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Ralph 124C 41+
Science Fiction Classics #4: A book full of science fiction predictions by the Father of Sci-Fi, Hugo Gernsback. From Pulpville Press.
186 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1911
16 people are currently reading
650 people want to read
About the author
Hugo Gernsback
290 books41 followersHugo Gernsback (August 16, 1884 – August 19, 1967), born Hugo Gernsbacher, was a Luxembourgian-American inventor, writer, editor, and magazine publisher, best remembered for publications that included the first science fiction magazine. His contributions to the genre as publisher were so significant that, along with H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, he is sometimes popularly called "The Father of Science Fiction".
In his honor, the annual Science Fiction Achievement awards are named the "Hugos".
In his honor, the annual Science Fiction Achievement awards are named the "Hugos".
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August 8, 2022
During the course of any number of my book musings here, I have made reference to editor Hugo Gernsback, in whose magazine "Amazing Stories"--the very first magazine devoted to the type of writing that would one day be called "science fiction," and which rolled out its first issue in April 1926--so many wonderful tales and serialized novels first appeared. Gernsback, in truth, was a pretty remarkable figure. He'd been born in Luxembourg City in 1884, and by the time of his passing in 1967, at age 83, had edited or published at least 50 other magazines, written three novels and a dozen or so short stories (plus countless essays), taken out 80 or so patents, and coined the term "science fiction." The Hugo Awards today, of course, are named in his honor. However, it recently struck this reader that although I have experienced any number of works that originally appeared in "Amazing," I had as yet never checked out anything written BY Gernsback himself. And so, I decided to finally read what is probably Gernsback's most famous novel, "Ralph 124C 41+,"despite the book's lousy modern-day reputation, and despite the fact that I've never been a big fan of the writings of early sci-fi's other major editor, John W. Campbell, who ushered in the genre's so-called Golden Age beginning in the July 1939 issue of "Astounding Science-Fiction."
"Ralph 124C 41+" initially appeared as a 12-part serial in the pages of Gernsback's very first magazine, "Modern Electrics." This magazine, the first dedicated to electronic matters and geared toward radio buffs (excuse me...I should more accurately say "wireless buffs," the word "radio" not even being in general use at the time), ran from 1908 - 1914, sold for 10 cents, and was at first more of a catalog of electronic parts than anything else. Gernsback's first novel ran in the April 1911 to March 1912 issues, the front covers for each of which featured an illustration taken from that month's installment. The novel would be reissued in 1925 as a hardcover book, somewhat updated and revised, and in 1929, the novel would appear complete in the 50-cent "Amazing Stories Quarterly." "Ralph…" has seen any number of editions since then, befitting its classic status today. The one that I was fortunate enough to acquire is the Bison Books release from 2000, which features not only a very fine introduction by Grand Master Jack Williamson, but the novel's two introductions written by Gernsback for the 1925 and 1950 editions, and the book's vintage artwork by the great Frank R. Paul. This Bison release would thus seem to be the definitive one to get...unless, of course, you'd rather dig deep and spend some major bucks on something a lot more collectable. So is "Ralph…" any good, you're probably wondering at this point; is it a worthy novel to read today, 111 years (as of this writing) since it first appeared? Well, yes and no, I suppose, although at times it almost doesn't even feel like a novel at all!
"Ralph…" is set in the year 2660, or 750 years after Gernsback first conceived of it. It tells the tale of the titular Ralph 124C 41+, one of the 10 greatest scientists on Earth, that fact designated by the plus sign after his name. A NYC-based inventor of any number of astounding (or, in deference to Gernsback, let's rather say "amazing"!) scientific gizmos, Ralph, when we first encounter him, is involved in one of his greatest experiments: bringing back to life a dog that had been exsanguinated and preserved for three years! His work is interrupted, however, when, during a call to a male colleague on his Telephot (the first of dozens of futuristic marvels name-checked in the book; think of a two-way AV gizmo), he is somehow switched over to a beautiful young woman somewhere in Switzerland, with whom he is immediately smitten. As the two strangers chat, a sudden avalanche threatens the young woman's chalet, causing Ralph to leap into action, and employ his Ultra-Generator to send a heat ray to the lady's Communico and Power masts, melting the tons of snow in its tracks. (And yes, all the book's major gizmos are capitalized like this, and no, I wasn't 100% clear on the science involved here.)
The very next day, the young woman, Alice 212B 423, and her engineer father, James 212B 423, appear at Ralph's 650-foot-tall, crystal and steelonium tower in NYC, to give their thanks in person. The bachelor scientist is delighted, and for the next 150 pages of the novel, does pretty much nothing but show the two around, impressing them--and the reader--with the manifold marvels of 27th century NYC and the surrounding areas. All the while, Ralph and Alice become more and more enamored with each other (hmm, Ralph and Alice...you don't suppose the lead characters in the TV classic "The Honeymooners" could've been named after these two of all people, do you? Nah!), but there is trouble brewing ahead. In the book's only real nod to a semblance of plot, two other men, we learn, are currently insanely jealous of Ralph's appeal to the beautiful Alice. Those men are the European (?) Fernand and the 7-foot-tall Martian Llysanorh', both of whom want Alice for himself, even though Martians are forbidden to marry Earthlings. Fernand goes so far as to abduct Alice, a kidnapping that Ralph easily foils. But later, the two cads grow even more desperate. Fernand spirits Alice away again and heads toward colonized Venus, forcing Ralph to pursue in his one-man space cruiser. But when the lovesick Llysanorh' manages to abduct the Swiss miss from Fernand's clutches, Ralph is compelled to alter course and pursue the Martian toward the Asteroid Belt itself. But an even greater trial, it seems, is soon to overcome the troubled lovers....
Now, I mentioned up top that "Ralph 124C 41+" does not enjoy a very good reputation today, and that might have been something of an understatement. A quick glance at a certain Wiki site will reveal some modern-day appraisals, with authors Lester del Rey and Brian W. Aldiss calling the book "simply dreadful" and a "tawdry illiterate tale," respectively. And then there's science writer Martin Gardner, who goes so far as to call it "surely the worst SF novel ever written." So IS "Ralph…" the worst science fiction novel ever written? Don't ask me; I haven't read them all! I can say that the book seems more the product of a talented amateur than a professional wordsmith, however. Gernsback himself, in his intro to the 1950 edition, admits how pressured he was to finish each month's installment of the serial, and that "the literary quality suffered painfully under such continuous tours de force every month...but somehow the scientific and technical content came through unscathed most of the time...." And there you have it, just as I suspected! Reading "Ralph…," one gets the impression that Gernsback had ideas for a few dozen nifty inventions and somehow just wanted to shoehorn them into a story. The gadgetry, geared to wow the "Modern Electrics" customers, is thus paramount; the plot, secondary; the characterizations, tertiary; the literary style and technique, not important whatsoever. When Robert A. Heinlein first rose to prominence in "Astounding" in the early '40s, he was praised for his ability to treat his story's scientific wonders matter-of-factly and nonchalantly, mentioning them in an offhand, seamless manner so as not to intrude on his story's plot. Gernsback, in "Ralph 124C 41+," takes the exact opposite approach. Time after time, his story grinds to a halt while scientific wonders are detailed for us; the book, especially in its first two-thirds, is essentially one lengthy info dump, with the more interesting "subplot" of Alice's kidnappings scattered about to break things up. It is only when Alice is shanghaied into space that things really start to get exciting.
