John Wyndham
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For other people named John Wyndham, see John Wyndham (disambiguation).
John Wyndham
John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris.jpg
Born 10 July 1903
Dorridge, Warwickshire, England
Died 11 March 1969 (aged 65)
Petersfield, Hampshire, England
Nationality English
Other names John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris[1]
Occupation Science fiction writer
Wyndham's first published sf story, "Worlds to Barter", was published in the May
1931 issue of Wonder Stories, under his "John Beynon Harris" byline
Wyndham/Harris as pictured in the May 1931 Wonder Stories
Wyndham's second story, "The Lost Machine", was cover-featured on the April 1932
issue of Amazing Stories, also under his Harris byline
Wyndham's 1934 novelette "The Moon Devils" was the cover story for the April issue
of Wonder Stories, also under the Harris byline
Wyndham's 1951 novelette "Tyrant and Slave-Girl on Planet Venus" was the cover
story for the first and only issue of Ten Story Fantasy, under his "John Beynon"
byline
John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris (/ˈwɪndəm/; 10 July 1903 – 11 March 1969)
[2] was an English science fiction writer best known for his works published under
the pen name John Wyndham, although he also used other combinations of his names,
such as John Beynon and Lucas Parkes. Some of his works were set in post-
apocalyptic landscapes. His best known works include The Day of the Triffids (1951)
and The Midwich Cuckoos (1957), the latter filmed twice as Village of the Damned.
Contents
1 Early life
2 Early career
3 World War II
4 Postwar
5 Personal life
6 Death
7 Books
7.1 Early novels published under other pen names
7.2 Novels published in his lifetime as by John Wyndham
7.3 Posthumously published novels
7.4 Short story collections published in his lifetime
7.5 Posthumously published collections
8 Short stories
9 Critical reception
10 References
11 Bibliography
12 External links
Early life
Wyndham was born in the village of Dorridge near Knowle, Warwickshire (now West
Midlands), England, the son of George Beynon Harris, a barrister, and Gertrude
Parkes, the daughter of a Birmingham ironmaster.[1]
His early childhood was spent in Edgbaston in Birmingham, but when he was 8 years
old his parents separated. His father then attempted to sue the Parkes family for
"the custody, control and society" of his wife and family in an unusual and high-
profile court case, which he lost. Following this embarrassment, Gertrude left
Birmingham to live in a series of boarding houses and spa hotels.[3] He and his
younger brother, the writer Vivian Beynon Harris, spent the rest of their childhood
at a number of English preparatory and public schools, including Blundell's School
in Tiverton, Devon, during World War I. His longest and final stay was at Bedales
School near Petersfield in Hampshire (1918–21), which he left at the age of 18, and
where he blossomed and was happy.
Early career
After leaving school, Wyndham tried several careers, including farming, law,
commercial art and advertising, but mostly relied on an allowance from his family.
He eventually turned to writing for money in 1925. In 1927, he published the
detective novel The Curse of the Burdens as John B. Harris, and by 1931, he was
selling short stories and serial fiction to American science fiction magazines.[4]
His debut short story, 1931's "Worlds To Barter", appeared under the byline John B.
Harris; subsequent stories through about 1935 were credited to John Beynon Harris.
By mid-1935, the Harris surname was dropped, and his work was signed as by John
Beynon. Three novels by Beynon were published in 1935/36, two of them works of
science fiction, the other being a detective story. He also used the pen name
Wyndham Parkes for one short story in the UK's Fantasy Magazine in 1939, as 'John
Beynon' had already been credited for another story in the same issue.[5] During
these years, he lived at the Penn Club, London, which had been opened in 1920 by
the remaining members of the Friends Ambulance Unit, and which had been partly
funded by the Quakers. The intellectual and political mix of pacifists, socialists
and communists continued to inform his views on social engineering and feminism.
Whilst there, he met his future wife, Grace Wilson, a teacher. They embarked on a
long-term love affair but did not marry, partly because of the marriage bar.[6]
World War II
During World War II, Wyndham first served as a censor in the Ministry of
Information.[7] His experiences as a firewatcher during the London Blitz, and later
as a member of the Home Guard, would be recreated after the war in The Day of the
Triffids.
He then joined the British Army, serving as a Corporal cipher operator in the Royal
Corps of Signals.[8] He participated in the Normandy landings, landing a few days
after D-Day.[1] He was attached to the XXX Corps, which took part in some of the
heaviest fighting, including surrounding the trapped German army in the Falaise
Pocket.
