Jack Finney

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Jack Finney ; actually Walter Braden Finney (born October 2, 1911 in Milwaukee , Wisconsin , † November 16, 1995 in Greenbrae , California ) was an American writer . He wrote successful thrillers , detective stories and comedies , which in the 1950s and 1960s in Hollywood were filmed, as well as science fiction - novels .

Life

His birth name was John Finney. When he was three years old, he was given his first name, Walter Braden, in honor of his father, who died early; but Jack remained his nickname. He studied at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois , then worked in advertising in Chicago and moved to New York City , where he made a living as a freelance writer writing short stories for Collier’s , Cosmopolitan , Saturday Evening Post and other magazines.

His most famous SF novel The Body Eaters Come (in the original The Body Snatcher ) portrayed an alien invasion and served as a template for the SF film The Demonic and its three remakes.

Relatively unknown in Germany, but his greatest success at home is his novel, which tells of a journey through time to New York in 1882. Originally published as Time and Again , it was first published in Germany by Heyne Verlag as Das Andere Ufer der Zeit and later by Bastei-Lübbe as Von Zeit zu Zeit . In contrast to the novel Die Zeitmaschine by HG Wells , the journey into the past takes place by means of self-hypnosis, in which the time traveler first “forgets” everything that keeps him in the present. The linchpin of the journey through time is the Dakota building, also called The Dakota . The novel is illustrated with photos and drawings from New York at the time. Ironically, the novel was advertised as "One of the Top Five Detective Novels". A sequel in which the protagonist of the first book tries - in vain - to prevent the sinking of the Titanic and the First World War , appeared in German-speaking countries as Im Strom der Zeit (Orig .: From Time To Time ). The novel was awarded the Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire in 1994.

In 1987 Finney received the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement. He had lived in Mill Valley , California since the 1950s and died of pneumonia at the age of 84.

bibliography

  • Five against the house (crime thriller, 1954)
    • German: The million in the sky. Translated by Peter Motram. Ullstein Books # 821, 1961.
  • The Body Snatchers (1955)
    • German: Invisible Parasites. Translated by Fritz Moeglich. Heyne # 166, 1962. Additional translation: The body eaters are coming. Translated by Tony Westermayr. Goldmann Science Fiction # 23324, 1979, ISBN 3-442-23324-0 .
  • The House of Numbers (crime, 1957)
    • English: The House of Iron Bars. Translated by Tony Westermayr. Heyne # 1059, 1962.
  • Assault on a Queen (1959)
  • Good Neighbor Sam (1963)
    • German: Lend me your husband. Translated by Christiane Nogly. Lichtenberg, Munich 1965. Further edition: Heyne # 430, 1966.
  • Time and Again (1970)
    • German: The other bank of time. Translated by Thomas Schlück. Heyne SF&F # 3800, 1981, ISBN 3-453-30702-X . Additional translation: From time to time. Translated by Karl-Heinz Ebnet. Bastei-Lübbe # 28225, 1995, ISBN 3-404-28225-6 .
  • The Night People (1977)
  • From Time To Time (1995)
    • German: In the flow of time. Translated by Karl-Heinz Ebnet. Bastei-Lübbe # 28228, 1995, ISBN 3-404-28228-0 .
  • Time traces. Translation by Karl-Heinz Ebnet revised by Angela Herrmann. With a foreword by Wolfgang Jeschke . Heyne, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-453-52431-6 ( Time and Again and From Time To Time in one volume).

Film adaptations

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Finney, Jack
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Finney, Walter Braden (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer
DATE OF BIRTH October 2, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Milwaukee , Wisconsin, United States
DATE OF DEATH November 16, 1995
Place of death Greenbrae , California, United States