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jwharris28
Posted 2015-03-02 8:46 AM (#9797 - in reply to #9796)
Subject: Re: The Definitive 1950s Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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DrNefario - 2015-03-02 7:32 AM

I finished City yesterday. It was OK, but wouldn't really have been my pick as a Masterwork. I think Simak's stories hold up for the same reason that Bradbury's do: because of their emotional depth, which still resonates even when the science is dated, but City has too many of the flaws of a fix-up to really work for me. I've never really been able to love collections like I do novels. The stories are all related, here, even if they occasionally look like they might not be, but it still has the feel of a collection, to me, and on top of that I just didn't really buy some of the ideas.


I often wonder if the age of when you first reading a classic science fiction novel is important. Yes, City is just a collection of stories fixed up to "seem" like a novel, but its a clever way to tie the stories together. I first read City as a kid, and I think its enchantment power is more potent then. When I reread it now, it has nostalgia potency. On the other hand, the older the book gets, I imagine the more dated it will seem, which is an anti-nostalgic effect.

Yet, the idea that humans have moved on and the Earth is populated with intelligent dogs and robots, is top level sense of wonder image. I wonder if a modern writer could still turn that idea into a novel and make it work?

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