What Mad Universe

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What Mad Universe
File:What mad universe.jpg
Dust-jacket from the first edition
Author Fredric Brown
Country United States
Language English
Genre Science fiction novel
Publisher E. P. Dutton
Publication date
1949
Media type Print (Hardback)
Pages 255 pp
OCLC 1030471

What Mad Universe is a science fiction novel, written in 1949 by the American author, Fredric Brown.

Synopsis

Keith Winton is an editor for a science fiction magazine, working during the late 40s when genre fiction magazines have not yet given over to TV shows. With his glamorous co-worker, Betty (an employee of the 'romantic stories' magazine, on which he has an undeclared crush), he visits his boss in his elegant estate in the Catskills, unfortunately on the same day as an experimental rocket laden with a high-voltage generator able to be seen discharging on the Moon's surface is to be launched. Betty has to go back to New York. Keith is alone in his friends' garden, deep in thought, when, suddenly, the rocket's generator (whose launch has been a failure) crashes on his friends' residence and dissipates its Gigawatt-electrical charge right on the spot Keith is standing on. The massive energy discharge allows his physical form to 'shift' through dimensions, taking him to a strange but deceptively similar parallel universe. Wild-eyed, Keith is astonished to see how credits have replaced dollars; is amazed when he encounters some scantily-clad pin-up girls who are, at the same time, astronauts; is driven to stupor when he encounters his first lunar native vacationing on Earth. But it is when he tries to get back to his usual world when he finally understands his problem. For a solution, he has to get in touch with the impossibly 'larger than life' hero who leads Humanity's struggle against the Arcturian menace and his "artificial brain" sidekick 'Mekky'...getting involved in a last-minute plan to thwart the onslaught of a fearsome alien superweapon against the Solar System and Earth.

Style

What Mad Universe is full of humor, mostly stemming from the description of the culture shock that the protagonist feels, and the strange things that are in the universe, like sewing machines that open the way for a voyage in space. In this timeline, H.G. Wells did not write a fictional account of a Martian invasion of Earth but a factual political treatise strongly condemning the human invasion and colonization of Mars. A half-serious, half-humorous take on modern society and the reality of our world, its light-hearted tone would be built on by subsequent books, most notably his 1955 work, Martians, Go Home.

The idea of humanity facing an implacably hostile alien species bent on its destruction, with whom no negotiation or compromise is possible, is shared with Brown's earlier short story "Arena".

Reception

The novel has been named amongst the capstones of science fiction literature by several sci-fi critics, including [1]

  • Annick Beguin, Les 100 principaux titres de la science-fiction, Cosmos 2000, 1981 ;
  • Jacques Sadoul, Anthologie de la littérature de science-fiction, Ramsay, 1981 ;
  • Jacques Goimard and Claude Aziza, Encyclopédie de poche de la science-fiction. Guide de lecture, Presses Pocket, coll. « Science-fiction », n°5237, 1986 ;
  • Denis Guiot, La Science-fiction, Massin, coll. « Le monde de... », 1987 ;
  • Enquête du Fanzine Carnage mondain auprès de ses lecteurs, 1989 ;
  • Lorris Murail, Les Maîtres de la science-fiction, Bordas, coll. « Compacts », 1993 ;
  • Stan Barets, Le science-fictionnaire, Denoël, coll. « Présence du futur », 1994.
File:Whatmaduniverse.jpg
cover from a paperback reprint

Boucher and McComas named What Mad Universe the best SF novel of 1949, citing its "blend of humor, logic, terror and satire."[2] P. Schuyler Miller praised the novel as a "gleeful mulligan stew of well tried ingredients dished up with that all-important difference in flavor."[3]

Notes

  1. To see a complete list of accolades, check Top des Tops.
  2. "Recommended Reading," F&SF, February 1950, p.105
  3. "Book Reviews", Astounding, December 1950, p.98

References

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External links