Edgar Pangborn
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Edgar Pangborn (February 25, 1909 – February 1, 1976) was an American writer of mystery,
historical History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...
, and
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
.


Biography

Edgar Pangborn was born in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
on February 25, 1909, to Harry Levi Pangborn, an attorney and dictionary editor, and Georgia Wood Pangborn, a noted writer of supernatural fiction. Along with his older sister Mary, Edgar was homeschooled until 1919 and then educated at Brooklyn Friends School. He began music studies at
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
in 1924, when he was still only 15 years old, and left in 1926 without graduating. After that he studied at the
New England Conservatory of Music The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. The conservatory is located on Huntington Avenue along Avenue of the Arts (Boston), the Avenue of the Arts near Boston Symphony Ha ...
, but did not graduate from that school, either. On leaving he publicly abandoned music, shifting his creative focus to writing. His first novel, ''A-100: A Mystery Story'', was published under the pseudonym "Bruce Harrison" in 1930. Over the next 20 years he wrote numerous stories for the pulp detective and mystery magazines. He also spent three years (1939–1942) farming in rural Maine, and three years (1942–1945) doing his
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
military service in the Pacific with the U.S. Army Medical Corps. It was not until the early 1950s that Edgar "suddenly appeared" within the science fiction and mystery fields, publishing a string of high-quality, high-profile stories under his own name in prominent magazines like ''
Galaxy Science Fiction ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published in Boston from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market. World Edi ...
'', ''
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy fiction magazine, fantasy and science-fiction magazine, first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence E. Spivak, Lawrence Spiv ...
'', and '' Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine''. His work helped to firmly establish a new "humanist" school of science fiction, and inspired a subsequent generation of writers, including Peter S. Beagle and
Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin ( ; Kroeber; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author. She is best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the ''Earthsea'' fantas ...
, who has credited Pangborn and
Theodore Sturgeon Theodore Sturgeon (; born Edward Hamilton Waldo, February 26, 1918 – May 8, 1985) was an American author of primarily fantasy fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and Horror fiction, horror, as well as a critic. He wrote approximately 400 ...
with convincing her that it was possible to write worthwhile, humanly emotional stories within science fiction and fantasy. In the 1960s Pangborn also began painting semi-professionally in oils, and exhibited portraits, nudes, and landscape paintings at local and regional art shows. He continued to write until his death in Bearsville, New York on February 1, 1976, twenty-four days away from his 67th birthday. In 2003, he was named winner of that year's Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award. In 2018, he was named a "Ghost of Honor" at WorldCon 76 in San Jose, California.


Writing

Pangborn came from a writing family. His mother, Georgia Wood Pangborn, was a noted writer of ghost stories that appeared regularly in such popular mainstream periodicals as '' Scribner's Magazine'', '' Harper's Monthly'', ''
Woman's Home Companion ''Woman's Home Companion'' was an American monthly magazine, published from 1873 to 1957. It was highly successful, climbing to a circulation peak of more than four million during the 1930s and 1940s. The magazine, headquartered in Springfield, O ...
'', and others. His father, Harry Levi Pangborn, worked as an editor of ''
Webster's Dictionary ''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the US English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by Noah Webster (1758–1843), a US lexicographer, as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's n ...
''. Words and literature were a part of the Pangborn household from the very beginning. As children, Edgar and his sister Mary carried on the tradition by writing an extensive series of fanciful, handwritten storybooks, often collaborating on these with each other and also their mother. For the first 20 years of his writing career, which started when he was 21, Pangborn wrote what he referred to as "literary hackwork" for the pulp magazines. His serious work began in 1951, with the publication of his first science fiction story, "Angel's Egg", in ''
Galaxy Science Fiction ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published in Boston from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market. World Edi ...
''. The story of a race of tiny winged beings who come to Earth to help mankind, as told by a kindly biologist, it has been translated into six languages and reprinted more than twenty times. By 1954, Pangborn was well known and his second science fiction novel, '' A Mirror for Observers'' won the International Fantasy Award. This book is told from the point of view of a "Salvayan" (Martian) observer on Earth, who struggles with another Martian over the fate of a gifted young man. ''Galaxy'' reviewer Groff Conklin described ''Mirror'' as a "beautiful and moving book ... told in little details which make the tragedy all the more impressive." From there Pangborn continued writing in science fiction and in other genres as well, including the historical novel ''Wilderness of Spring'' and the contemporary courtroom drama ''The Trial of Callista Blake.'' In 1954 Pangborn wrote "The Music Master of Babylon", a story set in the ruins of post-apocalypse New York and clearly related to
Stephen Vincent Benét Stephen Vincent Benét ( ; July 22, 1898 – March 13, 1943) was an American poet, short story writer, and novelist. He wrote a book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War, '' John Brown's Body'', published in 1928, for which he receive ...
's 1937 " By the Waters of Babylon", already considered a classic. Pangborn's best-known book, the Hugo-nominated '' Davy'' of 1964, is set in a much later part-time of that post-apocalyptic future. It is a picaresque
bildungsroman In literary criticism, a bildungsroman () is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth and change of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood (coming of age). The term comes from the German words ('formation' or 'edu ...
set in a repressive
theocratic Theocracy is a form of autocracy or oligarchy in which one or more deities are recognized as supreme ruling authorities, giving divine guidance to human intermediaries, with executive and legislative power, who manage the government's daily a ...
society which developed out of the ruins of the destroyed old world. This post-apocalyptic world eventually became the backdrop for most of Pangborn's short fiction and his last novel, ''The Company of Glory'' (though not the Hugo-nominated "Longtooth", nor the 1971 Nebula finalist "Mount Charity"). Because of his educational background and early interests, Pangborn's works often deal with musical themes. Music plays a prominent role both in ''Davy'' and ''A Mirror For Observers'', and the protagonist of "The Music Master of Babylon" is a pianist living alone in a ruined New York. Pangborn's works are also known for being humane and poignant in a way that nevertheless allows for some dark themes and raunchy humor. In his introduction to Pangborn's posthumous story collection ''Still I Persist In Wondering'', Spider Robinson observed: " angbornsaid again and again in his books that love is not a condition or an event or even a state of mind—that love is a country, which we are sometimes privileged to visit."


