cr~D
he dreams and nightmares of
fantasy, science fiction and occult writers
and enthusiasts are being played out in the
movie houses of America. Superman, The
Body Snatchers, Lord of the Rings, Star
Wars, Close Encounters, The Last Wave,
Watership Down, Omens I and II Never
before has so much "unreality” been
committed to film. And more is coming — A
Superman sequel is 70% in the can and a
Star Trek movie due out for next Christmas.
A few years ago all my college buddy
Stuart wanted to do was watch science
fiction and fantasy movies, read comic
books, and write scenarios for comic books
he hoped would one day be published.
Stuart’s father, a practical man, scoffed at
what he regarded as Stuart’s childish
ambitions and compelled him to go to law
school. “You will never make a living at
writing comic book trash," the old man said.
I lost touch with Stuart — last I heard he
was about to finish law school. But now
comic book writers are amassing fortunes
and lawyers collecting unemployment. I
"Science fiction is the only fiction that's trying to cope with the problems that we
have on this earth today... I think general fiction is more escapism in that regard
than science fiction."
sometimes wonder if Stuart’s old man isn't
saying, “Stuart, what ever prompted you to
give up writing comic book scripts? There’s
real money in it these days. Why don't you
try another one?”
VZJandalfs Den, a fantasy and sci/fi
book and paraphenalia store in the Atrium,
has been in business for a little over two
years. Profits have been rising steadily.
Why all this interest in sci/fi and fantasy? Is
this a movement to be taken seriously? Or
is it just a childish fad?
Kate Wilhelm, award winning science
fiction writer and wife of the legendary
science fiction writer/editor, Damon Knight,
lives in Eugene. Her novel, Where Late the
Sweet Birds Sang, won a Hugo award for
best sci/fi novel of 1975 and The Planners,
won a Nebula Award for best short story of
1968. She is the second woman to win a
Hugo. Each summer she helps conduct a
writing workshop at Michigan State.
Wilhelm’s ideas on the growth of science
fiction/fantasy mirror the grassroot as well
as the professional viewpoint.
H&N: Why are sci/fi and fantasy themes so
prevalent in the mass media today?
KW: (Science fiction) is being taught cd the
university and the high school level today.
Even elementary readers have science
fiction. And that's all new, that wasn't done
until the past ten years.
me of the things is that the kids who
were reading science fiction twenty years
ago are teaching now. They liked it, they still
like it, and the idea that it was being put
down by academics was rather galling to
them. Now they're academics and they're
gonna teach it. And they find social values,
literary values in it, things that no one ever
saw before.
H&N: The priorities of science fiction and
standard fiction have to be different, don’t
they?
KW: You see, this I deny absolutely as
would almost any...
H&N: But the future is an added
ingredient...
KW: Well, if you write a novel about the
mining towns of West Virginia that novel
has an added ingredient of West Virginia,
ecology, and the mines, an ingredient
which is totally foreign to most people .
H&N: But when compared to the
mainstream best-sellers ...
KW: Look at the books that made a lot of
money 25 years ago and you won't
recognize names or titles...
Some of the science fiction books from
the year one are still being read. Jules
Verne and Wells have never gone out.
Some of the earliest Hei nliens are still being
read by each new generation that comes
along.
H&N: Which science fiction writers
influenced you?
KW: When I started reading science fiction
it was for about a solid two year period in the
50s. I was old, I was in my twenties, a
housewife. I had read everything the library
had. I wasn’t a writer yet.
I had always liked reading philosophy
and the idea of writing fiction using the
ideas I had stewed about from philosophy
was very intriguing to me. And I read
everybody without any sense of criticalness
at all.
Z_r-vAfter that two year period I became
extremely critical and when I began
re-reading some of the same things, I
couldn't... I found they were badly written.
Some of them still held up, but for the most
part I was disappointed. Now the people I
like to read are Tom Dish, Ursula LeGuin.
and Gene Wolfe.
H&N: What's the trend in sci/fi and fantasy
now?
KW: More and more Supermen...
Battlestar Galactica, and Conan. For five
years sword-and-sorcery has been pretty
big, but I don't think of that as science
fiction.
H&N: Why do you think people liked Star
Wars, for the effects?
KW: Oh sure. It was the visualization of
comic books the kids had read.
H&N: Did you see Superman?
KW: Yeah.
H&N: Same thing?
KW: More so... the things you've talked
about so far, Superman and Star Wars,
they’re mindless ... I could never get into
comic books.
H&N: Do you think then that the need to
reach out for other worlds through fiction, to
escape, is unhealthy?
KW: I don't think it's unhealthy. I do think
that if you become so immersed in anything
that you can no longer cope with reality it's
unhealthy. But that point is far off for most of
these people.
Some people to read only science fiction
or only fantasy or mysteries and I think
that's unfortunate ... there's a lot of
excitement to be had in reading, but not for
those people who are so limited
Uoung people need heroes. They
need to be able to look up to somebody but I
don’t think it lasts. When I was very young I
read Tarzan. My brothers were reading
Tarzan and I read Tarzan too. Tarzan was
the golden "robot” who swings through the
trees and that's all there was to it for Tarzan.
But he stood for so much more than that
psychologically for young people, he gave
them a chance at vicariously experiencing
all sorts of adventures ...
There is a tremendous need for fantasy.
Through fantasy people can work out so
many psychological problems of growing
up, adjusting to the world, accepting
themselves...
H&N: When I was a teenager I read science
fiction exclusively ...
KW: A lot of people do. And if they don’t quit
doing that, then I think they have stayed
their growth of maturity. Emotionally they
become frozen.
Let me just say this about fantasy and
realism in fiction, because I’m afraid a lot of
people are afraid their children will be
distorted if they just read fantasy
People are afraid their children won’t
become mature, they won’t accept
responsibility and behave in a grown-up
way, if they don’t read realistic fiction. And
the realistic fiction is. How to cope with the
younger sister who is prettier than you are, ”
or, "How to cope with an older brother who
is making more money than you are
although you're only fourteen and he's
nineteen and has a job.” This is realism.
People have all kinds of faults and all
kinds of virtues. And in Superman, Tarzan,
it’s very clearly snown that those characters
are completely virtuous. They represent the
virtuous side of any person. The villian is a
true villian. And this allows a growing mind
to accept virtue and villiany and see them
for what they are.
In realistic fiction when you mix the two
together it’s much harder for the developing
mind to accept a good person can be evil,
too.
Later on they should read everything. In
fantasy and science fiction you gravitate
away from the mindless adventure to things
that have more meaning.
H&N: In Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
you wrote about an ecological disaster. Do
you believe that this is going to occur?
KW: I don't believe that what I wrote is going
to happen, although I do think we are
headed for some form of ecological
breakdown. I was using this simply as a
speculative device to let me explore people
in different situations. And I think this is
what most people writing science fiction do.
Science fiction is the only fiction
that’s trying to cope with the problems that
we have on this earth today. I don’t think
most fiction is anywhere near it. I think
general fiction is more escapism in that
regard than science fiction. Who else is
looking at questions like, “What if they do
begin cloning?”
There are so few forums that present the
reality behind so many of the changes in
technology. We’re just presented with a
technology and there are so few forums that
tell us what this technology means, these
are the implications.
H&N: H.G. Wells thought pure science was
“The Answer” to our problems. Do you
thirk the field of sci fi is behind one answer
now?
KW: I think the big trend is away from
science and technology. Superman
certainly was away from science and
technology. Star Wars was.
H&N: Even though Star Wars had those
robots?
KW: Oh, absolutely, because what saved
the day in Star Wars was not technology, or
science, or robots, it was The Force, which
was mystical. Most people are disillusioned
by science and technology. I am not writing
off science, but I think science has been
allowed to run wild ...
I don't think this whole generation of
scientists has had any ethical or moral
training to speak of and yet they are allowed
to work with DNA, RNA, they’re allowed to
work with all kinds of chemical bacterial
warfare agents. Who puts the lid on it?...
Somebody has to take the
responsibility to tell the scientists no, you
can t research this area, because we don’t
know what the implications mean. Some
people say that’s anti-scientist because
pure research never did any harm — “it isn’t
the gun, it’s the person who kills” kind of
idea — and I say nonsense. We do have to
have somebody say no, and I don't know
who it is. One start, a very small start, was
done in Great Britain when the scientists
themselves established a body to make
rules and regulations about DNA research.
Because no one seems to have the power
to do it, (put the lid on research) the
population at large has this general feeling
that they're going to turn their backs on pure
science and have The Force save us, have
the aliens save us, as in Close Encounters.
H&N: You’ve said in the course of this
interview that people are not willing now to
give up what they have. Do you think this
attitude has anything to do with the revival
of science fiction?
KW: A lot of idealistic people have come
along in the past ten years ... Some of
these people have become so cynical
because they so desperately wanted to see
changes happen that their only recourse
seemed to be cynicism.
But a lot of them are still very idealistic.
I
They’re still hopeful that their activities and
their longings will bring about change and
they're working for it.
These (are the people who) are reading
science fiction ... they’re examining
possibilities.
Story by William Kogut
Photos by Erich Boekelheide and Steve
Dykes
The cover photograph was reprinted
from “Beauty and the Beast,” copyright
1978 by Chris Achilleos.
1
i 9*9.
Science fiction and fantasy paraphernalis - games, books and movies - has
multiplied like clones in recent years. And who can save us from the invasion? After
all, The Force is on their side.
*(
THE
MEAN CftEEN
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close to the Recreation Center
687-1347
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Downtown
484-1200
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Across from Max's
485-4422
ME,
TAKE ANOTHER EXAM?
ARE YOU CRAZY?!?
Q. The Navy Officer Qualification Test (NOOT) is a piece of cake, right?
A. Not necessarily.
If you’re majoring in engineering or another technical area we would expect you to
do better on the test than an Inner Mongolian Cultural Arts major, but you won't
hear us telling anyone that the test is easy. The NOQT is an aptitude exam dealing
with number and letter comparison, instrument interpretation, word analogy,
practical judgement, mathematical reasoning, and mechanical comprehension
involving gears, levers, pulleys, fluids, etc. For those interested in an aviation
program there is an extra section dealing with aircraft orientation.
The Navy Officer Information Team will be administrating the exam Monday,
Tuesday, and Wednesday. Jan 22 - 24, 1979; 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. - see the
representative in Erb Memorial Union. Tests will be scored immediately and an
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want to consider. Taking the exam in no way obligates you to the Navy, but it just
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