More Than Human
More Than Human is a 1953 science fiction novel by American writer Theodore Sturgeon. It is a revision and expansion of his previously published novella Baby Is Three, which is bracketed by two additional parts written for the novel ("The Fabulous Idiot" and "Morality").[2] It won the 1954 International Fantasy Award, which was also given to works in science fiction. It was additionally nominated in 2004 for a "Retro Hugo" award for the year 1954. Science fiction critic and editor David Pringle included it in his book Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels.
This article is about the 1953 novel. For the 2003 television show, see More than Human (TV series). For the book by Ramez Naam, see Ramez Naam.Author
Simon & Schuster published a graphic novel version of More Than Human in 1978, titled Heavy Metal Presents Theodore Sturgeon's More Than Human. It was illustrated by Alex Niño and scripted by Doug Moench.[3]
Plot introduction[edit]
The novel concerns the coming together of six extraordinary people with strange powers who are able to "blesh" (a portmanteau of "blend" and "mesh") their abilities together. In this way, they are able to act as one organism. They progress toward a mature gestalt consciousness, called the homo gestalt, the next step in human evolution.
Reception[edit]
New York Times reviewer Villiers Gerson placed the novel among its year's best, praising it for "a poetic, moving prose and a deeply examined raison d'etre."[4] Groff Conklin described More Than Human as "a masterpiece of invention... written in an unmannered prose that still has a poetic, panchromatic individuality."[5] Boucher and McComas praised it for "its crystal-clear prose, its intense human warmth and its depth of psychological probing" as well as its "adroit plotting and ceaseless surge of action," finding it "one of the most impressive proofs yet of the possibility of science fiction as a part of mainstream literature."[6] P. Schuyler Miller praised the novel as among the year's best, saying that Sturgeon "has Bradbury's poetry and style without ever running thin."[7] Writing in the Hartford Courant, reviewer R. W. Wallace praised More Than Human, saying "In its psychological wisdom and its deep humanity this novel is one of the finest achievements of science fiction."[8] In his "Books" column for F&SF, Damon Knight selected Sturgeon's novel as one of the 10 best sf books of the 1950s.[9]
Writing in 1975, R. D. Mullen declared that in More Than Human, "[Sturgeon] had a theme well suited to his talents and inclinations, [and] the result is a book that pretty well avoids the mawkishness that mars most of his work. This book is not a masterpiece, but it comes pretty close."[10] Aldiss and Wingrove found that the novel "transcends its own terms and becomes Sturgeon's greatest statement of one of his obsessive themes, loneliness and how to cure it."[11] In 2012, the novel was included in the Library of America two-volume boxed set American Science Fiction: Nine Classic Novels of the 1950s, edited by Gary K. Wolfe.[12]