James Blish presents a science fiction anthology with a thought-provoking and often contentious theme—the future of the arts. What will become of creativity in the age of automation, or after the apocalypse, or when humanity migrates to other worlds? These topics are addressed by such master storytellers as Isaac Asimov, Harry Harrison, Damon Knight, C.M. Kornbluth, Edgar Pangborn, Robert Silverberg, and James Blish.
Every story in this gathering was excellent and choosing favorites was next to impossible.
In Isaac Asimov’s “Dreaming is a Private Thing,” corporations hire people whose dreams are so opulent and vivid that they can be recorded and sold for public consumption.
In James Blish’s “A Work of Art” resurrects 19th century German composer Richard Strauss in the year 2161. Repulsed by what he considers the regression of music in this modern age, Strauss sets out to compose an opera based on Christopher Fry’s play, Venus Observed. Although his opera is wildly successful, Strauss comes to realize two awful truths about himself… and his fate.
Blish’s second tale, “The Dark Night of the Soul” takes place at an artist’s retreat on the Jovian moon Callisto. However, it does not take long before the residents realize that a conspiracy is afoot, one that could result in the elimination of the arts from human civilization!
Harry Harrison’s “Portrait of the Artist” shows us what happens when the comic book industry succumbs to automation, leaving artists to do little more than touch up after computers stamp imagery onto the page—but what happens when the machines are upgraded and the artist is no longer needed at all?
In Damon Knight’s “The Country of the Kind,” a pariah wreaks havoc after being shunned by everyone in his community simply for being different. Finally, he tries to create art in a peaceful attempt to connect with another soul like this own.
In C.M. Kornbluth’s “With These Hands,” a sculptor and art instructor struggles to survive in a world where machines can be programmed to create sculptures from plastic in a method similar to today’s 3-D printing.
Edgar Pangborn’s novella, “A Master of Babylon” brings us into the post-apocalyptic life of an aging, eccentric musician living as a hermit for over two decades in what remains of New York’s Museum of Human History. When a teenage couple visit him in search of “Old Ones” to bring back to their village, the musician is thrilled to have an audience for his greatest—and final—performance.
In “A Man of Talent,” Robert Silverberg shows us the fate of a poet who, disgusted with the degradation of poetry on Earth, migrates to the farthest and least populated human colony of Rigel Seven. Hoping to live as a recluse, the poet is invited to adopt a unique role in a society where art is taken for granted.