Posted by Randy Weddington on October 23, 1998 at 07:55:53:
In Reply to: Re: Henry Kuttner posted by Randy Weddington on October 23, 1998 at 07:43:21:
In my opinion Kuttner/Moore were easily among the finest SF writers of their time -- and their work still holds up well today, thanks to their creativity, imagination, and generous humor.
While it's true that much of their work is adventure fantasy rather than the nuts-and-bolts variety of Asimov or the soft sentimentalism of Bradbury, K/M were without equal in the field of speculative fiction. They deserve to be remembered as pioneering giants, not consigned to the "outdated" bin.
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: : I was searching for possible Kuttner websites and came across the comments of a few months ago. I felt the need to defend him.
: : Henry Kuttner was considered one of the best SF writers of tne 1940- to mid 1950's. His work is still being published in anthologies.
: : As with most SF writers of his time, he was a "pulp" writer. To earn a meger living at a few cents a word, you had to publish a lot of material. Much of it was good, some great, and a lot of crap.
: : He and his wife, C.L. Moore, published a great deal under about 30 various pen names - Lewis Padgett, Lawrence O'Donnell as examples.
: : I enjoyed a great number of his stories and novels - Fury, Mutant, but I thought she was a better writer.
: : He died in 1958 at the age of forty-four. You have to wonder what he could have accomplished in the sixties when SF writers were beginning to get some financial and literary recognition.
: : I think he was one of the better ones of the "Golden Age", but not of the caliber of say - Asimov, Heinlein, Sturgeon, or Bradbury.
: : On being "dated". Every existing writer will be "dated" in a few decades. You have to read them knowing the time period and culture they wrote in. If they are good writers, they still have something to tell you or a story to move you.