Weekly Short Story: The Three Hermits by Leo Tolstoy

I found the great Russian author Leo Tolstoy's 1886 short story The Three Hermits in an anthology designed for Russian language students: Russian Stories Русские Рассказы: A Dual-Language Book (1961, Dover Publications)...you can read it for yourself through the following link to the Online-Literature website: [link].  I suggest that you first do this, for this article will discuss the story's ending, something I usually don't do because I don't like playing the spoiler...

A church bishop traveling to a distant monastery learns of three elderly hermits living on an small uncharted island off the northern coast of Russia and insists to his ship's captain that he be allowed to visit them.  The captain sends him out to the island on a boat and waits...the Bishop meets the hermits and hears that they take care of each other, are generous and hospitable to visitors, and are seeking salvation and mercy...but do not know how to pray to God.  So he painstakenly sets out to teach them the Lord's Prayer...they stumble and forget, but after several hours he is satisfied that they have learned it.  He returns to the ship and they continue on their voyage.  But a little while later they see something quickly approaching on the water from where they were...it is the three hermits speeding...gliding...on the watertop toward them!  Upon reaching the Bishop, all three exclaim in alarmed unison that they had already forgotten parts of  the Lord's Prayer and would he please help them relearn it...the astonished Bishop calls them men of God and says that it is not for him to teach them...and for them to please "pray for us sinners"...

Book learning, formal training, and doctrine are useful things in a field...but Tolstoy (and I) would make the important distinction that one's heart takes precedence over all.  Knowing and repeating the "right" words to say to God is nothing better than a magically-intended incantation if there is no heartfelt spirit behind it, while a contrite, humble soul grounded in love for God and others will fare much better.  But that's my religious take on this overtly religious story: there is, I believe a broader application here...

I cannot begin to count the different times I have been in situations where I was captivated by what was around me, be it a spectacularly clear night sky full of stars, listening to a beautiful piece of music, riding a convoluted, looping, speeding roller coaster, running a very long distance along winding roads and paths, hunched over a radio trying to pick up distant stations, exploring the basics and intricacies of a foreign language, and so on.  There is that primal level of enthusiasm about a subject that I am always searching to tap and experience, but when I find other so-called "like-minded" people to relate with, I inevitably come across skeptical, nit-picking, correcting...and sometimes even demeaning responses...as if we're in some sort of competition with each other because of our common interest and they seem to feel the need to put me in my "place".  Like the three hermits, I don't seem to come across as being an "expert" in many areas that I maintain a high level of interest and enthusiasm for...it would be a refreshing change if the people I encounter who shared my interests were more "incompetent" like myself (and the three hermits) and less like the pedantic, "correct" Bishop in Tolstoy's tale...

Weekly Short Story: Captive Market by Philip K. Dick

Philip K. Dick is one of my favorite twentieth century science fiction writers.  He is well-known for his short novels as well as short stories...I've read quite a bit of both.  One of my favorite short stories of his is Captive Market, which appeared in the anthology Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories #17 (1955) (DAW Books, 1980).  It features an elderly woman of the present time living in a rural small western town who possesses a special, secret gift: she can go "ahead" in time and enter into the future...and come back...at will.  On one of these trips she encounters...in a post-apocalyptic age...a group of people desperately working on a rocket to leave Earth, people in great need of the basics of life including food and medicine.  How this woman responds to these people in need from the future is really what Captive Market is all about: I won't give away the story to you, but the title gives a big hint...

There is a tendency for folks in general to hold onto their prejudices, greed, and petty judgmentalism throughout their lives...even in the face of events that should instruct them otherwise and steer them toward change.  What I sadly often find is that when confronted with situations and challenges that invite them to show generosity, tolerance, and grace, some people will search high and low for any pretext to avoid doing so...especially if they can keep their behavior hidden from others: that's just basic, "fallen" human nature.  Captive Market is a very, very clear case in point...

