''The Space Merchants'' is a 1952 science fiction novel by American writers

Frederik Pohl Frederik George Pohl Jr. (; November 26, 1919 – September 2, 2013) was an American list of science fiction authors, science-fiction writer, editor, and science fiction fandom, fan, with a career spanning nearly 75 years—from his first ...

and Cyril M. Kornbluth. Originally published in ''

Galaxy Science Fiction ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published in Boston from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market. World Edi ...

'' magazine as a serial entitled ''Gravy Planet'', the novel was first published as a single volume in 1953, and has sold heavily since. It deals satirically with a hyper-developed

consumerism Consumerism is a socio-cultural and economic phenomenon that is typical of industrialized societies. It is characterized by the continuous acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing quantities. In contemporary consumer society, the ...

, seen through the eyes of an advertising executive. In 1984, Pohl published a sequel, '' The Merchants' War''. In 2012, it was included in the

Library of America The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published more than 300 volumes by authors ...

omnibus ''American Science Fiction: Four Classic Novels 1953–1956''. Pohl revised the original novel in 2011 with added material and more contemporary references.

Plot

In a vastly overpopulated world, businesses have taken the place of governments and now hold political power. States exist merely to ensure the survival of huge trans-national corporations. Advertising has become hugely aggressive and by far the best-paid profession. Through advertising, the public is constantly deluded into thinking that the quality of life is improved by all the products placed on the market. Some of the products contain addictive substances designed to make consumers dependent on them. However, the most basic elements of life are incredibly scarce, including water and fuel. Personal transport may be pedal powered, with rickshaw rides being considered a luxury. The planet

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

has just been visited and judged fit for human settlement, despite its inhospitable surface and climate; the colonists would have to endure a harsh climate for many generations until the planet could be terraformed. The protagonist, Mitch Courtenay, is a star-class copywriter in the Fowler Schocken advertising agency who has been assigned the ad campaign which would attract colonists to Venus. But a lot more is happening than he knows about. It soon becomes a tale of mystery and intrigue, in which many of the characters are not what they seem, and Mitch's loyalties and opinions change drastically over the course of the narrative. One of the hazards he faces is a psychopathic agent of his former company, found using the same psychological techniques used to identify targets for advertising. Mitch goes to a resort in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

, only to become lost outside in a blizzard. He recovers to find that he has been shanghaied as an ordinary working stiff. His ID number tattooed on his arm has been altered so he cannot reclaim his old identity. However, his skills remain intact. He becomes the propaganda specialist for a cadre of revolutionaries (the World Conservationist Association, known as Consies), in the process becoming a convert to the cause of those he once manipulated as mere consumers. In the end he confronts those who stole his life, who are not necessarily his enemies, and those from his old life, who are not necessarily his friends.

Publication and reception

Origins

Whilst serving in the

US Army Air Force The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Pohl had been posted to Stornara, in south-eastern Italy, as a weather forecaster. Shortly after learning of his mother's death in 1944, and feeling somewhat homesick, he decided to start writing a novel about New York. He chose to write about the advertising industry, thinking it to be the most interesting topic in the city, and patiently wrote "a long, complicated, and very bad novel" with the title of ''For Some We Loved''. After the war ended, in early 1946, he re-read the manuscript, and decided that its major flaw was that he had written it despite knowing nothing about advertising. Before rewriting it, he applied for advertising jobs to gain some background, and on 1 April 1946 joined a small

Madison Avenue Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Stree ...

agency as their chief

copywriter Copywriting is the act or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. Copywriting is aimed at selling products or services. The product, called copy or sales copy, is written content that aims to incre ...

. He later moved to ''

Popular Science Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...

