When one of his captors proposes to fetch a blowtorch, Dalgetty observes that the man's face is entirely impassive. Dalgetty reflects:
"Most of these goons must be moronic... Most of the guards in the twentieth-century extermination camps had been. No inconvenient empathy with the human flesh they broke and flayed and burned." (IV, p. 162)
This is unpleasant to read about. Any more details would be unwelcome. Like Dalgetty, we, the readers, can now look back on the twentieth century. Indeed, we are by now further away from it. Will that century be permanently remembered for its extermination camps and other horrors? My impression, watching the TV news, is that the evils of the twentieth century continue and that none of its lessons have been learned.
The rest of this evening will be devoted to Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance and to Stieg Larsson. Back here next month.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
We need to keep in mind the background or context of many of Anderson's earlier stories. "The Sensitive Man" was first pub. in the November/December 1953 issue of FANTASTIC UNIVERSE. In those early years of his writing career he was still learning, in many ways, how to write or find his true voice as an author. It should not be surprising if some, not all, of Anderson's early works seem crude or harsh, as here in "Sensitive."
Ad astra! Sean
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