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A review by johnayliff
Dangerous Visions by Harlan Ellison
5.0
The 2012 Gollancz SF Masterworks edition of Dangerous Visions includes no fewer than six pieces of front-matter: an introduction to the new edition by Adam Roberts; a foreword by Michael Moorcock and an introduction by Harlan Ellison from 2002; and the original 1967 front-matter, two forewords by Isaac Asimov and an introduction by Ellison. Seeing these on the contents page, one gets the impression that this is not a mere short story collection but a historical document, to be published and re-published and to acquire new strata of introductions each time.
This impression speaks to the success of Ellison's original mission: to create not just a book, but "a revolution." Today, the book reads like a primer in New Wave SF. Read this, and if you like an author's story, go on to seek out their novels...
Of the pieces of front-matter, the best is the first of Asimov's two forewords, 'The Second Revolution'. In it he briefly sets out the history of SF: the Cambellian Golden Age was a revolution that displaced the raygun adventures and scientific monologues of the earlier pulps, but "all Golden Ages contain the seeds of their own destruction;" the first revolution had run its course, and the way was open for a second revolution to further develop the genre. Asimov places himself firmly in the camp of Golden Age writers unable to make the transition to the new age, and the foreword is sympathetic to both what has come before and what will come after. In contrast, Ellison's own introduction covers the same ground but in a more bombastic and loaded manner, and sometimes shows contempt for SF history before his own movement.
In addition to the front-matter of the volume as a whole, each of the 33 stories has an introduction by Harlan Ellison and an afterword by the story's author. The presence of these introductions and afterwords enhance the feeling that this book wants to be seen as important, with stories so dangerous that they must be separated from one another as if by cotton wool. The introductions sometimes contain interesting biographical information, but mostly consist of grandiose anecdotes about how Ellison knows the author and what he thinks of them. The afterwords mostly feel superfluous.
The stories themselves, while not as dangerous today as they would have been in 1967, still range from the good to the excellent. My particular favourites were Philip K. Dick's reality-bending conspiracy story, 'Faith of our Fathers'; John T. Sladek's story of soul-destroyingly benevolent computer caretakers, 'The Happy Breed'; and especially Samuel R. Delaney's poignant tale of a futuristic sexual fetish in 'Aye, And Gomorrah...'. Despite the front-matter, the book is well worth reading both as a historical artefact and as a collection of great stories.
This impression speaks to the success of Ellison's original mission: to create not just a book, but "a revolution." Today, the book reads like a primer in New Wave SF. Read this, and if you like an author's story, go on to seek out their novels...
Of the pieces of front-matter, the best is the first of Asimov's two forewords, 'The Second Revolution'. In it he briefly sets out the history of SF: the Cambellian Golden Age was a revolution that displaced the raygun adventures and scientific monologues of the earlier pulps, but "all Golden Ages contain the seeds of their own destruction;" the first revolution had run its course, and the way was open for a second revolution to further develop the genre. Asimov places himself firmly in the camp of Golden Age writers unable to make the transition to the new age, and the foreword is sympathetic to both what has come before and what will come after. In contrast, Ellison's own introduction covers the same ground but in a more bombastic and loaded manner, and sometimes shows contempt for SF history before his own movement.
In addition to the front-matter of the volume as a whole, each of the 33 stories has an introduction by Harlan Ellison and an afterword by the story's author. The presence of these introductions and afterwords enhance the feeling that this book wants to be seen as important, with stories so dangerous that they must be separated from one another as if by cotton wool. The introductions sometimes contain interesting biographical information, but mostly consist of grandiose anecdotes about how Ellison knows the author and what he thinks of them. The afterwords mostly feel superfluous.
The stories themselves, while not as dangerous today as they would have been in 1967, still range from the good to the excellent. My particular favourites were Philip K. Dick's reality-bending conspiracy story, 'Faith of our Fathers'; John T. Sladek's story of soul-destroyingly benevolent computer caretakers, 'The Happy Breed'; and especially Samuel R. Delaney's poignant tale of a futuristic sexual fetish in 'Aye, And Gomorrah...'. Despite the front-matter, the book is well worth reading both as a historical artefact and as a collection of great stories.