John Collier (writer)

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John Henry Noyes Collier (born May 3, 1901 in Brixton , Lambeth , London ; died April 6, 1980 in Pacific Palisades , California ) was a British-American writer. He is best known for his macabre - fantastic short stories and grotesques . Some of his works can be attributed to science fiction .

Life

Collier was the son of commercial clerk John George Collier (1852-1939) and Emily Mary, née Noyes (1865-1939), a kindergarten teacher. He did not go to school, except for a short period of preschool, but was homeschooled by his mother and the writer Vincent Collier, a paternal uncle.

Determined to become a writer at the age of twenty, he moved to Pimlico in 1921 and began to move into the London literary scene, where he attended numerous parties and made the acquaintance of the Sitwell siblings , EM Forster and Wyndham Lewis . In 1931 a collection of his poems from this period appeared under the title Gemini , but Collier had already become a staunch prose writer by this time , as he made clear in a foreword.

As such, he had already found recognition with his first novel His Monkey Wife (1930). The novel is about Alfred Fatigay, who is seduced into marriage by the well-read chimpanzee Emily. Further novels and stories followed, in which Collier earned a reputation as the author of daring, often satirical, stories that play with fantastic elements and have a punch line. During this time, Tom's A-Cold (1933), a post-apocalyptic novel, was created in which England's population has been decimated by a great catastrophe and the survivors have fallen back into barbarism. Later, however, Collier didn't want to have anything to do with this “youth work”. In 1931 The Scandal and Credulities of John Aubrey , a popular edition of John Aubrey's Brief Lives edited by Collier, was published .

In 1935 Collier went to Hollywood , where he was to write a number of screenplays for RKO Pictures , the first being that for Sylvia Scarlett (1935), a romantic comedy directed by George Cukor starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant . In 1936 he married the actress Shirley Lee Palmer and returned to England that summer, where he was to write a coherent screenplay for Robert Flaherty for film material from India, which then became the basis for the adventure film Elephant Boy (1937). In 1938 the Collier couple traveled through Europe and then went to the USA, where Collier had signed a contract with the New Yorker and a number of his best-known short stories subsequently appeared. He has published stories not accepted by the New Yorker in a number of other magazines, including Argosy , Bystander , Harper's Bazaar , Lilliput , and Tatler .

In December 1941, Collier became an American citizen . From 1941 to 1953 he lived in Hollywood and wrote screenplays, among others for Her Cardboard Lover (directed by George Cukor, 1942), Holy Matrimony (1943), Deception (with Bette Davis , directed by Irving Rapper , 1946) and Roseanna McCoy ( 1949). Collier is said to have suggested to Jack Warner to film the novel African Queen by CS Forester with Bette Davis and Cary Grant in the leading roles. The script has been preserved but has not been used and Collier does not appear in the credits , but he is said to have shared in the proceeds.

Collier divorced in 1943 and married Margaret Elizabeth Eke in 1945, from whom he divorced in 1952. In 1954 he married Harriet Hess Pollack, with whom he had a son in 1958. In the 1950s he settled in Grasse in southern France, continued to write short stories and worked on scripts, including a film version of Milton's Paradise Lost , which he considered to be his most important work but was never realized.

1951 appeared Fancies and Goodnights , a collection of macabre stories for which he received the International Fantasy Award in 1952 . In 1975 the John Collier Reader appeared , a collection of his works compiled by Collier himself with a foreword by Anthony Burgess , the His Monkey Wife , two chapters from Defy the Foul Fiend and 47 short stories. Collier wrote a total of 125 short stories, 107 of which have survived, of which 14 have not yet been published and 28 have only appeared in magazines.

In 1979 he returned to California, where he died of a stroke the following year. At his funeral on April 13, 1980, the writer Paul Jarrico said that it was often difficult to decide whether John Collier was "a malicious devil in the shape of an English gentleman or an English gentleman in the shape of a malicious devil". Understatement also belonged to the aspect of British gentlemen , so Collier said of himself in his later years, that he sometimes wonders why, as a third-rate writer, he was passed off as second-rate for so long.

