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Bester can do things with words that don't seem possible until he does them. His stories are constructed with awesome skill. He deftly lets the air out of not only every cliché of science fiction but out of our entire culture. This (Starburst) is a book for fans to devour and for writers to study with care. |
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Robert Silverberg, [Review of Starburst], Infinity Science Fiction 4, No. 2 (November 1958): 95 |
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The formula for Alfred Bester's writing is given on page 71 of his collection, Starburst. It appears in "Oddy and Id": "'We need a short-cut.' . . . 'What do you suggest?' 'Dazzlement,' Migg spat. 'Enchantment.' " |
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Dazzlement and enchantment are Bester's methods. His stories never stand still a moment; they're forever tilting into motion, veering, doubling back, firing off rockets to distract you. The repetition of the key phrase in "Fondly Fahrenheit," the endless reappearances of Mr. Aquila in "The Starcomber" are offered mockingly: try to grab at them for stability, and you find they mean something new each time. Bester's science is all wrong, his characters are not characters but funny hats; but you never notice: he fires off a smoke-bomb, climbs a ladder, leaps from a trapeze, plays three bars of "God Save the King," swallows a sword and dives into three inches of water. Good heavens, what more do you want? |
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Damon Knight, "Decadents," In Search of Wonder: Essays on Modern Science Fiction (1956; rev. ed. Chicago: Advent, 1967), p. 234 |
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Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination (. . .) is considered by many readers and writers, both in and outside the field, to be the greatest single s-f novel. In this book, man, both intensely human yet more than human, becomes, through greater acceptance of his humanity, something even more. It chronicles a social education, but within a society which, from our point of view, has gone mad. In the climactic scene, the protagonist, burning in the ruins of a collapsing cathedral, has his senses confused by synesthesia. Terrified, he begins to oscillate insanely in time and space. Through this experience, with the help of his worst |
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