Line #124 Literature/DangerousVisions


1	[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dangerou_visions_1967_cover.jpeg]]
2
3	->''"What you hold in your hands is more than a book. If we are lucky, it is a revolution."''
4	-->-- '''Harlan Ellison''', from "Introduction: Thirty-Two Soothsayers"
5
6	Creator/HarlanEllison wasn't one to think small. The fact that the above quote -- the first paragraph of his original introduction to this book -- is, if anything, a major ''understatement'', says a helluva lot.
7
8	In the 1960s, Ellison had the idea of putting together a science-fiction anthology. But not just any ordinary anthology -- his mad scheme was to collect stories from the best writers in the field. And not just ANY stories -- he wanted stories that were, well, simply too ''dangerous'' to get published anywhere else.
9
10	To cite just one example, from Creator/DamonKnight's afterword to "Shall the Dust Praise Thee?":
11
12	-> "This story was written some years ago, and all I remember about it is that my then agent returned it with loathing, and told me I might possibly sell it to the ''[[DirtyCommunists Atheist Journal]]'' in Moscow, but nowhere else."
13
14	The book also features not one but ''two'' forewords by Creator/IsaacAsimov and introductions to each story by Ellison, who talks about the writer, and an afterword by each writer regarding the story. This gives the reader an immense feeling of the community surrounding science-fiction, and was itself a big part of why the anthology was so well-received. Illustrations by Leo and Diane Dillon accompany each story.
15
16	Published in 1967, ''Dangerous Visions'' won a truckload of awards, and Ellison got a special citation at the 26th World SF Convention for editing "the most significant and controversial SF book published in 1967". And it's gone on to be perhaps ''[[FamedInStory the]]'' [[FamedInStory most influential science-fiction anthology of all time]].
17
18	It had a sequel anthology called ''Literature/AgainDangerousVisions'' (1971), and Ellison was working on a third collection, to be called ''The Last Dangerous Visions'', right up until his death, but... well, [[BerserkButton he didn't care to talk about it much]] (although Creator/{{Christopher Priest\|Novelist}} was [[http://web.archive.org/web/20000902203835/http://sf.www.lysator.liu.se/sf_archive/sf-texts/Ansible/Last_Deadloss_Visions,Chris_Priest more than happy to]]). Creator/JMichaelStraczynski is currently working on putting together the third book, which is slated for publication in autumn 2024.
19
20	----
21	!!Tropes Associated with the Anthology Itself:
22	* DividedForPublication:
23	** The Creator/BerkleyMedallion reprints of ''Dangerous Visions'' from 1969 are three paperback volumes. The same division was used by {{Creator/Sphere}} for British publication.
24	** Creator/DavidBruceAndWatson reprinted ''Dangerous Visions'' for the British market, and divided it into two volumes.
25	** The German translation of ''Dangerous Visions'' by {{Creator/Heyne}} are two paperback volumes (with the titles ''15 Science Fiction-Stories'' and ''15 Science Fiction-Stories II'').
26	** The Creator/{{Signet}}[=/=]Creator/NewAmericanLibrary paperback reprints divided ''Again, Dangerous Visions'' into two volumes. This division was reused by Creator/PanBooks for release in England.
27	* DoorStopper:
28	** ''Dangerous Visions'': This book was originally released with 520 pages. It is frequently DividedForPublication in reprints, split into two-three volumes.
29	** ''Again, Dangerous Visions'': This book was originally released with 760 pages. It is usually [[DividedForPublication reprinted in two volumes]]
30	** ''The Last Dangerous Visions'': [[WhatCouldHaveBeen If it had ever been released]], it would've included over 100 stories of varying length. (Based on the June 1979 issue of ''{{Magazine/Locus}}''.)
31	* NewWaveScienceFiction: The collection helped crystalize the New Wave movement as an international thing, rather than a primarily British movement as it had been up till then.
32	* UnconventionalFormatting: In one of the introductions, Creator/HarlanEllison complains about the author creating an unconventional layout for the story they submitted. That original manuscript was rejected, but Ellison did accept a different one. Entire pages of the first submission went something like:
33	-->They tramped on through the day.\
34	Tramp\
35	Tramp\
36	Tramp\
37	Tramp\
38	Tramp\
39	They tramped on through the night.
40
41	----
42	!!Tropes found in the Stories in ''Dangerous Visions'':
43	The tropes found in each story (as well as in the introductions and afterwords) are listed under the story in question.
