The Space Merchants (1953)

This short novel by Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth arrives today with much apparent promise: accolades from Kingsley Amis, Anthony Boucher, Groff Conklin, and others, comparisons to Brave New World, and routinely on short lists of best science fiction ever, not to mention the first novel in the sizable Library of America American Science Fiction series of novels from the ‘50s and ‘60s. The Space Merchants is still talked about on booktube and Goodreads too—I saw it mentioned just the other day on a video, described as “Mad Men with spaceships.” If that sounds like something you might like, I can tell you I think that description is accurate, because it’s pretty much not what I like. It has some good ideas, notably Chicken Little, a food product, but the main problem is I don’t go to science fiction looking for lampoons of the advertising industry. The plot is frenetic and mostly pointless. The depictions of women are typically painful. It may be too much for me to expect a sense of wonder, but at least some more science fiction would be nice. I guess the visionary points are won by the dystopic setting—overpopulation, corporations literally holding political office, deep divides between rich and poor and little between, and marketing and advertising driving most thought. Fair enough. I think some people find The Space Merchants funny too. But little worked for me on this one. The video that mentioned it was focused on second-tier writers in the classic era, specifically Pohl rather than Kornbluth, along with James Blish, Doc Smith, and others (see “The Forgotten Sci-Fi Masters of the Golden Age”). One of the interesting points about Pohl—this is the first I’ve read him—is that he frequently collaborated with others, and not just Kornbluth. For that matter, Kornbluth was the name I was more interested in, though this is also the first I’ve read by him (and I might have him mixed up with one or two others). The whole Madison Avenue sizzle to this thing felt mostly dated to me now. The main character is a reasonable facsimile of Don Draper, who in turn is a reasonable facsimile of David Ogilvy. Their era was later, however, more the ‘60s, which leaves The Space Merchants with its best models MIA, and hence somewhat aimless and perhaps having an identity crisis. I wouldn’t call it visionary.

In case the library is closed due to pandemic, which is over. (Library of America)