Charles Fort

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Charles Fort (1920)

Charles Fort ( Charles Hoy Fort ; born August 6, 1874 in Albany , New York, † May 3, 1932 in New York City ) was an American author and a pioneer of the study of unexplained phenomena.

Life

Charles Hoy Fort was born in Albany, New York, in 1874, the eldest of three children (he was of Dutch descent). He had two younger brothers, Clarence and Raymond, and a strict father who used flogging .

From a young age he was very interested in nature, but despite his extensive knowledge he was never particularly successful in school.

At 18, he left New York City to travel the world and "to get some cash in the bank of experience" ( put some capital in the bank of experience ). He traveled through the western United States, Scotland , England and South Africa , where he fell ill and had to return home. Anna Filing, whom he had known since childhood, took care of him and on October 26, 1896, he married her.

In 1916, the inheritance of an uncle enabled him to give up his various jobs and devote himself entirely to writing. In 1917 his brother Clarence died, whose share of the inheritance was split between Charles and Raymond.

In 1924 Fort moved with his wife to London , where he lived until 1926 and busily frequented the library of the British Museum . From 1929 Fort had moved his residence back to New York City. His health had deteriorated significantly and his eyesight had deteriorated, but Fort could not be treated and concentrated on completing Wild Talents . On May 3, 1932, he collapsed and was admitted to the Royal Hospital in the Bronx . His publisher paid him one more visit to inform him about the publication of Wild Talents , and Charles Fort died a few hours later. He was buried in Albany and his notes of more than 60,000 pages were donated to the New York Public Library .

Work and effect

Fort wrote ten novels, only one of which was published. The Outcast Manufacturers (1906) received critical acclaim for being ahead of its time, but selling poorly.

Only with his The Book of the Damned (1919) (dt. The Book of the Damned ) turned increasingly successful one. In this work he dealt with peculiar phenomena, which he called "damned" by science. It was followed by New Lands (1923) (dt. Neuland ), Lo! (1931) (Ger. Da! ) And Wild Talents (1932) (Ger. Wild Talents ), all of which dealt with the paranormal , but covered different subject areas. Most of the reports listed were previously published in science magazines and located by Fort in the New York City Public Library and the British Museum. The respective source was given for each event or phenomenon.

Continued books from 1919 exerted a lasting effect, which went so far that in the field of para-science , the term Forteana established for unexplained phenomena. His admirers included u. a. Ben Hecht , John Cowper Powys , Sherwood Anderson , Clarence Darrow and Booth Tarkington . He was also mentioned in a short story by HP Lovecraft . As early as 1931, on the initiative of the writer Tiffany Thayer, the Fortean Society was founded under the chairmanship of Fort's friend Theodore Dreiser . However, Charles Fort refused to join it because he refused to be considered an authority and feared that such a society would attract spiritualists and other esotericists with whom he did not want to have anything to do with.

Today his work is continued by various groups and institutions, e. B. From 1973 published Fortean Times. Charles Fort speculated as early as 1919 about extraterrestrial "visitors" whose "property" was the earth, and can thus be regarded as a forerunner of pre-astronautics and ufology . It should be noted, however, that Fort specifically emphasized not to believe in his theories , which he put forward ad hoc to explain the phenomena he had collected.

In the horror remake The Village of the Damned (1995), directed by John Carpenter, the Book of the Damned is mentioned in a short scene and even its content is explained in a subordinate clause.

Charles Fort exerted a strong influence on Robert Anton Wilson , whose book The New Inquisition (The New Inquisition) is based in style and argumentation closely on the books of Fort, and on the ufologists Jacques Vallée and John A. Keel .

In Germany, a German translation of his works was published for the first time in 1997 by Verlag Zweausendeins .

In 2011 Fort was portrayed by Andrew Leman in the film The Whisperer in Darkness . The independent film is based on the short story of the same name by HP Lovecraft .

Fonts

literature

  • Louis Kaplan: Jokes about the world. The damned universe of Charles Fort. Gatza, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-928262-04-1
  • Ulrich Magin: The ride on the comet. About Charles Fort. Two thousand and one, Frankfurt am Main 1997, ISBN 3-86150-192-9
  • ders .: About Charles Hoy Fort. In: Mysteria3000. 4/2002, ISSN  1619-5744
  • John Michell & Robert JM Rickard: Phenomena. Thames and Hudson, London 1977
  • John Michell & Robert JM Rickard: The world is full of wonders. Incredible and yet undeniable. Econ-Verlag, Düsseldorf / Vienna 1979, ISBN 3-430-16675-6 ; Moewig, Rastatt 1982, ISBN 3-8118-3135-6

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Gone, Charles
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fort, Charles Hoy (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American author and pioneer of research into paranormal phenomena
DATE OF BIRTH August 6, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH Albany (New York)
DATE OF DEATH May 3, 1932
Place of death New York City