MOORE, (Joseph) Ward

MOORE, (Joseph) Ward
(1903-1978)
   US writer, initially as well known for his works outside the sf field - like the picaresque Breathe the Air Again (1942) - as for those within. Although he contributed only infrequently to the field, each of his books became something of a classic. His first sf publication was Greener Than You Think (1947; cut 1961), a successful comic SATIRE about amutated form of grass which absorbs the entire world while governments dither. His second and most famous sf tale, BRING THE JUBILEE (1953), became the definitive ALTERNATE-WORLDS novel (also a TIME-TRAVEL story) in which the South wins the American Civil War. After describing his depressed world, an eminent historian from the disinherited Northern States is given the chance to travel back in time to the vital moment ofthe Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, victory in which had won the entire conflict for the South. At this crucial point, the narrator's own actions change history, the South loses the battle, and he is caught in the "past" (because his time machine will not be invented in the new future that has been created); in our own 1877 he writes out his narrative of the history he has changed, and the manuscript is discovered and published in 1953. Concise and elegiac, BRING THE JUBILEE has generated dozens of successor tales in which the Civil War is manipulated for reasons of controversy or nostalgia. WM's third novel, Caduceus Wild (1959 Science Fiction Stories as with Robert Bradford; rev 1978) is a medicalDYSTOPIA whose book publication was long delayed. His final book, Joyleg (1962) with Avram DAVIDSON, returns to a nostalgic view of the USA, this time to comic effect, through the story of the eponymous immortal, who is found in this century living deep in the Appalachians because he claims to remain entitled to his Revolutionary War pension. His discoverers learn that a special brew keeps him young, from which point in the novel bureaucratic complications become tedious. WM was not a professional genre writer, and as a possible consequence much of his work seemed to have been written (and certainly it read) as though carefully and leisurely composed for his own pleasure.WM also wrote two of the most notable stories describing nuclear HOLOCAUST and its consequences, "Lot" (1953) and "Lot's Daughter" (1954), featuring a great motorized exodus from a doomed LosAngeles, seen through biblical parallelism as the city of Sodom. The hero jettisons his irredeemably suburban wife and his sons and goes on to make a new and incestuous life with his daughter in the mountains. The ironies attached to his monstrous SURVIVALISM are savage. The stories were used as an uncredited basis for the film PANIC IN YEAR ZERO (1962), losing much of their power in the cleaning-up process.
   JC/PN
   See also: DISASTER; ECOLOGY; END OF THE WORLD; The MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION ; MARS; PASTORAL; TABOOS.

Science Fiction and Fantasy Encyclopedia. . 2011.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Joseph Ward — Sir Joseph George Ward GCMG (* 26. April 1856 in Melbourne; † 8. Juli 1930 in Wellington) war für zwei getrennte Amtsperioden Premierminister von Neuseeland. Joseph Ward Inhaltsverzeichnis …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Ward Moore — Joseph Ward Moore, (né le 10 août 1903, décédé le 28 janvier 1978), était un écrivain de science fiction américain. Sommaire 1 Notice biographique 2 Œuvres 2.1 Romans …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Ward Moore — (* 10. August 1903 in Madison, New Jersey [1]; † 28. Januar 1978) war ein US amerikanischer Science Fiction Autor. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben und Werk 2 Romane 3 Web …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Ward Moore — (b. August 10 1903, Madison, New Jersey d. January 28 1978) was the working name of American author Joseph Ward Moore. Moore grew up in New York City, and later moved to Chicago, and then to California.Moore began publishing with the novel,… …   Wikipedia

  • Joseph Gordon Coates — ( 1930) Joseph Gordon Coates (* 3. Februar 1878 auf der Hukatere Peninsula, Neuseeland; † 27. Mai 1943 in Wellington) war von 1925 bis 1928 Premierminister von Neuseeland. Inhaltsverzeichnis …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Joseph Dorsett Bedle — (* 5. Januar 1821 in Matawan, New Jersey; † 21. Oktober 1894 in New York City) war ein US amerikanischer Politiker und von 1875 bis 1878 Gouverneur des Bundesstaates New Jersey. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Frühe Jahre und politischer Au …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Joseph Bloomfield — (* 18. Oktober 1753 in Woodbridge, New Jersey; † 3. Oktober 1823 in Burlington, New Jersey) war ein US amerikanischer Politiker und von 1801 bis 1802 sowie zwischen 1803 und 1812 Gouverneur des …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Moore House — or Moore Farm may refer to: in Canada John Moore House (Sparta, Ontario) in the United States (by state, then city/town) Drewry Mitchell Moorer House, Eufaula, Alabama, listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in Alabama… …   Wikipedia

  • Joseph D. Bedle — Joseph Dorsett Bedle (* 5. Januar 1821 in Matawan, New Jersey; † 21. Oktober 1894 in New York City) war ein US amerikanischer Politiker und von 1875 bis 1878 Gouverneur des Bundesstaates New Jersey. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Frühe Jahre und… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Joseph Robinson — Joseph Taylor Robinson (* 16. August 1872 in Lonoke, Lonoke County, Arkansas; † 14. Juli 1937 in Washington D.C.) war ein US amerikanischer Politiker und 1913 Gouverneur von Arkansas sowie anschließend US Senator …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Moore Island — Geography Location Hudson Bay Coordinates 56°20′N …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”