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= Clifford_D._Simak =
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Introduction
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Clifford Donald Simak (; August 3, 1904 - April 25, 1988) was an
American science fiction writer. He won three Hugo Awards and one
Nebula Award. The Science Fiction Writers of America made him its
third SFWA Grand Master, and the Horror Writers Association made him
one of three inaugural winners of the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime
Achievement. He is associated with the pastoral science fiction
subgenre.Cokinos, Christopher. "The Pastoral Complexities of Clifford
Simak: The Land Ethic and Pulp Lyricism in Time and Again".
'Extrapolation',
Volume 55, Number 2
https://doi.org/10.3828/extr.2014.9
Early life, education, and journalism career
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Simak was born in Millville, Wisconsin in 1904. The son of John Lewis
and Margaret (Wiseman) Simak, he attended the University of
Wisconsin-Madison and then taught in the public schools until 1929. He
later worked at various newspapers in the Midwest. He began a lifelong
association with the 'Minneapolis Star and Tribune' (in Minneapolis,
Minnesota) in 1939, which continued until his retirement in 1976. He
became 'Minneapolis Star's' news editor in 1949 and coordinator of
'Minneapolis Tribune's' 'Science Reading Series' in 1961.
Personal life
===============
He married Agnes Kuchenberg on April 13, 1929, and they had two
children, Richard "Dick" Scott (1947-2012) and Shelley Ellen. In his
novel 'Time and Again' he wrote, "I have been happily married to the
same woman for thirty three years and have two children. My favorite
recreation is fishing (the lazy way, lying in a boat and letting them
come to me). Hobbies: Chess, stamp collecting, growing roses." He
dedicated the book to his wife Kay, "without whom I'd never have
written a line". He was well liked by many of his science
fiction-writing friends, especially Isaac Asimov.
He died in Minneapolis on April 25, 1988.
Writing career
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Simak became interested in science fiction after reading the works of
H. G. Wells as a child. His first contribution to the literature was
"The World of the Red Sun", published by Hugo Gernsback in the
December 1931 issue of 'Wonder Stories' with one opening illustration
by Frank R. Paul. Within a year, he placed three more stories in
Gernsback's pulp magazines and one in 'Astounding Stories', then
edited by Harry Bates. Yet his only science fiction publication
between 1932 and 1938 was "The Creator" ('Marvel Tales' #4,
March-April 1935), a story with religious implications, which was then
rare in the genre.
Once John W. Campbell, at the helm of 'Astounding' from October 1937,
began redefining the field, Simak returned and was a regular
contributor to 'Astounding Science Fiction' (as it was renamed in
1938) throughout the Golden Age of Science Fiction (1938-1950). At
first, as in the 1939 serial novel 'Cosmic Engineers', he wrote in the
tradition of the earlier "super science" subgenre that E. E. "Doc"
Smith perfected, but he soon developed his own style, which is usually
described as gentle and pastoral. During this period, Simak also
published a number of war and western stories in pulp magazines.
'City', a fix-up novel from this period based on short stories with a
common theme of mankind's eventual exodus from Earth, won the
International Fantasy Award.
Simak continued to produce award-nominated novels throughout the 1950s
and 1960s. Aided by a friend, he continued writing and publishing
science fiction and, later, fantasy, into his 80s. He believed that
science fiction not rooted in scientific fact was responsible for the
failure of the genre to be taken seriously, and stated his aim was to
make the genre a part of what he called "realistic fiction."
Themes
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Simak's stories often have a rural setting, which led to his style
being described as "pastoral" or "pastoral science fiction". Crusty
individualistic backwoodsman characters often appear - for example,
Hiram Taine, the protagonist of "The Big Front Yard". Hiram's dog
"Towser" (sometimes "Bowser") is common to many of Simak's works. The
rural setting is not always idyllic; for instance, in 'Ring Around the
Sun', it is largely dominated by intolerance and isolationism.
Many of his aliens have a dry, otherworldly sense of humor, and others
are unintentionally amusing, in their speech, behavior or appearance.
His robots are full of personality, as are his dogs. By contrast, his
"heroes" are ciphers. His protagonists are often boring men, never
described and never reappearing. One of Simak's editors objected to
his stories because his heroes were "losers". Simak replied, "I like
losers."
Many of Simak's story lines involve a quest, or a mission. Characters
set out, alone, and acquire companions, often unlikely matches, along
the way. On the journey, some fall by the wayside, and of these, some
are reunited with the group, whilst others never heard from again.
