In Crowley's hands, the ironies intrinsicate to the belljar novel are almost unendurably intense. Wilson, on the other hand, tends to treat his post-1912 cast as though they had suddenly become Canadians. They do their best, they love and die and breed and kill and make their gardens grow, on their side of the divide. Wilson brilliantly conducts their lives for us. But of course he knows the truth of his tale.
Reality is somewhere else.
John Clute is a writer, editor, critic and scholar of science fiction. His criticism and reviews have appeared in The New York Times , The Washington Post , Omni , The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction , and other places too numerous to list. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any medium strictly prohibited.