'', finding that he enjoyed the work so much he lost track of why he originally took the job. Some years later, Pohl returned to ''For Some We Loved''. In early 1950, he read through the original manuscript, but found the writing to be completely unsalvageable; he burned it, and decided to forget the idea. The following year, he began drafting a science fiction novel, loosely themed on advertising, under the name of ''Fall Campaign'', and had reached twenty thousand words by the summer, working at weekends and in the evenings. At this point, Pohl's old friend Cyril Kornbluth arrived, having quit his job in Chicago to freelance as a science fiction writer, and offered to look over the manuscript. A short while later he returned, having incorporated some plot suggestions made by Philip Klass and written a new twenty-thousand word middle section; the two men collaborated on the final third, and after Pohl gave it a final revision, the novel was complete.

Publication

Horace Gold Horace Leonard Gold (April 26, 1914 – February 21, 1996) was an American science fiction writer and editing, editor. Born in Canada, Gold moved to the United States at the age of two. He was most noted for bringing an innovative and fresh appr ...

, the editor of ''

'', had read the draft before Kornbluth had become involved, and offered to print it when it was complete, tentatively scheduled to follow

Alfred Bester Alfred Bester (December 18, 1913 – September 30, 1987) was an American science fiction author, TV and radio screenwriter, magazine Editing, editor and scriptwriter for comics. He is best remembered for his science fiction, including ''Th ...

's ''

The Demolished Man ''The Demolished Man'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Alfred Bester, which was the first Hugo Award winner in 1953. An inverted detective story, it was first serialized in three parts, beginning with the January 1952 issue of '' ...

''. In the event, it was serialised in the magazine from June to August 1952, as ''Gravy Planet''. However, finding a publisher for the novel itself was not easy. Pohl offered it to every American publishing house which printed science fiction, without any success. Eventually, he met Ian Ballantine, an old colleague of his wife's, who had just founded

Ballantine Books Ballantine Books is a major American book publisher that is a subsidiary of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Ballantine was founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. Ballantine was acquired by Random House in ...

and was looking for new titles. Ballantine agreed to publish it—Pohl joked that "he was just too inexperienced to know that it was no good"—and it was released in May 1953 in simultaneous paperback and hardcover editions. The book edition dropped the previously published concluding chapters, reportedly added for the magazine version at the request of ''Galaxy'' editor H.L. Gold."Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf", ''

'', June 1953, p.114 Twenty-five years after first publication, writing in '' The Way The Future Was'', Pohl estimated that it had sold perhaps ten million copies in twenty-five languages. Pohl's 2011 light revision of the novel includes references to some commercial phenomena in the Reagan–Bush era, including

Enron Enron Corporation was an American Energy development, energy, Commodity, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was led by Kenneth Lay and developed in 1985 via a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both re ...

and

AIG American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is an American multinational finance and insurance corporation with operations in more than 80 countries and jurisdictions. As of 2023, AIG employed 25,200 people. The company operates through three core ...

. In 2012, it was included in the

omnibus '' American Science Fiction: Four Classic Novels 1953–1956'', edited by Gary K. Wolfe. The omnibus was part of a two-volume set of 1950s science fiction, the first LOA project to include an extensive online companion site.

Critical reception

In his study of the pioneers of science fiction, ''New Maps of Hell'' (1960), the novelist

Kingsley Amis Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social crit ...

states that ''The Space Merchants'' "has many claims to being the best science-fiction novel so far." It is also ahead of its time in stressing the importance of limiting population growth and conserving natural resources. On its initial publication,

Groff Conklin Edward Groff Conklin (September 6, 1904 – July 19, 1968) was an American science fiction anthologist. He edited 40 anthologies of science fiction, one of mystery stories (co-edited with physician Noah Fabricant), wrote books on home improvement ...

called the novel "perhaps the best science fiction satire since ''

Brave New World ''Brave New World'' is a dystopian novel by English author Aldous Huxley, written in 1931, and published in 1932. Largely set in a futuristic World State, whose citizens are environmentally engineered into an intelligence-based social hier ...