44	* '''"Evensong" by Creator/LesterDelRey'''
45	** FingerWag: Done to [[spoiler:GOD]].
46	%%** HumansAreBastards:
47	%%** OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions:
48
49	* '''"Flies" by Creator/RobertSilverberg'''
50	** AliensAreBastards: The "golden ones" are an [[InvertedTrope inversion]] to AlwaysChaoticEvil aliens. They are benevolent enough (the narrator even refers to them as "humanitarian") to take the time and effort to heal Cassidy when basically all that was left of him was his brain. In return, all they ask is that Cassidy help them study humans and give him the ability to transmit the feelings of others. Once Cassidy completely abuses these powers by causing pain and suffering to others, they forcibly call him back and remove his powers.
51	** AGodAmI: Cassiday.
52	** FantasticAnthropologist: A human space traveler crash-lands on the planet of a race who are [[HigherTechSpecies able to save him with their advanced medicine]]. In return, they enable him to transmit the feelings of others so that they can study humans, but tragedy ensues when this enables him to inflict grievous suffering without experiencing any effects of remorse.
53	** HoistByHisOwnPetard:
54	** KickTheDog: Cassidy does this to each of his ex-wives in increasingly cruel ways. The first ex-wife is in rehab to kick an addiction to a very dangerous drug, so Cassidy goes out and buys her some (with the implication being that she'll soon overdose). The second ex-wife dearly loves her alien pet, so Cassidy wrings its neck and kills it. When he goes to his third ex-wife and discovers that she's finally pregnant after years of fertility treatments, he ''beats her until she miscarries'' (or, at least, the baby will be born severely handicapped).
55	%%** PersonOfMassDestruction: Cassiday.
56	** ShoutOut: The title is a reference to a line from ''Theatre/KingLear'':
57	--->''As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods--''\
58	''they kill us for their sport.''
59
60	* '''"Literature/TheDayAfterTheDayTheMartiansCame" by Creator/FrederikPohl'''
61	%%** HumansAreMorons
62
63	* '''"Literature/RidersOfThePurpleWage" by Creator/PhilipJoseFarmer (UsefulNotes/HugoAward for best novella)'''
64	%%** FreudianExcuse: Introduced, subverted, parodied to hell and back, all at the same time.%%Fantastic. How?
65	** LiteraryAllusionTitle:
66	*** The section, "Sing, O Mews, of Uncle Sam", is a reference to ''Literature/TheOdyssey''.
67	*** The section, "The Ancient Marinator", is a reference to ''Literature/TheRimeOfTheAncientMariner''.
68	*** The section, "Sexual Implications of The Charge of the Light Brigade", is a reference to a famous poem by Creator/AlfredLordTennyson, "Literature/TheChargeOfTheLightBrigade".
69	*** The section, "The Mad P Party", is a reference to ''Literature/AliceInWonderland''.
70	** PungeonMaster: [[AuthorAppeal Farmer himself]], but also some of the characters in the story.
71	** RecycledInSpace: It's FinnegansWake... InSpace
72	** WorldOfPun: This story is actually almost a stream-of-consciousness of amazing puns and literary references.
73
74	* '''"The Malley System" by Miriam Allen deFord'''
75	** AmbiguousGenderIdentity: it's unclear whenever cannibal man or woman.
76	** AndIMustScream: victims of Malley System are all had to be transferred to a mental hospital.
77	** FantasticRacism: apparently, in the future there are parks for 'Humans only'.
78	** FateWorseThanDeath:
79	** ExactWords: previous prison warden died from heart attack, or, to quote the story, "right through the heart".
80	** ImAHumanitarian: one of criminals practices cannibalism because they aren't satisfied with future food.
81	** PaedoHunt: one of the criminals is pedophile.
82	** SanitySlippage: result of Malley System. But hey, zero recidivism rate!
83	** SerialKiller: cannibal apparently killed and ate 78 victims.
84	** ThePunishmentIsTheCrime: downplayed. Criminals are forced to relive their crime until they feel sick from it.
85	** TilMurderDoUsPart: one of the murders.
86
87	* '''"A Toy for Juliette" by Creator/RobertBloch'''
88	** AnachronismStew: Harlan, on the idea for the story, described how "the image of a creature of Whitechapel fog and filth, the dark figure of Leather Apron, skulking through a sterile and automated city of the future, was an anachronism that fascinated me."
89	%%** GallowsHumor:
90	%%** HistoricalInJoke: Benjamin Bathurst, "that American aviatrix", and the crew of the ''Marie Celeste''. To name just a few...%%Explain.
