PHILLPOTTS, Eden

(1862-1960)

   UK writer known primarily for his work outside the sf field. He was extremely prolific, writing about 250 books and plays. His first sf novel was the lurid thriller Number 87 (1922) as by Harrington Hext. His most notable SCIENTIFIC ROMANCES belong to a later and very different phase of his work: the excellent Saurus (1938), in which a reptilian ALIEN becomes an objective observer commenting upon contemporary society and the human condition; The Fall of the House of Heron (1948), a study of an amoral atomic scientist; and Address Unknown (1949), which deliberately challenges the assumption of Saurus that an alien observer could pass meaningful judgment on human affairs. These novels carried forward philosophical themes from a remarkable series of didactic philosophical fables, most of which are based in Greek mythology: The Girl and the Faun (1916chap), Evander (1919), Pan and the Twins (1922), The Lavender Dragon(1923), The Treasures of Typhon (1924), Circe's Island (coll 1925; includes The Girl and the Faun), The Miniature (1926), Arachne (1927), The Apes (1929), Alcyone (1930) and The Owl of Athene (1936). The last-nameddeploys some sf motifs, notably an INVASION of the UK by giant crabs, and links the mythological fantasies to the scientific romances. EP's philosophical meditations are featured also in a curious early fantasy, My Laughing Philosopher (1896); but the determined rationalism and Epicureanhumanism developed in his allegorical fantasies is better displayed in his collection of fiction and nonfiction, Thoughts in Prose and Verse (coll 1924), whose fantasy stories include a visionary encounter with aninhabitant of JUPITER.Also of marginal sf interest are one of EP's early collaborations with Arnold Bennett (1867-1931), The Statue (1908), which involves innovative radio apparatus, and a treasure-island story Tabletop (1939), which features giant spiders. He wrote numerous mystery novels,some of which have very slight intrusions of ESP; the most interesting are The Grey Room (1921), which features a dramatic confrontation betweenscientific rationalism and religious mysticism in search of the solution to the mystery of a haunted room, and the rationalized-werewolf story Lycanthrope (1937). His other fantasies include A Deal with the Devil(1895), an ANSTEY-esque novel about a man who grows young, and several early stories collected in Fancy Free (coll 1901). There are occasional fantasies in his various other collections; the tales of "witchcraft" assembled in The Hidden Hand (coll of linked stories 1952) do not in fact invoke the supernatural.

   BS

   Other works: The Transit of the Red Dragon (coll 1903); The Golden Fetich (1903); The Flint Heart (1910); Black, White and Brindled (coll 1923); Up Hill, Down Dale (coll 1925); The Voice from the Dark (1925); Peacock House and Other Mysteries (coll 1926); The Blue Comet: A Comedy in Three Acts (1927); The Torch and Other Tales (coll1929); Golden Island (1938).

   See also: ASTEROIDS; ASTRONOMY; LONGEVITY (IN WRITERS AND PUBLICATIONS); SATIRE; SOCIOLOGY.