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Il Morbo di Mida
La globalizzazione ha risolto tutti i problemi dell'umanità. La grandi multinazionali producono più di quello che è necessario. Il problema si è capovolto: non più fame e carenze di cibo, ma obbligo di consumare a qualsiasi costo.
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First published June 1, 1952
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About the author
Frederik Pohl
1,152 books1,068 followersFrederik George Pohl, Jr. was an American science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career spanning over seventy years. From about 1959 until 1969, Pohl edited Galaxy magazine and its sister magazine IF winning the Hugo for IF three years in a row. His writing also won him three Hugos and multiple Nebula Awards. He became a Nebula Grand Master in 1993.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
January 12, 2026
The Midas Plague by Frederik Pohl is a novella which was originally published in “Galaxy” magazine in April, 1954. It was later to be dramatised for television by the BBC, for the first series of “Out of the Unknown” in 1965.
The story began as an idea by “Galaxy”’s editor, Horace Gold. He mentioned a brainwave he'd had for a story, to several of his regular contributors. It was to be a satire on consumerism, i.e. the richer you were, the less you were forced to consume. Thus the greatest poverty was allied to the aggregation of goods. It seemed a crazy idea.
Frederik Pohl was becoming known in the 1950s for writing satirical stories based on the emergence of a consumer society. The previous year, 1952, Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth had co-authored a novel which was originally published as a serial in “Galaxy” magazine. This was “The Space Merchants”, which was also a social satire about consumers in a capitalist society, (in that case marketing Venus as real estate). However this idea of his editor seemed so absurd, that nobody took Horace Gold up on it, until (according to Frederik Pohl), he was more or less bullied into making an attempt at it. He decided that it was easier to write something on the theme of over-production suggested, rather than to keep resisting his editor’s pressure. To his amazement, the story proved very popular and is often included in Sci-Fi anthologies (including “Spectrum 1”).
In 1954, it was possible to imagine a world where energy was cheap, and robots were overproducing the commodities enjoyed by humans. It’s then a small stretch to accept the idea of the lower-class “poor”, spending their lives frantically consuming as much as possible in order to keep up with their extravagant supply of goods, while the upper-class “rich” enjoy the simple life. Theft as a crime is nonexistent, and the government Ration Board enforce the use of ration stamps, to ensure that everyone consumes their quotas. Everyone’s aim is to move through the system attaining a higher number, so that they are issued with fewer ration stamps and have to consume less. The lower classes are only able to work one day a week, because every waking hour is dedicated to consuming.
The protagonist is Morey Fry, who marries Cherry, a young woman from a higher-class family. But it is said that “poor people should not marry wealth”. Raised in a home with only five rooms Cherry cannot get used to a life of forced consumption in their huge mansion of 26 rooms, nine automobiles, and five robots, and things quickly become strained, as the couple argue.
“You never wasted things. You used them. If necessary you drove yourself to the edge of breakdown to use them; you made every breath a burden and every hour a torment to use them, until through diligent consuming and/or occupational merit, you were promoted to the next higher class, and were allowed to consume less frantically. But you didn’t wantonly destroy or throw out. You consumed.”
Then Morey has a brilliant idea.
When reading Sci-Fi from the 1950s, we have to make allowances for the time. Most will reflect the current social mores, and transfer them to an imagined future. Females in particular have little presence in these stories, except as adjuncts to the main, male, characters. Cherry, one of the few females, conforms to the stereotypical 1950s housewife, and none of the others mentioned in this fantasy future seem have a life other than domesticity. In a way this unintentionally adds to the satirical element. Another common myth was the assumption that in the near distant future, humanised robots would be there to serve our every need. In The Midas Plague we have a third whopping discrepancy with reality; that the world’s resources were assumed to be unlimited, and there for the taking. Yes we have massive consumerism, as anticipated, but the cost is high.
If we ignore these aspects, then the idea of “less is more” is a nice twist on consumerism. However it proved difficult to sustain in the playing out of the story. Bearing in mind that everything is switched to the opposite becomes a little tedious, and strays from believable reality.
