Thomas
Disch’s most famous books—On the Wings of
Song, 334, and Camp Concentration—are all works of
literary speculative fiction. Possessing
quality prose, classical references, and of course, a certain gravitas, they
force The Brave Little Toaster (1980)
to stick out like a tree in a field in Disch’s oeuvre. In the tradition of Stanislaw Lem’s Fables for Robots and Cyberiad, the novella tells the story of
household appliances who go on a quest to find their lost master. At times playful and at others profound, the
novella is a Brothers Grimm fairy tale of sci-fi proportions.
A
vacuum cleaner, alarm clock, electric blanket (a yellow one), tensor lamp, and
the titular toaster are living in a cottage in the countryside at the beginning
of The Brave Little Toaster. The
master away for more than 2 years, the appliances are starting to get antsy
that he will never return. Concocting a
plan to escape their confines and find him, the group soon finds themselves on the
adventure of a lifetime—at least as far as appliances go. Encountering all manner of friends and foes,
obstacles and rescues, Disch confirms it’s not the destination but the journey
which matters.
The Brave Little Toaster is thus a lot
of fun that can appeal to all ages.
Disch not entirely abandoning his literary ways, the story is full of
intelligent commentary and observations on life, but never takes itself so
seriously as to get bogged down in any extended moralizing. Later learning it was addressing its own reflection,
a daisy’s first encounter with the toaster in a meadow is brilliant:
“Charming flower, tell me, do, What genera
and species you belong to. I, as may be seen at once, am just a daisy, green of
leaf and white of petal. You are neither green nor white nor blue nor any color
I have known. In what Eden
have you grown? Sprang you from earth or sky above? In either case, accept my
love.”
“Why, thank you,” the toaster replied,
addressing the daisy that was pressing its petaled face close to the toaster’s
gleaming chrome. “It’s kind of you to ask, but in fact I’m not a flower at all.
I’m an electric toaster.”
Quaint
dialogue written in flowing prose such as this eases the story along at a
charming pace. Disch likewise investing
imagination in the tale, the manner in which the appliances get about without
electrical outlets is inventive, while their fear of rust and becoming obsolete
will put a smile on the face. From the
human perspective, the peculiarities of perception wrecked by the toaster’s
reflective chrome façade are just as delightful.
In
the end, The Brave Little Toaster is
a fairy tale for appliances—and adults and children, also. Full of wit and charisma, Disch obviously had
a lot of fun penning the five’s adventure through the ‘wilds’ outside their
cottage home to find their master. Each
with a delightfully different personality, it’s difficult for the reader not
fall in love with the motley little crew.
Ultimately the sci-fi version of Sheila Burnford’s
The Incredible Journey, there is
likewise more than one hint of Stanislaw Lem’s fairy tales for robots, not to
mention the story must certainly be one of the inspirations behind the Toy Story films.
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