Having said this, I will admit that Gernsback does present us with any number of futuristic predictions and outlandish scientific speculations during the course of his book. Some of his predictions, such as the use of solar power, conveyor belts at the postal facilities, forced farming, the Telephot, and the Hypnobioscope (a machine utilizing tapes that allows one to learn while he or she sleeps), have already come to pass. In other areas, time has already proven him wrong: Light waves are not dependent on an all-pervasive ether for their existence, and humankind did not replace cash with the universally used check. (Apparently, Gernsback could not envision something akin to the ubiquitous credit card.) And then again, some of the things that he predicts as being boons to mankind sound flat-out awful to me, such as Scienticafes, where customers sit at tables and suck their liquefied meats and vegetables through a flexible tube (this does away with indigestion and dyspepsia, Ralph explains), and the Meteoro-Towers, which keep the weather at a dry and sunny 72 degrees every day of the year, except for the two hours of rain from 2 - 4 A.M. (I'd go out of my mind!) But I do like the idea of Gernsback's Bacillatorium, a sort of decontamination chamber for the home, and the floating Vacation Cities, in which stressed-out individuals can unwind 20,000 feet above the planet's surface. Personally, however, I find it hard to envision the Tele-Motor-Coasters (essentially, electrically powered roller skates) ever being used by the entire population to zip around.
"Ralph 124C 41+" is most assuredly a very odd book, probably best recommended for those readers with an abiding interest in the history of science fiction. I do not regret reading it--and indeed, simply written as it is, the book can be experienced quite quickly--but have a feeling that many other readers will grow restless fairly often, and find themselves wishing that the author would just get on with it! As I said, Gernsback continuously gets bogged down with his technical descriptions, some of which are interesting (bringing the dead back to life, those Vacation Cities), others dull (the conveyor belts, the making of artificial milk). To be fair, the book does sport some well-done scenes, such as Alice's initial abduction by Fernand, wearing a Martian invisibility cloak to make himself untrackable; the pursuits to Venus and Mars; and Ralph disguising his one-man ship as a comet! (Do you want to know how to build your own comet? Gernsback will tell you here!) The author also gives his readers some pleasing throwaway bits of interesting data, mentioning at one point that Earth's population in 2660 is a whopping 90 billion; 200 million in NYC alone! (The mind boggles.) As a native New Yorker myself, I was most amused by the author's mention of a "Broadway and 389th St.," and when Ralph tells Alice:
"...We New Yorkers are strange birds. We only like our city when we are far away from it, or when we can take some stranger about to show him or her the marvels of the town. As a matter of fact the real, dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker hates the town and only stays in it because it has cast a spell over him which he cannot escape...."
A certain degree of truth there, at least for me.
For the rest of it, "Ralph…" is penned in a decidedly strange manner, with reams of oddball punctuation. So many sentences are either missing a necessary comma or have a few too many. For example: "Peter returning to Ralph's bedroom placed the reel containing the film in a rack"; "Distant constellations which ordinarily cannot be seen, except, with a telescope, were plainly visible to him, in outer space." Gernsback is also guilty here of some head-scratching statements, such as when he writes that "New York time is five hours ahead of French time" (isn't it the other way around?), and when he lauds the artificial fabrics being made in a 27th century spinnery that are "cooler in summer and warmer in winter" (uh, I thought it was 72 degrees and sunny every single day of the year!). And if you can understand his lecture on Ralph's gyroscopically powered spaceship, you're better than me! Still, for all its many problems, and dated and creaky as it undeniably is, "Ralph 124C 41+" yet manages to exert a certain quaint charm. It is surely not a book for everyone, or even every sci-fi fan, but is yet kinda fun, darn it!
Now, as to those other two Gernsback novels that I alluded to, one of them is called "Baron Munchausen's Scientific Adventures" (which initially appeared as a 13-part serial, from 1915 - '16, in Gernsback's magazine "The Electrical Experimenter"), and the other is a posthumous affair, 1971's "Ultimate World." Based on my experience with the book in question, I'm in no great hurry to investigate these other two, but would not be totally averse to the idea, either....
(By the way, this review originally appeared on the FanLit website at https://fantasyliterature.com/ ... a most ideal destination for all fans of Radium Age sci-fi....)
"Ralph 124C 41+" initially appeared as a 12-part serial in the pages of Gernsback's very first magazine, "Modern Electrics." This magazine, the first dedicated to electronic matters and geared toward radio buffs (excuse me...I should more accurately say "wireless buffs," the word "radio" not even being in general use at the time), ran from 1908 - 1914, sold for 10 cents, and was at first more of a catalog of electronic parts than anything else. Gernsback's first novel ran in the April 1911 to March 1912 issues, the front covers for each of which featured an illustration taken from that month's installment. The novel would be reissued in 1925 as a hardcover book, somewhat updated and revised, and in 1929, the novel would appear complete in the 50-cent "Amazing Stories Quarterly." "Ralph…" has seen any number of editions since then, befitting its classic status today. The one that I was fortunate enough to acquire is the Bison Books release from 2000, which features not only a very fine introduction by Grand Master Jack Williamson, but the novel's two introductions written by Gernsback for the 1925 and 1950 editions, and the book's vintage artwork by the great Frank R. Paul. This Bison release would thus seem to be the definitive one to get...unless, of course, you'd rather dig deep and spend some major bucks on something a lot more collectable. So is "Ralph…" any good, you're probably wondering at this point; is it a worthy novel to read today, 111 years (as of this writing) since it first appeared? Well, yes and no, I suppose, although at times it almost doesn't even feel like a novel at all!
"Ralph…" is set in the year 2660, or 750 years after Gernsback first conceived of it. It tells the tale of the titular Ralph 124C 41+, one of the 10 greatest scientists on Earth, that fact designated by the plus sign after his name. A NYC-based inventor of any number of astounding (or, in deference to Gernsback, let's rather say "amazing"!) scientific gizmos, Ralph, when we first encounter him, is involved in one of his greatest experiments: bringing back to life a dog that had been exsanguinated and preserved for three years! His work is interrupted, however, when, during a call to a male colleague on his Telephot (the first of dozens of futuristic marvels name-checked in the book; think of a two-way AV gizmo), he is somehow switched over to a beautiful young woman somewhere in Switzerland, with whom he is immediately smitten. As the two strangers chat, a sudden avalanche threatens the young woman's chalet, causing Ralph to leap into action, and employ his Ultra-Generator to send a heat ray to the lady's Communico and Power masts, melting the tons of snow in its tracks. (And yes, all the book's major gizmos are capitalized like this, and no, I wasn't 100% clear on the science involved here.)
The very next day, the young woman, Alice 212B 423, and her engineer father, James 212B 423, appear at Ralph's 650-foot-tall, crystal and steelonium tower in NYC, to give their thanks in person. The bachelor scientist is delighted, and for the next 150 pages of the novel, does pretty much nothing but show the two around, impressing them--and the reader--with the manifold marvels of 27th century NYC and the surrounding areas. All the while, Ralph and Alice become more and more enamored with each other (hmm, Ralph and Alice...you don't suppose the lead characters in the TV classic "The Honeymooners" could've been named after these two of all people, do you? Nah!), but there is trouble brewing ahead. In the book's only real nod to a semblance of plot, two other men, we learn, are currently insanely jealous of Ralph's appeal to the beautiful Alice. Those men are the European (?) Fernand and the 7-foot-tall Martian Llysanorh', both of whom want Alice for himself, even though Martians are forbidden to marry Earthlings. Fernand goes so far as to abduct Alice, a kidnapping that Ralph easily foils. But later, the two cads grow even more desperate. Fernand spirits Alice away again and heads toward colonized Venus, forcing Ralph to pursue in his one-man space cruiser. But when the lovesick Llysanorh' manages to abduct the Swiss miss from Fernand's clutches, Ralph is compelled to alter course and pursue the Martian toward the Asteroid Belt itself. But an even greater trial, it seems, is soon to overcome the troubled lovers....
