Avram Davidson

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Avram Davidson (born April 23, 1923 in Yonkers , New York , † May 8, 1993 in Bremerton , Washington ) was an American author of Jewish descent who wrote fantasy , science fiction and crime stories , as well as other works that are not can be clearly assigned to a genre. He was awarded the Hugo Award , the Locus Award and three times the World Fantasy Award in the categories of science fiction and fantasy. He also received a World Fantasy Life Achievement Award , a Queen's Award, and an Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Short Story .

Davidson was editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction from 1962 to 1964 . His last novel, The Boss in the Wall: A Treatise on the House Devil , was completed by Grania Davis and was a finalist for the 1998 Nebula Award .

Life

Davidson studied anthropology at New York University and served as a medic in the United States Marine Corps in the Pacific during World War II . He initially continued his studies after the war, but went to Israel in 1948/49 to join the Israeli army in the fighting that accompanied the establishment of the state.

Davidson began his writing career as a Talmud teacher around 1950. It was therefore surprising that he converted to the Japanese Tenrikyō religion in the 1970s . Although he had a reputation for getting angry when someone tampered with his work or misunderstood it, he was considered a great storyteller and his friends described him as extremely generous.

Davidson was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America (SAGA), a loose group of fantasy writers that was founded in the 1960s. Some of his works were featured by Lin Carter in his Flashing Swords! -Collections issued.

While he published the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction from 1962 to 1964 , he lived in Mexico and later in Belize . In 1970 he lived in Novato , California , but later moved to near San Francisco . He spent his twilight years in Washington State. He died of a heart attack on May 8, 1993 in Bremerton at the age of 70 .

Davidson's ex-wife Grania Davis edited and published several of his unpublished works. Because of the Shoah , the author did not want any German translations of his works; therefore there are only a few short stories in German (see bibliography).

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Davidson has been writing stories for magazines since the 1950s, his first story appearing in Commentary Magazine , a Jewish magazine. The first SF story, My Boy Friend's Name Is Jello , appeared in F&SF in 1954 .

His most famous works are the novels about Virgil Magus, a medieval magician who has its origins in a medieval legend that goes back to the Roman poet Virgil . Equally well known are the Peregrine novels, which take place shortly after the fall of the Roman Empire, or the Jack Limekiller stories, which are about a Canadian who lives in a fictional Central American country modeled after Belize in the 1960s. The stories about the detective Dr. Eszterhazy who lives in a mythical country that includes both Hungary and much of the Balkans.

Avram Davidson wrote dozens of short stories that cannot be clearly assigned to a genre, as well as the adventures in unhistory essays. These deal with the Priest King John and were so thoroughly researched that some magazines even published them as factual reports.

There is very little action that can go on in a Davidson story because it describes situations in great detail, an approach that young writers are often discouraged from. It can happen that Davidson uses page-long sentences with countless commas and semicolons or insignificant digressions at the beginning of a story. Davidson's success with these techniques comes from his ability to deal with words and narrative structures, a great deal of knowledge and a weird view of the world that are considered by many to be eccentric.

Davidson published in 1958 narrative Or All the Seas with Oysters (German: Or all the seas full of oysters ) was awarded the Hugo Award excellent and is by some as a source of a not entirely serious urban legend traded after the bikes have a life cycle of a paper clip begins, then turns into a coat hook and finally ends as a bicycle. English fantasy writer Terry Pratchett used this idea in his Discworld novel Grim Reaper .

For his short story collection The Inquiries of Doctor Eszterhazy from a magical parallel world of the 19th century Davidson received the World Fantasy Award in 1976 and again in 1979 for his short story Naples . In 1986 he was recognized for his life's work with another World Fantasy Award. The crime counterpart to Hugo, the Edgar Allan Poe Award , he won in 1962 in the Best Short Story category for the story Affair at Lahore Cantonment .

