Brian Aldiss writes with zest and aplomb, embracing polarities and contradictions that have fractured other careers. Equally at home writing the most extravagant science fiction and the most earthy social comedy, as comfortable with short stories as novels of any length, a keen critic and historian, no less adept at radical technical experiments than at traditional, lapidary prose, and apparently able to deliver any of these at any stage, Aldiss defies handy categorization. He has said of his diverse career: "Writers mainly fall into two groups; either they are forest clearers or explorers. Some like to tidy the world and reduce it to a clear and understandable diagram. Others prefer to wander in the wilderness, rejoicing in it for its own sake. I like the wilderness. I have tried to put down a few human ambiguities without attempting to clear them away."

With all his accomplishments, Aldiss has...