American Science Fiction Four Classic Novels 1953-56
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365.22 Fermi] Enrico Fermi (1901–1954), Italian-born physicist who contributed to the development of the atomic bomb.
365.24 Landowska . . . Ford] Wanda Landowska (1879–1959), Polishborn harpsichordist; Henry Ford (1863–1947), American industrialist known for pioneering the manufacturing assembly line.
THE LONG TOMORROW
414.12–13 whited sepulchers . . . Bible] See Matthew 23:27.
424.12 Nahum . . . bloody city.] See Nahum 3:1 on the “bloody city,” Nineveh.
469.15–16 Mine eyes have seen . . . Lord.] The opening line of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” (1862), by Julia Ward Howe (1819–1910).
542.2–3 Democritus] Greek philosopher (c. 460–370 bce) who with his tutor Leucippus first proposed the theory that all matter was composed of irreducibly small “atoms” in definable structures.
THE SHRINKING MAN
585.1 THE SHRINKING MAN] Matheson added the following introduction to the novel, addressed “To the Reader,” when it was published in a new edition in 2001:
While I have told this story many a number of times in past interviews, it has never been an introduction to the novel itself, which is appropriate at this time.
How did I get the idea for this story? As in most cases in my early days of writing, I got it from a movie. The film starred Ray Milland and featured Aldo Ray. In one scene, Ray Milland leaves Ray’s apartment angrily and, by mistake, puts on Ray’s hat instead of his own. Ray’s head being considerably larger than Milland’s, the hat immediately comes down over Milland’s ears and eyes. My immediate thought—and it was immediate—was “What if a man put on his own hat and had the same thing happen and realized that his head was smaller than it had been before?”
The rest followed in its course. I prepared an outline while my family and I were living in Gardena, California.
We moved to New York in 1954 and, after living briefly in Bay Shore on Long Island, rented a small house on the north shore of the island in a community called South Beach which was a little east of Port Jefferson. The house had a cellar in it reached by going down outside steps with folding doors over them. I decided that this would be an ideal location for the section of the novel—the major one—where my hero was imprisoned and getting smaller every day, his life endangered not only by the prospect of disappearing altogether but by the menace of being killed by a black widow spider before he disappeared.
It was down in this cellar that I actually wrote the novel. Not only was it quiet and isolated from the children but also it had an environment that I could use continuously. I did not have to keep notes on the environment. It was right there and all I had to do was imagine what my shrinking man would do from day to day. There was even the half stone wall with a piece of cake on it. There was no spider web since I knew that black widows did not display themselves at all but hid under things. I did not visualize a tarantula; I don’t think one would find one on the north shore of Long Island. That came later in the movie.
Every morning, after breakfast, I would bundle up (it was cold in that cellar) and go down to where I had an old rocking chair I sat on with my pad and pencil and wrote what occurred to me that day. It was interesting for me to imagine how my protagonist would make use of what was in the cellar. I changed nothing in the environment, just used it for my story. I have used this method of writing a novel in Hunger and Thirst and what became Somewhere in Time. It is an intriguing way to write a novel; to actually be there in the environment you are writing about. Very stimulating to the imagination. Even more so to make use of unexpected occurrences. For instance, the first time I heard the furnace in the cellar kick on, I thought of how startling the sound would be to my little man. His reactions were, of course, my own, his thoughts my own. But, in a strange way, they were his; I was just an observer describing what he was doing and thinking.
After a brief submission, the book was purchased by Gold Medal and published.
Although I had grown up back east in Brooklyn, I had been (well, since I was old enough to be aware of them) fascinated with movies and had a dream about writing for them. When I was seventeen, I wrote a letter to Val Lewton praising his films and telling him that I figured out several methods he used to frighten people that were based on the craft of frightening people unexpectedly. He answered my letter graciously and told me that he and his editor Mark Robson, were “delighted” by my observing what they did in their films. I would have been overwhelmed
to learn that, someday in the future, Jacques Tourneur would actually be directing a script of mine.
While living in Los Angeles from 1951–1954, I made various attempts to get script assignments none of which succeeded. I came to the conclusion that, the only way I would ever get such an assignment, would be to sell Hollywood a novel and demand the right to write the screenplay.