Simak's stories often say that there is no past time for a time
traveler to go to. Our world moves along in a stream of time, and to
move to a different place in time is to move to another world. Thus in
'City' our Earth is overrun by ants, but the intelligent dogs and the
remaining humans escape to other worlds in the time stream. In 'Ring
Around the Sun,' the persecuted paranormals escape to other Earths
which, if they could all be seen at once, would be at different stages
of their orbit around the Sun, hence the title. In 'Time Is the
Simplest Thing' a paranormal escapes a mob by moving back in time,
only to find that the past is a place where there are no living things
and inanimate objects are barely substantial.
Time travel also plays an important role in 'Time and Again'. A
long-lost space traveler returns with a message which is science
fiction-slanted, yet religious in tone. Having crashed on a planet, he
is then nurtured by ethereal duplicates that seem to accompany every
sentient being throughout life. His befuddled observations are seized
upon by religious factions, and a schism then threatens to erupt into
war on Earth.
Intelligence, loyalty and friendship, the existence of God and souls,
the unexpected benefits and harm of invention, tools as extensions of
humanity, and more questions are often explored by Simak's robots,
whom he uses as "surrogate humans". They begin as likable mechanical
persons, but change in surprising ways. Having achieved intelligence,
robots move on to common themes such as, "Why are we here?" and "Do
robots have souls"? Examples are the faithful butler Jenkins in
'City', the religious robot Hezekiel in 'A Choice of Gods', the
frontier robots in 'Special Deliverance' and 'A Heritage of Stars',
and the monk-like robots in 'Project Pope' who seek heaven.
In "All the Traps of Earth", a 600-year-old robot, a family retainer
who earned the name Richard Daniel, is considered chattel to be
reprogrammed and lose all its memories. The robot runs away, hitches
onto a spaceship, and passes through hyperspace unprotected. Daniel
gains the ability to see and fix problems in anything - a ship, a
robot, a human - telekinetically, but is still drifting and hunted as
chattel. He stumbles on a frontier planet and finds a purpose, helping
the pioneers as a doctor, a servant, a colonist, and a friend. And
here Daniel achieves an epiphany: Human beings are more clever than
they know. Human-created robots, set loose, can become agents with
para-human abilities that benefit humanity. Thus do robots, and
humankind, escape "all the traps of earth".
The religious theme is often present in Simak's work, but the
protagonists who have searched for God in a traditional sense tend to
find something more abstract and inhuman. Hezekiel in 'A Choice of
Gods' cannot accept this: "God must be, forever, a kindly old (human)
gentleman with a long, white, flowing beard."
Simak's short stories and longer novellas range from the contemplative
and thoughtfully idyllic to pure terror, although the punch line is
often characteristically understated, as in "Good Night, Mr. James"
and "Skirmish'". There is also a group of humorous stories, including
"The Big Front Yard". 'Way Station' is, in the midst of all of the
science fiction paraphernalia, a psychological study of a lonely man
who has to make peace with his past and finally manages to do so, but
not without personal loss. The contemplative nature of the Simak
character is a recurring trait of the author's style.
Other traditional science fiction themes in Simak's work include the
importance of knowledge and compassion, such as in "Immigrant" and
"Kindergarten". Identity play, as in "Good Night, Mr. James" (filmed
as 'The Outer Limits: The Duplicate Man' in 1964). Fictions come to
life in "Shadow Show" and elsewhere, such as the novel 'Out of Their
Minds'. There is a revolt of the machines in "Skirmish", and a meeting
with an alien world in "Beachhead", also known as "You'll Never Go
Home Again". (Many of these are in his collection 'Strangers in the
Universe'.)
Simak sometimes wrote stories close to his profession as a writer.
For example, in the novelette "So Bright the Vision" (1968), he
portrayed artificial intelligence writing software similar to
ChatGPT, but focusing on socio-psychological issues.
Finally, Simak throws in many science fictional fillips that remain
unexplained. Simak's characters encounter alien creatures and concepts
they simply cannot understand, and never will. For example, in
'Special Deliverance', the humans are stalked by The Wailer, which
turns out to be a huge wolf-like creature that bellows an infinitely
sad howl. They never learn what the creature is, why it seems sad, or
how it got there.