“It wasn’t so hard to be a proper, industrious consumer if you worked at it, he reflected. It was only the malcontents, the ne’er-do-wells and the incompetents who simply could not adjust to the world around them.”
This seems to imply we are getting into political theory. But would rational beings really accept this system, where they are forced to wear themselves out consuming? Wouldn’t they decide it was idiotic? It's more like a farce than a biting satire, with the intentionally absurd ending detracting from the thrust of the story. Also, the story itself is overlong; this novella only just makes 3 stars, as it rambled too much. If Frederik Pohl had tightened it up he could have written a sharp short story.
The idea of consumer-obsessed society was to be used again by Frederik Pohl in 1960 for the novelette “The Man Who Ate The World” which is apparently stronger and more credible, but is not as well-known.
The story began as an idea by “Galaxy”’s editor, Horace Gold. He mentioned a brainwave he'd had for a story, to several of his regular contributors. It was to be a satire on consumerism, i.e. the richer you were, the less you were forced to consume. Thus the greatest poverty was allied to the aggregation of goods. It seemed a crazy idea.
Frederik Pohl was becoming known in the 1950s for writing satirical stories based on the emergence of a consumer society. The previous year, 1952, Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth had co-authored a novel which was originally published as a serial in “Galaxy” magazine. This was “The Space Merchants”, which was also a social satire about consumers in a capitalist society, (in that case marketing Venus as real estate). However this idea of his editor seemed so absurd, that nobody took Horace Gold up on it, until (according to Frederik Pohl), he was more or less bullied into making an attempt at it. He decided that it was easier to write something on the theme of over-production suggested, rather than to keep resisting his editor’s pressure. To his amazement, the story proved very popular and is often included in Sci-Fi anthologies (including “Spectrum 1”).
In 1954, it was possible to imagine a world where energy was cheap, and robots were overproducing the commodities enjoyed by humans. It’s then a small stretch to accept the idea of the lower-class “poor”, spending their lives frantically consuming as much as possible in order to keep up with their extravagant supply of goods, while the upper-class “rich” enjoy the simple life. Theft as a crime is nonexistent, and the government Ration Board enforce the use of ration stamps, to ensure that everyone consumes their quotas. Everyone’s aim is to move through the system attaining a higher number, so that they are issued with fewer ration stamps and have to consume less. The lower classes are only able to work one day a week, because every waking hour is dedicated to consuming.
The protagonist is Morey Fry, who marries Cherry, a young woman from a higher-class family. But it is said that “poor people should not marry wealth”. Raised in a home with only five rooms Cherry cannot get used to a life of forced consumption in their huge mansion of 26 rooms, nine automobiles, and five robots, and things quickly become strained, as the couple argue.
“You never wasted things. You used them. If necessary you drove yourself to the edge of breakdown to use them; you made every breath a burden and every hour a torment to use them, until through diligent consuming and/or occupational merit, you were promoted to the next higher class, and were allowed to consume less frantically. But you didn’t wantonly destroy or throw out. You consumed.”
Then Morey has a brilliant idea.
When reading Sci-Fi from the 1950s, we have to make allowances for the time. Most will reflect the current social mores, and transfer them to an imagined future. Females in particular have little presence in these stories, except as adjuncts to the main, male, characters. Cherry, one of the few females, conforms to the stereotypical 1950s housewife, and none of the others mentioned in this fantasy future seem have a life other than domesticity. In a way this unintentionally adds to the satirical element. Another common myth was the assumption that in the near distant future, humanised robots would be there to serve our every need. In The Midas Plague we have a third whopping discrepancy with reality; that the world’s resources were assumed to be unlimited, and there for the taking. Yes we have massive consumerism, as anticipated, but the cost is high.
If we ignore these aspects, then the idea of “less is more” is a nice twist on consumerism. However it proved difficult to sustain in the playing out of the story. Bearing in mind that everything is switched to the opposite becomes a little tedious, and strays from believable reality.
“It wasn’t so hard to be a proper, industrious consumer if you worked at it, he reflected. It was only the malcontents, the ne’er-do-wells and the incompetents who simply could not adjust to the world around them.”
