736 The American Century: Literature since 1945is so because it is better. As a distinct genre, it reveals “what machines do to us, what
wars do to us, what cities do to us,” to quote Mr. Rosewater again, “what big, simple
ideas do to us, what tremendous misunderstandings, mistakes, accidents, and
catastrophes do to us.” It is also a distinctively American genre, since American
writers have been at the forefront of developments in the genre since the time of
H. G. Wells. A formative figure here was H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937). Primarily
remembered, perhaps, as a writer of Gothic fiction, Lovecraft also produced works
that exploited dislocations of time and space and extraterrestrial encounters. He was
an initiator in those forms of science fiction in which fantasy, rather than scientific
knowledge, dominates. And many of his stories first appeared in the magazine We i rd
Tales. As a promoter and disseminator of science fiction narratives, this magazine
was soon complemented by the founding in 1926 of Amazing Stories and then, in
1937, Astounding Science Fiction. Amazing Stories was particularly influential here.
It was founded by Hugo Gernsback (1884–1967), an indefatigable publisher of
periodicals committed to science and fantasy. Because of this, and to a lesser extent
because of his Baron Munchausen stories (“Munchausen on the Moon” (1915),
“Munchausen Departs for the Planet Mars” (1916)), Gernsback, an immigrant from
Luxembourg, is sometimes called the father of science fiction. In turn, another early
writer, Edward Elmer Smith (1890–1965), usually known as E. E. “Doc” Smith, is
often referred to as the father of space opera. Good and evil in his Lensman novels,
such as Triplanetary (1934; revised 1948), First Lensman (1954), and Galactic Patrol
(1937–1938; revised 1950), are parceled out between the benevolent Arisians and the
malign Eddorians. There is a wealth of space opera fantasy here. For example, certain
members of the Galactic Patrol acquire telepathic powers by wearing a “lens” or
bracelet which gives the Lensman series its title. At its core, however, this sprawling
epic recalls earlier epics of American empire: this is a Western transported into space.
The work of a later science fiction writer like Robert Heinlein (1907–1988) is
more sophisticated than this, not least because his works negotiate a path between
scientific literalism and fantasy. Heinlein is also capable of humor and social(^) comment. Double Star (1956), for instance, is about a failed actor who claims to be
a galactic politician. And he can use the genre to make intelligent guesses about the
future – from which vantage point he can then cast a critical eye over the present. So,
the novel for which he is best known, Stranger in a Strange Land (1961), concerns
Mike Smith, a human who has been brought up on Mars. Initiated into an unearthly
way of regarding reality, Smith has also acquired suprahuman powers. On returning
to Earth, he founds a new religion on more Martian habits, a good deal more pacifist
and hedonist than most earthly creeds. At the end of the novel, though, he is torn to
pieces by outraged humans, crucified for his beliefs and practices. Among those
practices, and at the core of this new religion, is what is called “grokking.” “ ‘Grok’
means ‘identity equal,’ ” a Martian character explains. “ ‘Grok’ means to understand
so thoroughly that the observer becomes a part of the observed – to merge, blend,
intermarry, lose identity in a group experience.” In effect, Stranger in a Strange Land
takes themes ingrained in American experience and writing – the lonely hero, the
clash with conventional society, exile, longing, and the impulse to merge with older,
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