FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE BRIGHTFOUNT DIARIES

The Brightfount Diaries by Brian W. Aldiss (1955)


The author (1925-2017) was one of the most respected and innovative writers in the science fiction field.  Not content with just one hat, Brian W. Aldiss was also a poet, essayist, artist, editor, and critic.  Aldiss was never one to sit on his laurels.  Throughout his career he kept pushing the boundaries of language and themes, often revisiting literary and genre classics and putting a new twist on them.  His "Hothouse" series imagined a future where Earth and its moon were connected by giant plants.  Report on Probability A is credited as the first science fiction "anti-novel" (and a damned good one it is).  Barefoot in the Head envisions a Europe that has been hit by a "hallucinogenic bomb" and was touted as a prime example of the British "New Wave."  The Malacia Tapestry is a dense, baroque look at an alternate Venice.  The Hellicona Trilogy is a modern classic of world building.  The Squire Quartet and the Horatio Stubbs Trilogy are sly excursions into the literary novel.  Frankenstein Unbound, Moreau's Other Island, and Dracula Unbound are riffs on the classic horror novels, just as Jocasta is a riff on the tragedies of Sophocles.  "The Saliva Tree" is a homage to H. G. Wells by way of H. P. Lovecraft.  "Supertoys Last All Summer Long" was to be adapted by Stanley Kubrick as a film; the project was then taken on by Stephen Spielberg and filmed as A.I.  Aldiss' Brothers of the Head gives us a Siamese twin rock star (stars?) who have a third dormant head that is beginning to awake.  And so on and so on...

His work as a critic and editor is just as impressive.

Aldiss won two Hugo awards, one Nebula Award, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award.  He was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.  He was awarded an OBE for his services to literature.  Aldiss co-founded the first journal of science fiction criticism and was vice-president of the international H. G. Wells Society, as well as co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.  Aldiss served as literary editor for the Oxford Mail for many years.

As for The Brightfound Diaries (you knew I would get to this sooner or later), It is based on a series of sketches about life in a fictional book store which were published in the trade magazine The Bookseller.  (Aldiss himself worked in such a bookstore from 1947 until the middle Fifties.)  The bookstore is old and rambling, constantly undergoing renovation, and is plagued by mice.  The staff cower in fear of the occasional visit from the owner's wife.  For a while, one of the wife's cousins comes in to assist the store when one of the employees had to take time off for a medical emergency; the cousin was useless on the floor and all were relieved when she began using her wiorking hours to carry on an affair with one of the managers.  One of the employees is an intelligent woman whose biting sarcasm often goes over the customers' heads.  Another is a free spirit who is apt to say or do almost anything.  And then there's the narrator.

His name is Peter and his last name may or may not be Aldiss.  He's young and has been working in the bookstore for four years.  He has a complicated love life and an even more complicated family life, especially with his eccentric Uncle Leo and Leo's equally eccentric wife.  The book is told through Peter's diary entries from late June to Christmas day -- perhaps equally divided between Peter's work life and family life.  The dairy is full of comments by and observations about the store's customers and employees.  There's the author, celebrated in his own mind, who plans "to prune Proust -- cut it by two-thirds -- knock it into proper chronological order, etc., etc."  and there's the inevitable customer who is looking for a "recent book on sex whose title he had forgotten, but the blurb said 'Will appeal alike to the specialist and the general reader'"  In the end he paid four pounds for Howard's Early English Drug Jars.  And the customer who sold a large books about birds to the store, saying, "I'm glad to get rid of it -- it's very dull."  To which he was told, "Ah, Yawnithology!"

Aldiss's gentle and warm approach, as well as his spot-on observations, soon made his sketches the most popular part of The Bookman and brought them to the attention of publisher Charles Faber, who asked Aldiss to put them into book form.  The success of The Brightfount Diaries led Faber to ask Aldiss if he had anything else and led to the publication of his first collection, Space, Time and Nathaniel.  Thus an authorial career was born and thus a bookselling career was dropped.

The Brightfount Diaries is a quiet and witty book, reminiscent of Robertson Davies' magnificent The Papers of Samuel Marchbanks.

Highly recommended.

SURGERY

Jessie went in for surgery on Friday.  They told her to be at the hospital at 6:00 am and they were finished by 4:20.  The operation did not take long but the gazillion of tests they put her through took up much of the day.  She came through with flying colors.  Still waiting on test results on whether the cancer was completely excised.  She was pretty tired when she got home but was upbeat while waiting for the expected nausea to kick in.  Her house is stocked with all sorts of comfort food.  We brought over mashed potatoes and gravy, as well as Kitty's peppermint brownies.  Walt brought over his homemade chicken noodle soup.  Amy came home with a package of Peeps.  Guess which one she ate first.  Still a long haul ahead of radiation and further chemo, but we're very optimistic.

Jessie's been documenting her journey on her blog Life is a Roller Coaster (ajdowd96.wordpress.com), where she gives frank updates on her condition.  We're very proud of her.  She's one tough cookie.

PIRATE

Pirate, our beautiful grand-dog, passed away yesterday.  She was the sweetest dog ever.  Christina and Walt got her when they were living on the Chesapeake -- fitting, because she was a Chesapeake Bay retriever.  As a puppy she was afraid to go into the Chesapeake...until she did and suddenly realized there was a reason she was a water dog.  She loved retrieving sticks (and logs!) from the Bay.  Despite her size, she was completely convinced she was a lap dog.  She was gentle and would stick her head under your arm for cuddles.  Mark and Erin grew up with her and she had a very special place in their hearts.  As I said, Pirate was the sweetest dog ever and my heart goes out to Christina and her family.

It's become common, when a pet dies, to speak of the Rainbow Bridge.  I don't think Pirate crossed the Rainbow Bridge.  I think she clamped her mighty jaws around that sucker, ripped it from the ground, and looked around for someone to bring it to, beaming with pride because she's such a good girl.

LIGHT BLOGGING

I won't be blogging much for the next few days.  Slight accident.  More than slight pain.  Five hours in the emergency room.  Doctors and technicians making fun of my feet ("Wow! Those are big feet!"  "Wow! you have extraordinarily flat feet!" "Wow! What a strange bone structure!").  Ptah!  Don't they know that big feet are a sign of high intelligence, stunning looks, and virility?

See you on the other side.

MUSIC FROM THE PAST: THE SHEIK OF ARABY

From 1922, The Regal Male Trio.  Somewhat creepy lyrics for this present day #metoo atmosphere.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofXvX5wtyY8

HEINLEIN ON ATOMIC WAR, SPACE TRAVEL, AND VARIOUS ODDS AND ENDS

Science fiction legend Robert A. Heinlein was the Guest of Honor at MidAmeriCon, the 1977 World Science Fiction Convention, held in Kansas City.

People loved Heinlein or hated him.  Perhaps, more properly, they loved his outspoken opinions or hated them. -- as you can tell by the cheers and (occasional) boos.  One thing you cannot deny, he was a powerful and popular writer who helped shape science fiction.

Give him a listen.  Noted fan and writer Wilson "Bob" Tucker performed the introduction.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoSnjYLw2A0

HYMN TIME

The Marshall Family.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91KcEQhbZc0