bibliography

Novels
  • His Monkey Wife, or Married to a Chimp (1930; also: His Monkey Wife, or, Married to a Chimp , 2000)
  • No Traveler Returns (1931)
  • Full Circle (1933; also: Tom's A-Cold )
  • Defy the Foul Fiend, or The Misadventures of a Heart (1934)
  • Variation on a Theme (1935)
  • Witch's Money (1940)
Collections
  • Gemini (1931)
  • Green Thoughts (1932)
  • The Devil and All (1934)
  • Presenting Moonshine (1941)
  • The Touch of Nutmeg and More Unlikely Stories (1943)
  • Green Thoughts and Other Strange Tales (1945)
  • Fancies and Goodnights (1951; also: Of Demons and Darkness , 1965)
  • Pictures in the Fire (1958)
  • Of Demons and Darkness (1961)
  • The John Collier Reader (1972)
  • The Best of John Collier (1975)
  • Fancies and Goodnights Vol 1 (2012)
  • Green Thoughts & Other Stories (2016)

German collection:

  • Blossoms of the Night: Strange Stories. Rowohlt (rororo 1324), 1970, ISBN 3-499-11324-4 .
Short stories

1931:

  • Green Thoughts (in: Harper's Magazine, May 1931 )

1934:

  • After the Ball (1934, in: John Collier: The Devil and All )
  • The Devil, George, and Rosie (1934, in: John Collier: The Devil and All )
  • Halfway to Hell (1934, in: John Collier: The Devil and All )
  • Hell Hath No Fury (1934, in: John Collier: The Devil and All )
    • German: Hell, where is your victory? Translated by Erik Simon . In: Peter Haining (Ed.): Dangerous antics. Heyne SF&F # 5909, 1997, ISBN 3-453-13343-9 .
  • The Possession of Angela Bradshaw (1934, in: John Collier: The Devil and All )
  • The Right Side (1934, in: John Collier: The Devil and All )
    • German: The right side. Translated by Erik Simon. In: Peter Haining (Ed.): Scheibenwahn. Heyne SF&F # 9037, 1999, ISBN 3-453-15602-1 .

1935:

  • The Monster of the Deep (in: Nash's Pall Mall Magazine, April 1935 )

1938:

  • Midnight Blue (in: The New Yorker, January 22, 1938 )
    • German: midnight blue. In: Almut Gaugler (Ed.): Thrill. German Book Association # 1733, 1977.
  • Wet Saturday (in: The New Yorker, July 16, 1938 )
  • Little Memento (in: The New Yorker, September 17, 1938 )

1939:

  • Witch's Money (in: The New Yorker, May 6, 1939 ; also: Witchs Money , 1965)
  • Back for Christmas (in: The New Yorker; Oct 7, 1939 )
  • Rope Enough (in: The New Yorker, November 19, 1939 )
  • Bottle Party (1939)

1940:

  • Another American Tragedy (in: The New Yorker, June 1, 1940 )
  • The Chaser (in: The New Yorker, December 28, 1940 )
    • German: A sip to rinse. In: Goosebumps. Heyne General Series # 472, 1964.
  • Evening Primrose (1940)
    • English: We, the mannequins. Translated by Ingrid Neumann and Birgit Bohusch . In: Helmuth W. Mommers and Arnulf D. Krauss (eds.): 21 horror stories. Heyne Anthology # 21, 1966.
  • Thus I Refute Beelzy (1940)
  • The Touch of Nutmeg Makes It (1940)
    • English: Nutmeg gives the flavor. Translated by Ingrid Neumann. In: Helmuth W. Mommers and Arnulf D. Krauss (eds.): 22 horror stories. Heyne Anthology # 26, 1967.
  • Witch's Money (1940)
  • A Word to the Wise (1940)
    • German: a word of warning. Translated by Michael Windgassen. In: Jack M. Dann and Gardner R. Dozois (eds.): Magical cats. Heyne (General Series # 9790), 1996, ISBN 3-453-09316-X .

1941:

  • Bird of Prey (1941, in: John Collier: Presenting Moonshine )
  • Collaboration (1941, in: John Collier: Presenting Moonshine )
  • The Frog Prince (1941, in: John Collier: Presenting Moonshine )
  • If Youth Knew, If Age Could (1941, in: John Collier: Presenting Moonshine )
  • The Invisible Dove Dancer of Strathpheen Island (1941, in: John Collier: Presenting Moonshine )
  • Mary (1941, in: John Collier: Presenting Moonshine )
  • Night! Youth! Paris! and the moon! (1941, in: John Collier: Presenting Moonshine )
  • Old Acquaintance (1941, in: John Collier: Presenting Moonshine )
  • Sleeping Beauty (1941, in: John Collier: Presenting Moonshine )
  • Special Delivery (1941, in: John Collier: Presenting Moonshine )
  • Squirrels Have Bright Eyes (1941, in: John Collier: Presenting Moonshine )
  • Incident on a Lake (in: The New Yorker, July 26, 1941 )
  • Great Possibilities (in: The New Yorker, October 25, 1941 )
  • Meeting of Relations (in: The Yale Review, December 1941 )