Now, I mentioned up top that "Ralph 124C 41+" does not enjoy a very good reputation today, and that might have been something of an understatement. A quick glance at a certain Wiki site will reveal some modern-day appraisals, with authors Lester del Rey and Brian W. Aldiss calling the book "simply dreadful" and a "tawdry illiterate tale," respectively. And then there's science writer Martin Gardner, who goes so far as to call it "surely the worst SF novel ever written." So IS "Ralph…" the worst science fiction novel ever written? Don't ask me; I haven't read them all! I can say that the book seems more the product of a talented amateur than a professional wordsmith, however. Gernsback himself, in his intro to the 1950 edition, admits how pressured he was to finish each month's installment of the serial, and that "the literary quality suffered painfully under such continuous tours de force every month...but somehow the scientific and technical content came through unscathed most of the time...." And there you have it, just as I suspected! Reading "Ralph…," one gets the impression that Gernsback had ideas for a few dozen nifty inventions and somehow just wanted to shoehorn them into a story. The gadgetry, geared to wow the "Modern Electrics" customers, is thus paramount; the plot, secondary; the characterizations, tertiary; the literary style and technique, not important whatsoever. When Robert A. Heinlein first rose to prominence in "Astounding" in the early '40s, he was praised for his ability to treat his story's scientific wonders matter-of-factly and nonchalantly, mentioning them in an offhand, seamless manner so as not to intrude on his story's plot. Gernsback, in "Ralph 124C 41+," takes the exact opposite approach. Time after time, his story grinds to a halt while scientific wonders are detailed for us; the book, especially in its first two-thirds, is essentially one lengthy info dump, with the more interesting "subplot" of Alice's kidnappings scattered about to break things up. It is only when Alice is shanghaied into space that things really start to get exciting.
Having said this, I will admit that Gernsback does present us with any number of futuristic predictions and outlandish scientific speculations during the course of his book. Some of his predictions, such as the use of solar power, conveyor belts at the postal facilities, forced farming, the Telephot, and the Hypnobioscope (a machine utilizing tapes that allows one to learn while he or she sleeps), have already come to pass. In other areas, time has already proven him wrong: Light waves are not dependent on an all-pervasive ether for their existence, and humankind did not replace cash with the universally used check. (Apparently, Gernsback could not envision something akin to the ubiquitous credit card.) And then again, some of the things that he predicts as being boons to mankind sound flat-out awful to me, such as Scienticafes, where customers sit at tables and suck their liquefied meats and vegetables through a flexible tube (this does away with indigestion and dyspepsia, Ralph explains), and the Meteoro-Towers, which keep the weather at a dry and sunny 72 degrees every day of the year, except for the two hours of rain from 2 - 4 A.M. (I'd go out of my mind!) But I do like the idea of Gernsback's Bacillatorium, a sort of decontamination chamber for the home, and the floating Vacation Cities, in which stressed-out individuals can unwind 20,000 feet above the planet's surface. Personally, however, I find it hard to envision the Tele-Motor-Coasters (essentially, electrically powered roller skates) ever being used by the entire population to zip around.
"Ralph 124C 41+" is most assuredly a very odd book, probably best recommended for those readers with an abiding interest in the history of science fiction. I do not regret reading it--and indeed, simply written as it is, the book can be experienced quite quickly--but have a feeling that many other readers will grow restless fairly often, and find themselves wishing that the author would just get on with it! As I said, Gernsback continuously gets bogged down with his technical descriptions, some of which are interesting (bringing the dead back to life, those Vacation Cities), others dull (the conveyor belts, the making of artificial milk). To be fair, the book does sport some well-done scenes, such as Alice's initial abduction by Fernand, wearing a Martian invisibility cloak to make himself untrackable; the pursuits to Venus and Mars; and Ralph disguising his one-man ship as a comet! (Do you want to know how to build your own comet? Gernsback will tell you here!) The author also gives his readers some pleasing throwaway bits of interesting data, mentioning at one point that Earth's population in 2660 is a whopping 90 billion; 200 million in NYC alone! (The mind boggles.) As a native New Yorker myself, I was most amused by the author's mention of a "Broadway and 389th St.," and when Ralph tells Alice:
"...We New Yorkers are strange birds. We only like our city when we are far away from it, or when we can take some stranger about to show him or her the marvels of the town. As a matter of fact the real, dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker hates the town and only stays in it because it has cast a spell over him which he cannot escape...."
A certain degree of truth there, at least for me.
For the rest of it, "Ralph…" is penned in a decidedly strange manner, with reams of oddball punctuation. So many sentences are either missing a necessary comma or have a few too many. For example: "Peter returning to Ralph's bedroom placed the reel containing the film in a rack"; "Distant constellations which ordinarily cannot be seen, except, with a telescope, were plainly visible to him, in outer space." Gernsback is also guilty here of some head-scratching statements, such as when he writes that "New York time is five hours ahead of French time" (isn't it the other way around?), and when he lauds the artificial fabrics being made in a 27th century spinnery that are "cooler in summer and warmer in winter" (uh, I thought it was 72 degrees and sunny every single day of the year!). And if you can understand his lecture on Ralph's gyroscopically powered spaceship, you're better than me! Still, for all its many problems, and dated and creaky as it undeniably is, "Ralph 124C 41+" yet manages to exert a certain quaint charm. It is surely not a book for everyone, or even every sci-fi fan, but is yet kinda fun, darn it!
Now, as to those other two Gernsback novels that I alluded to, one of them is called "Baron Munchausen's Scientific Adventures" (which initially appeared as a 13-part serial, from 1915 - '16, in Gernsback's magazine "The Electrical Experimenter"), and the other is a posthumous affair, 1971's "Ultimate World." Based on my experience with the book in question, I'm in no great hurry to investigate these other two, but would not be totally averse to the idea, either....
(By the way, this review originally appeared on the FanLit website at https://fantasyliterature.com/ ... a most ideal destination for all fans of Radium Age sci-fi....)
February 16, 2024
This 1911 work of science fiction is a building block in the genre and in many ways it was worth the read. The book is largely a series of predictions about scientific progress in future centuries including entertainment, agriculture, medicine, and space travel. It's all pulled together with a romance as the world renowned scientist of the title shows his new girlfriend around future New York.
In reading this I found myself drawing comparisons with another early science-fiction work, namely “Across the Zodiac” by Percy Greg. Both books are concerned with a romance and with a travelogue depicting various inventions. Both books meander and only begin to engage in plot about halfway through. “Across the Zodiac” is not widely read either, but it is one of the reasons I truly appreciated Gernsback's book. Greg's book is a 600 page reactionary rant in the form of a sci-fi novel, but Gernsback's is a fast and light slogan for progress.
“Ralph 124C 41+” is an optimistic work of speculative fiction that isn't afraid to engage in what sometimes appears to be an endless list of advancements and inventions. The hero is a genius, such a genius that he has the rare plus sign on the end of his name. In many ways, this is the kind of fiction we write when we are very young and want to be smart, liked, strong, and to win and be loved for winning. This isn't a problem for me as a reader, that's just what comes with reading genre fiction from that time and place. The starry-eyed optimism is its own appeal.
