R. A. Lafferty

Raphael Aloysius Lafferty ( born November 7, 1914 in Neola, Iowa, † March 18, 2002 in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma ) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer.

Life

He lived most of his time in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. His writing career started late, at the age of 45 he wrote his first stories, but then he wrote more than 200 short stories and 21 novels, most of which were attributable to the genre of science fiction. His first published story was "The Wagons " in 1959, his first published novel was Past Master ( dt: Astrobe, the golden planet ), which was published in 1968. In it he makes the English church scholar and martyr Thomas More resurrected in order to make him the world President on the planet Astrobe. In the end he dies again as a martyr.

That same year, Lafferty published two further novels: The Reefs of Earth and Space Chantey ( dt: The Odyssey of Captain Roadstrum ). The latter is the Odyssey as a parody of the science fiction of the 1950s and 1960s and already includes some of those elements for Lafferty was announced: in the tone of a heroic saga but he tells funny stories with absurd elements. For a long time he wrote only part-time, in 1971 he gave up his job as an electrical engineer, to devote himself entirely to writing. Due to a stroke he retired in 1984 from the writing back.

Lafferty used style elements and partly characters of Irish and Native American legends, his style of blending of science fiction, fantasy and epic is unique and can be difficult associated with a particular genre. His stories are partly influenced by his conservative religious (Catholic) attitude. The plot often took the strangest turns, sometimes it seemed to him but less important and was lost in the middle of the story.

Past Master, Continued on the Next Skirt, Sky and Eurema 's Dam were nominated for the Hugo Award, the latter of which short story in 1973 was awarded the " Best Short Story Hugo " (together with Frederik Pohl and CM Kornbluth for "The Meeting "). Lafferty was also nominated for the Nebula Award for " Slow Tuesday Night ", Past Master, Fourth Mansions, " Continued on the Next Rock " and The Devil Is Dead, but never got it. His collection Lafferty in Orbit was nominated for the World Fantasy Award; in the many stories were gathered, which had contributed to Lafferty Damon Knights Orbit series. In 1990, Lafferty the " World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award".

Not all stories of Lafferty were science fiction: His novel Okla Hannali describes 100 years of the history of the Choctaw in Mississippi and Oklahoma.

Works ( German )

  • 900 grandmothers ( Stories, 2 vols ) ( Nine Hundred Grandmothers, 1970), Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuchverlag 1974 - ISBN 3-436-01920-8 / ISBN 3-436-01921-6
  • The Odyssey of Captain Roadstrum (Space Chantey, 1968), Rastatt: Pabel Moewig 1980 - ISBN 3-8118-3504-1
  • Astrobe, the golden planet ( Past Master, 1968), Munich: Knaur 1981 - ISBN 3-426-05737-9
  • So we frustrate Charles the Great ( Stories, edition of 900 grandmothers ) ( Nine Hundred Grandmothers, 1970), München: Heyne 1993 - ISBN 3-453-06243-4
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