1942:

  • De Mortuis (in: The New Yorker, July 18, 1942 )
    • German: work in the basement. Translated by Ingrid Neumann. In: Helmuth W. Mommers and Arnulf D. Krauss (eds.): 22 horror stories. Heyne Anthology # 16, 1965.
  • Meeting of Relation (1942)
    • German: meeting of relatives. In: Gerhard Rump (Ed.): Anabis 4. 1962.

1943:

  • Ah, the University! (1943, in: John Collier: The Touch of Nutmeg and More Unlikely Stories )

1945:

  • Gavin O'Leary (1945)

1951:

  • Are You Too Late or Was I Too Early? (in: The New Yorker, April 14, 1951 )
  • Interpretation of a Dream (in: The New Yorker, May 5, 1951 )
  • The Lady on the Gray (in: The New Yorker, June 16, 1951 )
  • Cancel All I Said (1951, in: John Collier: Fancies and Goodnights )
  • Fallen Star (1951, in: John Collier: Fancies and Goodnights )
  • In the Cards (1951, in: John Collier: Fancies and Goodnights )
  • Over Insurance (1951, in: John Collier: Fancies and Goodnights )
  • Pictures in the Fire (1951, in: John Collier: Fancies and Goodnights )
  • Romance Lingers, Adventure Lives (1951, in: John Collier: Fancies and Goodnights )
  • Season of Mists (1951, in: John Collier: Fancies and Goodnights )
  • Spring Fever (1951, in: John Collier: Fancies and Goodnights )
  • The Steel Cat (1951, in: John Collier: Fancies and Goodnights )
  • Three Bears Cottage (1951, in: John Collier: Fancies and Goodnights )
  • Without Benefit of Galsworthy (1951, in: John Collier: Fancies and Goodnights )
  • Youth from Vienna (1951, in: John Collier: Fancies and Goodnights )

1956:

  • The Tender Age (in: The New Yorker, March 10, 1956 )

1958:

  • And Who, with Eden (1958, in: John Collier: Pictures in the Fire )
  • Mademoiselle Kiki (1958, in: John Collier: Pictures in the Fire )
  • Think No Evil (1958, in: John Collier: Pictures in the Fire )

1960:

  • Softly Walks the Beetle (in: Playboy, January 1960 )
  • Man Overboard (in: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March 1960 )
  • Born for Murder (in: Keyhole Mystery Magazine, June 1960 )

1961:

  • Not Far Away, Not Long Ago (1961, in: Don Congdon (Ed.): Tales of Love and Horror )

1972:

  • A Dog's a Dog (1972, in: John Collier: The John Collier Reader )
  • A Matter of Taste (1972, in: John Collier: The John Collier Reader )
  • Son of Kiki (1972, in: John Collier: The John Collier Reader )

1975:

  • Asking for It (in: Playboy, January 1975 )
Others
  • The Scandal and Credulities of John Aubrey (popular edition of John Aubrey's Brief Lives , 1931)
  • Just the Other Day: An Informal History of Britain Since the War (British contemporary history, 1932, with Iain Lang)
  • Milton's Paradise Lost: Screenplay for the Cinema of the Mind (script draft, 1973)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ difficult to decide sometimes whether John Collier was a mischievous devil posing as an English gentleman, or an English gentleman posing as a mischievous devil : quoted from Matthew McFall: Collier, John Henry Noyes . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online), version of October 3, 2013.
  2. ↑ I sometimes marvel that a third-rate writer like me has been able to palm himself off as a second-rate writer. Quoted from Paul Theroux : Sunrise with Seamonsters. Boston 1986, chap. His Monkey Wife .
personal data
SURNAME Collier, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Collier, John Henry Noyes (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British-American writer
DATE OF BIRTH May 3, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Brixton , Lambeth , London
DATE OF DEATH April 6, 1980
Place of death Pacific Palisades , California