The book has sentient life on Mars, electric skates, invisibility machines, rockets and rayguns, weird predictions that are awesome for not coming true, a man-of-action hero who knows it all and lets you know it, action, romance, and some fun turns.
Is this great storytelling? Probably not, but that's fine too. I kinda wish somebody like Burroughs had jumped in and punched it up, since very often a sustained narrative is wanted. However, flawed as it is, the book is too quick to really get boring and the parade of predictions and strange ideas carries with it a sideshow appeal.
The book opens with a genius in New York accidentally meeting a lady in Switzerland via a TV-phone mix-up and proceeds to save her from an avalanche with rays. How sweet is that?
In reading this I found myself drawing comparisons with another early science-fiction work, namely “Across the Zodiac” by Percy Greg. Both books are concerned with a romance and with a travelogue depicting various inventions. Both books meander and only begin to engage in plot about halfway through. “Across the Zodiac” is not widely read either, but it is one of the reasons I truly appreciated Gernsback's book. Greg's book is a 600 page reactionary rant in the form of a sci-fi novel, but Gernsback's is a fast and light slogan for progress.
“Ralph 124C 41+” is an optimistic work of speculative fiction that isn't afraid to engage in what sometimes appears to be an endless list of advancements and inventions. The hero is a genius, such a genius that he has the rare plus sign on the end of his name. In many ways, this is the kind of fiction we write when we are very young and want to be smart, liked, strong, and to win and be loved for winning. This isn't a problem for me as a reader, that's just what comes with reading genre fiction from that time and place. The starry-eyed optimism is its own appeal.
The book has sentient life on Mars, electric skates, invisibility machines, rockets and rayguns, weird predictions that are awesome for not coming true, a man-of-action hero who knows it all and lets you know it, action, romance, and some fun turns.
Is this great storytelling? Probably not, but that's fine too. I kinda wish somebody like Burroughs had jumped in and punched it up, since very often a sustained narrative is wanted. However, flawed as it is, the book is too quick to really get boring and the parade of predictions and strange ideas carries with it a sideshow appeal.
The book opens with a genius in New York accidentally meeting a lady in Switzerland via a TV-phone mix-up and proceeds to save her from an avalanche with rays. How sweet is that?
May 4, 2025
Some books are more important than they are actually good. Ralph for short (better than R1+AROY) is an important historical document, despite not exactly being good writing or storytelling. If read the right way, it can be very entertaining. Written in 1910 or 1911 by Hugo Gernsback in his magazine Modern Electronics. This was of course, a new field, electronics. John Ambrose Fleming, the first professor of electrical Engineering at University College in London got that gig less than a decade earlier. Gernsback was a publisher, but he saw himself as an inventor. This radical thought experiment showed him going far beyond what was currently technologically possible.
Perfect for Science fiction, just one problem, the genre didn’t exist yet. Ralph as a story is very, very important, not just because of how crazy ahead of the time it was. First serialized in 1911 in his electronics journal Ol’ Hugo had no idea that in sixteen years he would be inventing not technology, but a storytelling genre.
There is a reason the science fiction award is called the Hugo, and yes, I am aware that SF in a sense already existed, but Gernsback, Amazing Stories, and indeed Ralph play a role in inventing the genre we see expressing itself across media. Now the edition I read is based on the text of an edition from the 50s, and it had been revised a bit in 1928, but still the ideas are quite revolutionary for 1928, but in 1911 it is CRAZY.
From a universal translator, thumb drive newspapers. Anti-gravity flying cars, microfilm, vending machines, satellites, tape recorders, solar energy, and a few others are accurate or close to accurate predictions. This is all fun stuff to read about, and the technologies that were pretty close to the eventual thing that was invented. Even more fun is the stuff that never happened. One of my favorites was a postage stamp-sized newspaper you buy to download the news.
This is an important book, but make no mistake, the story and characters are thin. You are reading it for the thought experiment of the technology at the time. For that, it is a valuable snapshot of wild speculation of many sitting at a typewriter in 1911 and thinking about the future and certainly a better example than Poe’s The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall," which still people traveling in balloons in a thousand years.
As far as a work of Pre-Science Fiction I think this novella is a must-read. The faults are many, but the strengths are enough to validate its importance.
Read
December 23, 2009http://nhw.livejournal.com/852938.html[return][return]Brian Aldiss blames Gernsback for taking sf away from the literary tradition established by Mary Shelley, and reading this, the Luxembourg-born author's only well-known work of fiction, I can see why Aldiss accuses Gernsback of "a deadening literalism"; and yet I can also understand why the Worldcon hands out Hugos rather than Shelleys.[return][return]This fairly short novel was written in 1911, and concerns Ralph 124C 41+, the greatest inventor of his age, who one day meets the beautiful Alice as a result of a crossed videophone conversation, and saves her from an avalanche in distant Switzerland by remote control. He takes her on a tour of 27th century New York and rescues her from abduction and certain death in space at the hands of his rivals for her affections.[return][return]Of course the narrative (such as it is) is interrupted frequently by breathless descriptions of the technical advances of the year 2660. Some of these (e.g. radar and solar panels) are now familiar to us in 2007, while in some cases one wonders why he didn't take the idea a step further (you can watch live broadcasts from Europe, and phone calls use video as a matter of course, but no mention of video recording of any kind - and this was written several years after the dawn of cinema).[return][return]No robots (still nine years before apek invented them in R.U.R.), and perhaps more unexpectedly no rockets - space flight happens via antigravity. (Robert Goddard only began his rocket experiments that same year, 1911; Tsiolkovsky had been writing on the subject for decades, but I don't know how well know his work was in the English-speaking world.)[return][return]Yet Gernsback's most spectacular miss is in his failure to understand how technology would revolutionise society. Ralph's sleep is enlivened by a recording of Homer's Odyssey; his manservant puts it on for him. Ralph's dictation machine means that his secretary can devote her time to other things, not that he can dispense with her services. As noted above, we hear a lot about live entertainment, but not much about other forms of literature. The technicalities of how the newspaper of 2660 is produced and read are described in detail; its contents are not.[return][return](And Gernsbach's asteroids have atmospheres.)[return][return]Still, I can find a lot more forgiveness for him than Brian Aldiss did: for me, Gernsbach's enthusiasm makes up for his desperately clunky prose. And I love the line, "Martians in New York were not sufficiently rare to excite any particular comment."
January 24, 2024
I set my expectations very low…and yet this turned out to be a weird delight. It works, to my mind, if processed as a combination of Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy, The Adventuress by Arthur B. Reeve, and the movie There’s Something About Mary (no, I’m not kidding, or working with a screw loose, when I add that last one). Oh, and add a dash of the latest film version of The Invisible Man.
The Adventuress, by Reeve, is a viable comparison, IMO, because it is from the same era as the novel version of Ralph 124C 4+ (the 1920s - though the original, serialized version of Ralph etc. dates back to 1911, if I’ve got all this right), and the focus of both is unbounded optimism in technology - including incredible gadgets. But whereas I rate The Adventuress low, because gadgets and at times now-ridiculous science used to solve crimes becomes a bit boring - give me Poirot’s brain as the focus any day, over a detective with a cutting-edge gizmo or scientific technique - a dusty SF novel bombarding the reader with the proposed technology of a proposed Earth of 2660, is a treat. Arthur B. Reeve and Hugo Gernsback do both deal in hoary, creaky prose, so they even have that in common in addition to all the cool inventions shown off, but an SF novel suggesting a near-perfect future of 2660, where the last hurdle seems to be defeating death and all else has been achieved is a breath of fresh air…before world wars and tech with mass-destructive power marched in to change how SF writers envisioned the future, if there is one.