Music

Pangborn never discussed his early musical training in detail with anyone in the science fiction, fantasy, or mystery fields. It was known that he studied the piano and violin, but that was all. In 2003, however, a large stack of handwritten music manuscripts were discovered in the attic of the Bearsville house in which he died. These manuscripts included original string quartets, sonatas, nocturnes, and other orchestral forms written by Pangborn during his music conservatory days.


Bibliography


Tales of a Darkening World: The Davy series

* '' Davy'' (St. Martins's Press 1964); revised and expanded from the following linked novelettes: ** "The Golden Horn" ('' F&SF'', February 1962) ** "A War of No Consequence" (''F&SF'', March 1962) * ''The Judgment of Eve'' (Simon & Schuster 1966) * "The World Is a Sphere" (novelette; published in ''Universe 3'', ed. Terry Carr, Random House 1973) * "The Freshman Angle" (novelette; in ''Ten Tomorrows'', ed. Roger Elwood, Fawcett 1973 * ''The Company of Glory'' (novel; originally serialized in ''Galaxy'', August 1974; slightly revised version published by Pyramid, January 1975) * "Mam Sola's House" (novelette; in ''Continuum ''#4, ed. Roger Elwood, Berkley Putnam 1975) * ''Still I Persist in Wondering'' (Dell, November 1978); a collection of linked stories: ** "The Children's Crusade" (novelette; in ''Continuum'' #1, ed. Roger Elwood, Putnams 1974) ** "Harper Conan and Singer David" (novelette; in ''Tomorrow Today'', ed. George Zebrowski, Unity 1975) ** "The Legend of Hombas" (novelette; in ''Continuum'' #2, ed. Roger Elwood, Putnams 1974) ** "Tiger Boy" (novelette; in ''Universe 2'', ed. Terry Carr, Ace 1972) ** "The Witches of Nupal" (novelette; in ''Continuum'' #3, ed. Roger Elwood, Putnams 1974) ** "My Brother Leopold" (novelette; in ''An Exaltation of Stars'', ed. Terry Carr, Simon & Schuster 1973) ** "The Night Wind" (novelette; in ''Universe 5'', ed. Terry Carr, Random House 1974)


Other science fiction novels

* ''West of the Sun'' (Doubleday 1953) * '' A Mirror for Observers'' (Doubleday 1954; winner of the International Fantasy Award for Best Fiction of 1954)


Mystery novels

* ''A-100: A Mystery Story'' (E. P. Dutton, 1930; as by "Bruce Harrison") * ''The Trial of Callista Blake'' (St. Martin's Press, October 1961)


Historical novels

* ''Wilderness of Spring'' (Rinehart 1958)


Other collections

* ''Good Neighbors and Other Strangers'' (Macmillan 1972) ** "The Good Neighbors" (short story; ''Galaxy'', June 1960)The Good Neighbors
** "A Better Mousehole" (short story; ''Galaxy'', October 1965) ** "Longtooth" (novelette; ''F&SF'', January 1970) ** "Maxwell's Monkey" (short story; ''Galaxy'', October 1964) ** "The Ponsonby Case" (short story; ''
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'' is a bi-monthly American digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction, and mystery fiction. Launched in fall 1941 by Mercury Press, ''EQMM'' is named after the fic ...
'', December 1959; also known as "The Naked Man in the Elephant House") ** "Pick-up for Olympus" (vignette; in '' The Supernatural Reader'', ed. Groff & Lucy Conklin, Lippincott 1953) ** "Darius" (short story; ''Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine'', July 1953; also known as "Mrrrar!") ** "Wogglebeast" (short story; ''F&SF'', January 1965) ** "Angel's Egg" (novelette; ''Galaxy'', June 1951) ** "The Wrens in Grampa's Whiskers" (short story; ''F&SF'', April 1960)


References


External links

* * * * *
Past Masters: Still I Persist In Wondering
by Bud Webster at Galactic Central * (under 'Pangborn, Edgar' without '1909–1976', previous page of browse report)
Bruce Harrison
at LC Authorities, with 2 records (similarly, previous page of browse report) {{DEFAULTSORT:Pangborn, Edgar 1909 births 1976 deaths 20th-century American novelists American male novelists United States Army personnel of World War II American science fiction writers United States Army soldiers Writers from Brooklyn American male short story writers 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers Novelists from New York (state) Brooklyn Friends School alumni Harvard University alumni