- Paperback: 300 pages
- Publisher: Between the Lines (April 19 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1896357571
- ISBN-13: 978-1896357577
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 18.8 x 2.1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 549 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #457,499 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
Gusts of flavor lift from the pages of Better to Have Loved. -- John Clute, Scifi.com, May 20, 2002
Judith Merril was one of the top 10 greatest shit-disturbers of the 20th century, and as evidence I offer this remarkable book. -- Spider Robinson, Globe and Mail, May 18, 2002
Judith Merril was one of the top 10 greatest shit-disturbers of the 20th century, and as evidence I offer this remarkable book. -- Spider Robinson, Globe and Mail, May 18, 2002
Book Description
Judith Merril was a pioneer of twentieth-century science fiction, a prolific author, and editor. She was also a passionate social and political activist. In fact, her life was a constant adventure within the alternative and experimental worlds of science fiction, left politics, and Canadian literature. Better to Have Loved is illustrated with original art works, covers from classic science fiction magazines, period illustrations, and striking photography.
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
a mere shadow on the hearth
Sep 23 2002
Format:Paperback
Perhaps if Judith Merril had lived to complete her memoirs, they could have rivalled Isaac Asimov's In Memory Yet Green and In Joy Still Felt. However, we will never know; she died with her life's chronicle barely begun, leaving grand-daughter Emily to salvage this book from her notes. The result is a sump of anecdotes and letters, giving a tantalising glimpse of this prominent female member of the early science fiction writing community.
Although Merril takes an early pop at sanitised SF autobiographies (presumably referring to ex-husband Fred Pohl's The Way the Future Was), editor Emily openly admits to cutting some of her juicier revelations; yesterday's ex-husbands are still today's cherished grandfathers. Instead, she tips reams of cliquey, fannish correspondence into the text, while neglecting all but the briefest glimpse of the inner workings of Merril's mind as an author or editor.
I was open to the possibility that Merril was an influential SF author, or even, like Gardner Dozois, a talented writer who sacrificed her own career to help others. It was this possibility that led me to buy this book, since Merril was conspicuous in her absence from Fred Pohl's own memoirs, and I suspected something untoward was going on. However, in a book that seems to spend more time singing the praises of Toronto as a tourist destination, there is only one point at which the text devotes any significant amount of space to Merril's craft, and that only succeeds in making her look like a naïve buffoon. Her muddled musings on Japanese linguistics left me aghast, as did the realisation that this darling of the SF world had taken several months to stumble upon the realisation that a good translator should speak both the source and target language. In layman's terms, this is akin to discovering that the words you're reading are best approached from left to right.
Emily Pohl-Weary's rescue job appears to have been a heroic effort, but ultimately self-defeating. I can only assume that there was so little of the true Merril left to work with, that the best Emily could hope for was a basic chronology of her grandmother's life, with a couple of asides on the way. I don't doubt that Merril is worthy of a book-length study, but this volume failed to provide any evidence of why. More about why her writings were so highly thought-of would have helped greatly.
Herstory of Science Fiction
July 1 2003
Format:Paperback
This book is juicy (there's gossip about famous sci fi writers!) and Merril has insteresting views on important political and cultural events. It tells the story of early science fiction from the perspective of an independent, unique, fascinating woman. It made me think about how history is recorded and that the only stories that seem to count are the ones that are written down.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
a mere shadow on the hearth
Sep 23 2002
Format:Paperback
Perhaps if Judith Merril had lived to complete her memoirs, they could have rivalled Isaac Asimov's In Memory Yet Green and In Joy Still Felt. However, we will never know; she died with her life's chronicle barely begun, leaving grand-daughter Emily to salvage this book from her notes. The result is a sump of anecdotes and letters, giving a tantalising glimpse of this prominent female member of the early science fiction writing community.
Although Merril takes an early pop at sanitised SF autobiographies (presumably referring to ex-husband Fred Pohl's The Way the Future Was), editor Emily openly admits to cutting some of her juicier revelations; yesterday's ex-husbands are still today's cherished grandfathers. Instead, she tips reams of cliquey, fannish correspondence into the text, while neglecting all but the briefest glimpse of the inner workings of Merril's mind as an author or editor.
