who govern the world have outlawed all forms of mechanical duplication, such as printing and photography. Ghyl belongs to the woodcarvers’ guild and works as an apprentice to his father, Amiante, an expert in the art of fine carving.

As a young boy, Ghyl learns of a folk legend about a rebellious, Christ-like figure named Emphyrio. The story becomes somewhat of an obsession for Ghyl, and he determines to investigate the historical fact behind the legend. Who was this great people’s hero, and what was the cause of his martyrdom? As Ghyl grows into manhood, he begins to question the rigid caste structure of Halman society and the lords’ domineering trade regulations. He becomes an entrepreneurial rebel himself, emulating the inspirational figure of Emphyrio. The novel is filled with so much talk of trade regulations, taxes, and tariffs that I’m sure there’s an economic message here. Quite frankly, I didn’t care enough to pin it down, but the book seems to push a libertarian message. For the most part, however, Emphyrio primarily reads as another young-hero-versus-the-empire story that is overly familiar from Dune, Star Wars, and many other science fiction works. One interesting bit of trivia is that Vance actually uses the phrase “Star Wars” in this book published eight years before the release of the popular film by that name.

Emphyrio is included in the Library of America’s volume American Science Fiction: Four Classic Novels 1968–1969. It is easily the best of the four novels in that volume, but to be honest, none of the four selections are particularly impressive. Ghyl’s coming-of-age journey is engaging enough. He encounters his first love, commits his first juvenile delinquencies, and realizes his father isn’t perfect. The reader, however, never becomes as invested in the vaguely biblical legend of Emphyrio to the extent that Ghyl does, so whenever the story follows that thread it feels like a distraction from the more interesting trajectory of Ghyl’s life.

As is common in science fiction novels, Vance peppers the text of Emphyrio with many fictional words and place names. That can make for a difficult read at times, but to his credit Vance writes real sentences with recognizable syntax, which is more than can be said for a lot of the more ostentatiously avant garde sci-fi writers of this period, whose works suffer from self-indulgent attempts at poetic prose. I wish that Vance had given Emphyrio a better ending, however, one that would bring us around full circle to the book’s flash-forward prelude. Overall, Emphyrio is a solid sci-fi novel for its era, but it lacks the excitement and psychological depth necessary to make it stand out as a memorable entry in the genre. It probably influenced later works more entertaining than itself.

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