|
Alfred Elton van Vogt (; April 26, 1912 – January 26, 2000) was a Canadian-born science fiction author regarded as one of the most popular, influential, and complex〔"Although (Vogt ) catered for the pulps, he intensified the emotional impact and complexity of the stories they would bear()" 〕 science fiction writers of the mid-twentieth century: the Golden Age of the genre. ==Early life and writings== Van Vogt was born on a farm in Edenburg, a Russian Mennonite community east of Gretna, Manitoba, Canada. Until he was four years old, van Vogt and his family spoke only a dialect of Low German in the home.〔Panshin, Alexei ("Man Beyond Man. The Early Stories of A. E. van Vogt" (page 1) ). Retrieved August 29, 2010.〕 Van Vogt's father, a lawyer, moved his family several times and his son found these moves difficult, remarking in later life: After starting his writing career by writing for true-confession style pulp magazines such as ''True Story'', van Vogt decided to switch to writing something he enjoyed, science fiction.〔Elliot, Jeffery: "An Interview with A. E. Van Vogt", Science Fiction Review #23, 1977. Available online http://www.angelfire.com/art/megathink/vanvogt/vanvogt_interview.html Retrieved on August 29, 2010〕 This happened after he casually picked up the August 1938 issue of ''Astounding Science Fiction'' from a newsstand and found the story "Who Goes There?" The story inspired him to write "Vault of the Beast", which he sent to the same magazine. It was rejected, but the rejection letter encouraged him to try again. He then sent in a new story called "The Black Destroyer," which was accepted. A rewritten version of "Vault of the Beast" would be published in 1940. Van Vogt's first SF publication was inspired by ''The Voyage of the Beagle'' by Charles Darwin.〔Drake, H. L., ''A. E. van Vogt: Science Fantasy's Icon'', Booklocker.com Inc, 2001, page 36.〕 "The Black Destroyer" was published by John W. Campbell in ''Astounding Science Fiction'', July 1939, the centennial year of Darwin's journal. It featured a fierce, carnivorous alien, the coeurl, stalking the crew of an exploration spaceship. The second Space Beagle story appeared in December, "Discord in Scarlet". Each was the cover story〔("The Voyage of the Space Beagle" ) (cover images for numerous editions and adaptations of "The Black Destroyer" and its series). ''The Weird Worlds of A. E. van Vogt''. Magnus Axelsson (pre-2000 to 2009). Now hosted by ''icshi.net''. Retrieved April 4, 2013.〕 and was accompanied by interior illustrations, created by Frank Kramer and Paul Orban.〔〔 Panshin, Alexei (1994). ("Introduction to Slan" ). Connecticut: The Easton Press. Quote: "His first published SF story was "Black Destroyer" in the July 1939 ''Astounding''. Not only was "Black Destroyer" pictured on the cover of the magazine, but it would be recognized as one of the most significant stories published in ''Astounding'' that year".〕 (Van Vogt and Kramer thus debuted in the issue of ''Astounding'' that is sometimes singled out for ushering in the "Golden Age" of science fiction.〔For example, Peter Nicholls () says "The beginning of Campbell's particular Golden Age of SF can be pinpointed as the summer of 1939" and goes on to begin the discussion with the July 1939 issue. Lester del Rey () comments that "July was the turning point".〕) The former story served as the inspiration for a number of science fiction movies. In 1950, the two were combined with two other stories as a fix-up novel, ''The Voyage of the Space Beagle'' (Simon & Schuster), which was published in at least five European languages by 1955.〔 Positing the need for exobiologists who will appreciate the differences between the inhabitants of other planets and ourselves, it stresses the importance of the civilian rather than military in exploration of other cultures. Van Vogt's first completed novel, and one of his most famous, is ''Slan'' (Arkham House, 1946), which Campbell serialized in ''Astounding'' September to December 1940.〔 Using what became one of van Vogt's recurring themes, it told the story of a 9-year-old superman living in a world in which his kind are slain by ''Homo sapiens''. In 1941, van Vogt decided to become a full-time writer, quitting his job at the Canadian Department of National Defence. Extremely prolific for a few years, van Vogt wrote a large number of short stories. In the 1950s, many of them were retrospectively patched together into novels, or "fixups" as he called them, a term that entered the vocabulary of science-fiction criticism. When the original stories were related (e.g., ''The War against the Rull'') this was often successful. When not (e.g., ''Quest for the Future'') the disparate stories thrown together generally made for a less coherent plot. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「A. E. van Vogt」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|