Samuel, Maurice
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1895-1972) Romanian-born translator and author, in US from 1914, best known for nonfiction studies on Jewish culture and issues. King Mob: A Study of the Present-Day Mind (1930) as by Frank K Notch is an early assault on the totalitarian implications of a Media Landscape created by advertising, in league with governments aspiring to gain mind-control over their citizens. Samuel is of some sf interest for The Devil That Failed (1952), whose protagonist, seemingly transformed while asleep into a giant (see Gulliver), is imprisoned by a "Mad Scientist"; he eventually discovers that he remains normal, but that the scientist and his staff are tiny midgets engaged in a devilish experiment to induce gigantism through a combination of applied Psychology and a convenient virus. The Satire of the tale is directed primarily at Pseudoscience. [JC]
Maurice Samuel
born Măcin, Tulcea Country, Romania: 8 February 1895
died New York: 4 May 1972
works (highly selected)
- The Devil That Failed (New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1952) [an apparent subtitle, "The Ominous Adventure of a Twentieth-Century Gulliver", does not appear on title page: hb/George Salter]
nonfiction
- King Mob: A Study of the Present-Day Mind (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1930) as by Frank K Notch [nonfiction: hb/Marc Brody]
links
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