David J. Lake

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David John Lake (born March 26, 1929 in Bangalore , India ; died January 31, 2016 in Brisbane , Australia ) was an Australian science fiction writer.

Life

Lake was born in India to British parents. He attended the Jesuit St. Xavier's School in Calcutta from 1940 to 1944 , then the Dauntsey's School in Wiltshire . From 1948 to 1949 he served in the Royal Artillery . He then studied at Trinity College , Cambridge , where he graduated with a Master's in 1956 .

He taught from 1953 at the Sherrardswood School in Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire , then from 1958 at the St. Albans Boys Grammar School in Hertfordshire. From 1959 to 1961 he was an English professor at Saigon University , and then he worked for the Thai government in Bangkok . In 1963 and 1964 he taught at Chiswick Polytechnic in London. In 1965 he received a diploma in linguistics from the University College of North Wales at Bangor . From 1965 to 1967 he was a lecturer at Jadavpur University in Calcutta. From 1967 he taught at the University of Queensland in Brisbane , where he received his doctorate in 1974. In 1975 he became an Australian citizen. Since 1977 he has been Professor of English at the University of Queensland.

In 1964 he married Marguerite Ivy Ferris and had a daughter with her.

plant

Lake began his writing career as a literary critic and poet. From the early 1970s, he published poems in various magazines such as Westerly , Southerly and Makar . In 1973 the volume of poetry Hornpipes and Funerals was published. In 1976 he published the science fiction novel Walkers on the Sky , for which he was awarded the Ditmar Award . Walkers on the Sky is the first volume in a loosely connected cycle of six novels set in a distant future, in which the earth has been destroyed after World War IV and human colonists on distant worlds have to grapple with alien intelligences and ecologies. In some cases he deals critically with Edgar Rice Burrough's Barsoom stories. Lake names HG Wells and CS Lewis as role models . He writes:

"I follow Wells and Lewis in writing SF that deliberately borders on fantasy. Elves may appear wearing spacesuits. [...] I am also strongly influenced by my early background as a child in India under the old British Raj. I know how it feels to be an invader in a vast, different culture. Most aliens in my novels are versions of Asians. "

“I follow Wells and Lewis by writing SF that deliberately borders on fantasy. You can meet elves in space suits. […] My early childhood in India at the time of the British Raj is also a strong influence . I know how to feel as an intruder towards a large and alien culture. Most of the aliens in my novels have Asian models. "

Awards

  • 1977: Ditmar Award for the novel Walkers on the Sky
  • 1982: Ditmar Award for the story The Man Who Loved Morlocks
  • 1999: Aurealis Award for the short story The Truth About Weena
  • 1999: Ditmar Award for the short story The Truth About Weena

bibliography

Breakout (series of novels)
  • 1 Walkers on the Sky (1976)
  • 2 The Right Hand of Dextra (1977)
  • 3 The Wildings of Westron (1977)
  • 4 The Gods of Xuma or Barsoom Revisited (1978)
  • 5 Warlords of Xuma (1983)
  • 6 The Fourth Hemisphere (1980)
Novels
  • The Man Who Loved Morlocks (1981)
  • Ring of Truth (1982)
  • The Changelings of Chaan (1985)
  • West of the Moon (1988)
Poetry
  • The Portnoyad (1970)
  • Hornpipes and Funerals (1973)
Non-fiction
  • John Milton: Paradise Lost (1967)
  • Greek Tragedy (1969)
  • Style and Meaning (1971)
  • The Canon of Thomas Middleton's Plays: Internal Evidence for the Major Problems of Authorship (1975)
  • Darwin and Doom: HGWells and the Time Machine (1997)
Short stories
  • Creator (1978)
    • English: True are the dreams of the gods. In: Paul Collins, Peter Wilfert (Eds.): SF from Australia. Goldmann Science Fiction # 23410, 1982, ISBN 3-442-23410-7 .
  • Re-deem the Time (1978)
  • What is she? (1979)
  • Who Killed Cock Robin? (1979)
  • The Last Day of Christmas (1981)
    • German: The last days of Christmas. In: Paul Collins, Peter Wilfert (Eds.): SF from Australia. Goldmann Science Fiction # 23410, 1982, ISBN 3-442-23410-7 .
  • Omphalos, a Dialogue (1983)
  • The Pure Light of the Void (1983)
  • The Truth About Weena (1998, short story)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael J. Tolley: Lake, David J (ohn). In: Noelle Watson, Paul E. Schellinger: Twentieth-Century Science-Fiction Writers. St. James Press, Chicago 1991, ISBN 1-55862-111-3 , p. 464.
personal data
SURNAME Lake, David J.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lake, David John (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian science fiction writer
DATE OF BIRTH March 26, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Bangalore , India
DATE OF DEATH January 31, 2016
Place of death Brisbane , Australia