His wartime letters to his long-time partner Grace Wilson are now held at the
University of Liverpool archive.[9] He wrote at length of his struggles with his
conscience, his doubts about humanity and his fears of the inevitability of war. He
also wrote passionately of his love for her, and his fears that he would be so
tainted she would not be able to love him when he returned.[10]
Postwar
After the war, Wyndham returned to writing, still using the pen name John Beynon.
Inspired by the success of his younger brother, who had four novels published
starting in 1948, he altered his writing style; and, by 1951, using the John
Wyndham pen name for the first time, he wrote the novel The Day of the Triffids.
His pre-war writing career was not mentioned in the book's publicity, and people
were allowed to assume that it was a first novel from a previously unknown writer.
[4]
The book proved to be an enormous success[7] and established Wyndham as an
important exponent of science fiction. During his lifetime, he wrote and published
six more novels under the name John Wyndham, and used that name professionally from
1951 forward. His 1959 novel The Outward Urge was credited to John Wyndham and
Lucas Parkes, but "Lucas Parkes" is yet another pseudonym for Wyndham himself. As
well, two-story collections published in the 1950s came out under Wyndham's name,
but included several pre-1951 stories originally published as by John Beynon.
Personal life
In 1963, he married Grace Isobel Wilson, whom he had known for more than 20 years;
the couple remained married until he died. He and Grace lived for several years in
separate rooms at the Penn Club, London and later lived near Petersfield,
Hampshire, just outside the grounds of Bedales School. A collection of his letters
to Grace written during the Second World War is held in the University of Liverpool
archive. Wyndham explores the issues around women being forced by their biology to
choose between careers and love in Trouble with Lichen.
Death
He died in 1969, aged 65, at his home in Petersfield, survived by his wife and his
brother.[11] Subsequently, some of his unsold work was published and his earlier
work was re-published. His archive was acquired by Liverpool University.[12]
On 24 May 2015 an alley in Hampstead that appears in The Day of the Triffids was
formally named Triffid Alley as a memorial to him.[13]
Books
Early novels published under other pen names
The Curse of the Burdens (1927), as John B. Harris. Aldine Mystery Novels No. 17
(London: Aldine Publishing Co. Ltd.).
The Secret People (1935), as John Beynon
Foul Play Suspected (1935), as John Beynon
Planet Plane (1936), as John Beynon. Also known as The Space Machine and Stowaway
to Mars.
Novels published in his lifetime as by John Wyndham
The Day of the Triffids (1951), also known as Revolt of the Triffids
The Kraken Wakes (1953), published in the US as Out of the Deeps
The Chrysalids (1955), published in the US as Re-Birth
The Midwich Cuckoos (1957), filmed twice as Village of the Damned
The Outward Urge (1959)
Trouble with Lichen (1960)
Chocky (1968)
Posthumously published novels
Web (1979)
Plan for Chaos (2009)
Short story collections published in his lifetime
Jizzle (1954) ("Jizzle", "Technical Slip", "A Present from Brunswick", "Chinese
Puzzle", "Esmeralda", "How Do I Do?", "Una", "Affair of the Heart", "Confidence
Trick", "The Wheel", "Look Natural, Please!", "Perforce to Dream", "Reservation
Deferred", "Heaven Scent", "More Spinned Against")
The Seeds of Time (1956) ("Chronoclasm", "Time to Rest", "Meteor", "Survival",
"Pawley's Peepholes", "Opposite Number", "Pillar to Post", "Dumb Martian",
"Compassion Circuit", "Wild Flower")
Tales of Gooseflesh and Laughter (1956), U.S. edition featuring stories from the
two earlier collections
Consider Her Ways and Others (1961) ("Consider Her Ways", "Odd", "Oh, Where, Now,
is Peggy MacRaffery?", "Stitch in Time", "Random Quest", "A Long Spoon")
The Infinite Moment (1961), U.S. edition of Consider Her Ways and Others, with two
stories dropped, two others added
Posthumously published collections
Sleepers of Mars (1973), a collection of five stories originally published in
magazines in the 1930s: "Sleepers of Mars", "Worlds to Barter", "Invisible
Monster", "The Man from Earth" and "The Third Vibrator"
The Best of John Wyndham (1973)
Wanderers of Time (1973), a collection of five stories originally published in
magazines in the 1930s: "Wanderers of Time", "Derelict of Space", "Child of Power",