91	%%** HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Juliette.]]
92	%%** PersonOfMassDestruction: Juliette.
93	** ShoutOut: Grandfather named his "granddaughter" after the titular character of the Creator/MarquisDeSade's ''Literature/{{Juliette}}'', due to their similar personalities and interests of rape, torture, and murder.
94	%%** TwistEnding:
95	** WickedCultured: "Grandfather" is an antiquarian whose greatest personal interest is in the times before TheGreatOffscreenWar and the atomic revolution, and can be heard talking about how he'd rather what's left of humanity die already. He [[OffingTheOffspring killed Juliette's parents]] for the TimeMachine he used to really make the most of things.
96
97	* '''"Literature/TheProwlerInTheCityAtTheEdgeOfTheWorld" by Creator/HarlanEllison'''
98	--> Harlan's story is a sequel to "A Toy for Juliette". So Bloch writes the profile of Harlan preceding the story...
99	%%** AndIMustScream: Not the TropeNamer, but it ''is'' Harlan, after all...%%ZCE
100	** CrapsackWorld:
101	** DrivenToMadness:
102	%%** EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Jack, as it turns out.%%ZCE
103	** {{Gorn}}:
104	** FutureSlang:
105	%%** PersonOfMassDestruction: Jack.
106	** PrecisionFStrike:
107	--->"''He wants to fuck the Reverend Mr. Barnett's wife.''"
108	%%** SympathyForTheDevil: Sympathy for the Ripper.
109
110	* '''"The Night That All Time Broke Out" by Creator/BrianWAldiss'''
111	** FantasticDrug: Time itself is used as a drug.
112	%%** TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt:
113	%%** OurTimeTravelIsDifferent:
114
115	* '''"The Man Who Went to the Moon -- Twice" by HowardRodman'''
116
117	* '''"Literature/FaithOfOurFathers" by Creator/PhilipKDick'''
118	** BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: The EldritchAbomination in question turns out to be God, and the minor wound the hero received in the encounter ends up being fatal. However, it's seen as a vaguely optimistic outcome, as it's hinted that rebellion is impossible, so his minor act of defiance (in punching Cthulhu in the face) is a victory for the human spirit. After he is "branded" as a result with a deadly sore, which slowly spreads over his body, he chooses to ignore it and spend his last night alive making love with his girlfriend as an act of humanity, denying Cthulhu a moral victory.
119	** ChinaTakesOverTheWorld: The story is a particularly bizarre and unsettling riff on%%Incomplete.
120	** DirtyCommunists: Dick speculated the Cold War might turn out with%%Incomplete.
121	** DownerEnding:
122	** AFormYouAreComfortableWith: {{Subverted\|Trope}}
123	** GainaxEnding: "Faith of Our Fathers" might be Creator/PhilipKDick's most confounding story. Is it a satire of Communist society? An exploration of the true meaning of religion? Or a role reversal on LSD culture? Who can tell? The great communist leader is actually God in human form, and you can only see his true form(s) (a series of grotesque monstrosities) when you take thorizen, the "antidote" to LSD.
124	** GodIsEvil: Or, as the protagonist puts it, "good and evil at the same time" (or BlueAndOrangeMorality).
125	** HigherUnderstandingThroughDrugs: The main character, a loyal member of a PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny, takes a drug that makes him perceive his country's dictator as an evil, inhuman being. Except it turns out this isn't a metaphor; the dictator really ''is'' an inhuman monster, and everyone in the world is drugged so that they hallucinate he's a human being. The main character was actually given an ''[[InvertedTrope anti]]''-hallucinogen, and so, for a brief time, was the only ''non''-drug addled person on the planet and able to see the dictator for what he really is.
126	%%** ReligionOfEvil:
127	%%** ReligiousHorror:
128	%%** ScaryAmoralReligion:
129	** SeeThruSpecs: An anti-hallucinogenic drug [[spoiler:that neutralizes the hallucinogen in the water that makes everybody perceive the Party Leader as a human being. In actuality, it's not clear exactly what he is, but it's implied that he's some kind of godlike entity that feeds on humanity]].
130
131	* '''"The Jigsaw Man" by Creator/LarryNiven'''
132	** ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: [[spoiler:This ''is'' the TwistEnding of the story]].
133	** DisproportionateRetribution: [[spoiler: death penalty for driving on red light]].
