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998
His first book. Originally published in England as Sylvester.
207 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1952
1 person want to read
About the author
Edward Hyams
93 books5 followersEdward Solomon Hyams
b. 30 Sept. 1910; d. 25 Nov. 1975; writer on conservation, social history, and gardening, as well as novels and other fiction
b. 30 Sept. 1910; d. 25 Nov. 1975; writer on conservation, social history, and gardening, as well as novels and other fiction
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 4, 2018
The comments about 998 on both Goodreads and Amazon are very strange. They do not appear to be about 998 at all. The Amazon commentary refers to this post-World War II novel as having been published before 1923. The comments follow:
Goodreads comments
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Amazon comments
Product description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.
Note that neither statement refers to the book by name or mentions the author.
998 starts with members of the British navy after the end of World War II. They are drunk - very drunk - and making their way on foot from Edinburgh to their base at Rosyth. One of the group is Sylvester Green, a "lieutenant in charge of the radar of a whole flotilla of destroyers." Along the way they find an abandoned baby perambulator with only two wheels left and, for no particular reason, take it along. Further on they see a pawnshop with the traditional three brass balls outside it. They steal the brass balls and take those along as well. When they get to Rosyth, Sylvester has an idea. He welds the perambulator and the brass balls to the front of a ship, where one might expect to find radar equipment. The ship is from the small European country of Agraria. They then paint the whole thing gray. The next day a passing naval officer happens to ask Sylvester if he could recognize the equipment on the Agrarian ship.
Sylvester might safely have pleaded total ignorance, but it was not in him to abandon a piece of work or a piece of clowning. He said:
"I think it might be Type 998, sir."
It is worth pointing out that the original British title of this book was Sylvester. (Goodreads has a separate listing for Sylvester, but it is actually the same book as 998.)
The next comments are from a review of 998 in the magazine Galaxy Science Fiction, August, 1952. The review is by noted editor Groff Conklin:
I probably have no business bringing up this book in these hallowed pages, but I can't help it. It is the best satire the English language has produced in decades. It is also science fiction - of a sort. It tells of the "creation" of a fantastic super-super-radar, out of parts of a baby's
pram and pawnbroker's globes, fastened to the mast of a small naval vessel belonging to an imaginary small neutral nation. Small but very ingenious!
The tale takes place slightly in the future; a brand-new and better world comes out of it—temporarily, at least—and it's full
of gadgetry and derring-do, like any regular science fiction. The only thing is, nothing super-scientific is developed, with the possible exception of super-psychology of crowd behavior that is the only really fantastic thing about the whole hilarious, bitter, brilliant book.
Despite its heavy load of Britishisms, and the indubitable fact that it is highly unkind to establislished orders such as the Press,
the Military, Diplomacy, and - most of all, perhaps - the Russians and the Americans (it's rather a neutralist book, I suppose), it is unreservedly wonderful.
It was Conklin's review that prompted me to read 998, a mere 66 years after Conklin wrote the review.
And now, a quote from 998 itself, demonstrating how cutting and how funny the satire can be:
There had been no changes except in the names of the streets and squares, and even this she expected, for the passionate neutrality of the Agrarians had long made use of street names as a means of expression. The great central avenue, originally named after the eleventh-century liberator Otterik Scröm, had borne the names of Napoleon, Wellington, Blücher, Lincoln and others; now it was divided into three parts, beginning as the Boulevard Vincent Auriol, turning into the Avenida Francisco Franco and completing itself as the Bevinbahn. The Presidential palace had quite recently stood in the vast Piazza Mussolini, had found itself briefly in the Adolf Hitler Platz, and was now to be found in the Place Chaim Weizmann.
One item of, I suspect, no importance: the dust jacket of the 1952 Pantheon Books edition shows a picture of a strange device (which turns out to be 998). The same picture appears on the title page, but reversed on its horizontal axis (that is, it is upside down). Is there some meaning to this?
So, 66 years after 998 was first published, is this largely forgotten book still "unreservedly wonderful?" I wouldn't go that far, but I do like it and think that it's funny. The playwright George S. Kaufman, referring to plays, said, "Satire is what closes on Saturday night," meaning that satirical plays are usually unsuccessful and have short runs. But not all satire fails. The passage from 998 that I quoted above reminded me of a very successful satirical novel, Joseph Heller's Catch 22. It's obvious that 998 will never be popular, but that doesn't mean that it isn't good.
Goodreads comments
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Amazon comments
Product description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.
Note that neither statement refers to the book by name or mentions the author.
