Exhibit Notes: Harlan Ellison

 Lilly call number: PS3555.L62

Items in the exhibit:

• "The City on the Edge of Forever"
• Twilight Zone: Crazier than a Soup Sandwich
• Strange Wine
• Love Ain't Nothing but Sex Misspelled
• Alone Against Tomorrow

"Here I stand before them...a man with a substantial body of work behind him, books that express the artist's view of the world (and after all, isn't that why they paid me to come speak?  Surely it can't be my winsome manner!), and they persist in asking me what it was like to work on Star Trek or what Jimmy Caan is really like...I get angry with them...And they don't like me for it." - Harlan Ellison, in "Revealed at Last! What Killed the Dinosaurs! And You Don't Look So Terrific Yourself," the introduction to Strange Wine (1978).

When I read Isaac Asimov's letters to Anthony Boucher, I wanted to meet him because he seemed like he would be the nicest, sweetest man I would have ever met.  When I read stories by Harlan Ellison, or his introductions to these stories, I want to meet him because he seems like a guy who it would be fun to have an argument with.  He is that most frustrating of people: someone who thinks highly of himself and has the talent to justify it. 

I always saw Ellison's books on my parents' bookcase growing up.  In high school, they convinced me to read two stories by him: "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream," and "Repent, Harlequin! said the Ticktockman."  I only remembered the first as being pretty strange, and I remembered the second being funny and involving Harlequin throwing jelly beans at people.  I have re-read both since starting this exhibit.  The first was profoundly disturbing and I must not have understood it all when I first read it, or I would have remembered it as more than just "strange."  The second was just as wonderful as I remembered it being. I have read more of his work since, and I have enjoyed it all (I highly recommend "A to Z in the Chocolate Alphabet." It's priceless).

Because I like his work so much, I was saddened that the Lilly had comparatively few items by Ellison.  Whereas there was a treasure trove of items to choose from for Clarke, Asimov, and Bradbury, Ellison was underrepresented.  I had to request some of what I wanted from the ALF (Auxiliary Library Facility, which is off-site storage).  Things only end up in the ALF if they are items that are not in high demand.  Since exhibits are meant to expose people to the variety of collections available at the library, I'm hoping that seeing his work in the exhibit will inspire more people to read him.  After all, who can resist a short story collection called Love Ain't Nothing But Sex Misspelled?  If I could easily get a copy of it (which I cannot, at least not form local libraries) I would be reading it.  So, to everyone who is reading this: read some Harlan Ellison.  Check out some of the most brilliant, twisted writing you will ever encounter.  And then move on to some of the sane writers.

Week 7: Laying it on the Line

I spent most of last week putting together the layouts for my exhibit. Four cases, four layouts. I have two different kinds of cases to work with, both of which presented pluses and challenges. Two of them are Foyer/Portrait Gallery cases. I used one case of this style for my Manuscripts exhibit in the spring. The other two are Lincoln Room cases (which makes sense because the exhibit will be in the Lincoln Room). The Foyer style cases are long and thin, and they have a wooden bar down the middle of the top, visually dividing the case in half. They are tall, which means that you can angle materials, but the sides are wooden, so you can't put anything too close to the front if you want people to be able to see the bottom of it without craning their necks. The Lincoln Room cases aren't as long, but they are wider. They are also shorter. But the sides are glass and the entire top is glass. It's easier to look at the whole case in one go, which you cannot easily do with the Foyer cases. I popped into the Lincoln Room a few times to look at the cases to get an idea of how things would look in them.

I did not use as many items as I'd taken notes on, which is what I anticipated would happen. I'm a firm believer in having more things than you can actually use. Taking things out is easier than finding things to put in. On Friday, Becky okayed my layouts, which meant that I could start writing labels. Since I finally had my items selected, I began to put flags in them, identifying what item number they are (to match with the layout and the item list), what number case they will be in, and if they will be open to a certain page or remain closed. I also began working on the explanatory labels. Instead of having an individual label for each item, I'm putting in narrative labels. Each author will have a label discussing their work, and each theme will also have a label. The picture above is what my table looked like on Friday. Those are the items I've selected for the Ray Bradbury section of the exhibit (well, most of them. The manuscript pieces aren't out). There's my notebook with my notes about the books, the item list with the item slips sitting on top, Fahrenheit 451 open on foam rests, and the other books piled up on the side.