That is the way it worked out. I had an agent in Los Angeles named Al Manuel who submitted the manuscript of The Shrinking Man to a party [sic]. When we arrived, my mother, who was watching our two children, was lying on the couch in the small living room. She rose up on one elbow and said “Hollywood beckons.”
I telephoned Al Manuel and discovered that I could, indeed, do the script. I’m sure they figured it would be an unsatisfactory first draft, which they could have re-written by one of their contract writers.
Fortunately, it did not work out that way. The script got me started in the movie business. To make use of Oliver Onions’ title, I was ready for “The Beckoning Fair One.”
669.1 acromicria] Condition characterized by abnormally small extremities.
When I went to the studio to watch them shooting the film, I met its director Jack Arnold (who became a friend) and was taken back by the unusual resemblance of the cellar set to the cellar I had written the book in. It was an intriguing déjà vu.
I hope you find the novel interesting to read. Structurally, it is different from the film, which, at the time, disturbed me. I now accept it since the film has come to be regarded as a minor science-fiction classic. But, if you have only seen the film, you may find its novel genesis interesting to examine.
586.2 Harry Altshuler] Altshuler (1913–1990) was Matheson’s literary agent.
586.4 Dr. Sylvia Traube] Traube (1909–1989), a physician and psychiatrist, was a researcher in the field of somatotypology, which explored the relationships between physiognomy and character.
640.1 Fermez la porte] French: “close the door.”
640.16 My kingdom for a match!”] See Richard III, V.iv.7.
641.2 Od’s bodkins] British slang, probably from the Tudor period, meaning “God’s body”; an oath.
641.3–4 “God’s hooks!”] British slang, referring to the nails on the cross where Jesus was crucified; often contracted as gadzooks.
641.20 comprends] French: “understand.”
644.19 “Good night, sweet prince,”] See Hamlet, V.ii.343.
687.12 ACTH] Adrenocorticotropic hormone, also referred to as corticotropin, a hormone produced in and released from the pituitary gland. 701.36–37 And it shall . . . sweet as honey.] See Revelation 10:9.
718.1–2 “If I loved you . . . say . . .”] Song from Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein III’s popular stage musical Carousel, which premiered in
1945.
THE LIBRARY OF AMERICA SERIES
The Library of America fosters appreciation and pride in America’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, authoritative editions of America’s best and most significant writing. An independent nonprofit organization, it was founded in 1979 with seed funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation.
1. Herman Melville: Typee, Omoo, Mardi
2. Nathaniel Hawthorne: Tales and Sketches
3. Walt Whitman: Poetry and Prose
4. Harriet Beecher Stowe: Three Novels
5. Mark Twain: Mississippi Writings
6. Jack London: Novels and Stories
7. Jac
k London: Novels and Social Writings
8. William Dean Howells: Novels 1875–1886
9. Herman Melville: Redburn,
White-Jacket, Moby-Dick
10. Nathaniel Hawthorne: Collected Novels 11. Francis Parkman: France and England in North America, vol. I 12. Francis Parkman: France and England in North America, vol. II 13. Henry James: Novels 1871–1880
14. Henry Adams: Novels, Mont Saint Michel, The Education
15. Ralph Waldo Emerson: Essays and Lectures
16. Washington Irving: History, Tales and Sketches
17. Thomas Jefferson: Writings
18. Stephen Crane: Prose and Poetry 19. Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales 20. Edgar Allan Poe: Essays and Reviews 21. Mark Twain: The Innocents Abroad, Roughing It
22. Henry James: Literary Criticism: Essays, American & English Writers 23. Henry James: Literary Criticism: European Writers & The Prefaces 24. Herman Melville: Pierre, Israel Potter, The Confidence-Man, Tales & Billy Budd
25. William Faulkner: Novels 1930–1935 26. James Fenimore Cooper: The Leatherstocking Tales, vol. I
27. James Fenimore Cooper: The Leatherstocking Tales, vol. II
28. Henry David Thoreau: A Week, Walden, The Maine Woods, Cape Cod 29. Henry James: Novels 1881–1886
30. Edith Wharton: Novels
31. Henry Adams: History of the U.S. during the Administrations of Jefferson 32. Henry Adams: History of the U.S. during the Administrations of Madison 66. American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century, Vol. 1
