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Power: A Political Fantasy
Stanley Maitland, a young British politician, suddenly finds himself owning a super-weapon that makes him temporary Dictator of England. He wants to reform government and abolish all the unnecessary rules and regulations that have accumulated during the last century. Opposing him are the leaders of industry and the wealthy, entrenched upper classes. Can Stanley's POWER overcome the traditions of centuries?
324 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1933
2 people want to read
About the author
S. Fowler Wright
116 books12 followersSydney Fowler Wright (January 6, 1874 – February 25, 1965) was a prolific British editor, poet, science fiction author, writer of screenplays, mystery fiction and works in other genres. Most of his work is published as by "S. Fowler Wright", and he also wrote as Sydney Fowler and Anthony Wingrave.
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April 22, 2020
"There are many of the oppositions in life which cannot be faced without fear, but the tremors of those who advance upon them are less than will be felt by others who attempt evasion or resort to flight."
--S. Folwer Wright, "Power"
"Power" is one of the last works of "Radium-Age" science fiction written by the prolific S. Fowler Wright at the dawn of the "Golden-Age" of the genre, and I consider it one of his best.
MINOR SPOILERS INCLUDED IN THIS ANALYSIS: The characters in this novel are some of the most unique and memorable characters in fiction, despite their surface-level archetypal molds. Lady Jehane Norchester, for example, is an absolute riot. The rich heiress to a powerful and influential old family who lacks the sophistication and pompousness expected of her station, she is a wise-cracking, smart-mouthed foil to her older sister, Lady Crystal Maitland. Lady Crystal, on the other hand, is obsessed with the idea of social influence and prestige, wishing to carry on the centuries-old family tradition of influencing politics via luncheons and dinner-parties, with the occasional greasing of the palm of the chief Government Whip. She believes whole-heartedly in the beneficence of the British Empire, and considers it a gift from God to the world. And her husband, Stanley Maitland, is the most unlikely of techno-savy villains questing for world-domination.
Stanley is a 20-something, mild-mannered lawyer and newly-appointed Under-Secretary of State, who happens to stumble upon a secret weapon of mass destruction developed by his closest client, the mad inventor William Feltham. Feltham had gone insane with whiskey and megalomania after he discovered how effective his weapon could be in holding the world for ransom, but his aspirations were base and immature, such as wanting to use his power to force a rich Countess to sleep with him. Stanley promptly kills the drunken Feltham in order to save the world from his insane threat, but then finds himself tempted to use the machinery of destruction for government control himself. When he confesses what he has done to his wife, her reaction is unexpected and comical. She can't think beyond what a blemish her husband's behavior would be to the Conservative Party, and promptly kicks him out of the house. He just admitted to having the means and desire to destroy London and that he murdered a man in a gruesome way, and she acts like an angry wife who just received a vacuum-cleaner for an anniversary gift!
Speaking of gruesome, this book contains some violent imagery that seems quite exceptional for the time it was written. People are dehydrated while alive, spewing steaming fluids that smell of bodily functions, and limbs are neatly amputated while the rest of the body disintegrates into dust. All the while, the perpetrator of these horrors ends up taking control of Parliament as a kind of benevolent dictator. For example, Stanley is inspired to wield his newly-found destructive power after listening to the reactions of his colleagues in the House of Commons over a County Court decision against a young mother who could not afford to pay her rent due to having multiple children to feed. Stanley was infuriated to find that universally children were considered to be an expensive nuisance, not something to be cherished and adored. People who don't know when to stop breeding need to be sterilized, he hears, or it needs to be made illegal to have more than three children. The Great War and the impending World War II were changing the values of Europe.
"There was a time, Stanley reflected, when human life was held to have a supreme and eternal value. Perhaps man had exaggerated his own importance. Anyway, that time was not now. This was the machine age, the age of man had gone by."
Therefore, in many ways this novel is S. Fowler Wright's equivalent to H.G. Well's "The World Set Free," where mass destruction is entertained as a necessary tool to reconfigure the lost priorities of world societies. But whereas Wells firmly approaches blowing up the ignorant masses with nuclear bombs to make way for an enlightened and uber-Liberal New World Order as something heroic, Wright has the sensitivity to show us both sides of the coin.
On the one hand, he paints a corrupt British government more concerned about passing legislation to preserve a species of flea than considering regulations to improve road safety in light of the thousands of deaths by motor-vehicle accident since the invention of the automobile. One injustice that particularly struck me was the "Marriage Bar," which consisted of laws that actually existed in both the US and the UK up until as recently as the 1970s that restricted or prohibited married women from working. Even widowed people were still considered married and thus impacted by the law! Also, the Western system of education comes under fire in this novel. Through the character of Stanley, Wright points out that Western society in the industrial age has forgotten that not all forms of learning work for every individual child. For decades, the educational system has forced children to spend the majority of their lives with strangers rather than their own family, often wasting countless hours on learning things that they will never use as adults and which will never help them in their careers. Wright argues that for some children, it may be better to make sure they know how to maintain livestock, build a fence, or sew on a button. These are the kinds of things that Stanley champions despite his youth and lack of political expertise, and whether or not you agree with his ideas, the reader can't help but condone his passion.
On the other hand, though the world seems to be losing its value-systems and society has lost basic humanity, you cannot pretend to remedy this situation by playing God with millions of lives. Stanley Maitland falls into a trap of threatening to destroy the homes of his colleagues in the House of Commons in order to get them to comply. In the meantime, those he threatens are constantly plotting to overthrow him, so Stanley has to live a life of increasing seclusion from the outside world. Is this really Utopia? Wright does a great job in invoking mixed feelings and allegiances in the reader throughout this story.