bibliography

Virgil Magus series
  • The Phoenix and the Mirror , Doubleday, 1969
  • Virgil in Averno , Doubleday, 1987
  • The Scarlet Fig; or Slowly through a Land of Stone ; Rose Press, 2005
  • The Other Magus , in Edges , edited by Ursula K. Le Guin and Virginia Kidd , Berkley, 1980
  • Vergil and the Caged Bird , Amazing, January 1987
  • Virgil and the Dukos: Hic Inclusus Vitam Perdit, or The Imitations of the King , Asimov's, September 1997, pages 102-113
  • Vergil Magus: King without Country , with Michael Swanwick, Asimov's, July 1998
Peregrene series
  • Peregrine: Primus , Walker, 1969
  • Peregrine: Secundus , Berkley paperback, 1981
Single novels
  • Joyleg, A Folly , Pyramid, 1962 (with Ward Moore )
  • Mutiny in Space , Pyramid Books, 1964
  • Masters of the Maze , Pyramid Books, 1965
  • Rork! , Berkley Medallion, 1965
  • The Kar-Chee Reign , Ace, 1966
  • Clash of the Star-Kings , Ace, 1966
  • Rogue Dragon , Ace, 1966
  • The Enemy of My Enemy , Berkley, 1966
  • The Island Under the Earth , Ace, 1969
  • Ursus of Ultima Thule , Avon, 1973
  • Marco Polo and the Sleeping Beauty , Baen Books, 1987 (with Grania Davis)
  • The Boss in the Wall, A Treatise on the House Devil , Tachyon Publications, 1998 (with Grania Davis)
Short story collections
  • Or All the Seas with Oysters , Berkley, 1962
  • What Strange Stars and Skies , Ace, 1965
  • Strange Seas and Stories , Doubleday, 1971
  • The Best of Avram Davidson , Doubleday, 1979
  • The Adventures of Doctor Eszterhazy , Owlswick Press, 1990 (contains all published Dr. Eszterhazy stories, an expanded edition of the award-winning The Inquiries of Doctor Eszterhazy from 1975) * Adventures in Unhistory , Owlswick, 1993
  • The Avram Davidson Treasury , Tor, 1998 (edited by Robert Silverberg )
  • The Investigations of Avram Davidson , Owlswick, 1999 collected mystery stories
  • Everybody Has Somebody in Heaven: essential Jewish tales of the spirit , Devora, 2000 (edited by Jack Dann and Grania Davis)
  • The Other Nineteenth Century , Tor, 2001
  • Limekiller , Old Earth Books, 2003 (contains all published Limekiller stories)
Short stories translated into German
  • Help! I am dr Morris Goldpepper ( Help! I Am Dr. Morris Goldpepper ), in: Der Teufel Rastignac ( Utopia Zukunftsroman 421), ed. by Lore Matthaey , Pabel 1965.
  • The sixth season ( The Sixth Season ), in: Unlike humans (Utopia science fiction 423) Pabel 1965th
  • The camera of the Montavarde ( The Montavarde Camera ), in: The stone tears (Utopia Zukunftsroman 424), ed. by Lore Matthaey, Pabel 1965.
  • Königskrankheit ( King's Evil ), in: Beyond the Spectrum (Utopia Zukunftsroman 425), Pabel 1965.
  • Schicksal aus Bohnen ( The Woman Who Thought She Could Read ), in: Das Rätsel der Eeh Farbe (Utopia Zukunftsroman 426), Pabel 1965.
  • The primitives of Barnumland ( Now Let Us Sleep ), in: Fort mit dem Alten (Utopia Zukunftsroman 427), ed. by Lore Matthaey, Pabel 1965.
    • Also: Die Primitiven , in: Stürme auf Siros , ed. by Wulf H. Bergner , Heyne 1971.
  • I do not understand, sir! ( I Do Not Hear You, Sir ), in: They stole his world (Utopia Zukunftsroman 428), Pabel 1965.
  • Lord of the Vultures and Jackals ( Up the Close and Doun the Stair ), in: Der Massenmensch (Utopia Zukunftsroman 430), ed. by Lore Matthaey, Pabel 1965.
  • Der Golem ( The Golem ), in: Island of Death (Utopia Zukunftsroman 432), ed. by Lore Matthaey, Pabel 1965.
  • Himmelreich ( Summerland ), in: Der rote Wahnsinn (Utopia Zukunftsroman 433), Pabel 1965.
  • Regeneration ( Or All the Seas with Oysters ), in: Science-Fiction-Cocktail, Volume I (Utopia Zukunftsroman 435), ed. by Lore Matthaey, Pabel 1965.
  • Der Rufmörder ( Author, Author ), in: Science-Fiction-Cocktail, Volume II (Utopia Zukunftsroman 436), ed. by Lore Matthaey, Pabel 1965.
  • Mein Freund Jello ( My Boy Friend's Name Is Jello ), in: Science-Fiction-Cocktail (Utopia Zukunftsroman 437), ed. by Lore Matthaey, Pabel 1965.
  • Diana is great! ( Great is Diana! ), In: Das kosmische Rad (Utopia Zukunftsroman 456), ed. by Lore Matthaey, Pabel 1965.
  • Der Granthazwischenfall ( The Grantha Sighting ), in: Die Schreckenswaffe (Utopia Zukunftsroman 461), ed. by Lore Matthaey, Pabel 1965.
  • Negra sum (I am black ...) ( Negra sum ), in: Sieben aus Raum und Zeit (Utopia Zukunftsroman 474), ed. by Lore Matthaey, Pabel 1966.
  • As long as the sun rises and the grass grows ( Or the Grasses Grow ), in: Die galaktischeprüfung (Utopia Zukunftsroman 485), ed. by Lore Matthaey, Pabel 1966.
  • The by-product ( jury rig ), in: Das Schiff der Schatten , ed. by Wulf H. Bergner, Heyne 1970.
  • Der Prämienjäger ( The Bounty Hunters ), in: Titan 20 , ed. by Brian W. Aldiss & Wolfgang Jeschke , Heyne 1983. ISBN 3-453-30926-X
  • Caravan to Illie ( Caravan to Illiel ), in: Vier Ellen Drachenhaut , ed. by Lin Carter , Pabel 1978.
  • The other Magus ( The Other Magus ), in: edges , ed. by Virginia Kidd & Ursula K. Le Guin , Heyne 1983. ISBN 3-453-30954-5
  • Die neue Zombies ( The New Zombies ), in: Grenzflächen , ed. by Virginia Kidd & Ursula K. Le Guin, Heyne 1985. ISBN 3-453-31140-X
  • Drachengold ( The Ceaseless Stone ), in: Utopia der Detektiven , ed. by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg & Charles G. Waugh, Bastei-Lübbe 1986. 3-404-23057-4
  • A gentle rest pillow ( A Good Night's Sleep ), in: Insekten im Bernstein , ed. by Manfred Kluge, Heyne 1988. ISBN 3-453-30668-6
  • The last bid ( The Last Article ), in: Hiroshima to live! , ed. by Karl Michael Armer , Heyne 1990. ISBN 3-453-04308-1
  • Breeding season ( Hatching Season ), in: The Great Dinosaur reader , ed. by Jack M. Dann & Gardner Dozois , Goldmann, 1992. ISBN 3-442-08233-1
  • The Decoy ( The Decoy Duck ), in: The heirs of the ring , ed. by Martin H. Greenberg, Bastei-Lübbe 1996. ISBN 3-404-13803-1
  • The Ring of Duke Pasquale ( Duke Pasquale's Ring ), in: Magische Katzen , ed. by Jack M. Dann & Gardner R. Dozois , Heyne 1996. ISBN 3-453-09316-X
  • The funny old bird ( The Odd Old Bird ), in: Hazardous antics , ed. by Peter Haining, Heyne 1997. ISBN 3-453-13343-9
  • Milord Sir Smiht, the English Magician ( Milord Sir Smiht, the English Wizard ), in: Hokus, Pokus, Lumbago , ed. by Mike Ashley , Bastei-Lübbe 2002. ISBN 3-404-20451-4
Ellery Queen books
  • And on the Eighth Day , Random House, 1964 ( Mord im Paradies , Ullstein, 1980)
  • The Fourth Side of the Triangle , Random House, 1965 (German version of the fourth side of the triangle , joke, 1998)

