The Ideal by Stanley G. Weinbaum
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"The Ideal" by Stanley G. Weinbaum is a science fiction novella written in the early 20th century. The book explores themes of desire, individuality, and the nature of perfection through the experiences of Dixon Wells, who interacts with a peculiar robotic automaton and a visionary device created by his eccentric professor, Haskel van Manderpootz. The narrative delves into the philosophical implications of ideals and their impact on human emotions and relationships. In
this story, Dixon Wells becomes enamored with an idealized vision of beauty conjured by a device called the idealizator, which translates thoughts into visual representations. Initially captivated by this perfect image, Dixon learns that the face belongs to a long-deceased actress, de Lisle d'Agrion. As he becomes more infatuated with the ideal, he neglects his reality and the genuine human connection he could have with Denise, the potential love interest who admires similar traits to those of his imagined vision. A misguided attempt to let Denise visualize her own ideal leads to horror, resulting in her severe distress. Ultimately, Dixon grapples with the damaging effects of unattainable ideals, leaving him in a state of regret and contemplation about love and desire. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Weinbaum, Stanley G. (Stanley Grauman), 1902-1935 |
|---|---|
| Title | The Ideal |
| Series Title | Produced from A Martian Odyssey and Others published in 1949. |
| Credits |
Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net |
| Reading Level | Reading ease score: 75.3 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Science fiction |
| Subject | Short stories |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 22897 |
| ISBN (HTML) | 979-8-238-22897-6 |
| Release Date | Oct 5, 2007 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 544 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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