If there’s something off about this 2660, it’s the writer still giving us a servant class - maids and butlers - plus people still smoking tobacco. But this is balanced by the vacation city in the sky, and the reliance on solar power, and the ability to halt an avalanche, plus other things that it would be wonderful to one day achieve. Now, the plot gets a bit Something About Mary, as it depicts one more problem with this ‘perfect’ future…a woman may still be subjected to multiple stalkers. I find that depressing, contemplating 2660, but oddly believable - all this attitude adjustment making life a paradise, and some men are still assholes with women; even the good ones can turn out to be bad. Maybe this finally stops in year 3000 (Futurama suggests not!), or do we wait to 4000….5000…? Ever?
The Adventuress, by Reeve, is a viable comparison, IMO, because it is from the same era as the novel version of Ralph 124C 4+ (the 1920s - though the original, serialized version of Ralph etc. dates back to 1911, if I’ve got all this right), and the focus of both is unbounded optimism in technology - including incredible gadgets. But whereas I rate The Adventuress low, because gadgets and at times now-ridiculous science used to solve crimes becomes a bit boring - give me Poirot’s brain as the focus any day, over a detective with a cutting-edge gizmo or scientific technique - a dusty SF novel bombarding the reader with the proposed technology of a proposed Earth of 2660, is a treat. Arthur B. Reeve and Hugo Gernsback do both deal in hoary, creaky prose, so they even have that in common in addition to all the cool inventions shown off, but an SF novel suggesting a near-perfect future of 2660, where the last hurdle seems to be defeating death and all else has been achieved is a breath of fresh air…before world wars and tech with mass-destructive power marched in to change how SF writers envisioned the future, if there is one.
If there’s something off about this 2660, it’s the writer still giving us a servant class - maids and butlers - plus people still smoking tobacco. But this is balanced by the vacation city in the sky, and the reliance on solar power, and the ability to halt an avalanche, plus other things that it would be wonderful to one day achieve. Now, the plot gets a bit Something About Mary, as it depicts one more problem with this ‘perfect’ future…a woman may still be subjected to multiple stalkers. I find that depressing, contemplating 2660, but oddly believable - all this attitude adjustment making life a paradise, and some men are still assholes with women; even the good ones can turn out to be bad. Maybe this finally stops in year 3000 (Futurama suggests not!), or do we wait to 4000….5000…? Ever?
July 5, 2020
Like his contemporary John Campbell, Gernsback was a visionary and a businessman more than a writer. His novel circulated in one of his electronics publications in order to stimulate the imaginations of the kinds of folks he assumed would be reading such things: tinkerers, problem-solvers, do-it-yourselfers, engineers, scientists, and investors. He hoped to find tomorrow's inventors. Therefore, this novel is really just exposition on what kinds of things he wanted in his magazines. And that's exactly what you'll find here.
It is even possible that Gernsback's ultimate vision was to have an "idea farm" in the form of these scientific fiction stories for future patents. Gernsback himself held over 60 patents by his death, and he supported legislation that would allow science fiction writers to bypass the patent process. I wonder where he was going with this...
Anyway, the fascinating part about this novel is that it couches the catalogue of scientific ideas in a romantic adventure narrative of sorts, albeit awkwardly, and so rather than prescient forerunners of today's technology, one does find the bones of future scifi narratives, conflicts, themes, and tropes. This novel is so packed with such trailblazing ideas that if I were to write my own nonfiction text about the Radium-Age of science fiction, I'd entitle it "One to Foresee For All" or even "As You Know..." from a common catchphrase in this book.
Don't read this for the story, or to pick it apart for accurate predictions, but more as a cornerstone and an essential blueprint for the upcoming Golden Age of sci-fi.
It is even possible that Gernsback's ultimate vision was to have an "idea farm" in the form of these scientific fiction stories for future patents. Gernsback himself held over 60 patents by his death, and he supported legislation that would allow science fiction writers to bypass the patent process. I wonder where he was going with this...
Anyway, the fascinating part about this novel is that it couches the catalogue of scientific ideas in a romantic adventure narrative of sorts, albeit awkwardly, and so rather than prescient forerunners of today's technology, one does find the bones of future scifi narratives, conflicts, themes, and tropes. This novel is so packed with such trailblazing ideas that if I were to write my own nonfiction text about the Radium-Age of science fiction, I'd entitle it "One to Foresee For All" or even "As You Know..." from a common catchphrase in this book.
Don't read this for the story, or to pick it apart for accurate predictions, but more as a cornerstone and an essential blueprint for the upcoming Golden Age of sci-fi.
September 12, 2017
I put this on "Want to Read" because there wasn't a slot for "tried and hated it." I usually never give up reading something I've started. But life is too short to read this. The copy I have (a reprint from 1958) lauds it as "prophetic" and says that no one since Jules Verne has done such a good job forecasting the future.
Well, about 25% of the way in, I can say that the author seems completely wrong about almost everything (except video communication). The women are fluffy and unrealistic. The main character is a jerk and is one of those characters where he has invented everything cool in his world. That worked for Jean M. Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear series, but even then it seemed a bit strained. And this book doesn't have breathtaking description or interesting and engaging characters to fall back on. Plus, every time the author describes some "futuristic technology" he puts the details in italics, to emphasize how cool it is. Even Heinlein doesn't pat himself on the back this hard.
Do not recommend.
Well, about 25% of the way in, I can say that the author seems completely wrong about almost everything (except video communication). The women are fluffy and unrealistic. The main character is a jerk and is one of those characters where he has invented everything cool in his world. That worked for Jean M. Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear series, but even then it seemed a bit strained. And this book doesn't have breathtaking description or interesting and engaging characters to fall back on. Plus, every time the author describes some "futuristic technology" he puts the details in italics, to emphasize how cool it is. Even Heinlein doesn't pat himself on the back this hard.
Do not recommend.
September 16, 2013
Wonder!! ...why in the world Martians can't marry Earthlings!
Awe!! ...is not what you'll experience when you read of Ralph 124C 41+ showing Alice 212B 423 around Wheat Farm No. D1569!
Amazement!! ...will fill your mind if your tired eye-balls make it to the end of this novel!
If Hugo Gernsback had promoted his own fiction in the first pages of Amazing Stories instead of that of H. G. Wells, Jules Verne and Edgar Allen Poe, one has to question just how far the newly-dubbed genre would have caught on.
I had read this story (or most of it...I forget) over thirty years ago. All that I recall was that it was amateurish writing (for any time-period). How much so, I had forgotten.
In a giving mood after a re-look, I derived my rating as follows:
One Star (because that's the lowest you can give) +
One Star for its So-Bad-it's-Good Charm +
One Star for its tenuous significance in the history of science fiction.
February 9, 2023
Het heeft toch wel zijn charme, scifi lezen die inmiddels meer dan 110 jaar oud is: soms aandoenlijk, soms schattig, soms ronduit visionair, soms wat vervelend, maar steeds amusant.
Auteur Hugo Gernsback mag de grondlegger van 'science'-fiction genoemd worden omdat hij de ambitie had een nieuwe literatuur te scheppen op basis van wetenschappelijke feiten en kennis eerder dan van fantastische visies. De Hugo Award - samen met de Nebula award de meest toonaangevende literaire bekroning in het genre - werd naar hem genoemd.
