Culture of Collaboration

In Steven Silver's review, I like that he uses the phrase "culture of collaboration" in relation to the Futurians. Cyril's personality seems to have included a considerable appreciation for working in a cooperative manner. This stood him in good stead with the other Futurians, in learning the ropes of his craft while spending weekends in their company. It also put him in the position of having his talents being used to others' advantage, unfortunately. He was a writer of such conscious ability that I believe he knew what he was providing to his elders, including Wollheim, in terms of writing quality. At the same time, however, I believe he little realized how much he was giving away in terms of writing value.

In the biography, I begin the work of establishing to what degree the young Cyril Kornbluth wrote works which later would be attributed to other, senior writers.

The "collaborative culture" mainly involved Dirk Wylie/Harry Dockweiler, Richard Wilson, and Kornbluth, with Wollheim and others also participating. Perhaps because of his personal power in the group, the "collaborative" work involving Wollheim tended to be on a contractual basis -- which is why at least some of Kornbluth's writings disappeared from sight. Kornbluth's most important writing partnership during Futurian days was probably, indeed, with the Futurian chief -- although until Wollheim's papers become available it will likely remain unknown how many stories Kornbluth wrote that would end up attributed to the older Futurian.

Cheers ...

New Review of the Kornbluth Biography

Another favorable review has just appeared. Steven H. Silver has reviewed C.M. Kornbluth: The Life and Works of a Science Fiction Visionary at SF Site (www.sfsite.com/~silverag/rich.html).

A snippet: "Rich's work is a wonderful memorial to Cyril Kornbluth. ... C.M. Kornbluth: The Life and Works of a Science Fiction Visionary succeeds admirably at being what other author autobiographies only hope to achieve. For anyone interested n the evolution of science fiction, as both a literary genre and a culture, Rich's work is required reading."

Happily, Silver recognizes that the level of scholarship in CMK is of a different level from that which is found in many histories of science fiction. Happily, too, he understands that the book is deeply concerned with larger science fiction history.

It was no exercise in cameo portraiture -- and how nice for that to be noted.

Cheers ...