This seems to imply we are getting into political theory. But would rational beings really accept this system, where they are forced to wear themselves out consuming? Wouldn’t they decide it was idiotic? It's more like a farce than a biting satire, with the intentionally absurd ending detracting from the thrust of the story. Also, the story itself is overlong; this novella only just makes 3 stars, as it rambled too much. If Frederik Pohl had tightened it up he could have written a sharp short story.
The idea of consumer-obsessed society was to be used again by Frederik Pohl in 1960 for the novelette “The Man Who Ate The World” which is apparently stronger and more credible, but is not as well-known.
November 20, 2018
TEN SHORT SF NOVELS
NO. 5 : THE MIDAS PLAGUE by Fred Pohl
This is 1950s satire. This means that it’s just…silly. In the future everyone has to consume products like crazy to keep their wildly overproductive society going. (They have invented cheap energy and they have lots of robots.) To enforce this, everyone is on rations. The fun is that you’re given targets to consume per month – umpteen five course meals, many suits of clothes, more tvs, etc. The poorer you are the more you have to consume, because all this using stuff up is backbreaking and mind-destroying work. So it’s the poor who live in 40 room mansions and only work one day a week and the well-off who have modest five bedroom houses in this society and get to work 5 or 6 days a week. Ha ha! I get it! It's the opposite of our own society.... very satirical. And you can’t just get stuff and throw it away, no, there’s a rations board which checks if you’ve actually used the stuff you claim to. This story really doesn’t have much logic to it. Our hero hits on the idea of getting his house robots to wear all the extra clothes and play with the piles of sports equipment – and, this solves everyone’s problem. Like no one would have thought of that already.
NO. 5 : THE MIDAS PLAGUE by Fred Pohl
This is 1950s satire. This means that it’s just…silly. In the future everyone has to consume products like crazy to keep their wildly overproductive society going. (They have invented cheap energy and they have lots of robots.) To enforce this, everyone is on rations. The fun is that you’re given targets to consume per month – umpteen five course meals, many suits of clothes, more tvs, etc. The poorer you are the more you have to consume, because all this using stuff up is backbreaking and mind-destroying work. So it’s the poor who live in 40 room mansions and only work one day a week and the well-off who have modest five bedroom houses in this society and get to work 5 or 6 days a week. Ha ha! I get it! It's the opposite of our own society.... very satirical. And you can’t just get stuff and throw it away, no, there’s a rations board which checks if you’ve actually used the stuff you claim to. This story really doesn’t have much logic to it. Our hero hits on the idea of getting his house robots to wear all the extra clothes and play with the piles of sports equipment – and, this solves everyone’s problem. Like no one would have thought of that already.
July 26, 2014
Rating: 3* of five
The Publisher Says: Although the three part serial beginning in the June 1952 issue in collaboration with Cyril Kornbluth had established Frederik Pohl as a formidable contributor, this novelette in the April 1954 issue was his first solo contribution and marked him as an important addition to the growing roster of social satirists enlisted by Horace Gold, the editor of GALAXY magazine.
The audacious and patchwork concept underlying this story (the richer you are the less you are forced to consume; the greatest poverty is involved with the aggregation of goods) was Horace Gold’s and according to Pohl he had offered it to almost all of his regular contributors, asking for a story centered on the idea. The idea lacks all credibility, everyone (including Pohl) told him and everyone refused to write something so patently unbelievable until, according to Pohl, Horace browbeat him into an attempt and Pohl decided that it was less trouble to deliver something than continue to resist.
To his utter shock, the story was received by Gold and his readership with great glee, was among the most popular GALAXY ever published (or Pohl) and one of the most anthologized. Whether this demonstrated the audacity and scope of Gold’s unreason or whether it confirmed Gold’s genius (or both) Pohl was utterly unable to decide. The sculpted consumer-obsessed society was used again by Pohl a few years later in the novelette THE MAN WHO ATE THE WORLD which was far more credible (consumption-obsession as a kind of personal tyranny) and, perhaps for that very reason, much less successful, barely remembered.