The two volumes were prepared by Davidson on the basis of detailed drafts by the creators and main authors of the series, Frederick Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee, who in turn revised them.

Quotes

  • "Avram Davidson did wonderful work like that, in using obsolete place names, and he had these funny little European countries that don't actually exist, but if you look back, he's taking a place name from the third century AD, or something like that, and saying to himself: "Suppose this place survived as an entity with that name? Here it is." Davidson was a fine, fine writer. ”- Gene Wolfe
(“Avram Davidson did such a wonderful job of using extinct place names, and he has these fun little European countries that no longer exist today, but if you look back he took a place name from AD 300 or something like that and said to himself, "Imagine if this place had survived completely with that name! Here it is." Davidson was a fine, fine writer. ")

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Cohen, Joshua: Writing in Four Dimensions: Reconsidering Science-Fiction Writer Avram Davidson . In: The Jewish Daily Forward . May 25, 2007. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
  2. ^ World Fantasy Convention: Award Winners and Nominees . Retrieved August 12, 2011.
  3. ↑ Arthur B. Evans et al. (Ed.): Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction . Wesleyan University Press, Middletown 2010, p. 303.
  4. ↑ See [1] and [2] .
  5. ^ Suns New, Long, and Short: An Interview with Gene Wolfe. Conducted by Lawrence Person. In: Nova Express. Volume 5, Number 1, Fall / Winter 1998 ( Memento from September 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Davidson, Avram
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American science fiction, fantasy and mystery writer, member of the Tenrikyō religion
DATE OF BIRTH April 23, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Yonkers , New York
DATE OF DEATH May 8, 1993
Place of death Bremerton , Washington