In Ralph 124C 41+ volgen we de slimste wetenschapper ter wereld in het New York van 2660 die smoorverliefd wordt op een Zwitserse schone en haar de wonderen van de stad laat zien. Elektrisch vervoer, zonnepanelen, voedsel kweken onder kunstlicht, ruimtereizen,... Grensback leeft zich helemaal uit. Het flinterdunne verhaaltje over zijn schone die door liefdesrivalen belaagd wordt en Ralph die haar met zijn wetenschappelijk brein keer op keer moet redden is net voldoende kapstok om Grensback's uitweidingen over technologie en wetenschap bij elkaar te houden. Zowat alles in de toekomst wordt vervangen door metaal, elektriciteit is zowel medisch als mechanisch voor alles de oplossing en om te ontsnappen aan de werkdruk moet iedereen verplicht maandelijks naar 'vakantiesteden'.
Schattig, zeiden we dat al?
Auteur Hugo Gernsback mag de grondlegger van 'science'-fiction genoemd worden omdat hij de ambitie had een nieuwe literatuur te scheppen op basis van wetenschappelijke feiten en kennis eerder dan van fantastische visies. De Hugo Award - samen met de Nebula award de meest toonaangevende literaire bekroning in het genre - werd naar hem genoemd.
In Ralph 124C 41+ volgen we de slimste wetenschapper ter wereld in het New York van 2660 die smoorverliefd wordt op een Zwitserse schone en haar de wonderen van de stad laat zien. Elektrisch vervoer, zonnepanelen, voedsel kweken onder kunstlicht, ruimtereizen,... Grensback leeft zich helemaal uit. Het flinterdunne verhaaltje over zijn schone die door liefdesrivalen belaagd wordt en Ralph die haar met zijn wetenschappelijk brein keer op keer moet redden is net voldoende kapstok om Grensback's uitweidingen over technologie en wetenschap bij elkaar te houden. Zowat alles in de toekomst wordt vervangen door metaal, elektriciteit is zowel medisch als mechanisch voor alles de oplossing en om te ontsnappen aan de werkdruk moet iedereen verplicht maandelijks naar 'vakantiesteden'.
Schattig, zeiden we dat al?
September 27, 2024
A ten year old iPad kid could write better than this.
June 6, 2015
Some might consider Gernsback the founding figure of American science fiction (the Hugo Awards are named after him). This would be due to his launching popular general science and pulp fiction magazines in the early 1900s rather than his skill as a writer.
Ralph 124C 41+ is one of the earliest American science fiction novels and is firmly in the "techno-utopia" vision in which the plot is merely a device to extend the catalog of inventions and predictions. Some of his ideas have come true - solar power, iridescent light bulbs, radio communication in space - while others will probably never come true like gyroscopic-powered spaceships or resurrecting your dead girlfriend with radioactive material.
At times the writing is cringe inducing, forcing you to wonder how on earth it got published. Then you recall that Gernsback printed it in one of his own magazines.
Ralph 124C 41+ is one of the earliest American science fiction novels and is firmly in the "techno-utopia" vision in which the plot is merely a device to extend the catalog of inventions and predictions. Some of his ideas have come true - solar power, iridescent light bulbs, radio communication in space - while others will probably never come true like gyroscopic-powered spaceships or resurrecting your dead girlfriend with radioactive material.
At times the writing is cringe inducing, forcing you to wonder how on earth it got published. Then you recall that Gernsback printed it in one of his own magazines.
December 16, 2015
I remember reading about this book in histories of SF. No doubt groundbreaking for its time, it's heavy on the infodumps, and the plot is minimal and predictable. The sole female character (as far as I got - I was too bored to continue past 69%) is there to be an object of male fantasy, a McGuffin, and someone to infodump to, rather than a person in her own right.
All of the speculation is about technological rather than sociological change, though Gernsback must have lived through sociological change brought about by technology. For example, Alice, the love interest, is a modest, good pre-World-War-I girl who never goes anywhere with Ralph without a chaperon.
It is, in other words, a story of its time. On this foundation, much better books have been raised.
All of the speculation is about technological rather than sociological change, though Gernsback must have lived through sociological change brought about by technology. For example, Alice, the love interest, is a modest, good pre-World-War-I girl who never goes anywhere with Ralph without a chaperon.
It is, in other words, a story of its time. On this foundation, much better books have been raised.
June 16, 2020
A strong contender for the worst book I've ever read. Sexist (helpless female protagonist who falls in love with genius scientist immediately), racist (antagonists are a Martian and a man whose only description is that he is black, and is referred to as 'that black man', frightening etc.) and spectacularly tedious. Yes, the author made some guesses ('predictions' is too strong a word) about future developments which turned out to be accurate, but given the numbers involved a few matches were inevitable.
I finished this only because it was short and I was reading it for a book club. I recommend you don't start it.
I finished this only because it was short and I was reading it for a book club. I recommend you don't start it.
April 12, 2019
This really is terrible. Starts off with some good predictions, then mansplains the future forever.
August 23, 2021
Considering this was written 110+ years ago, it holds up pretty well. There are many predictions of technologies which we already have today. The story and characters are simpler than what we expect today, but the love triangle (or quadrangle?) plot with successive kidnappings of the heroine drives the action despite the many extensive expository paragraphs to explain the technologies. Of course you can criticize this from many angles (feminist, structuralist, etc.), but given that he was aiming at a nerdy teenage and 20-something male audience of the 19-teens, I’m sure Gernsback hit his mark.
August 6, 2021
This book definitely doesn't deserve the low ratings it has. Sure, it wasn't the best I've read, but definitely wasn't the worst either.
This book is mainly about alot, and i mean alot of predictions about the future. It's kind of woven into a mediocre storyline, but a good amount of the predictions are pretty accurate. It's very fascinating that such predictions that were written in the early 1900s, actually came true. Who knows what sci-fi books that are written now hold the answers to our future?
A fascinating read, especially if you keep in mind that this book was written over a century ago.
This book is mainly about alot, and i mean alot of predictions about the future. It's kind of woven into a mediocre storyline, but a good amount of the predictions are pretty accurate. It's very fascinating that such predictions that were written in the early 1900s, actually came true. Who knows what sci-fi books that are written now hold the answers to our future?
A fascinating read, especially if you keep in mind that this book was written over a century ago.
January 3, 2014
‘By the year 2660, science has transformed and conquered the world, rescuing humanity from itself. Spectacular inventions from the farthest reaches of space and deep beneath the earth are available to meet every need, providing antidotes to individual troubles and social ills. Inventors are highly prized and respected, and they are jealously protected and lavishly cared for by world governments. That support and acclaim, however – as the most brilliant of scientists Ralph 124c 41+, discovers – is not without its price.’
Blurb from the Bison Books 2000 commemorative edition.
Nearly a hundred years on from Gernsback’s first version of this quirky novel in 1911, it re-emerges between the lavish covers of this Bison Books commemorative edition, a facsimile – or at least the interior of the book is – of the 1925 book publication complete with the original full-page illustrations by Frank R Paul.
Hugo is often referred to as ‘the grandfather of SF’, or at least the grandfather of American SF, being the founder of Amazing Stories, and is credited, among other things, with the invention of the phrase ‘science fiction’, reduced from the rather cumbersome ‘scientifiction’. Allegedly, he is also the first person to use the word ‘television’ and, in his own way within this novel, predicts many of the things which – albeit existing in very different form – we take for granted today.