67. American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century, Vol. 2
68. Frederick Douglass: Autobiographies 69. Sarah Orne Jewett: Novels and Stories
70. Ralph Waldo Emerson: Collected Poems and Translations
71. Mark Twain: Historical Romances
72. John Steinbeck: Novels and Stories 1932–1937
73. William Faulkner: Novels 1942–1954
74. Zora Neale Hurston: Novels and Stories
75. Zora Neale Hurston: Folklore, Memoirs, and Other Writings
76. Thomas Paine: Collected Writings
77. Reporting World War II: American Journalism 1938–1944
78. Reporting World War II: American Journalism 1944–1946
79. Raymond Chandler: Stories and Early Novels
80. Raymond Chandler: Later Novels and Other Writings
81. Robert Frost: Collected Poems, Prose, & Plays
82. Henry James: Complete Stories 1892–1898
83. Henry James: Complete Stories 1898–1910 84. William Bartram: Travels and Other Writings
85. John Dos Passos: U.S.A.
86. John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath and Other Writings 1936–1941
87. Vladimir Nabokov: Novels and Memoirs 1941–1951
88. Vladimir Nabokov: Novels 1955–1962
89. Vladimir Nabokov: Novels 1969–1974
90. James Thurber: Writings and Drawings
91. George Washington: Writings
92. John Muir: Nature Writings
93. Nathanael West: Novels and Other Writings
94. Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1930s and 40s
95. Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s 96. Wallace Stevens: Collected Poetry and Prose
97. James Baldwin: Early Novels and Stories
98. James Baldwin: Collected Essays 99. Gertrude Stein: Writings 1903–1932 100. Gertrude Stein: Writings 1932–1946 101. Eudora Welty: Complete Novels 102. Eudora Welty: Stories, Essays, & Memoir 103. Charles Brockden Brown: Three Gothic Novels
104. Reporting Vietnam: American Journalism 1959–1969
144. Ezra Pound: Poems and Translations 145. James Weldon Johnson: Writings 146. Washington Irving: Three Western Narratives
147. Alexis de Tocqueville: Democracy in America
148. James T. Farrell: Studs Lonigan: A Trilogy 149. Isaac Bashevis Singer: Collected Stories I 150. Isaac Bashevis Singer: Collected Stories II 151. Isaac Bashevis Singer: Collected Stories III
152. Kaufman & Co.: Broadway Comedies 153. Theodore Roosevelt: The Rough Riders, An Autobiography
154. Theodore Roosevelt: Letters and Speeches 155. H. P. Lovecraft: Tales
156. Louisa May Alcott: Little Women, Little Men, Jo’s Boys
157. Philip Roth: Novels & Stories 1959–1962 158. Philip Roth: Novels 1967–1972
159. James Agee: Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, A Death in the Family 160. James Agee: Film Writing & Selected Journalism
161. Richard Henry Dana, Jr.: Two Years Before the Mast & Other Voyages 162. Henry James: Novels 1901–1902
163. Arthur Miller: Collected Plays 1944–1961 164. William Faulkner: Novels 1926–1929 165. Philip Roth: Novels 1973–1977
166. American Speeches: Part One
167. American Speeches: Part Two
168. Hart Crane: Complete Poems & Selected Letters
169. Saul Bellow: Novels 1956–1964
170. John Steinbeck: Travels with Charley and Later Novels
171. Capt. John Smith: Writings with Other Narratives
172. Thornton Wilder: Collected Plays & Writings on Theater
173. Philip K. Dick: Four Novels of the 1960s 174. Jack Kerouac: Road Novels 1957–1960 175. Philip Roth: Zuckerman Bound 176. Edmund Wilson: Literary Essays & Reviews of the 1920s & 30s
177. Edmund Wilson: Literary Essays & Reviews of the 1930s & 40s
178. American Poetry: The 17th & 18th Centuries
179. William Maxwell: Early Novels & Stories 180. Elizabeth Bishop: Poems, Prose, & Letters 181. A. J. Liebling: World War II Writings 182s. American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau
183. Philip K. Dick: Five Novels of the 1960s & 70s
218. Harlem Renaissance: Four Novels of the 1930s