Simak sums up his life's work in the foreword to his collection
'Skirmish'. After explaining what themes he avoids - no large-scale
alien invasions, no space wars, no empire sagas - he states:
Works
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From 1950 to 1986 Clifford Simak wrote more than 30 novels and four
non-fiction works, with 'Way Station' winning the 1964 Hugo Award.
More than 100 of his short stories were published from 1931 to 1981 in
the science fiction, western, and war genres, with "The Big Front
Yard" winning the 1959 Hugo Award for Best Novelette and "Grotto of
the Dancing Deer" winning the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Short
Story in 1981. One more short story, "I Had No Head and My Eyes Were
Floating Way Up in the Air", had been written in 1973 for publication
in Harlan Ellison's never-published anthology 'The Last Dangerous
Visions' and was first published posthumously in 2015.
One of his short stories, "Good Night, Mr. James", was adapted as "The
Duplicate Man" on 'The Outer Limits' in 1964. Simak notes this is a
"vicious story--so vicious that it is the only one of my stories
adapted to television."
Awards and honors
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The Science Fiction Writers of America made Simak its third SFWA Grand
Master in 1977, after Robert Heinlein and Jack Williamson. In 1987 the
Horror Writers Association named him one of three inaugural winners of
the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement, with Fritz Leiber and
Frank Belknap Long. Asteroid 228883 Cliffsimak, discovered by French
amateur astronomer Bernard Christophe in 2003, was named in his
memory. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on
March 30, 2010 ().
; Other lifetime awards
* Minnesota Academy of Science Award for distinguished service to
science 1967
* First Fandom Hall of Fame award 1973
; Best-of-year literary awards
* Retro Hugo for best novelette, “Rule 18” ('Astounding
Science-Fiction', July 1938)
* Retro Hugo for best novelette, "City" ('Astounding Science-Fiction',
May 1944)
* International Fantasy Award for best fiction book (1953) for 'City'
* Hugo Award for best novelette (1959) for "The Big Front Yard"
* Hugo Award for best novel (1964) for 'Way Station'
* Jupiter Award for best novel (1978) for 'A Heritage of Stars'
* Hugo Award for best short story (1981) for "Grotto of the Dancing
Deer"
* Nebula Award for best short story (1981) for "Grotto of the Dancing
Deer"
* Locus Award for best short story (1981) for "Grotto of the Dancing
Deer"
* Analytical Laboratory award for best short story (1981) for "Grotto
of the Dancing Deer"
Sources
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* 'Contemporary Authors'. New Revision Series. Detroit, Gale Research
Co.
* Sam Moskowitz 'Seekers of Tomorrow' (1967) (one chapter covers
Simak)
* "Obituaries: Clifford D. Simak." 'The Herald' (Melbourne), April 29,
1988.
* Weatherby, W. J. "Obituary of Clifford Simak, realist of SF".
Guardian Newspapers Limited/'The Guardian' (London), April 29, 1988.
Further reading
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* Muriel R. Becker, 'Clifford D. Simak, a Primary and Secondary
Bibliography' (1980).
* Hardy Kettlitz, 'Clifford D. Simak: pastorale Harmonien', Shayol
Verlag, 2012. (German).
* Mark Owings, 'The Electric Bibliograph 1: Clifford D. Simak'.
* Phil Stephensen-Payne, 'Clifford D. Simak: A Working Bibliography'
(1991, )
External links
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*
[
https://primo.lib.umn.edu/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=UMN_ALMA21411303210001701&context=L&vid=TWINCITIES
Clifford Donald Simak Papers]
* [
http://esperanto.us/indekso_CDS.html Eldonejo ‘Mistera Sturno’] An
authorized translation of Way Station into Esperanto as a free ebook.
*
*
*
*
*
*
* [
http://www.falseducks.com/simak/ The Science Fiction Short Stories
of Clifford D. Simak]
*
[
https://tangentonline.com/interviews-columnsmenu-166/interviews-columnsmenu-166-interviews-columnsmenu-166/classic-clifford-d-simak-interview/
"An Interview with Clifford D. Simak"] from 'Tangent', May 1975
* "City Slickers, Country Bumpkins, Ants, Robots and Mutants"
([
https://grantvillegazette.com/article/publish-468/ Part One] and
[
https://grantvillegazette.com/article/publish-484/ Part 2]) at 'The
Grantville Gazette'
* [
http://www.simak-bibliography.com/ Clifford D. Simak - The
International Bibliography]
*
License
=========
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Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_D._Simak
