The fame of the science fiction writer Robert Sheckley was brought primarily by short stories written in the 1950s. These stories are distinguished by the author's paradoxical view of things and phenomena and, as a rule, an unexpected end. In terms of style, Sheckley is not without reason compared to O. Henry. But not only creativity, but also the biography of a science fiction writer deserves attention …
Sheckley - the master of the short form
Robert Sheckley was born in New York, a city of great opportunity. And he very early tried to start an independent life, independent of his parents. It is known that in the second half of the forties, Sheckley did military service in Korea, and on his return he entered the university in New York and enrolled in Irwin Shaw's literary courses. But circumstances turned out so that the university had to quit and go to work at the plant. And in 1951 (Sheckley was then about 23 years old) begins a literary career - the stories of the young man liked the editor of the magazine "Imagination" and he published them.
The work of Sheckley the narrator is distinguished by sparkling, but generally harmless humor. However, in some of the stories, a certain anxiety and fear of the author is felt. This is especially true of those works that show the inability of people to limit themselves in something, to cope with internal demons. The famous story "The Ultimate Weapon" (published in 1953) can be cited as an example. This story is about the explorers of Mars, who found a kind of superweapon on the surface of the planet. The heroes wanted to take him to Earth and sell him there. At the same time, they completely forgot that weapons can kill themselves.
Sheckley as the author of novels and stories
In total, Sheckley created more than 400 stories, of which 13 author's collections were compiled. Of course, Sheckley tried himself in large literary forms (novels, stories). But often this was dictated by market requirements. In the sixties, the popularity of TV began to grow in the United States. Fantastic magazines specializing in small forms began to lose their audience, many of them were forced to significantly reduce their fees to their authors or completely shut down.
Worthy of mention are, for example, the novels "Mind Exchange", "Civilization of Status", "Immortality Corporation", "Coordinates of Miracles". They received great recognition not only in America, but also in the USSR, and then in Russia.
Facts from the personal life of Robert Sheckley
Sheckley's personal life was quite turbulent - he was married five times. Sheckley met his first wife, Barbara Scardon, at the university. Barbara gave birth to a child to the writer - a boy Jason, but this did not save the young people from divorce. The second wife of the writer was a girl named Ziva. Soon their joint daughter Alice was born. However, this marriage did not last long either. The fact is that Sheckley wanted to settle in Ibiza, and Ziva was against moving to this island, known for its unbridled parties.
Shekli came to Ibiza alone, and quickly enough found himself a new wife there - Abby Schulman. At first everything went smoothly, but then the relationship between Robert and Abby turned into a series of scandals. As a result, Sheckley packed his things and left Ibiza - went to travel the world.
At certain times in his life, Robert suffered from drug addiction, but ultimately, in 1990, he completely abandoned the use of illegal substances. Later, in the nineties, he married the writer Jay Rosebell. And his fifth wife was journalist Gail Dana.
It is worth adding that in recent years Sheckley spent alone, often needed money and was sick a lot. His life ended on December 9, 2005 (he was 77 years old). It happened in a hospital in the American town of Poughkeepsie. The official cause of death is complications of cerebral aneurysm.