Philip K. Dick's literature is full of deep and often disturbing commentary on society...I recommend anything of his.  Captive Market has a big point to make...especially if you are willing to apply its protagonist's attitudes to what is currently going on around us today...and is a good starting place for this excellent author, if you can get hold of a copy.  Normally, I wouldn't recommend buying a collection of an author's short stories just to read one of them, but since you can't go wrong with Philip K. Dick why not look for one that contains Captive Market?  You'll probably end up with several stories you like more...

Weekly Short Story: Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

I first read the amazing 1959 science fiction short story Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes, from the collection The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: The Greatest Science Fiction Stories of All Time (Avon Books, 1970).  I tend to agree with this book's grandiose title: it really does contain some of the greatest stories ever.  For his part, Keyes was not an established writer when he produced his masterpiece...but it made an indelible impact anyway.  Probably discovering that he wasn't making much money off the short story, he expanded it into novel form in 1966...that version I haven't read.  As far as I'm concerned, when you're as close to perfect with a story like this, why mess with it?

Charlie Gordon is an intellectually-challenged (I.Q. 68) 37-year old who gets by with his custodial job at a factory.  Two research scientists, Doctors Strauss and Nemur, have a project underway designed to increase intelligence.  Their first subject was a little white mouse named Algernon.  But now they are ready to try their operation out on a human...and Charlie is the willing subject.  Dr. Strauss has suggested to Charlie that he keep a daily written journal about his life and what he is feeling.  And that is exactly what Flowers for Algernon is: Charlie Gordon's written record of his changing intelligence...and consequently his changing worldview, including some eye-opening revelations about the people in his life.  All the while he observes Algernon's progress and records his impressions...

What makes this story so special is the meticulous detail in which the author reveals the feelings and abilities of Charlie at different stages in his journey, as well as the generally flawed nature of some people in general, in particular the cruelty of some toward the mentally disabled and the blind ambition of others without regard to the consequences of their actions.  Once you begin to read this epic tale of inner discovery...and outer disillusionment...you just might find it difficult to put down until you're finished.  One of the best short stories of all time, in any genre of fiction...

Weekly Short Story Review: Huddling Place by Clifford Simak

Clifford Simak was one of my favorite science fiction writers.  He was also a favorite of Isaac Asimov, who was a few years his junior and was so impressed by Simak's writing style that he claimed to have emulated it.  One of the first science fiction stories I ever read was when I was a little kid and got hold of one of my father's old sci-fi paperbacks.  Within it was a short story by Simak titled The Big Front Yard and I never forgot it.  Since then I've read a few more from this fantastic author...Huddling Place, which is one of the stories from Isaac Asimov Presents: The Great SF Stories 6 (1944) (DAW Books), is definitely the one that has had the greatest impact on me...

Huddling Place, a relatively brief short story about the future, is about a middle age physician, renown as an expert in neurology, not just on Earth but also on Mars, where the intelligent species there has a long history.  He has retreated, however, to his home estate where robots wait on him and he can interface with others in a virtual way (this story, from 1944, was way ahead of its time, at least in this regard ).  Consequently, he develops a phobia common to many in his age: he must stay at home and avoid any travel in order to avoid the dreaded open spaces: he has agoraphobia.  But as you might have guessed, the story presents a start challenge to him and his fear...

I'm not a great advocate for "traveling gone wild", i.e. having a compulsion to be in a near-constant state of travel and to continually develop excuses for jetting around the country (and world) as a couple of folks I know do.  On the other hand, it isn't healthy, either, to be permanently entrenched in one's own home, avoiding opportunities for growth that involve stepping out and evenly possibly getting on a plane.  I tend to be more like that person who stays at home...fortunately I am blessed with Melissa, who is much more balanced about this and helps me to resist this tendency.  Also, I regularly and deliberately...against my inclinations...go out in public just to put myself into my discomfort zone...sitting at a Starbucks may seem like paradise to some, but it bothers me being there...and helps me focus my thinking on my projects. And, of course, having a job to go to that involves me getting out of my house is a big help.  So I can see how the scenario of Clifford Simak's excellent Huddling Place can come true...especially as the Internet keeps growing and virtual reality and robotics are developed... 

