Customer Reviews

The Avram Davidson Treasury: A Tribute Collection

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I hate some of the stories in this book; the remainder leave me gibbering with awestruck, overwhelmed delight. The specific stories a reader might revile or adore (or both) will vary. It's a huge, manifold collection of shorts by one of the best writers in English from...

OK, I'm hesitant to say, "the last century" or "the century recently passed", partly because that's awfully goofy, and partly because I'm not near well-read enough to make such claims with authority. I'm gonna say it anyway. I stumbled upon a copy of a long out of print and svelter collection of Davidson's work (Or All The Seas With Oysters...) at fourteen and I've never been quite the same. He's not the writer whose works I wish I could have written: he is the writer whose works I would have wished I could have written had I been the writer I wished I could have been.

(we see why a writer I am not, Yoda knowingly says)

Davidson had a dear whimsy, a weariness, and a bite that was, dare I say it, very Jewish. When I (re)read his stories I feel as if I (an agnostic Gentile) have magically been allowed to understand & overhear the Yiddish folk yarns the kindly, crusty grandfather spins for the kids while the middle generation shouts in the background.

Davidson wrote as well as Singer. Perhaps better, at his best. No small praise; I know what I am claiming. Do not allow my muddy writing dissuade any reader from buying and luxuriating in this important collection.

Avram Davidson died in 1993. He was, as so often said, one of the great originals. His writing was elegant and complex: always adapted to the voices of his narrators and characters, always at some level humorous even when telling a dark story. He was one of those writers whose stories were always enjoyable just for wallowing in the prose: for its sprung rhythms and fine, out of the way, images. And his stories were enjoyable for wallowing in the atmosphere: for its evocation of exotic place-times, whether it be late '50s New York City or early '70s Belize or turn of the century Scythia-Pannonia-Transbalkania or far future Barnum's Planet, and for its evocation of exotic world-views, and the packing and repacking of wondrous, seemingly inconsequential (though rarely truly so) tidbits of history and unhistory into the backgrounds. And his best stories took these characteristics and harnessed them in the service of well-honed themes or (sometimes) clever plots.

This collection is organized as a retrospective, with the selections placed in order of first appearance. This is, I think, an excellent choice for any collection of this magnitude in that it allows the interested reader to try to track evolutions in the writer's style and thematic concerns over time. (I would suggest, perhaps, that the older Davidson was more prone to explorations of esoterica than the younger, and less often openly angry. Throughout his career he was ready with the comic touch, even in the midst of a darker context. His style was always special, but perhaps grew more involved as he grew older.)

Another feature of this collection is the introductions, by many of Davidson's friends: mostly fellow authors and editors, but also his bibliographer, Henry Wessels, and his son. This represent a significant chunk of "value added": they include some personal reminiscences, some analyses of the work, some elegiac passages. I'll add that the book is nicely and elegantly put together, and that editors Robert Silverberg and Grania Davis (as well as Tor in-house editor Teresa Nielsen Hayden) deserve thanks and applause for working to bring us this book.

But, of course, there is no Avram Davidson Treasury without the stories Avram Davidson wrote, of which 38 are assembled here. And the stories are the only real reason to buy and exult in this book. I'm a big Davidson fan, make no mistake: I come to this review not at all objective, and having reading all but a few of the stories already, many of them several times. At least one, "The Sources of the Nile", is firmly on my personal list of the best SF stories of all time.

There is not space to discuss the delightful stories herein contained. Suffice it to say that this collection is big enough, and varied enough, to whet the appetite of any reader whose ear can be tuned to catch the strains of Davidson's voice. And even this large collection inevitably leaves out many fine stories (the other Eszterhazy and Limekiller stories, "The Lord of Central Park", many more), to say nothing of his engaging collection of essays, Adventures in Unhistory, in which he discusses at length many obscure legends, and their possible bases in fact. So buy it and read it, and very likely you will find yourself searching out the out of print and small press books which house the rest of his work (for now), and very likely too you will be hoping with the rest of us Davidson lovers for a few more treasures to be dug from his papers.

