Posted by Rodger Whitlock on January 14, 1999 at 14:58:23:
In Reply to: NY Times SF BBS posted by David M. Rose on January 14, 1999 at 14:25:37:
> I recently went through the New York Times SF discussion group
> (more than 450 posts!) looking for references to JV.
>
> One person posted a message about all of the good qualities
> associated with Mr. Vance, and named him the greatest SF writer
> of all time...
>
> The sole response was a fellow who said he didn't like to be
> judgemental, but that he'd make an exception in this case: JV
> is nowhere near near the top.
>
> No other responses, that's it for 1 1/2 years worth of messages.
>
> The sound you now hear is me grinding my teeth. Arrgh!
Jack Vance is not everyone's cup of tea. It's that simple. I
remember writing a review of "The Dying Earth" for the student
paper at Caltech when Lancer first reprinted it in the early 1960s,
and panning the book. I no longer have a copy of the review, but
I think I complained that his characters were cut out of cardboard,
or words to that effect. I still hold this view in a modified
form, but the funny thing is, though, I still have that paperback
and I regularly re-read this or that Vance work!
A taste for Vance can be acquired, but it's like learning to
appreciate, say, classical music: you have to be persistent. Just
like Darsh or Sandusker cuisine.
So stop grinding those teeth and recognize that your taste for
Jack Vance's wonderful fiction makes you a member of a truly
elite group, entitled to sneer at the unwashed, unappreciative
masses.