The Golem, by Avram Davidson (1955)

While The Golem is a masterpiece of satirical science fiction, and has the taste of allegory, a science fictional reading of it shows it to be more akin to Ballard's The Drowned Giant than, say, a O. Henry short. This is the curious bit about the science fiction 'megatext' that has always astounded me: not only are new science fiction stories written in tension with the older established classics, the latter ones go back to shed new light on the old. So, for instance, while The Golem could be read as a criticism of the short sightedness of rigid tradition in the face of change, in the light of Ballard's Kafkaesque story, it could also be read as proof that the death of affect that the 20th century was lauded for is not a very modern sensibility at all. Death of affect is just another way of saying that some sensation trumps what is usually considered to generate affect. In case of Ballard, it's the alienation of modern man from his environment thanks to technological distraction. In case of Davidson, it manifests in the age old struggle between myth and the so called clear eyed scientific temperament. A classic, through and through.

Bears comparison to: Nothing per se, but as I said, thematically similar to Ballard's The Drowned Giant.

Rating: *****/5 stars

Year: 1955

Read in: The World Treasury of Science Fiction, ed. David Hartwell