Difference between revisions of "The Knights of Arthur"
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| − | '''Pohl, Frederik. "The Knights of Arthur."''' © 1957. ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' January 1958. Coll. ''The Frederik Pohl Omnibus''. London: Gollancz, 1966.'' Tomorrow Times Seven''. New York: Ballantine, 1959. ''Platinum Pohl''. New York: Tor, 2005. | + | '''Pohl, Frederik. "The Knights of Arthur."''' © 1957. ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' January 1958. Coll. ''The Frederik Pohl Omnibus''. London: Gollancz, 1966.'' Tomorrow Times Seven''. New York: Ballantine, 1959. ''Platinum Pohl''. New York: Tor, 2005. Also available as an audiobook, narrated by Edward Miller. |
Post-Apocalypse tale set in a depopulated New York City and featuring, Arthur, a "brain in a bottle" (''Platinum'' 404) — more literally in a kind of can — one of what are more formally called "prosthetics," which, at least for military purposes, replaced computers for command and control (389). Arthur goes on to command and control the ocean liner ''Queen Elizabeth''. He — Arthur is gendered male (as is the story) — can be set up to communicate via electric/electronic typewriter, in which he is something like Don Marquis's Archy the cockroach[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archy_and_Mehitabel]], except Arthur types all CAPS (Archy was limited to lower-case). Cf. and contrast Alcasan the preserved-head "Pragmatometer" in C. S. Lewis's ''[[That Hideous Strength]]'' (1945), Helva the "encapsulated brain" in Anne McCaffrey's ''[[The Ship Who Sang]]'' stories (1961 f.); also ''[[Mayflies]]'' and the works cited there, to which add ''[[We Are Legion (We Are Bob)]]''. | Post-Apocalypse tale set in a depopulated New York City and featuring, Arthur, a "brain in a bottle" (''Platinum'' 404) — more literally in a kind of can — one of what are more formally called "prosthetics," which, at least for military purposes, replaced computers for command and control (389). Arthur goes on to command and control the ocean liner ''Queen Elizabeth''. He — Arthur is gendered male (as is the story) — can be set up to communicate via electric/electronic typewriter, in which he is something like Don Marquis's Archy the cockroach[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archy_and_Mehitabel]], except Arthur types all CAPS (Archy was limited to lower-case). Cf. and contrast Alcasan the preserved-head "Pragmatometer" in C. S. Lewis's ''[[That Hideous Strength]]'' (1945), Helva the "encapsulated brain" in Anne McCaffrey's ''[[The Ship Who Sang]]'' stories (1961 f.); also ''[[Mayflies]]'' and the works cited there, to which add ''[[We Are Legion (We Are Bob)]]''. | ||
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| + | See especially final chapter (ch. 6) for Arthur '''as''' the ''Queen Elizabeth'' and the ''Queen Elizabeth'' as the body of Arthur, which pleases him greatly. | ||
Revision as of 01:03, 26 November 2020
Pohl, Frederik. "The Knights of Arthur." © 1957. Galaxy Science Fiction January 1958. Coll. The Frederik Pohl Omnibus. London: Gollancz, 1966. Tomorrow Times Seven. New York: Ballantine, 1959. Platinum Pohl. New York: Tor, 2005. Also available as an audiobook, narrated by Edward Miller.
Post-Apocalypse tale set in a depopulated New York City and featuring, Arthur, a "brain in a bottle" (Platinum 404) — more literally in a kind of can — one of what are more formally called "prosthetics," which, at least for military purposes, replaced computers for command and control (389). Arthur goes on to command and control the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth. He — Arthur is gendered male (as is the story) — can be set up to communicate via electric/electronic typewriter, in which he is something like Don Marquis's Archy the cockroach[[1]], except Arthur types all CAPS (Archy was limited to lower-case). Cf. and contrast Alcasan the preserved-head "Pragmatometer" in C. S. Lewis's That Hideous Strength (1945), Helva the "encapsulated brain" in Anne McCaffrey's The Ship Who Sang stories (1961 f.); also Mayflies and the works cited there, to which add We Are Legion (We Are Bob).
See especially final chapter (ch. 6) for Arthur as the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Elizabeth as the body of Arthur, which pleases him greatly.
3. FICTION, RDE, 15/X/12; RDE, Title, 14Aug19, 2Sep20
