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Tumithak
Tumithak de los corredores fue, con mucho, el mejor y más emocionante relato que había leído hasta entonces.
Incluso ahora que mi pelo ha comenzado a encanecer, me he sentido tan conmovido como cuando era alumno de secundaria. Me pareció que los personajes eran humanos, y el héroe tanto más admirable por cuanto no ignoraba el miedo. El argumento me resultó interesante y hallé una profunda humanidad en la frase: «A Tumithak le faltaba aprender que, no importa en qué nación o época se halle uno, siempre puede encontrar delicadeza, si la busca, lo mismo que brutalidad». Éste era un punto de vista desusado en una época en que la literatura popular aceptaba sin discusión los prejuicios raciales.
En 1953, cuando escribí Las bóvedas de acero y describí con cariño la ciudad subterránea del futuro, no olvidé Tumithak de los corredores.
ISAAC ASIMOV
Incluso ahora que mi pelo ha comenzado a encanecer, me he sentido tan conmovido como cuando era alumno de secundaria. Me pareció que los personajes eran humanos, y el héroe tanto más admirable por cuanto no ignoraba el miedo. El argumento me resultó interesante y hallé una profunda humanidad en la frase: «A Tumithak le faltaba aprender que, no importa en qué nación o época se halle uno, siempre puede encontrar delicadeza, si la busca, lo mismo que brutalidad». Éste era un punto de vista desusado en una época en que la literatura popular aceptaba sin discusión los prejuicios raciales.
En 1953, cuando escribí Las bóvedas de acero y describí con cariño la ciudad subterránea del futuro, no olvidé Tumithak de los corredores.
ISAAC ASIMOV
234 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1932
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 9, 2014
Humans living in manufactured tunnels, hiding from the surface-dwelling conquerors of the planet, relying on poorly-understood ancient technology for their food and light? Tribal warfare between inhabitants on different levels of the installation? A rebuilding of the super-science to defeat the vampiric monsters that rule the planet? The monsters reshaping humans into various thrall races for their own nefarious purposes? Weird, unlikely science?
For ninety nine cents?
Sign me up.
It's kind of a mess in here, as befits a roughly-written pulp piece by a relatively unknown writer, with stilted and overly-dramatic dialog reminiscent of the worst of Edgar Rice Burroughs and showing a total distrust of the reader. It gets to the point of over-explaining a scene of the 'shelks' slaughtering fattened thrall humans and then explaining to the reader the difference between Tumithak's bewilderment and the reader's lack of bewilderment of what just happened.
Part of it is its framing device of being a historical record written long after the fact, to address Tumithak's now-mythological status. It doesn't quite work as such, because the author doesn't quite manage the perspective of the narrator and wields such high, dramatic language reinforcing the mythological aspects.
In tone and style, it reminded me of Armageddon 2419 AD in the oppressed-and-nearly-feral-human-resistance theme, as well as Battlefield Earth, as embarrassed as I am to say so.
For ninety nine cents?
Sign me up.
It's kind of a mess in here, as befits a roughly-written pulp piece by a relatively unknown writer, with stilted and overly-dramatic dialog reminiscent of the worst of Edgar Rice Burroughs and showing a total distrust of the reader. It gets to the point of over-explaining a scene of the 'shelks' slaughtering fattened thrall humans and then explaining to the reader the difference between Tumithak's bewilderment and the reader's lack of bewilderment of what just happened.
Part of it is its framing device of being a historical record written long after the fact, to address Tumithak's now-mythological status. It doesn't quite work as such, because the author doesn't quite manage the perspective of the narrator and wields such high, dramatic language reinforcing the mythological aspects.
In tone and style, it reminded me of Armageddon 2419 AD in the oppressed-and-nearly-feral-human-resistance theme, as well as Battlefield Earth, as embarrassed as I am to say so.
January 25, 2008
No question that allowances have to be made for this work; the first two parts of it were first published in pulp science fiction magazines of the early 1930s, the third part in the early 40s; the last part was unpublished at the author's death. The science is fairly ridiculous, the writing is certainly "pulpy", and yet this holds up far better than most of the stories from "Amazing" or "Wonder" or "Weird Tales" from that era; it's a fast-paced and exciting of man regaining his dominance of the world from a race of Venusian spiders that conquered it thousands of years ago, and its depictions of the endless corridors the scared and emasculated men of this far future must furtively hide in carries a strange power. I first read most of this in Asimov's superb anthology "Before the Golden Age" almost 30 years ago; despite their occasional amateurishness, the Tanner stories have stuck with me and it's great to see them available again, to those few who will appreciate them.
August 11, 2019
Adding this title to the app that I use to track my reading, I discovered that this is my first-ever story taken from an issue of
Amazing Stories
— believe it or don't.
I give this one four out of five stars, because it alternates between really good and laughable. Coming thirty-four years after H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, it really felt like Tanner was borrowing two of the worst conceits from that tale, one — that aliens would drink human blood to sustain themselves, and two — that diseases would be able to transfer between races born on different planets. I was also appalled by the character design of the aliens. Ten-legged spiders with human heads? Now the alien concept was something I would have preferred Tanner steal from someone else. Finally, I thought the names for the characters was pretty comical. How does everyone pronounce the title character's name, 'Tummi-thak' or 'Tummit-hak'?