In the year 26660, Ralph 124C 41+ is, as denoted by the plus sign suffix to his name, one of the top ten scientists in the world, and as such is forbidden to engage in anything potentially injurious.
During a ‘telephot’ call (a telephot being a kind of videophone) he gets a misdirected call from an Alice of Switzerland and – having saved her from an avalanche by a remarkable procedure involving the erection of antennae and a concentration of rays – the two fall in love.
Unfortunately Alice has other admirers; the swarthy and brutal Fernand and Llysanorh’, a depressed Martian.
Most of the novel is taken up with Alice and her father visiting Ralph at his New York home and laboratory from whence Ralph takes them on a tour, demonstrating to them the wonders of the modern world (which obviously in 2660 does not include Switzerland).
As Jack Williamson points out in his introduction to this volume, the narrative is, in the main, a travelogue, being a device by which Gernsback can show the development of science in this strange Utopia.
Like many of today’s authors Gernsback takes no account of the possibility of social change in 600 years and so we are presented with a future of Edwardian manners and attitudes which is exacerbated by Paul’s artwork, particularly in the case of the frontispiece ‘The Face in the Telephot’ which shows Ralph gazing into a screen on which appears the face of Alice, sporting a fetching Nineteen Twenties hairstyle and a Gardenia behind one ear.
The telephot itself looks rather like some installation from an early submarine. Oddly this strange displacement of visual and cultural memes gives the book a ‘steampunk’ flavour and one cannot help but be bowled along by Gernsback’s obvious verve and enthusiasm for a world in which man is set free by technology. It is churlish to point out that Ralph’s ‘Man’, Peter, has not yet been set free, presumably because Ralph has not yet invented a mechanical valet.
Alice too, when she is kidnapped by the evil Fernand, is provided with a personal maid.
Gernsback however, is concerned only with scientific – rather than social – advancement, although even here, for dramatic expediency, he is willing to sacrifice extrapolated scientific development for what is essentially sheer fantasy.
Blurb from the Bison Books 2000 commemorative edition.
Nearly a hundred years on from Gernsback’s first version of this quirky novel in 1911, it re-emerges between the lavish covers of this Bison Books commemorative edition, a facsimile – or at least the interior of the book is – of the 1925 book publication complete with the original full-page illustrations by Frank R Paul.
Hugo is often referred to as ‘the grandfather of SF’, or at least the grandfather of American SF, being the founder of Amazing Stories, and is credited, among other things, with the invention of the phrase ‘science fiction’, reduced from the rather cumbersome ‘scientifiction’. Allegedly, he is also the first person to use the word ‘television’ and, in his own way within this novel, predicts many of the things which – albeit existing in very different form – we take for granted today.
In the year 26660, Ralph 124C 41+ is, as denoted by the plus sign suffix to his name, one of the top ten scientists in the world, and as such is forbidden to engage in anything potentially injurious.
During a ‘telephot’ call (a telephot being a kind of videophone) he gets a misdirected call from an Alice of Switzerland and – having saved her from an avalanche by a remarkable procedure involving the erection of antennae and a concentration of rays – the two fall in love.
Unfortunately Alice has other admirers; the swarthy and brutal Fernand and Llysanorh’, a depressed Martian.
Most of the novel is taken up with Alice and her father visiting Ralph at his New York home and laboratory from whence Ralph takes them on a tour, demonstrating to them the wonders of the modern world (which obviously in 2660 does not include Switzerland).
As Jack Williamson points out in his introduction to this volume, the narrative is, in the main, a travelogue, being a device by which Gernsback can show the development of science in this strange Utopia.
Like many of today’s authors Gernsback takes no account of the possibility of social change in 600 years and so we are presented with a future of Edwardian manners and attitudes which is exacerbated by Paul’s artwork, particularly in the case of the frontispiece ‘The Face in the Telephot’ which shows Ralph gazing into a screen on which appears the face of Alice, sporting a fetching Nineteen Twenties hairstyle and a Gardenia behind one ear.
The telephot itself looks rather like some installation from an early submarine. Oddly this strange displacement of visual and cultural memes gives the book a ‘steampunk’ flavour and one cannot help but be bowled along by Gernsback’s obvious verve and enthusiasm for a world in which man is set free by technology. It is churlish to point out that Ralph’s ‘Man’, Peter, has not yet been set free, presumably because Ralph has not yet invented a mechanical valet.
Alice too, when she is kidnapped by the evil Fernand, is provided with a personal maid.
Gernsback however, is concerned only with scientific – rather than social – advancement, although even here, for dramatic expediency, he is willing to sacrifice extrapolated scientific development for what is essentially sheer fantasy.
September 12, 2023
Written in 1911.
What an impressive book. Is it a utopia or dystopia? No real mention of religion but there are copies of the Bible. Ten people to make changes out of billions? One language? Liquefied food?
What an impressive book. Is it a utopia or dystopia? No real mention of religion but there are copies of the Bible. Ten people to make changes out of billions? One language? Liquefied food?
June 3, 2023
A pulpy sci-fi romance. The first half is really just a tour of New York circa 2660 and a chance to show off various sci-fi inventions. Its quite interesting if a little dry at times. The second-half is more devoted to the romance adventure, as Ralph has to deal with two rivals who are in love with his girlfriend. Its surprisingly gripping and with a real sense of danger.
The sci-fi stuff is mostly based on outmoded scientific principals but that didn't bother me. A small complaint, it would have been nice to have more info on the Martians. In addition the world doesn't seem to have advanced socially nearly as much as it has technologically. Overall though really good pulp.
Made available by the Merril Collection.
The sci-fi stuff is mostly based on outmoded scientific principals but that didn't bother me. A small complaint, it would have been nice to have more info on the Martians. In addition the world doesn't seem to have advanced socially nearly as much as it has technologically. Overall though really good pulp.
Made available by the Merril Collection.
May 23, 2022
Most of this book isn't so much a story as it is a series of "Wouldn't it be cool if in the future we had ____?" essays. To make it seem like a story, Gernsback uses the framing device of: brilliant inventor falls madly in love with a very uneducated girl and explains a bunch of stuff to her. She's a perpetual damsel in distress that requires rescue three (maybe four? I lost count) times. Even her father evidently loses interest in her many plights as he completely disappears off the page, leaving the brilliant inventor to retrieve her all by himself from her Martian kidnapper.
To his credit, Gernsback's 1911 imagination was great fun when it came to technology. Just not so much when it came to characters. I am not even going to speculate on what he was trying to do with the Martians (humanoid aliens who could mate with humans but were legally barred from marrying them).
To his credit, Gernsback's 1911 imagination was great fun when it came to technology. Just not so much when it came to characters. I am not even going to speculate on what he was trying to do with the Martians (humanoid aliens who could mate with humans but were legally barred from marrying them).
July 11, 2020
Incredible
The prophetic nature of this story is astonishing. Gernsback imagined headphones, flying cars, space ships, zero G, radio communication between ships and planets, terraforming, cryosleep (but with heat), planetary growth, television, video chatting, AND the internet! All in one book!
The prophetic nature of this story is astonishing. Gernsback imagined headphones, flying cars, space ships, zero G, radio communication between ships and planets, terraforming, cryosleep (but with heat), planetary growth, television, video chatting, AND the internet! All in one book!
February 8, 2021
I suppose back in 1911 when this book was written the explanation of all the "science" stuff might have been interesting...not so much a century later. At least not for me. Once I started just kind of glancing over the explantion of the technology and science, all I was left with was a lackluster plot that went about exactly how you would expect it to.
