If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister?" is a science fiction short story by American writer Theodore Sturgeon. It first appeared in Harlan Ellison's anthology Dangerous Visions in 1967.

Plot[]

An Earthman visits the planet Vexvelt, which is shunned by the rest of the colonized universe for unknown reasons. He finds it a utopian paradise, but then discovers to his shock and horror that incest is actively encouraged there.

Reception[]

Paul Kincaid has called it "beautifully constructed" and "oddly lyrical", and a story "upon which Sturgeon's reputation can comfortably rest", but noted that its tone can be "loud and hectoring", and conceded that the basic premise of Vexvelt being shunned for a reason nobody knows "doesn't altogether make sense".[1] Brian Stableford has described it as a "curious moral parable", whose "wild optimism (...) is as unappealing as it is unconvincing",[2] while Brian Aldiss felt that the title was "cutesy",[3] and Algis Budrys called it "just plain terrible".[4]

Awards[]

References[]

  1. ^ The Nail and the Oracle - Volume XI: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, reviewed by Paul Kincaid, at the SF Site; published 2007; retrieved October 14, 2017
  2. ^ Outside the Human Aquarium: Masters of Science Fiction, by Brian Stableford; published 1995 by Wildside Press
  3. ^ The Detached Retina, by Brian Aldiss; published 1995 by Syracuse University Press
  4. ^ Budrys, Algis (April 1968). "Galaxy Bookshelf". Galaxy Science Fiction. pp. 155–163.
  5. ^ "If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister" at Science Fiction Writers of America; retrieved October 13, 2017

External links[]


Stub icon

This article about a science fiction short story (or stories) published in the 1960s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

  • v
  • t
Retrieved from ""