The Artificial Man And Other Stories by Clare Winger Harris (book review).
As I recently noted in another review, Clare Winger Harris (1891-1968) was the first female science fiction author to sell stories under her real name, having secured third place in an SF competition. Brad Ricca’s introduction reveals that Harris’s writing career was primarily concentrated within a three-year period before she dedicated herself to raising her three children.
During this time, she penned one novel and numerous stories, with the majority of the latter included in this collection, ‘The Artificial Man And Other Stories’. Observing her book-filled house later in life suggests she was an avid reader. Many of the twelve stories within this book are of novelette length. Surprisingly, there’s no publication information provided for these stories, necessitating online research to obtain these details.
‘The Artificial Man’, the titular story, is not about an android but a cyborg. Since the story was written in 1929, the term ‘cyborg’ had not yet been coined. While the dialogue might seem stilted, one must consider its age—nearly a century old. However, Harris effectively captures the descent into madness of the protagonist, George Gregory. After a series of accidents, Gregory undergoes various limb replacements, leading to the disintegration of his engagement and an obsession with body modification.
‘The Fifth Dimension’ (1928) introduces unique, exploratory ideas about the universe’s cycles through character interpretation, bypassing the conventional fourth dimension of time travel. It’s evident that Harris was grappling with the challenge of articulating these novel concepts in a way that would be accessible to readers.
While I won’t delve into each story, it’s worth mentioning that Harris’s work, such as ‘A Runaway World’ (1926), can be strikingly dramatic. In this tale, Mars, Earth, and the Moon are plucked from their orbits and relocated to another star system, a concept based on the scientific understanding of the 1920s. Although some details are glossed over, the narrative does not neglect the ensuing public panic and the catastrophic drop in temperatures, albeit briefly.
A recurring theme in this anthology, as seen in ‘The Passing Of A Kingdom’ (no date), is the existential battle between plants and insects, culminating in the annihilation of both. Despite the impossibility of this scenario from our current understanding, Harris does not elaborate on humanity’s sustenance during this 2000-year timeframe. Her use of various diaries as a narrative device paints a fascinating picture of life on Venus, depicted as insect-based.
Harris explores a variety of SF tropes, as evidenced in ‘The Diabolical Drug’ (1929). In this unusual time-travel story, Edgar Hamilton administers a drug to his girlfriend, Ellen Gordon, to synchronize their aging processes. However, the drug dramatically slows Ellen’s movements, making the surrounding world appear accelerated to her. When Ellen contracts measles, Hamilton must hasten his own metabolism to administer the antidote, though things don’t proceed as planned. Harris demonstrates thoughtful consideration of cause and effect in her incorporation of science into fiction.
‘Baby On Neptune’ (1929) is particularly eye-opening. At a time when life on other planets was a popular assumption, Harris envisioned a history of radio waves extending beyond our century, leading to the discovery of interplanetary communication and eventual exploration of Venus and Neptune. Harris’s depiction of aliens is refreshingly non-humanoid, setting her work apart from that of her contemporaries and marking it as true SF.
‘The Ape Cycle’ (1930) predated other works that imagined intelligent apes taking over Earth, challenging the popular notion that Pierre Boulle was the pioneer of this concept. The narrative spans generations, depicting the evolution from slavery to rebellion, highlighting the inevitability of change and subversion across species.
‘The Vibrometer’ (no date), the collection’s final story, explores dimensional travel. The narrative immediately immerses the reader as a physics teacher invites three students to observe his experiment after lunch. The story’s structure and content suggest it was tailored for a youthful audience of its time.
Considering the collection as a whole, it’s intriguing to speculate how the landscape for women SF writers might have evolved had Harris continued writing. Available information indicates that her successors in the following decade rarely acknowledged or perhaps were unaware of her work. Harris’s withdrawal from writing to focus on family might have been misconstrued as a consequence of her gender rather than a personal choice.
The closing mini-article offers a brief overview of a dozen SF plots from the 1920s perspective, raising curiosity about what Harris might have conceptualized with today’s scientific knowledge.
Upon reviewing the plots, there may be a sense of familiarity, as if these stories have been told before. However, it’s doubtful that many were written prior to Harris’s work. This collection reveals a writer who was not only ahead of her time but also one who refined her craft, evidenced by the noticeable improvement in dialogue following the initial story. ‘The Artificial Man And Other Stories’ is a revelatory read.
GF Willmetts
October 2023
(pub: Belt Publishing, 2019. 356 page small enlarged paperback. Price: ISBN: 978-1-948742-32-0)
check out website: www.beltpublishing.com
