More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
The emotional quality of this book is amazing. At least the first half, the second half is a little… Zardozish. That isn’t really accurate, but it’ll do.
Unlike Zardoz, this is worth going through. It’s a sci-fi story from 1953, with an interesting concept and some great insights. In the first half. Unlike Armor, where the second half was eventually so very worth it, this just dissolves into the same territory so much sci-fi of the era does.
The book, if nothing else, reinforced my belief that prose is superior to poetry for conveying a feeling. Poetry is too concerned with structure, and people that write it are too concerned with playing at word games to make an impact. I generalize, naturally, but that’s the overall view I have. Word games are fun, to be sure, but people always talk about it conveying feelings. Compare any damned thing you like with this for bringing across a deep depression conveyed by isolation-
“The sap falls and the bear sleeps and the birds fly south, all doing it together, not because they are all members of the same thing, but only because they are all solitary things hurt by the same thing.”
I mean, that’s just brilliant. Thankfully I was already depressed, so it just put a slight edge to it.
Go, any who find this, and read it. The damned thing breaks down, but it was such an early time for the genre that everyone felt they had to shoot for utopia.