| Ah, yes! Henderson wanders freely between fantasy, science fiction,
horror, and pure drama, and I've always felt that she does it wonderfully
well. I enjoyed the "People" series very much, but I think some of her
other stories surpass them in impact.
She has written a good many post-Holocaust stories, and some that could
be taken that way if the reader is so inclined. One of the most memorable
concerns a world/time in which it rains almost constantly (a possible
nuclear-winter-type setting?), and the sun appears for but a few hours
every seven years or so. As in most of her stories the setting is a classroom,
where the children - most of them too young to remember the previous
appearance of the sun - are debating whether it will really happen or
not, and what it will look like when it does. One child says she does
remember it, and describes it rapturously, but the others get angry with
her for making it all up in order to get attention. What results from this
is a perfect example of unintentional cruelty, heartbreaking because sometimes
there isn't anyone to blame.
There are uplifing tales, too, fortunately, and Henderson can draw forth
delight as easily as she whistles up despair. "The Grundger" is one such,
an adult tale this time, about love and jealousy and myth.
Yes, I do like Henderson's work!
I haven't seen anything recent, though. Is she still around? Anything
in the works? "The Anything Box" and the "People" books have been out
for years now...
-b
|
| Article: 333
From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews
Subject: REPOST: Belated Reviews #12: Zenna Henderson
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: 17 Aug 93 23:22:59 GMT
Belated Reviews #12: Zenna Henderson
I'd been meaning to cover Zenna Henderson, and since there's been so much
discussion of her stories recently, this might be a good time for it.
Naturally, I'll be duplicating much of what's already been posted.
Zenna Henderson is another of those authors with a small but special body
of work. In her case, it's four anthologies and change worth of short
stories written in the fifties, sixties, and seventies. Her writing is
fairly consistent: If you sample any of her anthologies and like what you
find, you'll probably like all of them. They're good enough, and different
enough, that if you haven't read any of her stories before, you should give
them a try.
The cover art on my copy of "Pilgrimage" is appropriate -- a vaguely
American-Gothic-like setting, with a space ship in the background. Her
stories play themselves out (with a few exceptions) in rural or small-town
America, in the world of back roads and one-room school-houses. Zenna
Henderson's stories are almost completely devoid of melodrama, of villains,
of violence: People living their lives as best they can are more than
capable of providing themselves and each other with all the troubles and
challenges an author could need.
There's a low-key but constant spiritual dimension to Henderson's writing.
This is something science fiction has trouble with: It tends to either
ignore religion completely, to feature characters whose entire lives
revolve around their faiths, or to be *about* religion. Henderson opts
for the more mundane picture of people who take faith for granted, but don't
go through life making a fuss about it.
So who says aliens have to land in Washington and time-travellers have to
land on the Titanic? Henderson's low-key approach to science fiction
works just fine. She's no stylist (she has the occasional bad habit of
making a subtle point and then driving it home with a sledge hammer), but
she has a way of focusing a story on just a few people and making what
happens to them matter.
About half her stories are about the "People". Early in this century a
space ship, fleeing a dying planet, crashed. Most of the survivors --
essentially human, but possessing psychic powers -- made a life for
themselves, quietly, unobtrusively, cautiously. Others were scattered
during the crash, and had to live alone among Earth's people. Most of these
stories are collected in two fixup novels (anthologies with a framing
story added).
"Pilgrimage" (****-) is probably the better place to start. It consists of
half a dozen stories about the People, and the various adjustments they've
made to fit into their new world. My favorite stories from this book are
the first two. "Ararat" introduces the People, in a story about a village
of telepaths and telekinetics who must keep their secret from the new teacher.
"Gilead" is the story of two half-breeds who don't know that there are others
of their kind, and must learn to cope with their abilities.
The second People anthology, "The People: No Different Flesh" (***+), fills
out much of the missing background. I didn't enjoy it as much (though
"Shadow on the Moon" -- about an old man desperate to get to the moon, and a
couple of kids who just might be able to help -- is my favorite People story).