December 11, 2022
For this week's Patron's Choice episode, we read RALPH 124C 41+: A Romance of the Year 2660 by Hugo Gernsback for our Patron Patricia. A guy in 1911 had a lot of cool technological ideas but unfortunately decided to publish them within a silly, pulpy hero's journey.
January 17, 2016
Historical curiosity, leaden prose, some interesting predictions, amusing portmanteaus. The scene at the Appetizer has to be read to be believed.
September 23, 2019
Never again! Some books really don't stand the test of time. Read for a wild sexist, racist, misogynistic adventure!
May 26, 2021
This was genuine treat, reading like the raw & unprocessed cud of what would become the staple of an entire genre. Analogically, it's what The Castle of Otranto is to gothic horror. For those who don't want to sit through patent descriptions disguised as a space opera though, I'd say Riichiro Inagaki's Dr. Stone perfectly captures a lot of the spirit of Ralph124C 41+ while also actually being good.
To give him his due, Gernsback arguably built the infrastructure of American science fiction with his persistence in magazine building. That said, he was definitely more interested in the business of science than literature and today he'd probably work in Silicon Valley. His admiration of Thomas Edison is reflected in the non-payment of his writers and you can really see his uncritical biases & obvious disinterest in human experience through his technocratic impulses (which sometimes led him to...peculiar solutions to social issues).
I point this out because it's obvious in his book. Not just in my above-mentioned mocking of its quality, but also because the first conflict that begins the novel is a labor strike - and the bad guys are the striking workers. There's a Randian undertone lurking in its World's Fair atmosphere, a utopian capitalism with accompanying Minecraft logic built around a one world government who restrains super genius American scientists because they're work is needed to "improve" humanity. Something worth noting if you decide to brave the book.
TL;DR: Hugo Gernsback was an exuberant science-loving businessman whose importance to science fiction is weighed against how he embodied many of the terrible historical and still present ideas within American culture. These are pretty blatantly reflected in Ralph 124C 41+. And yet, it's still a fun read. Warren's review is perfect.
To give him his due, Gernsback arguably built the infrastructure of American science fiction with his persistence in magazine building. That said, he was definitely more interested in the business of science than literature and today he'd probably work in Silicon Valley. His admiration of Thomas Edison is reflected in the non-payment of his writers and you can really see his uncritical biases & obvious disinterest in human experience through his technocratic impulses (which sometimes led him to...peculiar solutions to social issues).
I point this out because it's obvious in his book. Not just in my above-mentioned mocking of its quality, but also because the first conflict that begins the novel is a labor strike - and the bad guys are the striking workers. There's a Randian undertone lurking in its World's Fair atmosphere, a utopian capitalism with accompanying Minecraft logic built around a one world government who restrains super genius American scientists because they're work is needed to "improve" humanity. Something worth noting if you decide to brave the book.
TL;DR: Hugo Gernsback was an exuberant science-loving businessman whose importance to science fiction is weighed against how he embodied many of the terrible historical and still present ideas within American culture. These are pretty blatantly reflected in Ralph 124C 41+. And yet, it's still a fun read. Warren's review is perfect.
January 10, 2024
This book is known as the very first novel in the science fiction genre. It was published in book form in 1925 and the very first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories, was launched the following year in 1926. The writings of authors like Jules Verne or H.G. Wells have been retroactively classified as science fiction, but the genre as a category did not come along until the publication of this book. As a lifelong science fiction fan I could not do other than to honor the novel that started it all with no less than four stars. I will admit, though, that if this had been published today it would be really hard for me to give it more than two stars. So don't expect a literary masterpiece. Be warned to not trust any of the science either even though at the time this was written a lot of the science could not have been said with any certainty to have been wrong. I would suggest reading this as a quaint relic of the past and not to compare it too critically with more modern science fiction. To give you a clue as to what level it is written in I will mention that the lead female character seems to be prone to being kidnapped. Somehow it just does not strike me as an appropriate expression of love to kidnap the object of your love in order to force her to marry you. Of course the lead male character always prevails in rescuing her and winning her undying affection though. A strong female character she is not.
December 30, 2023
Arguably, Hugo Gernsback is more famous than he ought to be. Compared with some speculative fiction writers of the previous generation--such as Edward Bellamy, Samuel Butler, H. G. Wells, and Jules Verne--Gernsback is laughably amateurish. So, why do we enshrine his name in Awards and credit him with somehow starting science fiction as a genre? Rereading Ralph124C41+, I have decided it must be because no one else has his gushing, almost religious enthusiasm for technology with scientist-engineers as the new clergy. Consider this early description of Ralph: “His physical superiority, however, was nothing compared to his gigantic mind. He was Ralph 124C 41+, one of the greatest living scientists and one of the ten men on the whole planet earth permitted to use the Plus sign after his name.”
Clunky though his style may be, you can’t beat Gernsback for sheer fecundity. From color television to electric vehicles and beamed power, Ralph creates a new gadget to solve every problem. He is the prototype of what editor John Campbell would call the ideal of the “competent man,” one able to use a rational imagination to face whatever life throws his way.
Three-point-five stars, mostly for historical interest.
Clunky though his style may be, you can’t beat Gernsback for sheer fecundity. From color television to electric vehicles and beamed power, Ralph creates a new gadget to solve every problem. He is the prototype of what editor John Campbell would call the ideal of the “competent man,” one able to use a rational imagination to face whatever life throws his way.
Three-point-five stars, mostly for historical interest.
June 12, 2018
Sci Fi is definitely not my normal fare, I read this as it was mentioned in a media literacy course.
The sci fi descriptions were interesting...especially the bit about news being personalized.
The story wasn't bad either...though a lot of time was spent in explaining how the sciencey aspects of the futuristic society worked. It was like 2 books were going, the one about Ralph and his love interest and the one about an imagined New York society. It's interesting reading when you note that it was first published as a serial in 1911; and that it was considered the first major American contribution to the Sci Fi genre. The world that was imagined by Gernsback tells us something about society at the time, both how science was understood and what was hoped to be improved on.
BTW, Hugo Gernsback is the guy that the Hugo Awards are named for, although he's renowned for his contribution as a publisher more than his literary prowess. Still, another reason to read.
The sci fi descriptions were interesting...especially the bit about news being personalized.
The story wasn't bad either...though a lot of time was spent in explaining how the sciencey aspects of the futuristic society worked. It was like 2 books were going, the one about Ralph and his love interest and the one about an imagined New York society. It's interesting reading when you note that it was first published as a serial in 1911; and that it was considered the first major American contribution to the Sci Fi genre. The world that was imagined by Gernsback tells us something about society at the time, both how science was understood and what was hoped to be improved on.
BTW, Hugo Gernsback is the guy that the Hugo Awards are named for, although he's renowned for his contribution as a publisher more than his literary prowess. Still, another reason to read.
February 7, 2023
Ralph 124C 41+ is an interesting read. Hugo Gernsback, sometimes called the Father of Science Fiction, had a mind that was able to imagine a future with amazing technological advances. The fun part of this book for me was seeing which future scientific creations have actually come to fruition- talking to a person via a video screen, solar power energy, a form of a lie detector, & a few more.
It was written in 1911 so it was a bit rough for me in spots, but overall an enjoyable read. I might change it to a 3 star- waiting to see how much of it sticks with me over the next few days & weeks.
It was written in 1911 so it was a bit rough for me in spots, but overall an enjoyable read. I might change it to a 3 star- waiting to see how much of it sticks with me over the next few days & weeks.
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