Other than that, I was pretty impressed. There was good character development, pacing, action and other thoughtful SF aspects that I thought were effective. Like the fact that Tumithak suffered from Agoraphobia when he got to the surface, and his reaction to the trees and grass. I can see why the young Isaac Asimov was impressed by it. His review is more succinct than mine.
He described it as "far and away the best and most exciting story I had ever read up to that time. I found the characters human and the hero all the more admirable because he could feel fear. I found the plot exciting and a deep humanity in the sentence 'Tumithak had to learn that in no matter what nation or age one finds oneself, he will find gentleness, if he looks, as well as savagery.'" Asimov also credited 'Tumithak of the Corridors' for inspiring his own description of the underground city of the future in Caves of Steel.
I give this one four out of five stars, because it alternates between really good and laughable. Coming thirty-four years after H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, it really felt like Tanner was borrowing two of the worst conceits from that tale, one — that aliens would drink human blood to sustain themselves, and two — that diseases would be able to transfer between races born on different planets. I was also appalled by the character design of the aliens. Ten-legged spiders with human heads? Now the alien concept was something I would have preferred Tanner steal from someone else. Finally, I thought the names for the characters was pretty comical. How does everyone pronounce the title character's name, 'Tummi-thak' or 'Tummit-hak'?
Other than that, I was pretty impressed. There was good character development, pacing, action and other thoughtful SF aspects that I thought were effective. Like the fact that Tumithak suffered from Agoraphobia when he got to the surface, and his reaction to the trees and grass. I can see why the young Isaac Asimov was impressed by it. His review is more succinct than mine.
He described it as "far and away the best and most exciting story I had ever read up to that time. I found the characters human and the hero all the more admirable because he could feel fear. I found the plot exciting and a deep humanity in the sentence 'Tumithak had to learn that in no matter what nation or age one finds oneself, he will find gentleness, if he looks, as well as savagery.'" Asimov also credited 'Tumithak of the Corridors' for inspiring his own description of the underground city of the future in Caves of Steel.
November 7, 2016
Una buena historia de ciencia ficción que narra las aventuras de Tumithak, un hombre que vive con su pueblo en el subsuelo por culpa de los Shelks, una raza alienígena parecida a las arañas que conquistó la Tierra tiempo atrás.
Se trata de un libro muy divertido, con un protagonista más humano de lo que acostumbran este tipo de historias, si bien realiza acciones cuestionables de vez en cuando. Aunque la narración es sencilla y directa, el futuro que describe tiene suficientes elementos para que quieras saber más.
Hay escenas muy logradas y nada de relleno; de hecho, me ha dado pena que se acabara. Muy recomendable, aunque también muy difícil de conseguir.
Se trata de un libro muy divertido, con un protagonista más humano de lo que acostumbran este tipo de historias, si bien realiza acciones cuestionables de vez en cuando. Aunque la narración es sencilla y directa, el futuro que describe tiene suficientes elementos para que quieras saber más.
Hay escenas muy logradas y nada de relleno; de hecho, me ha dado pena que se acabara. Muy recomendable, aunque también muy difícil de conseguir.
August 26, 2024
Questo libro lo considero un'occasione sprecata. Perché l'idea di base è davvero buona e originale (o lo era quando è stato scritto, quasi un secolo fa) ma poi la messa in pratica non è all'altezza delle premesse e il risultato sono tre romanzetti di qualità calante. Purtroppo 2 su 5.
October 3, 2017
Może wydałaby mi się ciekawsza gdybym miał z 7-11 lat. Była krótka i przewidywalna.
June 23, 2016
This story was written in the 1930's, so yes, it is a bit dated, but it certainly fills the bill on wonder and imagination. The sense of wonder has always been the drawing card for science fiction and this story was an early example of the best. Isaac Asimov read it as a young man and he was so taken by it that he included it in his anthology, Before The Golden Age. Read it and discover that sense of Wow!
June 25, 2016
Stories of Wonder
These three novellas comprise the sense of Wonder that was science collection's calling card in the early days. Charles R. Tanner was a pioneer of sorts, in that he created believable characters in a field known for cardboard cutouts. Yes, these tales are a bit dated and the third one reads like the racial barriers of that time, but the sense of Wonder that drew me in as a child to the genre of science fiction is still here and alive.
These three novellas comprise the sense of Wonder that was science collection's calling card in the early days. Charles R. Tanner was a pioneer of sorts, in that he created believable characters in a field known for cardboard cutouts. Yes, these tales are a bit dated and the third one reads like the racial barriers of that time, but the sense of Wonder that drew me in as a child to the genre of science fiction is still here and alive.
January 12, 2018
A sci-fi classic in the vein of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Princess of Mars
Like other science fiction of this era, the Tumithak stories are largely action tales. They are exciting, short, and entertaining. While not as refined as later publications in the genre, they are a must-read for anyone who loves a good adventure. My only disappointment is the copy editing. The Kindle version, at least, has many typographical errors.
Like other science fiction of this era, the Tumithak stories are largely action tales. They are exciting, short, and entertaining. While not as refined as later publications in the genre, they are a must-read for anyone who loves a good adventure. My only disappointment is the copy editing. The Kindle version, at least, has many typographical errors.
June 12, 2018
6 out of 10
November 17, 2021
Nice entertaining classic SiFi read. Recommended
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews