Everett F. Bleiler (1920 - 2010)

[randy_byers]

It's sad when it takes somebody's death to make things come into focus. In recent years I have become fascinated with pre-Amazing science fiction, and of course I kept running into Bleiler's name. Somehow I developed the impression that he was one of those obsessive old coots who devised long checklists of hoary old stories that told you nothing about the stories. Useful only as bibliography. This despite the fact that I had stumbled upon his comments on stories by Garrett P. Serviss and Homer Eon Flint and found them eminently sensible. Why didn't that make me curious? My mind was made up (probably set to some extent by his old-fashioned name), and mere evidence wasn't enough to open it back up.

But his death has done the trick. Or rather the tributes to him in the wake of his death (on the 13th), which started for me with Jessica Amanda Salmonson's heartfelt personal tribute on Facebook. As I read a few more tributes, I began to think, "Huh, this guy actually was doing stuff that I would probably be particularly interested in." And sure enough, when I took a closer look at Science Fiction: The Early Years and Science Fiction: The Gernsback Years, they were pretty much precisely the kind of encyclopedic reference that would be very useful to me in my exploration of old SF. They are both expensive, it's true, but yesterday I ordered Science Fiction: The Early Years as a kind of memorial. Looks like it could come in handy for the piece I'm writing about Lemuria, too.

I'm looking forward to Mr. Bleiler opening my eyes, even if it's only posthumously.

Update: I had initially written "imminently sensible," which is kind of appropriate, all things considered.

Comments

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes. I have a used copy of Bleiler's The Guide to Supernatural Fiction, which consists of evaluations of every single novel and story collection, famous or obscure, within its coverage (fantasy/weird/supernatural-horror, for adults, in English, up to 1960). It's stunning. He really has read all these books, and not only summarizes them remarkably accurately, he doesn't lose the forest for the trees, and evaluates their quality as well. Just a stunning book.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

It really is humbling, the sheer amount of work he put into his research. Science Fiction: The Early Years apparently covers 3000 different works, and Science Fiction: The Gernsback Years apparently covers every work of English-language science fiction published in the magazines for an eleven year period. As you say, just stunning. Not only that, but he wrote on other subjects as well, including Japanese grammar. As I've been reading about him, I've been reminded of that friend of yours who died recently who knew all the extant Celtic languages and was an expert on Polynesia as well.