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Edgeworks: Collected Ellison: v. 5 (Edgeworks)

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Ah, yes! Return with us to those thrilling days of yesteryear when "politically correct" meant being able to think for yourself. I first was referred to this scathingly accurate view of television by the bibliography section of Stephen King's Danse Macarbe. How is this 30 year old collection of essays relevant to the world of 1998, you ask? Ellison's essays took to task some of the trends that have since become the norm in network programming. Mediocrity is rewarded. Any content that dares to challenge the viewer to think for themself (thereby offending the religious right, the society of blind, left-handed dentists without tonsils, etc.)is pulled off the air. Every few years a "new" show is aired which is just an updated version of an old show with a different cast. (Murphy Brown, basically a modern version of the old Mary Tyler Moore show from the early '70's, to name but one example.)If you're fond of intelligent, provocative criticism, especially in a case where it's been so richly deserved, this is a literary benchmark. A condensed version of these volumes is the author's foreward to "Strange Wine", a viciously sarcastic essay entitled " Revealed at last! What REALLY killed the dinosaurs!( And you don't look too good yourself)" As long as you're at it, pick up a copy of Strange Wine as well. The foreward alone is worth the price of admission. Harlan Ellison pulls no punches in his views of the television industry and certainly can speak from experience, with credits for "The Young Lawyers","The Outer Limits", as well as authoring what many Star Trek fans consider to be the best episode of them all, " The City on the Edge of Forever".

It seems that these two books are destined forever to do battle with their own publication. Due out some months ago, and pre-announced in various publications as available as early as May of this year, once again the Teats seem to somehow struggle with the light of day. My autographed copies of the Popular Library editions from the late '70s must continue to wait for this newest version before being put happily and hermetically to rest once and for all. In the meantime, they serve as reminder fair and foul, proud and profane, incorrigible and indignant, of how far we think we have come and how far we know, though will never admit, we still have to go. If they are not required reading in every college level social science, recent history, and media course, they should be. Ellison's words changed and continue to change the way people think and believe. There can be no higher praise for a writer.

While waiting patiently for this new edition to roll of the presses, I found a copy of "The Other Glass Teat" at my university library. It does not disappoint! Hilarious AND thought provoking, Mr. Ellison knows how to hold our collective faces up to the mirror and show us our own twisted, sad, surreal reality we've created but won't own up to. To top it off these essays are about an EARLIER TV era. Only Harlan can save our souls.

When they first appeared in the early 1970s, THE GLASS TEAT and THE OTHER GLASS TEAT were instant underground classics. These two books collected the speculative-fiction writer (he'll throw things at you if you call him a science-fiction writer or, God help us, a sci-fi writer) Harlan Ellison's television reviews for the LOS ANGELES FREE PRESS. Ellison's reviews set a new standard for brilliant, savagely funny, mordant criticism of the slop poured onto us over the airwaves by those who think they know what we want to see. In many ways, these reviews invented modern television criticism. Unfortunately, they don't stay around long; they've now appeared three times, from three different publishers, and apparently their first publication (1970-1971) was pulled by a nervous publisher. It's good to see them back in print.

I am not a Harlan fan, my husband is. I wanted this for his Christmas, now it's April and no book. I'm curious what the hold up is. Harlan is such a prolific prognosticator I can't imagine what is keeping him from print. I'd love to find out when the book is due. C. Nelson