The German view on: Harry Harrison

The German View… Harry Harrison

Preambel: We want to look behind the work of some British  SF-writers resp. US-authors, who are known as »milestones« of SF-literature ( or at least »mighty pebbles«).

First I want to speak about Harry Harrison.

Naturally  it's my personal view, nevertheless I want to name the column  »the German view«.


Harry HarrsionWhat do I know about Harrys work as a german reader. Mostly I have read his books in german translation, later the english originals. He ist not really one of the great writers who  discuss great problems (especially in one work, which is later discussed) but he is a real tell-tale-writer whose  written adventures  of some characters are entertaining and amusing.

We know of Jimmy deGriz, the „Steelrat“ and his troubles, from  the Sergeant with his  „truble-arm“..., from Deathworld , barbarian world etc which are all  space-adventure-stories very well told.

His best work is „New York 1999“ („Make Room, make Room“) which is the original script for the movie „soylent green“ with Charlton Heston. This is not only a criminal-Story in near (written) future (now in real  its history...) but a social description, if and how social collaboration can or will work, when overcrowding in people will flood over the big cities. Will the charta  of social behaviour conserve its function or will the city and the country be in chaos and only the law of the wolf shall rule?

This book is really his best because for the first time we find a real political statement in it. Superficial the book is only a criminal novel but behind the surface we find the discussion on social behaviour in critical times. So it is a real anti-utopian story which joins itself in the best of this genre.

Kommentare  

#1 Grubert 2016-05-26 10:34
Ist die deutsche TB Ausgabe von Make Room, Make Room eigentlich eine ungekürzte Übersetzung?
#2 AARN MUNRO 2016-05-30 12:18
...dazu kann ich selbst nicht viel sagen...Harrison erschien damals bei Heyne, vielleicht weiß der Verlag mehr...oder der Übersetzter...jedenfalls erschien der Band auch in der weißen Reihe unter SF-Classics neu aufgelegt...man sollte meinen, dass Heyne den Band dann sorgfältiger editiert hat...ein Vergleich mit dem Original liegt mir im Moment nicht vor, das wäre eine interessante Untersuchung wert...

Der Gästezugang für Kommentare wird vorerst wieder geschlossen. Bis zu 500 Spam-Kommentare waren zuviel.

Bitte registriert Euch.

Wir verwenden Cookies, um Inhalte zu personalisieren und die Zugriffe auf unsere Webseite zu analysieren. Indem Sie "Akzeptieren" anklicken ohne Ihre Einstellungen zu verändern, geben Sie uns Ihre Einwilligung, Cookies zu verwenden.