"Philip Jose Farmer - 1952-1964" - читать интересную книгу автора (Farmer Phillip Jose)

and often a not very long delayed one, at that.

Some science-fiction books have endured, remaining available in hardcover form for years, even
decades, and appearing in repeated paperback reincarnations. We all know which these are because, by
enduring, they have come to be read by millions, including you and me.

It is, of course, easy to argue that the test of time and popularity has succeeded in separating the gold
from the dross, and that we have with us all the science-fiction books that have deserved to endure.

That, however, is too easy a dismissal. It is an interesting and convenient theory, but the world of human
affairs is far too complex to fit into theories, especially convenient ones. It sometimes takes time to
recognize quality, and the time required is sometimes longer than the visible existence of a particular
book. That the quality of a book is not recognizable at once need not be a sign of deficiency, but rather a
sign of subtlety. It is not being particularly paradoxical to point out that a book may be, in some cases,
too good to be immediately popular. And then, thanks to the mechanics of literary ephemerality,
realization of the fact may come too late.

Or must it?

Suppose there are dedicated and thoughtful writers and scholars like George Zebrowski and Martin H.
Greenberg, who have been reading science fiction intensively, and with educated taste, for decades. And
suppose there is a publisher such as Crown Publishers, Inc. which is interested in providing a second
chance for quality science fiction which was undervalued the first time round.

In that case we end up with Crowns Classics of Modern Science Fiction in which the lost is retrieved,
the unjustly forgotten is remembered, and the undervalued is resurrected. And you are holding a sample
in your hand.

Naturally, the revival of these classics will benefit the publisher, the editors, and the writers, but that is
almost by the way. The real beneficiaries will be the readers, among whom the older are likely to taste
again delicacies they had all but forgotten, while the younger will encounter delights of whose existence
they were unaware.

ReadтАФ

And enjoy.

Introduction

by Martin H. Greenberg

un/con/ven/tion/al. Not adhering to convention con/ven/tion. General usage or custom

Philip Jose Farmer certainly did not and does not adhere to the thematic and stylistic conventions of
science fiction; in fact, he was personally responsible for changing several of the most important and
long-lasting conventions in the field. Science fiction had ignored one of the most important of all human
concernsтАФsexualityтАФpartly because pulp science fictions audience was considered to be adolescent
boys (a strange reason on the face of it), and partly because the men who controlled the field didnтАЩt think
the readership wanted strong doses of it mixed in with the adventure and the technology.