My Review: Rather entertaining, in a simple way. But as I read on, I had this chill of terror...after all, in a world where there are "old" Kindles and iPhones and Galaxy tablets made in 2012, how far are we from the dystopia of this tale?
Thanks to LibraryThing Fred, I read this antique, sixty-year-old tale of consumerism's most appalling subtext writ large. It's hard not to see how this 12,000 or so word novelette would benefit from either more or less space. It would, in hands more skilled, have been side-splittingly funny. Pohl wasn't really up to it in 1954. But honestly, it was an hour spent smiling and frowning at the same time, as I processed the implications of the fact that people saw what was happening in the wake of consumerism in 1954...and did nothing.
That chilled me.
At $2.99 (or free for the Unlimited user), and an hour or so of time, this felt like a break-even investment. I was hoping for a positive return of laughs, and got the smiles instead. But overall I'd say it's a good way to spend an afternoon. Very worthwhile for the Unlimited folks, less so for the money-spenders.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
The Publisher Says: Although the three part serial beginning in the June 1952 issue in collaboration with Cyril Kornbluth had established Frederik Pohl as a formidable contributor, this novelette in the April 1954 issue was his first solo contribution and marked him as an important addition to the growing roster of social satirists enlisted by Horace Gold, the editor of GALAXY magazine.
The audacious and patchwork concept underlying this story (the richer you are the less you are forced to consume; the greatest poverty is involved with the aggregation of goods) was Horace Gold’s and according to Pohl he had offered it to almost all of his regular contributors, asking for a story centered on the idea. The idea lacks all credibility, everyone (including Pohl) told him and everyone refused to write something so patently unbelievable until, according to Pohl, Horace browbeat him into an attempt and Pohl decided that it was less trouble to deliver something than continue to resist.
To his utter shock, the story was received by Gold and his readership with great glee, was among the most popular GALAXY ever published (or Pohl) and one of the most anthologized. Whether this demonstrated the audacity and scope of Gold’s unreason or whether it confirmed Gold’s genius (or both) Pohl was utterly unable to decide. The sculpted consumer-obsessed society was used again by Pohl a few years later in the novelette THE MAN WHO ATE THE WORLD which was far more credible (consumption-obsession as a kind of personal tyranny) and, perhaps for that very reason, much less successful, barely remembered.
My Review: Rather entertaining, in a simple way. But as I read on, I had this chill of terror...after all, in a world where there are "old" Kindles and iPhones and Galaxy tablets made in 2012, how far are we from the dystopia of this tale?
Thanks to LibraryThing Fred, I read this antique, sixty-year-old tale of consumerism's most appalling subtext writ large. It's hard not to see how this 12,000 or so word novelette would benefit from either more or less space. It would, in hands more skilled, have been side-splittingly funny. Pohl wasn't really up to it in 1954. But honestly, it was an hour spent smiling and frowning at the same time, as I processed the implications of the fact that people saw what was happening in the wake of consumerism in 1954...and did nothing.
That chilled me.
At $2.99 (or free for the Unlimited user), and an hour or so of time, this felt like a break-even investment. I was hoping for a positive return of laughs, and got the smiles instead. But overall I'd say it's a good way to spend an afternoon. Very worthwhile for the Unlimited folks, less so for the money-spenders.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
April 4, 2025
Eeek this was cute! Very good commentary on the doomed slope of increasing consumerism, but still had hope for change. Also I'm so tired of reading about robot uprisings in sci-fi stories so this was nice :)
April 21, 2025
I loved how silly this concept was; a fun read that excelled in novella form.
3.5/5
3.5/5
December 3, 2015
A confusing story that seems to require a severe lack of logic in order for you to go with it. The short of it is the poorer people are in this world, the more rations they receive from the government and the more they are expected to consume rather than work. The abundance is apparently due to robots that just won't stop producing things, and that's where it loses me. I guess it's the kind of thing people feared back then, of machines just endlessly spitting things out and eliminating need for people to work, but it ignores lots of other obvious things like cost and availability of materials, for instance.
