More Than Human

An astonishing work of science-fiction. Source: Here

“Love’s a different sort of thing, hot enough to make you flow into something, interflow, cool and anneal and be a weld stronger than what you started with.” 

There are certain books that truly stand the test of time, that not only seem not to age with the passing of years but still remain just as compelling as they were upon their original publication. So stands More Than Human as a titan of not just science fiction, but good fiction.

More Than Human was published in 1953 as a revised and expanded version of the previously published novella Baby is Three, adjacent to two new sections written for the novel ("The Fabulous Idiot" and "Morality"). The story concerns a group of individuals and outcasts from society who possess extraordinary abilities and come together to form a being greater than the sum of its parts; "Homo gestalt", the next stage of human evolution. They include:

• Lone - the "Idiot", a  25 year old man with the telepathic ability to make people do what he wants them to. He is the "head" of the gestalt, directing the whole collective.
• Janie - an eight-year old with the powers of telepathy and telekinesis. She is the "body" of the gestalt, linking the disparate pieces together and ensuring communication is fluid.
• Bonnie and Beanie - two black twins who are able to teleport. They form the "hands" of the gestalt, able to go anywhere they are directed.
• Baby - a strange malformed infant who acts as a supercomputer, his advanced mental capacity allowing him to solve any problem put to him.

They form the original gestalt in Part 1 ("The Fabulous Idiot"). Gerry Thompson, a street urchin with sociopathic tendencies becomes the new "head" of the gestalt from Part 2 onwards, while Hip Barrows is the man who journeys from nearly dying in prison to giving the gestalt a new lease of life. Such a colourful and varied cast of characters kept me engaged and willing to read on, and it was particularly refreshing to see minority and female characters play such an active role in events for a book written in 1953.

If there is any detail that makes this book stand out to me even now, it has to be the prose. Sturgeon's writing is immediately electric and memorable:

"It was spring, the part of spring where the bursting is done, the held-in pressures of desiccated sap-veins and gum-sealed buds are gone, and all the world’s in a rush to be beautiful."

"The idiot lived in a black and gray world, punctuated by the white lightning of hunger and the

nickering of fear. His clothes were old and many-windowed. "

There is a lyricism to the writing that is seldom seen in S.F., and the fact that the book hasn't aged a day since its publication is a testament to the strength of Sturgeon's writing. More Than Human explores question of love, isolation, being part of a greater whole, individual identity and how best fit into and serve society - there are no easy answers given but the ending should leave readers with plenty to mull over.

Yeah, the process of evolution as depicted in the novel is hardly accurate, but to nitpick it is to miss the point of the book entirely. Sturgeon posits what might happen should evolution advance mental faculties - it is notable that our main characters' powers are all psionic in some form or other - and the use of a "soft" science like psychology doesn't make the book any less scientific. Science fiction has always examined how humanity and the definition of humanity might change with the passing of time or with the introduction of new scientific advances. Homo gestalt may indeed be more than human but does that mean it is fully divorced from its roots? Perhaps not.