The complexity of character and narration, along with shifting moods from comedy to horror to philosophy to political criticism, is a trademark of the brilliant S. Fowler Wright, and this novel delivers in spades. Though some readers may find this novel to be a bit lacking in action and thrills, with some patience the experience is very rewarding.
I am surprised this novel has not gotten more attention over the decades, but thanks to Borgo and Wildside Press, hopefully more readers will get a chance to experience this masterful work of science fiction. Receives my highest recommendation.
--S. Folwer Wright, "Power"
"Power" is one of the last works of "Radium-Age" science fiction written by the prolific S. Fowler Wright at the dawn of the "Golden-Age" of the genre, and I consider it one of his best.
MINOR SPOILERS INCLUDED IN THIS ANALYSIS: The characters in this novel are some of the most unique and memorable characters in fiction, despite their surface-level archetypal molds. Lady Jehane Norchester, for example, is an absolute riot. The rich heiress to a powerful and influential old family who lacks the sophistication and pompousness expected of her station, she is a wise-cracking, smart-mouthed foil to her older sister, Lady Crystal Maitland. Lady Crystal, on the other hand, is obsessed with the idea of social influence and prestige, wishing to carry on the centuries-old family tradition of influencing politics via luncheons and dinner-parties, with the occasional greasing of the palm of the chief Government Whip. She believes whole-heartedly in the beneficence of the British Empire, and considers it a gift from God to the world. And her husband, Stanley Maitland, is the most unlikely of techno-savy villains questing for world-domination.
Stanley is a 20-something, mild-mannered lawyer and newly-appointed Under-Secretary of State, who happens to stumble upon a secret weapon of mass destruction developed by his closest client, the mad inventor William Feltham. Feltham had gone insane with whiskey and megalomania after he discovered how effective his weapon could be in holding the world for ransom, but his aspirations were base and immature, such as wanting to use his power to force a rich Countess to sleep with him. Stanley promptly kills the drunken Feltham in order to save the world from his insane threat, but then finds himself tempted to use the machinery of destruction for government control himself. When he confesses what he has done to his wife, her reaction is unexpected and comical. She can't think beyond what a blemish her husband's behavior would be to the Conservative Party, and promptly kicks him out of the house. He just admitted to having the means and desire to destroy London and that he murdered a man in a gruesome way, and she acts like an angry wife who just received a vacuum-cleaner for an anniversary gift!
Speaking of gruesome, this book contains some violent imagery that seems quite exceptional for the time it was written. People are dehydrated while alive, spewing steaming fluids that smell of bodily functions, and limbs are neatly amputated while the rest of the body disintegrates into dust. All the while, the perpetrator of these horrors ends up taking control of Parliament as a kind of benevolent dictator. For example, Stanley is inspired to wield his newly-found destructive power after listening to the reactions of his colleagues in the House of Commons over a County Court decision against a young mother who could not afford to pay her rent due to having multiple children to feed. Stanley was infuriated to find that universally children were considered to be an expensive nuisance, not something to be cherished and adored. People who don't know when to stop breeding need to be sterilized, he hears, or it needs to be made illegal to have more than three children. The Great War and the impending World War II were changing the values of Europe.
"There was a time, Stanley reflected, when human life was held to have a supreme and eternal value. Perhaps man had exaggerated his own importance. Anyway, that time was not now. This was the machine age, the age of man had gone by."
Therefore, in many ways this novel is S. Fowler Wright's equivalent to H.G. Well's "The World Set Free," where mass destruction is entertained as a necessary tool to reconfigure the lost priorities of world societies. But whereas Wells firmly approaches blowing up the ignorant masses with nuclear bombs to make way for an enlightened and uber-Liberal New World Order as something heroic, Wright has the sensitivity to show us both sides of the coin.
On the one hand, he paints a corrupt British government more concerned about passing legislation to preserve a species of flea than considering regulations to improve road safety in light of the thousands of deaths by motor-vehicle accident since the invention of the automobile. One injustice that particularly struck me was the "Marriage Bar," which consisted of laws that actually existed in both the US and the UK up until as recently as the 1970s that restricted or prohibited married women from working. Even widowed people were still considered married and thus impacted by the law! Also, the Western system of education comes under fire in this novel. Through the character of Stanley, Wright points out that Western society in the industrial age has forgotten that not all forms of learning work for every individual child. For decades, the educational system has forced children to spend the majority of their lives with strangers rather than their own family, often wasting countless hours on learning things that they will never use as adults and which will never help them in their careers. Wright argues that for some children, it may be better to make sure they know how to maintain livestock, build a fence, or sew on a button. These are the kinds of things that Stanley champions despite his youth and lack of political expertise, and whether or not you agree with his ideas, the reader can't help but condone his passion.
On the other hand, though the world seems to be losing its value-systems and society has lost basic humanity, you cannot pretend to remedy this situation by playing God with millions of lives. Stanley Maitland falls into a trap of threatening to destroy the homes of his colleagues in the House of Commons in order to get them to comply. In the meantime, those he threatens are constantly plotting to overthrow him, so Stanley has to live a life of increasing seclusion from the outside world. Is this really Utopia? Wright does a great job in invoking mixed feelings and allegiances in the reader throughout this story.
The complexity of character and narration, along with shifting moods from comedy to horror to philosophy to political criticism, is a trademark of the brilliant S. Fowler Wright, and this novel delivers in spades. Though some readers may find this novel to be a bit lacking in action and thrills, with some patience the experience is very rewarding.
I am surprised this novel has not gotten more attention over the decades, but thanks to Borgo and Wildside Press, hopefully more readers will get a chance to experience this masterful work of science fiction. Receives my highest recommendation.
Displaying 1 of 1 review