The Best of C. M. Kornbluth by C. M. Kornbluth
"The Best of C. M. Kornbluth" is a collection featuring some of the most notable works by the acclaimed science fiction writer C. M. Kornbluth. This anthology includes his influential novelettes such as "The Little Black Bag" and "The Marching Morons," both of which explore dystopian futures characterized by a stark contrast between low-IQ groups and the dwindling intelligent minority. In "The Little Black Bag," the story follows a disillusioned doctor who discovers a miraculous medical bag from the future, leading to both redemption and tragic consequences. "The Marching Morons" delves deeper into societal challenges posed by a population dominated by the intellectually impaired, culminating in darkly ironic resolutions.
Additionally, the collection features later works like "Shark Ship," which examines survival in a post-apocalyptic world, and "Two Dooms," where an atomic physicist confronts alternate realities shaped by oppressive regimes. Other stories, such as "The Words of Guru" and "The Mindworm," reflect Kornbluth's innovative narrative style and thematic focus on the human condition in the face of technological and societal transformations. Overall, "The Best of C. M. Kornbluth" presents a thought-provoking examination of intelligence, morality, and the consequences of human choices, making it a significant read for science fiction enthusiasts.
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The Best of C. M. Kornbluth
First published: 1976
Type of work: Stories
Type of plot: Science fiction—extrapolatory
Time of work: The 1950’s to the distant future
Locale: Various sites, especially cities, on Earth and other planets
The Plot
Two of C. M. Kornbluth’s most famous stories, the novelettes “The Little Black Bag” (1950) and “The Marching Morons” (1951), posit the same future. Twenty generations from now, prolific, low-IQ groups vastly outnumber intelligent people on Earth because of the latter’s low birthrates. The moronic majority thrives only through the labors of the intellectuals.
The earlier story introduces elderly Bayard Full, a ruined, slum-dwelling, dipsomaniac medical doctor. An accident sends a doctor’s black bag from the future into his possession. Designed for use by idiots, the bag yields its secrets readily to Dr. Full and his accidentally acquired assistant, Angie. Reinvigorated and reformed, Dr. Full begins performing miraculous operations and nurturing a new self-image as benefactor of humanity. Angie, however, has less humanitarian goals and succeeds in destroying the hopes of both herself and Dr. Full.
“The Marching Morons” more fully explores the future world dominated by idiots. The intelligent minority faces one central problem: what to do about the ever-worsening population disparity between idiots and geniuses. The minority receives a windfall in the form of real estate salesman Honest John Barlow, revived from a state of suspended animation accidentally achieved in the twentieth century. Barlow agrees to solve the problem if he is given dictatorial power, a request that is granted readily. Barlow then suckers the general populace, through advertising and sly references during television sitcoms, into taking rockets to Venus, an unreachable promised land. They fall for the ruse and die in great numbers. In the end, Barlow suffers the same fate he inflicted on others.
Two late novelettes, “Shark Ship” (originally “Reap the Dark Tide,” 1958) and “Two Dooms” (1958; Kornbluth’s preferred title was “The Doomsman”), probe other grim futures. “Shark Ship” details life aboard a convoy of ships divorced from all contact with land. The lives of those on board depend on the spring swarming of plankton. When a storm destroys his ship’s irreplaceable fishing net, Captain Thomas Salter finds himself, his ship, and his crew expelled from the convoy. An idea previously thought heretical now appears to be his only option: He must steer for land. The landing party discovers an America depopulated by death cults whose influence became pervasive in previous centuries. Surviving cult members give the landing party a taste of the violence that purged the once-overpopulated mainland.
“Two Dooms” follows atomic physicist Edward Royland on his accidental journey into an alternate universe where the Nazis and Japanese rule a divided United States. In his own world, Royland debated whether to delay progress at the Los Alamos nuclear research site or to help the atomic bomb achieve its terrifying result. Encountering both a slave village and a concentration camp in the alternate America, he comes to grips with the idea of life under bondage.
Other notable works in this volume include “The Words of Guru” (1941), an early but striking fantasy about a genius child acquiring supernatural power; “The Last Man Left in the Bar” (1957), a confrontation between aliens and a magnetron technician, written with an audacious literary command that anticipates the stylistic revolution of the 1960’s; “The Altar at Midnight” (1952), a portrayal of the costs of spaceflight; and the influential “The Mindworm” (1950), detailing the rise and fall of a psychic vampire.