I think it's about time I started looking for a collection of Clifford Simak's best fiction.  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find Huddling Place on the Internet as I had with the short stories I discussed the previous two weeks...

The Little Black Bag, a Short Story by Cyril Kornbluth

This blog already has the weekly feature of Friday's quote of the week.  To this I am adding another, for Wednesdays: reviews of short stories that made an impact on me.  For much of my life I was primarily a short story reader, generally eschewing the longer format of novels (and series of novels) until the last fifteen years or so.  I built up a substantial collection of short stories, primarily in the science fiction genre, and still haven't read most of them.  Well, it's time to "hit the books" and explore this treasure of good fiction!  Today's story is from a popular (back then) mid-twentieth century science fiction writer named Cyril Kornbluth.  Kornbluth sadly lived a short life, plagued and eventually ended at the age of 34 by a heart condition and his refusal to abide by prescribed treatments...he suffered his fatal heart attack on a winter morning in 1958 after rigorously shoveling snow from his walkway and then running fast to the railway station.  He was a collaborator with other sci-fi writers on novels and wrote many short stories that were published in the pulp science fiction magazines of his day.  In 1950 one such tale, The Little Black Bag, came out in Astounding magazine and would make it to that year's list of top short stories...

The Little Black Bag paints the picture of a future society in which humanity is blessed with great advances in technology and still keeps the structures of democracy and economic freedom.  Sounds too good to be true, right?  And of course the answer is a resounding YES!  For the overwhelming majority of people in "this" distant future have regressed in their intellectual capacities and are unknowingly completely dependent on a very small subclass of people with advanced abilities who provide all the needed supertechnology, maintain the structure of society, monitor the mentally-challenged majority...and stay discretely hidden and disguised as menial workers.  A "physician" in this world one day carelessly loses his "little black bag" in a time machine and it makes its way back to "our" time...and into the hands of a much smarter, but ruined and alcoholic doctor.  When he begins to use the instruments contained within the bag on patients, he discovers that they work autonomously and to a precision that he could never possess...in other probably politically incorrect words, they are idiot-proof.  I'll let you, the potential reader of this truly "short" story, read what happens for yourself.  Instead I'd like to further examine its premise and what the author was trying to say about our present world...

I'm living in 2017 and I see it all around me, but for Cyril Kornbluth to notice and report in 1950 on the general decline in standards and levels of education and knowledge among the population as the seeming magic of technological development made communications, transportation, and "creature comforts" much more readily available demonstrated to me this author's ability to forecast the future...albeit in a pretty sarcastic fashion.  The consumer would make use of all the new "stuff" coming out, "stuff" that a smaller group of other folks who had much more extensive and specialized training had developed.  Nowadays what do most people know about how smartphones function other than the settings they can select on them?  I look around me in public and almost always note a substantial portion of the people are dumbly staring at their little gadgets.  I've even been watching sporting events where the camera pans the spectators after an exciting play...only to find many of them also preoccupied with their little miracles of technology instead of what just happened on the field or court.   And what about social media and the Internet...are they making people smarter and more discerning...or the opposite?  I imagine that if my pal Cyril were here today, he'd have a few choice comments to say about that.  Have you ever watched Jesse Watters on Fox walk around out in public and randomly ask people very simple questions about history and general knowledge?  The level of ignorance and apathy among the general population is incredible, regardless whether or not you happen to agree with Watters' conservative politics.  But we also have a smaller number of very engaged, knowledgeable people in our present world who...surprise, surprise...seem to operate "behind the scenes".  Which makes me wonder what our society is going to look like in about a hundred years...or even further down the line.  Will it resemble Cyril Kornbluth's cynical prediction?  I sure hope he's dead wrong (no pun intended)...

The Little Black Bag is just one story of many from the book His Share of Glory: the Complete Short Story Science Fiction of Cyril Kornbluth.  The publishers are NESFA (New England Science Fiction Association) and it came out in 1997.  I found that some of Kornbluth's stories in this book were "hits", but a few were "misses"...and with others, to this day, I still don't know what he was talking about...