Beyond the concept, I couldn't quite tell if it was supposed to be a damning look at communism, welfare, consumerism, automation, or some strange mix of them all. It just all got a bit too muddled up and resulted in an unsatisfying read.
Beyond the concept, I couldn't quite tell if it was supposed to be a damning look at communism, welfare, consumerism, automation, or some strange mix of them all. It just all got a bit too muddled up and resulted in an unsatisfying read.
May 28, 2015
Classic Pohl
Thoroughly digestible race through one of Frederik Pohl's classic propositions on society. This reads like a hard-boiled radio stage play.
Thoroughly digestible race through one of Frederik Pohl's classic propositions on society. This reads like a hard-boiled radio stage play.
December 15, 2013
The Midas Plague was written shortly after World War Two, and like almost any book that old that deals with and imagined future, it contains many items that a modern reader will easily find fault with, since we KNOW how the future (post 52) actually was. (how the future was... I like it!)
The theme of this book reminds me of Vonnegut's Player Piano, though the premise is taken to an intentionally absurd level by Pohl. In his imaginary future there is so much produced by the "robots" that people are FORCED to consume, and the lower on the social scale one is, the more one must consume.
In both this and Vonnegut's book, the basic flaw in their premises is that they both assume, as many did at the time that the "wealth" produced by automation and robots would actually be shared. It was shared, to an extent, but certainly not with the entire population of the planet, or even the population of the wealthiest country on the planet.
From 60 years in the future, it seems rather quaint, though well written and with some humor and irony that still works. It's not a "must read" but for someone like me who enjoys old visions of the future, it's another example of a certain optimism that was common even in semi-dystopian novels of the time.
The theme of this book reminds me of Vonnegut's Player Piano, though the premise is taken to an intentionally absurd level by Pohl. In his imaginary future there is so much produced by the "robots" that people are FORCED to consume, and the lower on the social scale one is, the more one must consume.
In both this and Vonnegut's book, the basic flaw in their premises is that they both assume, as many did at the time that the "wealth" produced by automation and robots would actually be shared. It was shared, to an extent, but certainly not with the entire population of the planet, or even the population of the wealthiest country on the planet.
From 60 years in the future, it seems rather quaint, though well written and with some humor and irony that still works. It's not a "must read" but for someone like me who enjoys old visions of the future, it's another example of a certain optimism that was common even in semi-dystopian novels of the time.
June 22, 2015
Interesting concept – society is made up of several class levels all devoted to consumption. Since the invention of robots, who are producing everything at a much faster pace than we ever could, there is a glut of things that need to be consumed but under no circumstances are they to be wasted. Class one citizens have to eat more, drink more and fill their house to the brim with objects more than the other classes. If they are good consumers, they get rewarded with moving up a class and not having to consume quite as much.
Obviously it is the backwards version of how we live today. Also, aside from the general language, you can tell it’s a bit dated in its assumption that the world has an endless supply of everything. Life must have been wonderful back in the 50’s.
Obviously it is the backwards version of how we live today. Also, aside from the general language, you can tell it’s a bit dated in its assumption that the world has an endless supply of everything. Life must have been wonderful back in the 50’s.
March 1, 2015
This IS a great work. It is disingenuous to judge SF based on how accurately it predicts the future - that is not what the genre is about. It is about questioning the nature of man and his meaning by way of possible (if improbable at times) situations. We live in a vastly more consumer-oriented world than when this work was written so I wouldn't say it is so far off in that regard - to what end will it eventually progress? There is a lot to think over in this novella.
August 26, 2015
Strange tale of a future society where the poorer you are, the more you must consume.
November 15, 2024
"The Midas Plague" by Frederik Pohl is a science fiction short story that explores an unusual twist on the Midas touch. In this futuristic world, the lower classes are required to constantly consume and acquire goods, while the upper classes live minimalist lifestyles. The story follows the Newhaven family, who struggle with the pressures and contradictions of this inverted economic system.
The premise is clever and thought-provoking, offering an insightful commentary on consumerism and class divides. Pohl skillfully builds a vivid, dystopian setting that feels plausible and unsettling. The characters, while not the most deeply developed, are relatable and help drive the narrative.
