VERSINS, Pierre

   The name adopted by French scholar, writer and self-styled utopian Jacques Chamson (1923-), a survivor of Auschwitz. He began writing sf in the 1950s and published 3 novels, En avant, Mars ("Forward to Mars") (1951), Les etoiles ne s'en foutent pas ("The Stars Care") (1954) and Leprofesseur ("The Professor") (1956), and over 20 stories (some with his wife Martine Thome) while editing Ailleurs (1957-62), a critical FANZINE of high repute. A later novel was Les transhumains ("The Transhumans") (1971). While resident in Switzerland, where he lived for 33 years, PValso produced Passeport pour l'inconnu ("Passport for the Unknown"), a regular sf RADIO programme for Radio Geneva. He will be remembered more for his scholarship than for his fiction: a keen researcher and bibliographer, he is a foremost authority on early sf and donated his priceless collection of books, magazines and sf memorabilia to the town of Yverdon-les-bains, Switzerland, in 1975, acting for 5 years as the curatorof the unique local sf museum thus created, La MAISON D'AILLEURS . PV's major achievement is undoubtedly his massive 1000pp Encyclopedie de l'Utopie et de la sf ("Encyclopedia of Utopia and SF") (1972), which was given a Special Award at the 1973 Toronto World SF Convention. An invaluable if idiosyncratic volume, particularly useful on sf outside the USA and the UK and prior to 1900, it remains to this day one of the finestreference books on sf; it has not been translated. PV's scholarship was honoured by the SFRA with a PILGRIM AWARD in 1991.

MJ/PN

   See also: CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL WORKS ABOUT SF; FRANCE.