134
135	* '''"Literature/GonnaRollTheBones" by Creator/FritzLeiber (got both the UsefulNotes/HugoAward and UsefulNotes/NebulaAward for Best Novelette)'''
136	** DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Joe tackling [[TheDevil the Big Gambler]]. [[spoiler:Which turns out to be some kind of magic doll made of bread, but it's pretty awesome nonetheless.]]
137	** TheGamblingAddict: Joe Slattermill is this, but his ParanormalGamblingAdvantage means that his addiction is not as big of a problem as it usually would be.
138	%%** GameFace:
139	** ParanormalGamblingAdvantage: Slattermill has some kind of extraordinary ability to throw things in a perfect way, notably to get whatever dice roll he wants.
140	%%** PsychoticSmirk:
141	%%** ScaryShinyEyes:
142
143	* '''"Lord Randy, My Son" by Creator/JoeLHensley'''
144	-->Harlan's introduction to Joe L. Hensley is one giant rollicking ride of [[PlayedForLaughs undistilled hilarity]].
145	** [[spoiler:{{Antichrist}}]]: Implied.
146	** CameBackWrong: One boy killed a goldfish. The number of goldfish in the pond didn't change, but one of them has a different color and shape.
147	** CreepyChild: His own father finds Randall unnerving.
148	** FriendToAllLivingThings: Randall.
149	** EnfantTerrible: Randall. Boys who threw rocks at him had fallen into the well. Through he doesn't seem to control it consciously.
150	** HealingHands: Randall attempts it on his father, who sufferes from cancer, but it doesn't help - or doesn't help fully, since Sam still needs painkillers.
151	** KidsAreCruel: They bully Randall, including hurting his animals-- squirrel and goldfish.
152
153	* '''"Eutopia" by Creator/PoulAnderson'''
154	** AlternateHistory: The protagonist is from a North America that was colonized by Ancient Greece, and he visits an alternate timeline where Viking and Magyar settlers cohabit with Native Americans. The protagonist also visited our timeline in a previous mission, and has nothing good to say about it.
155	%%** {{Dystopia}}:
156	%%** GivingRadioToTheRomans:
157	%%** HeroicFantasy: Deconstructed.%%How?
158	** HerosMuse: The protagonist is on the run and only keeps going due to his dreams of his lover Niki, [[spoiler:who turns out to be a boy]].
159	%%** {{Utopia}}:
160
161	* '''"Literature/IncidentInModeran" by Creator/DavidRBunch'''
162
163	* '''"Literature/TheEscaping" by Creator/DavidRBunch'''
164
165	* '''"The Doll-House" by Creator/JamesCross'''
166	** PropheciesAreAlwaysRight: The Oracle's predictions are never wrong. However, she's very sneaky with the wording; not only are the prophesies usually written in Latin or Ancient Greek (or some other dead language), they often contain cryptic references instead of actual answers. If she's not happy with you, she'll also mislead you while the prediction is still technically true.
167	** {{Seers}}: "The Doll-House" involves a shrunken oracle (or sibyl) from ancient Greece.
168
169	* '''"Sex and/or Mr. Morrison" by Creator/CarolEmshwiller'''
170	%%** FeministFantasy:
171
172	* '''"Shall the Dust Praise Thee?" by Creator/DamonKnight'''
173	** ReligiousHorror: Can be read as this.
174	** TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: The plot of the story.
175
176	* '''"If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister?" by Creator/TheodoreSturgeon'''
177
178	* '''"What Happened to Auguste Clarot?" by Creator/LarryEisenberg'''
179	%%** HistoricalInJoke:
180
181	* '''"Ersatz" by Creator/HenrySlesar'''
182	** ClosestThingWeGot: Because of wartime shortages, ''everything'' is a substitute for what it's purported to be. ''Everything.''
183	** FanDisservice: The ending.
184
185	* '''"Go, Go, Go, Said the Bird" by Creator/SonyaDorman'''
186	** AntagonisticOffspring: [[spoiler: The heroine]] is hunted down by her son and daughter-in-law.
187	%%** DownerEnding:
188	** IAmAHumanitarian: Apparently, everyone has resorted to cannibalism due to poor living conditions.
189	** ProtagonistCenteredMorality: The protagonist is willing to accept [[IAmAHumanitarian cannibalism]], but is shocked when she herself becomes a candidate.
190
191	* '''"The Happy Breed" by Creator/JohnSladek'''
192	%%** AndIMustScream:
193	%%** TerminallyDependentSociety:
194
195	* '''"Encounter with a Hick" by Creator/JonathanBrand'''
196	%%** AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: InUniverse example of ''[[Literature/TheBible God]]''.