However, the pacing can feel uneven at times, with moments of compelling drama interspersed with slower, more expository sections. Additionally, the resolution, while thematically appropriate, may leave some readers feeling a bit unsatisfied.
Overall, "The Midas Plague" is an interesting and imaginative work that succeeds in sparking reflection on societal issues, even if it doesn't fully coalesce into a flawless story. Fans of classic science fiction will likely find it a worthwhile, if not entirely fulfilling, read.
The premise is clever and thought-provoking, offering an insightful commentary on consumerism and class divides. Pohl skillfully builds a vivid, dystopian setting that feels plausible and unsettling. The characters, while not the most deeply developed, are relatable and help drive the narrative.
However, the pacing can feel uneven at times, with moments of compelling drama interspersed with slower, more expository sections. Additionally, the resolution, while thematically appropriate, may leave some readers feeling a bit unsatisfied.
Overall, "The Midas Plague" is an interesting and imaginative work that succeeds in sparking reflection on societal issues, even if it doesn't fully coalesce into a flawless story. Fans of classic science fiction will likely find it a worthwhile, if not entirely fulfilling, read.
September 17, 2024
The Midas Plague
Frederik Pohl
69 pages
Read in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two
Sept 2024
A society battles with over production. All citizens are forced to consume quantas by ration books of things that must be consumed. Food that must be eaten. Cloths that must be worn till it is worn up. And so on. The “richer” as in higher society class status, the less you were forced to consume. A weird caricature.
This al seem like an idiotic caricature of a non-problem,..... until you think of snapchat streaks that no body want that forces people to use a program – or rather force themselves to use a program they rather not. Or the existence of bot that play games for people to complete their daily quests. Yes, we have bots that play games for us on our behalf. Sometimes we are the idiotic caricature of humans in this story.
Another funny detail is that if you where forced to consume xxxx grams of food every day, most people would be forced to eat more healthy food, as vegetables are less energy dense.
For a caricature it is rather long.
Frederik Pohl
69 pages
Read in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two
Sept 2024
A society battles with over production. All citizens are forced to consume quantas by ration books of things that must be consumed. Food that must be eaten. Cloths that must be worn till it is worn up. And so on. The “richer” as in higher society class status, the less you were forced to consume. A weird caricature.
This al seem like an idiotic caricature of a non-problem,..... until you think of snapchat streaks that no body want that forces people to use a program – or rather force themselves to use a program they rather not. Or the existence of bot that play games for people to complete their daily quests. Yes, we have bots that play games for us on our behalf. Sometimes we are the idiotic caricature of humans in this story.
Another funny detail is that if you where forced to consume xxxx grams of food every day, most people would be forced to eat more healthy food, as vegetables are less energy dense.
For a caricature it is rather long.
February 27, 2025
Ο υπέροχος Φρέντερικ Πολ, που έχει και την χαρά να έχει ψιλομεταφραστεί στα ελληνικά (σειρά Heechee, εκδόσεις Ατραπός), μας δίνει μία ευφάνταστη δυστοπία μελλοντικής υπερκαταναλωτικότητας, ένα κόσμο που οι άνθρωποι είναι υποχρεωμένοι να καταναλώνουν σχεδόν ψυχαναγκαστικά και όπου η υποχρέωση κατανάλωσης είναι αντιστρόφως ανάλογη με την κοινωνική θέση του ατόμου. Για να το πω πιο απλά: σε αυτή την υπέροχη αλληγορία, όσο πιο πλέμπα είσαι τόσο περισσότερα είσαι υποχρεωμένος να καταναλώνεις.
Μπορεί ως φόρμα μερικές φορές να δείχνει ξεπερασμένο αλλά αν σκεφτεί κανείς την εποχή κατά την οποία γράφτηκε, τη χώρα στην οποία γράφτηκε, δεν μπορεί παρά να θαυμάσει τη μεταοργουελικη φαντασία του δημιουργού, την ειρωνική μάτια τους τον κόσμο της κατανάλωσης και την σπαρακτικά αλληγορική σύνδεση ψυχαναγκαστικής καταναλωτικότητας και χαμηλής κοινωνικής θέσης.
5 αστεράκια για πάρα πολλούς λόγους
Μπορεί ως φόρμα μερικές φορές να δείχνει ξεπερασμένο αλλά αν σκεφτεί κανείς την εποχή κατά την οποία γράφτηκε, τη χώρα στην οποία γράφτηκε, δεν μπορεί παρά να θαυμάσει τη μεταοργουελικη φαντασία του δημιουργού, την ειρωνική μάτια τους τον κόσμο της κατανάλωσης και την σπαρακτικά αλληγορική σύνδεση ψυχαναγκαστικής καταναλωτικότητας και χαμηλής κοινωνικής θέσης.
5 αστεράκια για πάρα πολλούς λόγους
October 19, 2019
7/10 en 2006. Media de los 13 libros leídos del autor: 7/10
Aunque tiene este y muchos otros libros muy legibles, me quedo con su Saga Heeche y, en menos medida, con la de "Mercaderes del espacio".
En esta novela nos plasma una anti-sociedad consumista: los robots producen tanto que cuanto más pobre eres más estas obligado a consumir. Has de comer más, tener más ropa, casas más grandes y con más habitaciones y productos.
Las clases sociales mas altas no deben consumir tanto, pueden tener un trabajo de más horas, casas mas pequeñas...
Curioso, ¿no? Sátira un poco absurda que no me llegó a gustar demasiado, por lo que le racaneo la cuarta estrella.
Aunque tiene este y muchos otros libros muy legibles, me quedo con su Saga Heeche y, en menos medida, con la de "Mercaderes del espacio".
En esta novela nos plasma una anti-sociedad consumista: los robots producen tanto que cuanto más pobre eres más estas obligado a consumir. Has de comer más, tener más ropa, casas más grandes y con más habitaciones y productos.
Las clases sociales mas altas no deben consumir tanto, pueden tener un trabajo de más horas, casas mas pequeñas...
Curioso, ¿no? Sátira un poco absurda que no me llegó a gustar demasiado, por lo que le racaneo la cuarta estrella.
June 27, 2021
Read in the The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two B: The Greatest Science Fiction Novellas of All Time Chosen by the Members of the Science Fiction Writers of America, for which it was chosen decades later. They don't say why, but see Richard Derus's review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....
October 19, 2018
Esperaba mucho de este relato. Pohl es uno de mis favoritos. Al leerlo he experimentado una caída en picado.
Cierto es que hay que tomarlo como una sátira y que puede resultar desengrasante, pero es que no hay por donde cogerla. Quitando algún punto más cómico y lo pintoresco de ciertos personajes, el mundo que plantea es totalmente absurdo, la trama entretenida pero insustancial, y el final, más absurdo que la premisa inicial.
Mi puntuación sería de 2,5 Estrellas sobre 5.
Cierto es que hay que tomarlo como una sátira y que puede resultar desengrasante, pero es que no hay por donde cogerla. Quitando algún punto más cómico y lo pintoresco de ciertos personajes, el mundo que plantea es totalmente absurdo, la trama entretenida pero insustancial, y el final, más absurdo que la premisa inicial.
Mi puntuación sería de 2,5 Estrellas sobre 5.
April 6, 2018
Ho letto questo romanzo breve in un'edizione tedesca, probabilmente un'antologia, negli anni 70. Il concetto era sicuramente molto originale e non l'ho mai dimenticato. Lo considero quasi una profezia riguardante la moderna piaga della disposofobia.
January 21, 2021
Overproduction is the bane of the lower classes, who struggle to buy their required items to avoid problems with the law.
Pohl's witty story is light, but contains a dark warning for consumerism.
Pohl's witty story is light, but contains a dark warning for consumerism.
August 17, 2021
Slow start but enjoyable
September 16, 2022
That was kinda silly. Sometimes I can ignore silliness if they are trying to talk about a human problem but this was just being weird.
November 23, 2024
Fantastic satire of consumerism..