"The Last Lunarians" and "The Puff-ball Menace" (aka "Spheres of Hell")
Exiles on Asperus (1979)
No Place Like Earth (2003)
Short stories
John Wyndham's many short stories also appear with later variant titles or pen
names. His stories include:
"Worlds to Barter" (1931)
"The Lost Machine" (1932)
"The Stare" (1932)
"The Venus Adventure" (1932)
"Exiles on Asperus" (1933)
"Invisible Monster" (1933)
"Spheres of Hell" (1933) [as by John Beynon]
"The Third Vibrator" (1933)
"Wanderers of Time" (1933) [as by John Beynon]
"The Man from Earth" (1934)
"The Last Lunarians" (1934) [as by John Beynon]
"The Moon Devils" (1934) [as by John Beynon Harris]
"The Cathedral Crypt" (1935) [as by John Beynon Harris]
"The Perfect Creature" (1937)
"Judson's Annihilator" (1938) [as by John Beynon]
"Child of Power" (1939) [as by John Beynon]
"Derelict of Space" (1939) [as by John Beynon]
"The Trojan Beam" (1939)
"Vengeance by Proxy" (1940) [as by John Beynon]
"Meteor" (1941) [as by John Beynon]
"Living Lies" (1946) [as by John Beynon]
"Technical Slip" (1949) [as by John Beynon]
"Jizzle" (1949)
"Adaptation" (1949) [as by John Beynon]
"The Eternal Eye" (1950)
"Pawley's Peepholes" (1951)
"The Red Stuff" (1951)
"Tyrant and Slave-Girl on Planet Venus" (1951) [as by John Beynon]
"And the Walls Came Tumbling Down" (1951)
"A Present from Brunswick" (1951)
"Bargain from Brunswick" (1951)
"Pillar to Post" (1951)
"The Wheel" (1952)
"Survival" (1952)
"Dumb Martian" (1952)
"Time Out" (1953)
"Close Behind Him" (1953)
"Time Stops Today" (1953)
"Chinese Puzzle" (1953)
"Chronoclasm' (1953)
"Reservation Deferred' (1953)
"More Spinned Against" (1953)
"Confidence Trick' (1953)
"How Do I Do?" (1953)
"Esmeralda" (1954)
"Heaven Scent" (1954)
"Look Natural, Please!" (1954)
"Never on Mars" (1954)
"Perforce to Dream" (1954)
"Opposite Numbers" (1954)
"Compassion Circuit" (1954)
"Wild Flower" (1955)
"Consider Her Ways" (1956)
"The Day of the Triffids" (1957) [an excerpt from the novel]
"But a Kind of Ghost" (1957)
"The Meddler" (1958)
"A Long Spoon" (1960)
"Odd" (1961)
"Oh, Where, Now, Is Peggy MacRafferty?" (1961)
"Random Quest" (1961)
"Stitch in Time" (1961)
"It's a Wise Child" (1962)
"Chocky" (1963)
"From The Day of the Triffids" (1964)
"In Outer Space There Shone a Star" (1965)
"A Life Postponed" (1968)
"Phase Two" (1973) [an excerpt]
"Vivisection" (2000) [as by J. W. B. Harris]
"Blackmoil" (2003)
"The Midwich Cuckoos" (2005) [with Pauline Francis]
Critical reception
John Wyndham's reputation rests mainly on the first four of the novels published in
his lifetime under that name.[a] The Day of the Triffids remains his best-known
work, but some readers consider that The Chrysalids was really his best.[14][15]
[16] This is set in the far future of a post-nuclear dystopia, where women's
fertility is compromised and they are severely oppressed if they give birth to
"mutants". David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas, wrote of it: ""One of the most
thoughtful post-apocalypse novels ever written. Wyndham was a true English
visionary, a William Blake with a science doctorate".[17]
The ideas of the Chrysalids are echoed in The Handmaid's Tale. Author Margaret
Atwood has acknowledged Wyndham as an influence, and wrote an introduction to a new
edition of Chocky, in which she said the intelligent alien babies of The Midwich
Cuckoos entered her dreams.[18]
He also wrote several short stories, ranging from hard science fiction to whimsical
fantasy. A few have been filmed: Consider Her Ways, Random Quest, Dumb Martian, A
Long Spoon, Jizzle (filmed as Maria) and Time to Rest (filmed as No Place Like
Earth).[19] There is also a radio version of Survival.
Brian Aldiss, another British science fiction writer, disparagingly labelled some
of them "cosy catastrophes", especially The Day of the Triffids,.[20] This became a
cliche about his work, but has been refuted by many more recent critics. L.J. Hurst
pointed out that in Triffids the main character witnesses several murders, suicides
and misadventures, and is frequently in mortal danger himself.[21] Margaret Atwood
wrote: "one might as well call World War II—of which Wyndham was a veteran—a "cozy"
war because not everyone died in it."[18]
Many other writers have acknowledged Wyndham as an influence, including Alex
Garland, whose screenplay for 28 Days Later draws heavily on The Day of the
Triffids.[22]
References
Notes
For example, around 2000 they were all reprinted as Penguin Modern Classics.
