A young, precocious playwright emerges from obscurity and revolutionizes the theater with an uncanny ability to recall every minute, sensory detail from his past. The narrative follows his rapid rise to acclaim as his first work becomes a surprising commercial hit despite being dismissed by critics as merely serviceable. Gifted with an extraordinary memory and a self-taught mastery of mnemonics cultivated over years of obsessive reading, he infuses his writing with raw, unmediated emotion. His agent and producer, a seasoned theater insider, recognizes both the commercial potential and the peril inherent in the young man’s unorthodox methods. Despite his youth, the playwright’s natural brilliance and relentless experimental drive lead him to challenge the boundaries of memory by attempting to revisit and even relive pre-natal moments through a radical new vitamin derivative. As his experiments deepen, his creative output grows more erratic and astonishing—a torrent of plays, novels, and scripts that blend biting satire, poignant romance, and breathtaking drama. This relentless pursuit of total recall, however, exacts a steep psychological toll: the intense, unfiltered reliving of every traumatic emotion eventually destabilizes him. Public fascination with his genius is coupled with mounting concern over the dangers of his method—a method that transforms every personal joy and anguish into visceral, inescapable experience. Ultimately, the work becomes a meditation on the costs of artistic perfection, revealing that the obsessive drive to capture every detail of life’s experience can lead to brilliant creativity as well as profound personal breakdown.
By Winston K. Marks · First published 1961 · Genre: Science Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Satire