998 starts with members of the British navy after the end of World War II. They are drunk - very drunk - and making their way on foot from Edinburgh to their base at Rosyth. One of the group is Sylvester Green, a "lieutenant in charge of the radar of a whole flotilla of destroyers." Along the way they find an abandoned baby perambulator with only two wheels left and, for no particular reason, take it along. Further on they see a pawnshop with the traditional three brass balls outside it. They steal the brass balls and take those along as well. When they get to Rosyth, Sylvester has an idea. He welds the perambulator and the brass balls to the front of a ship, where one might expect to find radar equipment. The ship is from the small European country of Agraria. They then paint the whole thing gray. The next day a passing naval officer happens to ask Sylvester if he could recognize the equipment on the Agrarian ship.
Sylvester might safely have pleaded total ignorance, but it was not in him to abandon a piece of work or a piece of clowning. He said:
"I think it might be Type 998, sir."
It is worth pointing out that the original British title of this book was Sylvester. (Goodreads has a separate listing for Sylvester, but it is actually the same book as 998.)
The next comments are from a review of 998 in the magazine Galaxy Science Fiction, August, 1952. The review is by noted editor Groff Conklin:
I probably have no business bringing up this book in these hallowed pages, but I can't help it. It is the best satire the English language has produced in decades. It is also science fiction - of a sort. It tells of the "creation" of a fantastic super-super-radar, out of parts of a baby's
pram and pawnbroker's globes, fastened to the mast of a small naval vessel belonging to an imaginary small neutral nation. Small but very ingenious!
The tale takes place slightly in the future; a brand-new and better world comes out of it—temporarily, at least—and it's full
of gadgetry and derring-do, like any regular science fiction. The only thing is, nothing super-scientific is developed, with the possible exception of super-psychology of crowd behavior that is the only really fantastic thing about the whole hilarious, bitter, brilliant book.
Despite its heavy load of Britishisms, and the indubitable fact that it is highly unkind to establislished orders such as the Press,
the Military, Diplomacy, and - most of all, perhaps - the Russians and the Americans (it's rather a neutralist book, I suppose), it is unreservedly wonderful.
It was Conklin's review that prompted me to read 998, a mere 66 years after Conklin wrote the review.
And now, a quote from 998 itself, demonstrating how cutting and how funny the satire can be:
There had been no changes except in the names of the streets and squares, and even this she expected, for the passionate neutrality of the Agrarians had long made use of street names as a means of expression. The great central avenue, originally named after the eleventh-century liberator Otterik Scröm, had borne the names of Napoleon, Wellington, Blücher, Lincoln and others; now it was divided into three parts, beginning as the Boulevard Vincent Auriol, turning into the Avenida Francisco Franco and completing itself as the Bevinbahn. The Presidential palace had quite recently stood in the vast Piazza Mussolini, had found itself briefly in the Adolf Hitler Platz, and was now to be found in the Place Chaim Weizmann.
One item of, I suspect, no importance: the dust jacket of the 1952 Pantheon Books edition shows a picture of a strange device (which turns out to be 998). The same picture appears on the title page, but reversed on its horizontal axis (that is, it is upside down). Is there some meaning to this?
So, 66 years after 998 was first published, is this largely forgotten book still "unreservedly wonderful?" I wouldn't go that far, but I do like it and think that it's funny. The playwright George S. Kaufman, referring to plays, said, "Satire is what closes on Saturday night," meaning that satirical plays are usually unsuccessful and have short runs. But not all satire fails. The passage from 998 that I quoted above reminded me of a very successful satirical novel, Joseph Heller's Catch 22. It's obvious that 998 will never be popular, but that doesn't mean that it isn't good.
July 24, 2016
Starts really well. An English writer who loved gardening.
Goes downhill fast! Crazy theme (sham RADAR 998) keeps humanity at peace. One must keep in focus when this book was penned but this still does not justify what the author does. The book has a couple of entertaining moments (e.g. RN destroyer service & frontal lobotomy operation threat).
Too many loose ends make me think E. Hyams should be read in the field of agronomy, botany and gardening so I plan to investigate these themes this author.
Don't read this book!
Goes downhill fast! Crazy theme (sham RADAR 998) keeps humanity at peace. One must keep in focus when this book was penned but this still does not justify what the author does. The book has a couple of entertaining moments (e.g. RN destroyer service & frontal lobotomy operation threat).
Too many loose ends make me think E. Hyams should be read in the field of agronomy, botany and gardening so I plan to investigate these themes this author.
Don't read this book!
January 26, 2022
An oddity: a cynical edged absurd comedy, like a cut price Kingsley Amis, from shortly after the War, based around the Navy, radar, and bureaucracy, perhaps more an artifact of a time when Britain was having to face the new reality, and unsure of it's place in it rather than a piece of entertainment.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews