review of
C. M. Kornbluth's Not This August
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - November 28, 2011


The front cover review excerpt from the Chicago Tribune reads: "The most shockingly realistic science fiction book since Orwell's '1984' - establishes Kornbluth as one of the best writers in the futuristic field." I find that review to be both flattering & a little odd. How many people at the time considered 1984 to be "realistic"? & is/was 1984 even a "science fiction book"? It seems that such a comparison was a potentially sly way of valuing Not This August & of sneaking 1984 in thru the back door of apparent Red Scare fiction.

At any rate, this IS a Red Scare novel.. at the same time that it's a pacifist one. It does seem like a realistic depiction of what a successful invasion of the US by the USSR & China might've been like at the time (set for approximately 10 yrs into the future from the 1955 publishing of the novel) that details all sorts of possible variations: some invaders who aren't harsh, some who are, American girls dating Russian soldiers, greed & treachery, underground resistance, starving overworked farmers, interrogation torture, etc..

But it's definitely NOT a Mickey Spillane / Mike Hammer take on the thing. The friendly neighbors of the protagonist turn out to be secret communist organizers who're immediately shot by the socialist invaders - to their surprise. The person who immediately gets into the best position w/ the invaders is the viciously capitalist storekeeper. The 'hero' is a guy who just sortof gets sucked into the whole mess against his somewhat weak-willed better judgment. The Americans are shown to make some horrific decisions. & the character who ultimately comes thru as the most sane is someone immediately established as a pain-in-the-ass.

All in all, the pacifism is precisely in the realism. People are shown reacting in believable ways, the resistance comes about as much as a result of an inability to cope any more w/ the harshness of the conditions - people become 'heros' out of desperation. Sympathy is, not surprisingly, w/ the invaded peoples - after all, who wdn't want to overthrow invaders? & it's possible that the invaded 'win' at the end. But the ultimate message of the novel seems to be that as long as human behavior continues as warlike as it has, humanity's stuck in a rut that merely 'winning' a battle will never solve. &, of course, some people have probably been concluding this for a very long time. So where are we? Still embroiled in as much war as ever. ( )

Bleakest SF Author Writes Something not That Bleak: “Not This August” by Cyril M. Kornbluth, Fred Pohl Published 1981.
 
 
‘“Satagraha,” Mr. Sparhawk said absently. “Soul force. It works, you know. Most of the time, that is. Their tendency is to assume that one’s probably all right and that anyway it’s not business of theirs.’
 
What I wouldn’t have given to read this without Pohl’s hand at re-writing…
 
I just want to say this. Just because I read and now I’m watching 11.22.63 a note to time travelers: I advise going back back to 1958, renting a car, and giving Kornbluth a lift. He has been shoveling snow out of the way all morning…
 
If you're into Vintage SF, read on. ( )

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1C0GTK4SZ37XE/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm ( )