Lecture 3

John Wyndham (10 July 1903 – 11 March 1969)

Plan

1. The life and works of English science fiction author with different pen names.

2. «Jizzle» is a collection of science-fiction short stories by John Wyndham, published in 1954.

3. «The Best of John Wyndham» is a paperback collection of science fiction short stories by John Wyndham.

4. «Dump Martian» by John Wyndham is a satire on racism.

I. The life and works of English science fiction author with different pen names

John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris (10 July 1903 – 11 March 1969) was an English science fiction writer who usually used the pen name John Wyndham, although he also used other combinations of his names, such as John Beynon and Lucas Parkes. Many of his works were set in post-apocalyptic landscapes.

He is an English science-fiction writer, who gained fame with his catastrophe novels The Day of the Triffids (1951), The Kraken Wakes (1953), and The Chrysalids (1955). The central theme in Wyndham's major works is the struggle for survival in extreme situations. His protagonist =heroes are often ordinary people, who try to sustain = поддерживать civilized values, when the normal social system has collapsed= рухнули. The famous American writer Stephen King has called Wyndham «perhaps the best writer of science fiction that England has ever produced».

Early life

Wyndham was born in the village of Knowle in Warwickshire=Уорикшир, England, the son of George Beynon Harris, lawyer, and Gertrude Parkes, the daughter of a Birmingham ironmaster.

His early childhood was spent in Edgbaston in Birmingham, but when he was eight years old his parents separated and he and his brother, the writer Vivian Beynon Harris, spent the rest of their childhood at a number of English preparatory and boarding schools, including Blundell's School in Devon during the First World War. His longest and final stay was at Bedales School in Hampshire (1918–1921) which he left at the age of 18, where he blossomed= расцвел and was happy.

After leaving school, Wyndham tried several careers including farming, law, commercial art and advertising, but mostly relied on an allowance from his family= основном полагались на пособие от своей семьи. He eventually turned to writing for money in 1925, and by 1931 was selling short stories and serial fiction to American science fiction pulp magazines= дешевые журналы, публикующие сенсационные рассказы, (pulp= пульпамягкая бумажная обложка, масса) most under the pen names of 'John Beynon' or 'John Beynon Harris', although he also wrote some detective stories.

World War II

During the Second World War Wyndham first served as a censor =(цензор) in the Ministry of Information, then joined the army, serving as a Corporal cipher operator(= Капрал оператора шифра) in the Royal Corps of Signals. He participated in the Normandy landings, although was not involved in the first days of the landings.

Postwar

After the war Wyndham returned to writing, inspired by the success of his brother who had had four novels published. He altered modified = (видоизмененнил) his writing style and by 1951, using the John Wyndham pen name for the first time, wrote the novel The Day of the Triffids. His prewar writing career (довоенный писательской карьеры) was not mentioned in the book's publicity, and people were allowed to assume = считать that it was a first novel from a previously unknown writer.

The book proved to be an enormous success and established Wyndham as an important exponent of science fiction. He went on to write and publish six more novels under the name John Wyndham, all of which appeared in his lifetime. In 1963 he married Grace Wilson, whom he had known for more than 20 years; the couple remained married until he died. He moved out of the Penn Club in London, and lived near Petersfield, Hampshire, just outside the grounds of Bedales School.

He died aged 65 at his home in Petersfield, survived by his wife and brother. Subsequently, some of his unsold work was published and his earlier work re-published.