197	%%** HistoricalInJoke:
198	** NoodleIncident: From Harlan's introduction:
199	--->"[Jonathan Brand] was lying there propped on his elbows, a blade of grass in his mouth, watching half a dozen of the older, more sophisticated giants of the science fiction field dousing each other with beer from quart bottles on the lawn of Damon Knight's home.\
200	"Kindness forbids my explaining why Jim Blish, Ted Thomas, Damon and Gordy Dickson were cavorting in such an unseemly manner..."
201
202	* '''"From the Government Printing Office" by Creator/KrisNeville'''
203
204	* '''"Land of the Great Horses" by Creator/RALafferty'''
205	%%** AllMythsAreTrue:
206	** PlanetLooters: A group of aliens stole the native land of the Romani for the purposes of experimentation. They do the same to [[spoiler:Los Angeles]].
207
208	* '''"The Recognition" by Creator/JGBallard'''
209	%%** CircusOfFear:
210
211	* '''"Judas" by Creator/JohnBrunner'''
212	** CrystalDragonJesus: "Judas" has Android Jesus.
213	** DeusEstMachina: In "Judas", there's a SympathyForTheDevil moment when the man branded with the title-name gives the following monologue to A-46:
214	--->"We've been slaves to our tools since the first caveman made the first knife to help him get his supper. After that there was no going back, and we built till our machines were ten million times more powerful than ourselves. We gave ourselves cars when we might have learned to run; we made airplanes when we might have grown wings; and then the inevitable. We made a machine our God."
215	%%** DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:
216	%%** FindingJudas: "[[DontExplainTheJoke Not even gonna touch this one...]]%%Explain, actually.
217	** FirstChurchOfMecha: The church of the Word Made Steel, which worships a machine built to be God.
218	%%** MessianicArchetype:
219	** NoSuchThingAsSpaceJesus: Don't tell A-46 that there's No Such Thing As Robot Jesus.
220	%%** RobotReligion:
221	%%** RuleOfSymbolism: [[spoiler:If you're an android...]]%%What?
222	%%** StopWorshippingMe:
223
224	* '''"Test to Destruction" by Creator/KeithLaumer'''
225	%%** DrivenToMadness: Almost.
226	%%** TortureCellar:
227
228	* '''"Literature/CarcinomaAngels" by Creator/NormanSpinrad'''
229	** TheAce: There seems to be nothing that Harrison Wintergreen can't accomplish once he decides to, from making 100 million dollars by the time he's 25, to toppling and replacing governments, to eradicating syphilis just to become famous. The main story is how he sets out to cure his own "incurable" cancer [[spoiler:and succeeds... at a price]].
230	** BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: Wintergreen's fight with his cancer is represented as a series of battles inside a metaphorical representation of his body.
231	** BreadEggsMilkSquick: "Novocain; morphine; curare; ''vlut'', a rare Central Asian poison which induced temporary blindness; [[NoodleImplements olfactorcain, a top-secret smell-deadener used by skunk farmers]]; tympanoline, a drug which temporarily deadened the auditory nerves (used primarily by filibustering senators); a large dose of Benzedrinel lysergic acid; psilocybin; mescaline; peyote extract; seven other highly experimental and most illegal hallucinogens; EyeOfNewt and [[UnfortunateIngredients toe of dog]]."
232	** ConMan: Wintergreen's first 100 million dollars are made largely by trading with embargoed countries and manipulating people into wanting to buy his stuff.
233	%%** CrazyPrepared: Harrison Wintergreen is%%Incomplete
234	** HigherUnderstandingThroughDrugs: "Carcinoma Angels" features someone trying to do this in an attempt to use the higher understanding of his own body functions and mental state to cure cancer. [[spoiler: It ''works'', but now he can't find his way out into the physical world again.]]
235	** JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind: The protagonist goes on a journey into his own mind to attempt to cure his cancer. It works, but in a twist ending [[spoiler: he can't find his way back out and spends the rest of his life in a coma]].
236	%%** ToHellAndBack:
237
238	* '''"Auto-da-Fé" by Creator/RogerZelazny'''
239
240	* '''"Aye, and Gomorrah..." by Creator/SamuelRDelany (UsefulNotes/NebulaAward for best short story, 1967)'''
241	** AmbiguousGender: The protagonist encounters a man who thinks they used to be a man, and a woman who thinks they used to be a woman.
242	** ExoticEquipment: The Spacers have been artificially neutered in some fashion, although ''how'' is only implied.

Context Literature / DangerousVisions