But if you enjoyed the first anthology, you'll enjoy the second one.
"Pilgrimage" spawned a disappointing telefilm titled "The People", with
William Shatner miscast as a member of the cast. It's based primarily
upon "Pottage" -- the most depressing story in "Pilgrimage" -- with bits and
pieces from the other stories. Except for the melodramatic and improbable
villains, the children's movie "Escape to Witch Mountain" does a much better
job of capturing the spirit of the stories. I don't recall any attribution
to Henderson's stories, but I'd be very surprised if they didn't inspire
that movie.
Zenna Henderson's other short stories appear in two other anthologies,
"Holding Wonder" (***+) and "The Anything Box" (***+). (The rating system
doesn't work that well for anthologies. These books contain a few excellent
stories, more good stories, and virtually no bad ones.) They include another
People story ("The Indelible Kind", in "Holding Wonder"), but some of the
others are more memorable. There's "The Closest School", about some law-
abiding aliens who send their daughter to start grade one. (Some people can
be open-minded about color, and still want to draw the line at purple.)
There's "The Taste of Aunt Sophronia", about a low-tech solution to a high-
tech plague. "Subcommittee" is about an interstellar peace conference
that isn't going well -- and bored children on both sides. There's
"Walking Aunt Daid": Aunt Daid got her name when great-great-grampa
remarked that she should have been dead a long time ago. "The Last Step"
is about an unlikable teacher who makes a bad mistake.
You see the pattern, of course. Stories about children, stories about
school, stories about people in very ordinary situations, encountering or
living with the extraordinary. It's a quiet kind of science fiction, and
a pleasant change of pace.
A number of later stories haven't been anthologized yet. "Thrumthing and
Out" (F&SF, 10/72), "Katie-Mary's Trip" (F&SF, 1/75 -- my introduction to
the notion that Zenna Henderson could write a bad story), "The First Stroke"
(F&SF, 10/77), "Tell Us a Story" (F&SF, 10/80), "There Was a Garden", in
"Cassandra Rising" (1978, edited by Alice Laurance), and "Old... As a
Garment" in "Speculations" (1982, edited by Isaac Asmov and Alice Laurance).
(So much bibliography's been posted lately, it would be churlish not to
use some of it. :)
(Actually, someone posted recently that there is a British anthology titled
"The People Collection", which includes the previously anthologized People
stories and "Katie-Mary's Trip". It was also said to include "Incident
After" and "The Walls" -- two stories from "Holding Wonder" which I've
never thought of as being People stories -- and not "Tell Us a Story.")
%A Henderson, Zenna
%T Pilgrimage
%T The People: No Different Flesh
%T Holding Wonder
%T The Anything Box
%O These four anthologies (my copies are the Avon editions) represent the
%O most readily-accessible collections of most of Henderson's stories.
Standard introduction and disclaimer for Belated Reviews follows.
Belated Reviews cover science fiction and fantasy of earlier decades.
They're for newer readers who have wondered about the older titles on the
shelves, or who are interested in what sf/f was like in its younger days.
The emphasis is on helping interested readers identify books to try first,
not on discussing the books in depth.
A general caveat is in order: Most of the classics of yesteryear have not
aged well. If you didn't encounter them back when, or in your early teens,
they will probably not give you the unforced pleasure they gave their
original audiences. You may find yourself having to make allowances for
writing you consider shallow or politics you consider regressive. When I
name specific titles, I'll often rate them using the following scale:
**** Recommended.
*** An old favorite that hasn't aged well, and wouldn't get a good
reception if it were written today. Enjoyable on its own terms.
** A solid book, worth reading if you like the author's works.
* Nothing special.
Additional disclaimers: Authors are not chosen for review in any particular
order. The reviews don't attempt to be comprehensive. No distinction is
made between books which are still in print and books which are not.
-----
Dani Zweig
dani@netcom.com
If you're going to write, don't pretend to write down. It's going to be the
best you can do, and it's the fact that it's the best you can do that kills
you! -- Dorothy Parker
|