I think Katharine Burdekin should be up there with the giants. She wrote around the same time as Olaf Stapledone, sometimes under the pseudonym Murray Constantine.
When I see Damon Knight, all I can think of is his cruel and cowardly attack on A.E. van Vogt (and insulting his readers), trying to ruin another man's career simply because Vogt's writings were not his cup of tea, and presented his own snobbish opinions as if they were objective facts. Unfortunately, it's quite possible that Vogt's career did suffer a lot because of Knight's bullying. And Vogt was most likely not his only victim. (James Blish was possibly an ever bigger asshole than Knight.)
I think Katharine Burdekin should be up there with the giants. She wrote around the same time as Olaf Stapledone, sometimes under the pseudonym Murray Constantine.
When I see Damon Knight, all I can think of is his cruel and cowardly attack on A.E. van Vogt (and insulting his readers), trying to ruin another man's career simply because Vogt's writings were not his cup of tea, and presented his own snobbish opinions as if they were objective facts. Unfortunately, it's quite possible that Vogt's career did suffer a lot because of Knight's bullying. And Vogt was most likely not his only victim. (James Blish was possibly an ever bigger asshole than Knight.)