219. Ambrose Bierce: The Devil’s
Dictionary, Tales, & Memoirs 220. Philip Roth: The American Trilogy 1997–2000
221. The Civil War: The Second Year Told by Those Who Lived It
222. Barbara W. Tuchman: The Guns of August & The Proud Tower
223. Arthur Miller: Collected Plays 1964–1982 224. Thornton Wilder: The Eighth Day, Theophilus North, Autobiographical Writings
225. David Goodis: Five Noir Novels of the 1940s & 50s
226. Kurt Vonnegut: Novels & Stories 1950–1962
227. American Science Fiction: Four Classic Novels 1953–1956
228. American Science Fiction: Five Classic Novels 1956–1958
229. Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Little House Books, Volume One
230. Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Little House Books, Volume Two
231. Jack Kerouac: Collected Poems 232. The War of 1812: Writings from America’s Second War of Independence 233. American Antislavery Writings: Colonial Beginnings to Emancipation
33. Frank Norris: Novels and Essays
34. W.E.B. Du Bois: Writings
35. Willa Cather: Early Novels and Stories
36. Theodore Dreiser: Sister Carrie, Jennie Gerhardt, Twelve Men
37a. Benjamin Franklin: Silence Dogood, The Busy-Body, & Early Writings 37b. Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography, Poor Richard, & Later Writings
38. William James: Writings 1902–1910
39. Flannery O’Connor: Collected Works
40. Eugene O’Neill: Complete Plays 1913–1920
41. Eugene O’Neill: Complete Plays 1920–1931
42. Eugene O’Neill: Complete Plays 1932–1943
43. Henry James: Novels 1886–1890
44. William Dean Howells: Novels 1886–1888
45. Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1832–1858
46. Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859–1865
47. Edith Wharton: Novellas and Other Writings
48. William Faulkner: Novels 1936–1940
49. Willa Cather: Later Novels
50. Ulysses S. Grant: Memoirs and Selected Letters
51. William Tecumseh Sherman: Memoirs
52. Washington Irving: Bracebridge Hall, Tales of a Traveller, The Alhambra
53. Francis Parkman: The O
regon Trail, The Conspiracy of Pontiac
54. James Fenimore Cooper: Sea Tales: The Pilot, The Red Rover
55. Richard Wright: Early Works
56. Richard Wright: Later Works
57. Willa Cather: Stories, Poems, and Other Writings
58. William James: Writings 1878–1899
59. Sinclair Lewis: Main Street & Babbitt
60. Mark Twain: Collected Tales, Sketches, Speeches, & Essays 1852–1890
61. Mark Twain: Collected Tales, Sketches, Speeches, & Essays 1891–1910
62. The Debate on the Constitution: Part One
63. The Debate on the Constitution: Part Two
64. Henry James: Collected Travel Writings: Great Britain & America
65. Henry James: Collected Travel Writings: The Continent
105. Reporting Vietnam: American Journalism 1969–1975
106. Henry James: Complete Stories 1874–1884
107. Henry James: Complete Stories 1884–1891
108. American Sermons: The Pilgrims to Martin Luther King Jr.
109. James Madison: Writings
110. Dashiell Hammett: Complete Novels
111. Henry James: Complete Stories 1864–1874
112. William Faulkner: Novels 1957–1962
113. John James Audubon: Writings & Drawings
114. Slave Narratives
115. American Poetry: The Twentieth Century, Vol. 1
116. American Poetry: The Twentieth Century, Vol. 2
117. F. Scott Fitzgerald: Novels and Stories 1920–1922
118. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Poems and Other Writings
119. Tennessee Williams: Plays 1937–1955
120. Tennessee Williams: Plays 1957–1980
121. Edith Wharton: Collected Stories 1891–1910
122. Edith Wharton: Collected Stories 1911–1937
123. The American Revolution: Writings from the War of Independence
124. Henry David Thoreau: Collected Essays and Poems
125. Dashiell Hammett: Crime Stories and Other Writings
126. Dawn Powell: Novels 1930–1942
127. Dawn Powell: Novels 1944–1962