I’ve been sorting through my book boxes, cavalierly (or bravely) selecting a good third, so far, for dispersal among the populace at large – donations, deposits at the local Laundromat, occasional leavings on public transport. In the process I’ve come across a number of books that I certainly didn’t buy, and have no recollection of reading. In some cases I think I gathered up a miscellany of parental books when the family home was sold some years ago, of which this is one.
Compiled in 1968, Apeman, Spaceman is a unique collection of then-contemporary SF that centres on an anthropological theme, sub-grouped into Man (under headings of ‘fossils’, ‘the hairless ape’, ‘dominant species’ and ‘unfinished evolution’) and His Works (‘prehistory’, ‘archaeology’, ‘local customs’ and ‘applied anthropology’).
The concept for the collection arose from Leon E Stover’s practice of incorporating SF in to his undergraduate anthropology classes as a way of illustrating its value, and to assist students in seeing that it doesn’t just involve examining cultures ‘out there’.
The writing is, necessarily, dated, almost 40 years later – not just in terms of science and changes in technology (Julian Chain’s “The Captives”, set some 200 years in the future, has the top-secret project at the heart of his story primarily guarded by physical keys), but also stylistically. In general the punch lines and twists are telegraphed well in advance, and the plots are on occasion ponderous. In the same way that early TV programs are less complex than modern versions, for the most part the authors spend far too long on plot details and aspects that I, at least, found uninteresting.
I was, however, delighted to finally come across Horace M Miner’s classic short story “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema”, a brilliant satire of (then) modern American contemporary culture as seen through the eyes of an alien observer.
I would love to see a contemporary version of this collection, but did find this collection hard going. - Alex
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