Clare Winger Harris - Critical View and Influence

Critical View and Influence

When Gernback published Harris's first short story in Amazing Stories, he praised her writing while also expressing amazement that a woman could write good scientifiction (as science fiction was then called), saying "That the third prize winner should prove to be a woman was one of the surprises of the contest, for, as a rule, women do not make good scientification writers, because their education and general tendencies on scientific matters are usually limited. But the exception, as usual, proves the rule, the exception in this case being extraordinarily impressive."

For many years Harris claimed to have been the first woman science-fiction writer in the United States. While this can be debated (since Gertrude Barrows Bennett, writing under the pseudonym Francis Stevens, published science fiction stories as early as 1917), Harris is recognized as the first woman to publish stories in science fiction magazines under her own name.

Even though Harris published only a handful of stories, almost all of them have been reprinted over the years. Of these, "The Miracle of the Lily" has been reprinted the most and praised by many critics, with Richard Lupoff saying the story would have "won the Hugo Award for best short story, if the award had existed then." Lupoff also wrote that "hile today's reader may find her prose creaky and old-fashioned, the stories positively teem with still-fresh and provocative ideas.

"The Fate of the Poseidonia" has also been reprinted a number of times and is credited as an early example of a science fiction story with a heroic female lead character. Other of Harris's stories are also noted for featuring strong female characters, such as Sylvia, the airplane pilot and mechanic in "The Ape Cycle" (1930). Harris also wrote one story untilizing a female point of view (in 1928's "The Fifth Dimension").

Because Harris was the first woman published in science fiction magazines, and because of her embrace of female characters and themes, she has been recognized in recent years as a pioneer of women's and feminist science fiction.