''." Boucher and McComas praised it as "bitter, satiric, exciting ndeasily one of the major works of logical extrapolation in several years.... a sharp melodrama of power-conflict and revolt which manages... to explore all the implied developments of ts imaginedsociety." ''Imagination'' reviewer Mark Reinsberg described it as "a marvellously entertaining story" and "A brilliant future satire." P. Schuyler Miller compared the novel to ''

'', finding it "not so brilliant, but more consistently worked out and suffering principally... from its concessions to melodrama." At the 1976 MidAmeriCon convention in Kansas City,

referred to the novel as "one of the top two science fiction novels of all time." It was rated the 24th "all-time best novel" in a 1975 ''Locus'' poll, jointly with ''

The Martian Chronicles ''The Martian Chronicles'' is a science fiction fix-up novel, published in 1950, by American writer Ray Bradbury that chronicles the exploration and settlement of Mars, the home of indigenous Martians, by Americans leaving a troubled Earth tha ...

'' and ''

The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897, and serialised in '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US in 1897. The full novel was ...

''. In 2012, the novel was included in the

two-volume boxed set ''American Science Fiction: Nine Classic Novels of the 1950s'', edited by Gary K. Wolfe. The novel was also included in

David Pringle David Pringle (born 1 March 1950) is a Scottish science fiction editor and critic. Pringle served as the editor of '' Foundation'', an academic journal, from 1980 to 1986, during which time he became one of the prime movers of the collective whi ...

's list of 100 best science fiction novels. As with many significant works of science fiction, it was lexically inventive. The novel is cited by the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

'' as the first recorded source for several new words, including " soyaburger", "moon suit", "tri-di" for "three-dimensional", "R and D" for "

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...

", " sucker-trap" for a shop aimed at gullible tourists, and one of the first uses of "

muzak Muzak is an American brand of background music played in retail stores and other public establishments owned by Mood Media. The name ''Muzak'', a blend of music and the popular camera brand name Kodak, has been in use since 1934 and has been ...

" as a generic term. It is also cited as the first incidence of "survey" as a verb meaning to carry out a poll. The Space Merchants has also been praised for its investigation of themes relating to 'prosumption', and the impact of overconsumption. Critic Mike Ryder (2022) argues that one of the most significant themes is the ‘robotization’ of producers and consumers, such that the very nature of humanity itself comes into question.

Adaptations

The film rights were sold for $50,000, though an adaptation was never made. It was adapted for radio by the

CBS Radio Workshop ''The CBS Radio Workshop'' was an experimental dramatic radio anthology series that aired on CBS from January 27, 1956, until September 22, 1957. Subtitled “radio’s distinguished series to man’s imagination,” it was a revival of the earli ...

.Pohl, p. 201. A copy of the broadcast i
available at archive.org
/ref> The novel was followed in 1984 by a sequel, '' The Merchants' War''; as Kornbluth had died in 1958, it was written solely by Pohl.

References

Sources

* *

External links

* *''The Space Merchants'' (serialized in ''Galaxy'' as ''Gravy Planet'')
parts 12
an
3
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

Review
by

Jo Walton Jo Walton (born 1964) is a Welsh-Canadian fantasy and science fiction writer and poet. She is best known for the fantasy novel '' Among Others'', which won the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 2012, and '' Tooth and Claw'', a Victorian-era novel w ...

Study guide
by Richard D. Erlich
Appreciation
by

Michael Dirda Michael Dirda (born 1948) is an American book critic, working for the '' Washington Post''. He has been a Fulbright Fellow and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1993. Career Having studied at Oberlin College for his undergraduate degree in 1970, Dirda ea ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Space Merchants, The 1953 American novels 1953 science fiction novels American science fiction novels Dystopian novels Pastoral science fiction Overpopulation fiction Collaborative novels Novels set on Venus Novels set in Antarctica Novels about advertising Novels about consumerism Propaganda in fiction Eco-terrorism in fiction Fiction about water scarcity American novels adapted for radio Novels first published in serial form Works originally published in Galaxy Science Fiction Novels republished in the Library of America Novels by Frederik Pohl Novels by Cyril M. Kornbluth Ballantine Books books