January 15, 2025
The concept of inverting consumerism is interesting but I just dont think that the world this story sets up for itself is particularly logical and that detracts from the overall enjoyment.
August 2, 2025
BBC short radio dramatisation. Great distillation, consumable in 45 mins.
August 11, 2025
Premise is interesting, however, the story falls flat in the final third
August 12, 2024
A clever lampooning of current (1950's) American culture, it has some dating, but is still funny
March 17, 2017
This is a short story by Pohl, originally written for publication in a magazine. I found it as a free e-book on Amazon via Kindle Unlimited, and having read lots of Pohl's novels in the past, downloaded it and dove in. It's a fun, engrossing read, and an inventive take on the Midas Touch tale. Highly recommended for fans of sci-fi, especially those who enjoy reading what sci-fi writers in the 50's thought the future might be like some day.
January 4, 2014
Se non fosse per Delos Books, che ne ha recentemente pubblicato tre opere (oltre a quella in oggetto, anche "L'insidia del Glotch" e "Il segreto dei Donovan"), in libreria non sarebbe possibile trovare niente di Frederik Pohl, uno dei grandi della fantascienza.
Alla luce del breve romanzo (o meglio racconto lungo) appena letto, ancora una volta risalta quanto l'editoria nostrana sia in mano a una manica di imbecilli.
"Il morbo di Mida" è uno dei capisaldi della letteratura fantastica. Perfetto esempio di satira sociale (non politica) mascherata da racconto di sf, con ribaltamenti del punto di vista da manuale che sottolineano con efficacia le idee molto forti alla base della vicenda. Qua e là la scrittura non è sempre fluidissima (colpa forse della traduzione?), i personaggi sono parecchio piatti (ma è l'ambito satirico che richiede personaggi convenzionali), e bisogna riconoscere anche un minimo di ingenuità nel dipanarsi della storia. Eppure nemmeno per un attimo ci sogneremmo di non riconoscere lo status di prototipo dell'opera, una di quelle che difficilmente, dopo averla letta, si può decidere di ignorare.
E, per finire, non può mancare la segnalazione sulle quattro righe di presentazione presenti in copertina: «La globalizzazione ha risolto tutti i problemi dell'umanità. Ora bisogna consumare. A qualsiasi costo.» Ovviamente nel volume non si parla di globalizzazione; sarebbe anche strano, visto che nel '54, anno di pubblicazione, non se ne discuteva molto
Alla luce del breve romanzo (o meglio racconto lungo) appena letto, ancora una volta risalta quanto l'editoria nostrana sia in mano a una manica di imbecilli.
"Il morbo di Mida" è uno dei capisaldi della letteratura fantastica. Perfetto esempio di satira sociale (non politica) mascherata da racconto di sf, con ribaltamenti del punto di vista da manuale che sottolineano con efficacia le idee molto forti alla base della vicenda. Qua e là la scrittura non è sempre fluidissima (colpa forse della traduzione?), i personaggi sono parecchio piatti (ma è l'ambito satirico che richiede personaggi convenzionali), e bisogna riconoscere anche un minimo di ingenuità nel dipanarsi della storia. Eppure nemmeno per un attimo ci sogneremmo di non riconoscere lo status di prototipo dell'opera, una di quelle che difficilmente, dopo averla letta, si può decidere di ignorare.
E, per finire, non può mancare la segnalazione sulle quattro righe di presentazione presenti in copertina: «La globalizzazione ha risolto tutti i problemi dell'umanità. Ora bisogna consumare. A qualsiasi costo.» Ovviamente nel volume non si parla di globalizzazione; sarebbe anche strano, visto che nel '54, anno di pubblicazione, non se ne discuteva molto
August 27, 2013
"The more things you own, the more they own you." This novelette from Frederik Pohl takes that old saying to its logical conclusion. The "poor" in this society can't escape from a glut of consumer products. The "rich" are allowed to take only what they want and need. A threadbare coat is a symbol of great wealth and distinction. The question is, is there any way out?
A fun story, well-constructed. It shows it's age in style and in content, but its worth your time.
A fun story, well-constructed. It shows it's age in style and in content, but its worth your time.
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