Serge-Simon Held (credited as S.S. Held) was a French science fiction author known for the 1931 environmentalist novel ''La Mort du Fer'' (published in English as ''The Death of Iron''). Very little is known about Held.Waage 2012, pp. 11–12. He may have been from Alsace or of Alsacian descent, with many people from the region fleeing to Paris in 1870 due to the Alsacian cession to Germany following the Franco-Prussian war. The professor of English Frederick Waage was unable to find a record of Held, but noted that ''Held'' is frequently used as an ornamental surname among Jews.Waage 2012, p. 13. ''La Mort du Fer'' was published by Fayard, and printed by of Abbeville, in 1931. The novel was serialized in the American science fiction

pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...

'' Wonder Stories'' from September to December 1932. The translation was made by Fletcher Pratt, himself a noted science fiction author, and was later published in full in the 1952 edition of ''

Wonder Story Annual ''Wonder Story Annual'' was a science fiction pulp magazine which was launched in 1950 by Standard Magazines. It was created as a vehicle to reprint stories from early issues of ''Wonder Stories'', '' Startling Stories,'' and '' Wonder Stories ...

''.Waage 2012, p. 12. The novel is set in northern France, and concerns a mysterious "disease" which attacks iron.Waage 2012, p. 14. This eventually ushers in an "after-metal" world, in which plant life flourishes.Waage 2012, p. 28. The French critic wrote critically of ''La Mort du Fer'' in February 1932 in '' Le Temps''. He claimed that "the book is very poorly put together: a very awkward alternation between private intrigues and 'historical' narratives, the poorly-paced sequence of the story, sometimes detailed, sometimes rushed, and especially an irritating composition which constantly retools the subject, rendering it ultimately schematic, expressed arbitrarily and cursorily".Waage 2012, pp. 13–14. The later critic , however, praised the novel's realism, characterising it as "remarkable", though "perfectly forgotten, even unknown". The book was read by Ross Lockridge Jr., and was an inspiration for his unpublished epic poem ''The Dream of the Death of Iron'' and for the environmentalist themes of his novel '' Raintree County''.Waage 2012, pp. 11–12. ''La Mort du Fer'' has a "disquieting similarity in theme" to the English novelist

David H. Keller David Henry Keller (December 23, 1880 – July 13, 1966) was an American writer who worked for pulp magazines in the mid-twentieth century, in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres. He was also a psychiatrist and physician to shell- ...

's ''The Metal Doom'', and the former may have served as an uncredited inspiration for the latter. Waage frames ''La Mort du Fer'' as "generational successor" to '' Germinal'', by Émile Zola.Waage 2012, p. 11.

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Held, S. S. French science fiction writers 20th-century French non-fiction writers French male novelists Year of birth missing Year of death missing 20th-century French male writers