[Jan. 27, 1960] Hail Mary (Astounding's mid-life crisis)

[galacticjourney]

Maturity is both a blessing and a curse. With age comes wisdom, knowledge, and respect. But advanced years also bring narrowmindedness and physical decay.

Astounding, the eldest of the Big Three (or Four, depending on how you count them) science fiction digests, is having a bit of a mid-life crisis. It is no longer on the cutting edge of the field, and editor John Campbell knows this. At the same time, his conservative editorial policies makes turning the literary ship around a slow and possibly fruitless task.

His recent innovations include changing the name to Astounding Science Fact and Fiction and including a several-page slick non-fiction section. It's terrible. He needs an Asimov or at least a Boyd to write these articles.

With this issue, Campbell has begun the process of changing the name of the magazine to Analog, a singularly uninspiring appellation.

What Campbell has not done is broaden his stable of writers. They are not universally terrible, but they are almost always write conservatively (at least, when they write for Astounding/Analog) and there are very few woman writers or characters. The stories are usually of that dry, gimmicky variety, often suffused with a smugness I can't stand. Moreover, there is the general portrayal of aliens in a negative light, which strikes me as a sort of coded racism with which I am not comfortable.

Why do I keep reading? Well, the serial Deathworld is actually very good, and if I cancel my subscription, I won't have much else to read. I also, like many, take pleasure in watching trainwrecks. Either this caterpillar will turn into a beautiful butterfly, or it will end up a dead pupae.

Only time will tell.

I'll have a full review of this month's issue tomorrow. Stay tuned!

---

Galactic Journey is now a proud member of a constellation of interesting columns. While you're waiting for me to publish my next article, why not give one of them a read!







(Confused? Click here for an explanation as to what's really going on)

Comments

[laurose8]

Like you, crossing my antennae.

[galacticjourney]

Maybe Campbell will pass the torch to a new editor.

[laurose8]

That's an idea, if he hasn't invested too much of himself into it. Though, he's almost certain to choose someone like-minded. We might even get someone who copies all his bad points, and doesn't have his good ones. (I'm working on my pessimism honours. I don't think I'm boasting to say I'm a shoo-in.)

[galacticjourney]

It's important to have a goal in life...

[stardreamer]

I don't see Campbell's attitude as racism per se. It's more a case of "Earth-humans are SPECIAL" -- even when we seem to be inferior to the aliens, there will turn out to be something about us that the aliens don't have or can't deal with, which saves the day. I suspect that this attitude is religiously based at root.

Of course, that doesn't mean that none of his writers are out-and-out racist, and some of that may slip by Campbell more easily than it would a less conservative editor.

[galacticjourney]

How do you see the attitude as religious at its core?

[stardreamer]

It's an extension of the "Man was made in God's image" dogma. Admittedly, the theology has a hole in it that you could drive a tanker truck through, depending as it does on the unexpressed assumption that only Earth-humans were so made -- but IME the people who are drawn to this type of philosophy are also unlikely to examine it too closely.

Analog

[victoria_silverwolf]

Is there any explanation of why the rather obscure and technical term "Analog" is the new title of the magazine? It makes me wonder if the stories are going to be even more science and technology oriented than before.

Re: Analog

[galacticjourney]

Campbell wrote an odd defense of the choice saying that the stories in his magazine are an "analog" for the headlines of tomorrow.

Your guess is as good as mine.

I think it's more of an attempt to make the magazine more acceptable, sort of how Gold took the "science fiction" off of Galaxy for a while, but now it's back. I don't think F&SF was ever hurt much by its lurid name.

Maybe Analog will try to go all slick. Who knows!