The Merril Theory of Lit'ry Criticism

by Judith Merril, Ritch Calvin (Introduction), Ritch Calvin (Editor)

Overview

Although Judith Merril is best known for her short fiction and her novels (in collaboration with C. M. Kornbluth), she wrote a great deal of nonfiction. She wrote about SF fandom. She wrote about space and space exploration. And she wrote about science fiction. This volume collects Merril's nonfiction from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Extrapolation, and her Year's Best anthologies. In these collected pieces, Merril works through and develops her definition of "S-F" and what makes S-F good. She chronicles changes within the genre, including the emergence of the New Wave. And she provides a history of the genre: its writers, its publishers, and its magazines.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940158469763
Publisher:	Aqueduct Press
Publication date:	04/24/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	360
File size:	1 MB

Editorial Reviews

..Merril was ... a pioneer in assaulting literary moats and walls, as her anthologies insistently made clear, and it's fascinating to find someone articulating a half-century ago some approaches to fiction that are only now beginning to look like common sense.

Locus - Gary K. Wolf

So, an executive summary: The Merril Theory of Lit'ry Criticism reveals a sharp eye (for detail and nuance), a sharp mind (for analytical insights), and a sharp tongue (because Voice is crucial to these pieces). Her observations and evaluations stand up remarkably well five and six decades on, and the Theory that evolves and emerges across those years is at least as useful as any enshrined in a university-press volume. This book reminds me of what I still want to be when I grow up: Judith Merril

Locus - Russell Letson