David Derek Stacton

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David Derek Stacton (1925 - 1968) was a U.S. novelist, historian and poet. He was born on 25 April 1925 in Minden, Nevada. Stacton attended Stanford University, 1941-43. He served in the Civilian Public Service as a conscientious objector then lived in Europe from 1950-1954, 1960-1962, and 1964-1965. Stacton wrote under the pseudonyms Carse Boyd, Bud Clifton and David West. Most of his books were originally published in England. He died of a stroke 19 January 1968 in Fredensborg, Denmark.

David Stacton began as a writer of moody California-based novels, became moderately well-known as a writer of short, concentrated historical and biographical novels, and then ended his career as a writer of lengthy histories. His historical novels are distinctive for covering many disparate periods and historical figures and were popular with a coterie of critics but they never reached a wide audience. His novels usually focus on a couple of characters who are often highly private, unusual, even perverse individuals, so that his novels are more about encompassing the range of their personalities and motives through introspection rather than through narrative and plot. Stacton frequently refers to life as a "Cosmic Opera House". He sees his characters as parables and illustrative of certain trends, and he wrote two series of thematically related triptychs. In his first triptych, "The Invincible Questions", Stacton chooses protagonists who are more important for their personal inquiries into the nature of reality than anything that they do, despite being a pharaoh, a king, and monk. His second "American" tripych is highly critical of the development of American history and of America's tendencies to both imperialism and isolationism (Gore Vidal's silence about Stacton may be significant). Stacton's novels are often low in dialogue, and his better novels are instead full of his witty scornful comments on his characters and life. At his best Stacton had an epigrammatic style and enjoyed a sophisticated irony, although antipathetic critics took him to task for pretentious vocabulary, a tendency to florid paradoxes, and anachronistic allusions (i.e describing a 14th century Zen garden using phrases from Marianne Moore and Peter Pan). His literary influences include Walter Pater, for his choice of characters with frustrated artistic and emotional longings, and Lytton Strachey for his witty attention to history. Several of Stacton's novels feature homosexual characters prominently, and despite Stacton being married, it would seem that he was also gay. Fans of David Stacton include John Crowley, Thomas M. Disch and Peter Beagle.

Awards

Bibliography

Poetry

  • An Unfamiliar Country: 25 Poems (Fantasy Press, 1953)
  • A Desert Fox, With Cactus-Colored fur (Albert Sperisen, 1960) – broadside poem
  • Aetatis Suae LII (Albert Sperisen, 1961) - broadside poem

Biography / History

  • A Ride on a Tiger: The Curious Travels of Victor Jacquemont (Museum Press, 1954)
  • The World on the Last Day: The Sack of Constantinople by the Turks, May 29, 1453 (Faber, 1965)
  • The Bonapartes (Simon & Schuster, 1966)

Novels

  • Dolores (Faber, 1954)
  • A Fox Inside (Faber, 1955) - a California noir
  • The Self-Enchanted (Faber, 1956)
  • Remember Me: A Story of Ludwig II of Bavaria (Faber, 1957) - The Invincible Questions Triptych I
  • The Power Gods (Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1958) as Bud Clifton
  • D is for Delinquent (Ace, 1958) as Bud Clifton
  • Muscle Boy (Ace, 1958) as Bud Clifton
  • On a Balcony: A Story of Akhnaton and Nefertiti (Faber, 1958) - The Invincible Questions Triptych II
  • Segaki: A Story of Medieval Japan (Faber, 1958) - The Invincible Questions Triptych III
  • The Murder Specialist (Ace, 1959) as Bud Clifton
  • A Dancer in Darkness (Faber, 1960) - novel based on John Webster's "The Duchess of Malfi"
  • Wish Me Dead (Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1960) as David West
  • A Signal Victory: A Story of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan (Faber, 1960) - American Triptych I
  • The Judges of the Secret Court (Faber, 1961) - based on John Wilkes Booth's assassination of President Lincoln; - American Triptych II
  • "Let Him Go Hang (Ace, 1961) as Bud Clifton
  • Tom Fool (Faber, 1962) - based on the career of Wendell Wilkie; - American Triptych III
  • Navarro (Doubleday, 1962) as Carse Boyd
  • Ride the Man Down (John Long, 1962) as Carse Boyd
  • Old Acquaintance (Faber, 1962)
  • Sir William: or a Lesson in Love (Putnam, 1963) - novel based on Emma Hamilton's affair with Lord Nelson
  • Kaliyuga: or a Quarrel with the Gods" (Faber, 1965)
  • People of the Book: A Novel of the Thirty Years War (Putnam, 1965)

Short Stories

  • “Florimond”, Magpie, October 1952
  • “The Metamorphosis of Kenko”, Contact, October 1962
  • “A Visit to the Master”, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Summer 1965
  • "Little Brother Nun", The Virginia Quarterly Review, Spring 1967
  • “Notes Written in the Self with a Singular Distaste for Writing Anything Down”, Transatlantic Review, Spring 1968

Obituaries / overviews

  • New York Times, 24 January 1968
  • Washington Post, 25 January 1965
  • (London) Times, 21 February 1968
  • Malcolm Reiss. David Derek Stacton 1923-1968 (University of California, 1968) - 4 page check-list of Stacton's writings compiled by Stacton’s agent for a memorial exhibition at the Bancroft Library, University of California in November 1968
  • "David Stacton", David R. Slavitt, Hollins Critic, December 2002
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