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Of Men and Monsters William Tenn 9780575099449 Books

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Of Men and Monsters William Tenn 9780575099449 Books

What if Earth was attacked by creatures with advanced technology that obliterated our world? What if people were forced to live in the walls of the homes of these “monsters” like, well, bugs? These are the questions William Tenn uses to springboard “Of Men & Monsters” and consider what might happen if humans were knocked down a couple of pegs on the dominant species list. How would we rationalize what we’ve done to each other, to the very world around us, if we were no longer on top? Written in 1968, the questions and concerns of our human-centric culture still ring true in this sci-fi gem about people, their societies and the need to forget dogma and think independently. Our survival depends on it.


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Of Men and Monsters William Tenn 9780575099449 Books Reviews

Of Men and Monsters is William Tenn's only novel length work (he did write a longish novella). Tenn is best known for his masterful short stories. It was expanded from "The Men in the Walls" (1963) which appeared in Galaxy Science Fiction. There's a distinctly 50s feel about the work. This "from a different era" feel is generated by his deployment (and subversion) of earlier tropes including pulp-era tales of subterranean civilizations and characterizations straight from Heinlein's novels.

All in all, Of Men and Monsters (1968) is an enjoyable and witty adventure satire that deserved its 2011 republication in the Gollancz Masterworks series. It's a shame that Tenn didn't write more novels for I found his wry humor a delight to read.

Brief Plot Summary/Analysis (*some spoilers*)

"Mankind consisted of 128 people. The sheer population pressure of so vast a horde had long ago filled a dozen burrows" (11). The first sentence of William Tenn's Of Men and Monsters (1968) is bound to transfix. But as with all good satire, Tenn has a series of tricks up his sleeve. The scion of Mankind in question is but single tribe of humans who believe themselves superior to all others due to their proximity to the dangerous world -- which is, in this case, the interior of a vast alien house "it wasn't just that Mankind lived in the front burrows, those closest to the Monster larder. This enormous convenience might be counterbalanced, he would readily admit, by the dangerous associated with it -- although the constant exposure to dangers and death in every form were part of Mankind's greatness" (46).

Sometime in the future these technologically superior aliens -- using advanced forms of science which remains mysterious to the now-primitive humans -- conquer Earth. Humanity is reduced to a rat like existence in the walls of the alien's homes. Those that live closest to the interior of the house -- the tribe named Mankind for example -- have developed a cult of masculinity that involves stealing items from the aliens "`Go make your Theft, Eric,' he whispered. `Come back a man'" (49). There are certain levels of theft theft of food, theft of objects, and theft of alien science. The entire society is modeled on the desire to "strike back" at the alien oppressors, how exactly that will be done is not clear.

Eric, a rather naive young Heinlein-like character who is just about to make his first Theft, knows very little about the world he lives in. Soon, after his expedition outside the Mankind's burrow, he discovers how Mankind's society is not build around striking back at the aliens but rather at perpetuating the society's hierarchy. Even the complicated naming ritual involving long lost pieces of technology is a hoax generated to maintain the status quo.

Soon Eric is captured by aliens who are developing homicide sprays to better exterminate the vermin who live in their walls. While in a glass cage he meets Rachel Esthersdaughter, a member of the Aaron people (Jews), who live much farther within the walls. Rachel, a brilliant woman who knows so much more than Eric about the world, is content to teach Eric and slowly relinquish her intellectual abilities. Considering William Tenn's satirical aims, it's hard not to read Rachel as a critique of Heinlein's female characters. Eventually Eric and Rachel discover a fomenting plan to strike back at the aliens, but it is not exactly what they had in mind.

Final Thoughts

In Jorge Luis Borges' brilliant short story "The Library of Babel" (1941) the world (and the pursuit of knowledge) is conceptualized as an potentially infinite series of rooms with doors upwards and downwards and side to side (leading to identical boxes filled with the exact same number of books with the exact same number of letters). The characters in Of Men and Monster slowly come to realize that their world too might be endlessly recursive "We all live in the walls of one particular Monster house. Actually, we all live in just one wing of that one house. In the other wings, there are lots of other peoples, some like us, some different. But people who live in another house entirely have to be very different from us" (206).

William Tenn adeptly deploys limited perspective -- the reader only knows about the aliens and world through the eyes of Eric. The aliens are some massive external force, almost unknowable due to their size and hatred (as humans hate rats and other vermin) of man.
Was delivered as advertised.
It's a great book! I am a sci-fi fan and although I read a lot of it, it's difficult to find a really good sci-fi novel. But this is definitely one of them!
I read it many years ago, and again now, and it enthralled me like the first time. My only beef is that the ending is a bit hurried. A must read for sci-fi lovers!
I first read this book in 1967. The opening line is what hooked me on the story. I forgot the name of the book and the author for many years and just recently decided if I could find that book that was so interesting so many years ago. After a few searches the book was found offered on . A very interesting account of humans dealing with a take over of Earth by huge aliens.
I found this book on a list of obscure sci-fi gems. It totally deserves that title. The plot is something you could only pull off in the 60s, giant monsters take over Earth and humans live in their houses. Tenn takes this plot on with dead seriousness, nothing tongue-in-cheek about it. He delivers surprises, despair, and hope. Short, quick, not a bad ending. I recommend it.
Eric was one of the tribe of Mankind. 128 people who lived together under the feet of the Monsters. 128 people who hated anybody outside their tribe. Strangers, outsiders, wild men, none of them could be trusted.

Yet Mankind one day planned to push the Monsters off the planet, the planet Earth, which the Monsters had invaded so many years ago. Yet how would they do this? With Ancestor-Science which had failed against the Monsters? Or with Alien-Science which they could not understand? Or did they need to try something new?

On top of that is the infighting, between those who have power and those who did not. Men fought men, plotted against their own leaders and made themselves allies of other tribes.

A amazing ending yet also a delightful and realistic one. WOW.
What if Earth was attacked by creatures with advanced technology that obliterated our world? What if people were forced to live in the walls of the homes of these “monsters” like, well, bugs? These are the questions William Tenn uses to springboard “Of Men & Monsters” and consider what might happen if humans were knocked down a couple of pegs on the dominant species list. How would we rationalize what we’ve done to each other, to the very world around us, if we were no longer on top? Written in 1968, the questions and concerns of our human-centric culture still ring true in this sci-fi gem about people, their societies and the need to forget dogma and think independently. Our survival depends on it.