Citations
Aldiss, Brian W. "Harris, John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon". Oxford Dictionary of
National Biography. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
Online birth records show that the birth of a John Wyndham P. L. B. Harris was
registered in Solihull in July–September 1903.
Binns, Amy (2019). Hidden Wyndham: Life, Love, Letters. London: Grace Judson
Press. pp. 30–32. ISBN 9780992756710.
"John Wyndham & H G Wells". Christopher Priest. 1 December 2000.
"Summary Bibliography: John Wyndham". Internet Speculative Fiction Database.
Retrieved 25 October 2019.
Binns, Amy. HIDDEN WYNDHAM : life, love, letters. GRACE JUDSON PRESS. pp. 65–77.
ISBN 9780992756710.
Liptak, Andrew (7 May 2015). "John Wyndham and the Global Expansion of Science
Fiction". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
"John Wyndham". The Guardian. 22 July 2008. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
"John Wyndham Archive". University of Liverpool Special Collection Archive.
Binns, Amy. HIDDEN WYNDHAM : life, love, letters. GRACE JUDSON PRESS. ISBN
9780992756710.
"John Wyndham". Literary Encyclopedia. 7 November 2006. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
"John Wyndham Archive". Liv.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2 December 2015.
Retrieved 5 March 2017.
"Triffid Alley, Hampstead". Triffid Alley. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
"The Chrysalids – Novel". h2g2. BBC. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
Aldiss 1973, p. 254.
"Jo Walton's review of The Chrysalids".
"The Chrysalids by John Wyndham: 9781590172926 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books".
PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
Atwood, Margaret (8 September 2015). "The Forgotten Sci-Fi Classic That Reads Like
a Prequel to E.T." Slate Magazine. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
IMDb
Aldiss 1973, p. 293.
Hurst, L. J. (August–September 1986), ""We Are The Dead": The Day of the Triffids
and Nineteen Eighty-Four", Vector, Pipex, 113: 4–5, archived from the original on
10 August 2013
Kaye, Don (28 April 2015). "Exclusive: Ex Machina writer/director Alex Garland on
'small' sci-fi films, sentient machines and going mainstream". SYFY WIRE.
Bibliography
Aldiss, Brian W (1973), Billion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction,
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, ISBN 978-0-297-76555-4
Harris, Vivian Beynon, "My Brother, John Wyndham: A Memoir" transcribed and edited
by David Ketterer, in Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction 28
(Spring 1999) pp. 5–50
Binns, Amy (2019), HIDDEN WYNDHAM : life, love, letters., GRACE JUDSON PRESS, ISBN
9780992756710
Ketterer David, "Questions and Answers: The Life and Fiction of John Wyndham" in
The New York Review of Science Fiction 16 (March 2004) pp. 1, 6–10
Ketterer, David, "The Genesis of the Triffids" in The New York Review of Science
Fiction 16 (March 2004) pp. 11–14
Ketterer, David, "John Wyndham and the Sins of His Father: Damaging Disclosures in
Court" in Extrapolation 46 (Summer 2005) pp. 163–188
Ketterer, David, "'Vivisection': Schoolboy John Wyndham's First Publication?" in
Science Fiction Studies 78 (July 1999): pp. 303–311, expanded and corrected in
Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction 29 (Summer 2000) pp. 70–84
Ketterer, David, "'A Part of the . . . Family': John Wyndham's *The Midwich
Cuckoos* as Estranged Autobiography" in Learning from Other Worlds: Estrangement,
Cognition and the Politics of Science Fiction and Utopia edited by Patrick
Parrinder (Liverpool: University of Liverpool Press, 2001) pp. 146–177
Ketterer, David, "When and Where Was John Wyndham Born?" in Foundation: The
International Review of Science Fiction 42 (Summer 2012/13) pp. 22–39
Ketterer, David, "John Wyndham (1903[?]–1969)" in The Literary Encyclopedia
(online, 7 November 2006)
Ketterer, David, "John Wyndham: The Facts of Life Sextet" in A Companion to Science
Fiction edited by David Seed (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003) pp. 375–388
Ketterer, David, "John Wyndham's World War III and His Abandoned Fury of Creation
Trilogy" in Future Wars: The Anticipations and the Fears edited by David Seed
(Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2012) pp. 103–129
Ketterer, David, "John B. Harris's Mars Rover on Earth" in Science Fiction Studies
41 (July 2014) pp. 474–475