When I read a particularly good short story I look back and try to imprint the author's name on my memory (nowadays with mixed results). As far as science fiction & fantasy goes, the first time this happened was with a story by Avram Davidson, many years ago. As time went by I would notice his name on several memorable works. To say he had a style all his own is not quite right, since he actually had several styles, all fascinating. What I didn't know until fairly recently was that AD was surprisingly obscure, considering his amazing talent and prolificacy (try searching for his work on Amazon).

This collection brings together much of his finest short stories. Each one is chosen and introduced by another writer - Avram was evidently an author's author. While I probably would have made a few different choices, I was grateful to be able to experience many excellent works that I had never seen before. Chances are, even if you're an old Davidson fan, you'll find a few stories that are new to you as well. You would have to search far and wide - and at great expense - to replicate this compilation.

The collection is too long and varied to elaborate on the individual pieces, but suffice it to say, reading Davidson is a real joy. The quality of the story and the effortless technique are something you will see very rarely. The downside of reading a collection like this (are there any like this?) is that it spoils you. Afterwards, most other writers seem flat and uninspired by comparison.

Someone once wrote of Shirley Jackson that she never wrote a bad sentence. The same could be said of Avram Davidson. Although I am not familiar with his longer work, his shorter works are finely polished gems that unwind (to mix a metaphor or two) beautifully. Introduction after introduction uses the words "overlooked" and "underappreciated" a depressing number of times. And, since this is only the 3rd review of this book on Amazon, it doesn't look like Avram is going to become famous again anytime soon. Which is too bad, because his stories are decidedly modern in their execution. What I mean is: a lot of genre stories (mystery, sci-fi, fantasy) don't age well. Rereading older stories by Asimov, Heinlein, Kornbluth, et. al, sometimes causes a gut reaction of "Wow, I can't believe people published this stuff." Not so with this collection. Any one of these stories could be dusted off and published in any modern literary collection with no embarrassment whatsoever. This stuff is GOOD.

Buy, enjoy.

As a long-term reader of science fiction and an admirer of the writings of Avram Davidson the publication of this particular book was, for me, a noteworthy event. I was able to renew my acquaintance with some of the delightful stories I had first read ten to twenty-five years ago. Each story is preceded by a thoughtful introduction by author friends of the late Mr. Davidson. I found these short essays generally very helpful since most of the writers maintained a correspondence with AD and could provide personal insights and biographical data related to the stories.

The 38 stories are grouped chronologically by the decade in which they were published; Fifties to Nineties. I noticed that the excellent Ray Bradbury afterward had been used as an introduction to another out-of-print AD collection, Strange Seas and Shores, Doubleday, 1971.

My only grouse is that I wish the editors had included a listing of the titles of AD books, novels and short story collections. Thank you editors Silverberg and Davis, a beautiful book and a fitting tribute to "one of the finest short story writers ever to use the English language"...Robert Silverberg.

When reviewing collections and anthologies, there are two approaches that are commonly used: 1) if it is a short book, to mention briefly each of the stories in the book; 2) if it is a longer book, to touch on a few of the best works therein. With The Avram Davidson Treasury, neither approach is viable. At 37 stories, it's too long to mention all of the stories; and it's impossible to pick out the best stories because, unbelievably, they're nearly all superb. Davidson writes with wit, erudition, stylistic verve, and imagination. While I'll admit that I had never heard of him before I bought this book -- I bought it on the strength of the sheer number of good writers who thought the book good enough to write glowing story introductions (including Ellison, Gibson, Le Guin, Beagle, Wilhelm, Wolfe, Disch, Pohl, Benford, Knight, Swanwick, Bradbury...) -- I now consider such ignorance appalling. Davidson is easily one of the best writers SF has produced, and this collection is filled with masterpiece after masterpiece after stunning masterpiece.

is the irresistible title of one of the master's longest stories; most are just a few pages of erudition, controlled horror or bizarre humor. This is a brilliant collection that rescues many little jewels from dusty old sci-fi anthologies.

Still targets a squarely middle brow audience. Also, seems very dated, rooted in the '50's.

Most of the stories are of the "Twilight Zone"/"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" form and structure. I.e., creepy setting, followed by twist ending. And this is more of a fantasy and supernatural book than science fiction.

There is a lot of erudition on display here, but it is the fussy, showy kind often displayed by the autodidact. The pace and economy of some of the stories suffer because unnecessary erudition is packed in with everything else.