I will make a point of saying that being able to have so many items out on the table at once is highly unusual. When a patron is using items in the reading room, they can have one item on the table at once (or one folder if it is manuscript materials). If they need to compare two items, they can receive special permission to have both items out at once. Exceptions are made for super special researchers and for people who work at the library, particularly if they're working on an exhibit. I love being able to have so many of my items out at once. They may not be centuries old, but I find them exciting. Of the six books I've pulled for Bradbury, four are first editions and two of them are signed. I know that not everyone finds this super exciting. And that's completely fine. But these are books and authors that I grew up hearing about or seeing on my parents' bookcases. That, if nothing else, makes them special to me.

What Is Science Fiction?

So the first specific section of my exhibit that I'm going to discuss is the only one that is not dedicated to a specific author. When I first decided to include this section in my exhibit, it sounded easy and necessary enough. Tell my audience what science fiction is, both in case they do not know and to help put the items and authors in context. The problem is that defining anything, particularly as diffuse a concept as science fiction, is nigh impossible.

A quick look at the beginning of Robert Heinlein's essay "Science Fiction: Its Nature, Faults and Virtues" shows that not even science fiction authors can agree on the definition of what it is they write. Heinlein even accused Theodore Sturgeon of creating a definition so narrow that it excluded some of Sturgeon's own work. Heinlein also brings up the distinction (or lack there of) between the terms "science fiction" and "speculative fiction." Heinlein believed the phrases should be used interchangeably, but he does describe some work as more speculative rather than scientific, which implies that there is a difference. That is an issue which I will be addressing in the portion of the exhibit devoted to Harlan Ellison, as he was an acknowledged master of speculative fiction.

This part of the exhibit will have the most boring text on display. I will use the tombstones (the official term for exhibit labels) to try and draw the viewers attention to passages and phrases in the text to look for. Unfortunately, showing a closed book of science fiction criticism might look more interesting, but it does not convey the same level of meaning that the body of the work can. My favorite piece in this section of the exhibit is not a book, however. It is a transcript of an award acceptance speech made by Arthur C. Clarke, and in it he rhapsodizes about the importance of science fiction. It's rather beautiful.

Assembling this portion of the exhibit has clarified in my mind that I have no idea what the definition of science fiction actually is. And I am okay with that. I also think it will make it more interesting for the viewers this way. If they begin with this section, it will not prescribe for them how to interpret the rest of the exhibit. If they see it at the end, they might feel willing to draw their own conclusions or form their own definition based on what they saw in the rest of the exhibit. Either way, I am all about making viewers think! I confess that I am worried that this will be the weakest part of the entire exhibit. But I hope that the other parts are quite simply awesome, so "weakest" being a relative term, this part of the exhibit will be fine.

Week 6: Space, the Final Frontier...

Last week was an all exhibit, all the time week, which was good because I spent most of the week sick. As sickness = low cognitive ability, having my week narrowed down to filling out call slips, paging books for myself, and writing down a few notes about each item worked well for me. At the beginning of the week, I discussed my proposed exhibit focus with Becky and got her okay on it. The exhibit will focus on a variety of different science fiction authors, and I will be using each author (or in some cases, a pair of authors) to highlight a different theme or aspect of science fiction writing. There will also be a section that looks at the definition of science fiction, mostly according to the writers themselves. I began the week thinking about the different visual impacts of open versus closed books. I shortly realized that before I worried about that, I would need to come to terms with just how many items I could use.

My previous exhibit experience happened in my Manuscripts class this past spring, which I took with the Lilly's manuscripts curator, Cherry Williams. I had one case in the foyer, and I chose to work with music manuscripts, which are rather large. I fit a grand total of six items into my case, which was many fewer than most of my classmates. But it allowed my to tell the story I wanted to tell, as well as having an interesting looking display that wasn't overly cluttered.

So, when I began to select items at the beginning of the week, measuring them and trying to decide whether to display them open or closed, I was in the mindset that I would not be able to fit too many items into each case. And then I did a little bit of math and it hit me. Hardcover books are significantly smaller than the music manuscripts I worked with in the spring. And, unlike the music, they tend to make more of an impact when closed (which makes them smaller still). Bare text, after all, is not visually striking. The score on the right, for example, took up one fourth of my display space. And that worked because it is visually impressive. (If you look at the picture on the top of my blog, you can see at the far right). A hardcover book will never do that, especially if it is open. Even if it has a fantastic illustration, it is simply too small to command so much of the physical space of an exhibit (with very few exceptions).

This put me in a much different position than with curating the music exhibit. I was cutting items out of that one right through my meeting with the woman from preservation who would choose mounts for the item. This time, I realized that I would have space for more items than I imagined. So I decided to add a few more authors to my list. At present, the works of the following authors will be featured in my exhibit:

• Isaac Asimov
• Arthur C. Clarke
• Philip K. Dick
  
• Robert Heinlein
• Ray Bradbury
• Theodore Sturgeon
• Harlan Ellison

Since I have four cases, each of which is divided in half (thematically if not visually), the eighth section is the "What Is Science Fiction?" section. I have a variety of materials with this group of authors, including movie and television scripts, a proof copy of a novel, a paperback book that cost $.35 when it was published, and handwritten manuscripts. And, of course, a lot of books. Over the next few weeks, keep an eye out for extra posts each week about each segment of my exhibit. So, if you are unfamiliar with some of these authors, you will get the opportunity to learn more about them. Exciting, isn't it?

Week 5: And By 1980, We'll Have Permanent Colonies on the Moon...

The past week was a pretty quiet one for me, internship-wise (when it came to one of my jobs, it was absolutely insane!). One Monday, I got to sit in on a meeting with a student and professor from the English Dept. (if I'm not mistaken) who are working on putting together an online exhibit about Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Becky showed them some of the things that showed up in IUCAT (the school's online catalog) that might be useful, as well as giving them some suggestions of manuscript collections to explore. One of the funniest things we came across, however, were the subject headings for one copy of A Christmas Carol that we looked at on IUCAT. For those who do not know, subject headings are words or phrases attached to books and other items in catalogs to help users find works on certain topics. And I think we can all think of some obvious possible headings for A Christmas Carol, such as ghosts and maybe, I dunno, Christmas. Here were the three headings that showed up in the record:

• Poor families
• Crippled children
• Misers

Yup. We had looked at these before the professor showed up, and when we told her about them she started laughing. It was pretty awesome. One of the things Becky told them that I will do my best to keep in mind for my exhibit (though it may be difficult) is that people respond better to images than words in exhibits. Illustrations, book covers, that sort of thing. I really enjoy getting to sit in on these meetings. The more I work with Becky, the more I realize that she knows more about the collections at the Lilly then just about anyone else. It never ceases to impress me.

I also got to pull some items for another class presentation and sit in on the class. It was a class in what I believe is called Hispanic and Portuguese Studies. It was a history class, and they were particularly interested in the conquest and post-conquest in Latin America. It was fabulous to listen to the students look at and touch documents that have survived for hundreds of years. They are all in such awe. It pleases me that undergraduates can still be impressed by these things. And some of them were actually asking intelligent questions about how old these things were and what they were written on and made out of. I think that I will cry the day that we cease to be in awe of these types of items. Here's hoping it doesn't happen in my life time.

I spent the rest of the week looking through items for my exhibit. I've still been doing some work with Boucher's writings. He interviewed a whole group of science fiction writers for a round table to be published in Playboy, and I began looking through some of those documents on Friday. I have a great deal of respect for science fiction writers and the things that they can come up with, but reading about their predictions for the future was sometimes hysterically funny. These interviews took place in 1963, so years before Apollo 11 brought the first men to the moon. One of the writers correctly predicted that we would have landed on the moon by 1970, but then the next obvious step was that we would have permanent stations and such on the moon by 1980. If only. There were also some interesting discussions of sex in the future, which naturally included sex with aliens (one person had some interesting speculations about sex involving telepathy). But there was also an interesting discussion of whether nationalism and national boundaries would be carried into space. Some said yes, some said no. Well, there's an American flag on the moon, but we now have an international space station. So, I guess we have a bit of both, but I'm glad to see that we seem to be moving in the less-nationalistic direction. There were also tons of other things, but I really shouldn't go on about this forever.

So, I should be talking the Becky about my concept for the exhibit this week, and I will probably have my usual routine of reference questions and exhibit work. And now that the last week of insanity for one of my paying jobs is out of the way, the rest of the semester should be smooth sailing!