I was open to the possibility that Merril was an influential SF author, or even, like Gardner Dozois, a talented writer who sacrificed her own career to help others. It was this possibility that led me to buy this book, since Merril was conspicuous in her absence from Fred Pohl's own memoirs, and I suspected something untoward was going on. However, in a book that seems to spend more time singing the praises of Toronto as a tourist destination, there is only one point at which the text devotes any significant amount of space to Merril's craft, and that only succeeds in making her look like a naïve buffoon. Her muddled musings on Japanese linguistics left me aghast, as did the realisation that this darling of the SF world had taken several months to stumble upon the realisation that a good translator should speak both the source and target language. In layman's terms, this is akin to discovering that the words you're reading are best approached from left to right.
Emily Pohl-Weary's rescue job appears to have been a heroic effort, but ultimately self-defeating. I can only assume that there was so little of the true Merril left to work with, that the best Emily could hope for was a basic chronology of her grandmother's life, with a couple of asides on the way. I don't doubt that Merril is worthy of a book-length study, but this volume failed to provide any evidence of why. More about why her writings were so highly thought-of would have helped greatly.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Leaves you wanting more...
Jan 8 2008
Format:Paperback
Judith Merrill made her reputation in the science fiction world as the premier anthologist of her day. Her best-of-the-year series, while somewhat eccentric, is probably the most consistently interesting annual anthology in the field's history. I have fond memories of reading these and other anthologies of hers as an adolescent fan and, naturally, began to wonder about the real person behind these fine compilations.
After reading this book, I am, to a large extent, still wondering.
"Better to Have Loved" barely scratches the surface of what must have been a complex and fascinating life story. Enough is revealed to show her to have been a rather difficult, emotionally unstable, sexually promiscuous (and probably bisexual) woman who apparently never really found what she was searching for, and didn't seem to know what it was anyway. She lived a bohemian, unconventional life, driven by psychological forces characteristic of the borderline personality disorder. I have seen many such cases in my own clinical practice.
But, as fascinating as all of this is, it's not enough. We are given little description of the process by which she became one of the most influential anthologists in sf history. Her relation to science fiction in general is left largely unexplored. We do not get a feel for how or why she became fascinated with the field. Although she must have known most of the primary figures in the field at that time (after all, there weren't that many of them then), little is said about them except for those with whom she had an intimate relationship (e.g., Fred Pohl, Walter Miller, Cyril Kornbluth strictly on the writing side). Strangely, Isaac Asimov is not mentioned. John W. Campbell is given short shrift. And much of the volume is taken up with reproductions of long personal letters which could have been interesting only to the principals involved.
It is entirely possible, of course, that what we are given is about all that was available to the book's "autobiographer," Judith's granddaughter, Emily Pohl-Weary. If so, it is unfair to be too critical. Most of what's here is interesting, but it left me wanting a lot more.
After reading this book, I am, to a large extent, still wondering.
"Better to Have Loved" barely scratches the surface of what must have been a complex and fascinating life story. Enough is revealed to show her to have been a rather difficult, emotionally unstable, sexually promiscuous (and probably bisexual) woman who apparently never really found what she was searching for, and didn't seem to know what it was anyway. She lived a bohemian, unconventional life, driven by psychological forces characteristic of the borderline personality disorder. I have seen many such cases in my own clinical practice.
But, as fascinating as all of this is, it's not enough. We are given little description of the process by which she became one of the most influential anthologists in sf history. Her relation to science fiction in general is left largely unexplored. We do not get a feel for how or why she became fascinated with the field. Although she must have known most of the primary figures in the field at that time (after all, there weren't that many of them then), little is said about them except for those with whom she had an intimate relationship (e.g., Fred Pohl, Walter Miller, Cyril Kornbluth strictly on the writing side). Strangely, Isaac Asimov is not mentioned. John W. Campbell is given short shrift. And much of the volume is taken up with reproductions of long personal letters which could have been interesting only to the principals involved.
It is entirely possible, of course, that what we are given is about all that was available to the book's "autobiographer," Judith's granddaughter, Emily Pohl-Weary. If so, it is unfair to be too critical. Most of what's here is interesting, but it left me wanting a lot more.
3 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Herstory of Science Fiction
July 1 2003
Format:Paperback
This book is juicy (there's gossip about famous sci fi writers!) and Merril has insteresting views on important political and cultural events. It tells the story of early science fiction from the perspective of an independent, unique, fascinating woman. It made me think about how history is recorded and that the only stories that seem to count are the ones that are written down.
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