 |
Business | Industries | Finance | Tax |
| Index: > A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
|
|||||
| First Prev [ 1 2 ] Next Last |
The child of a prolific travel author and a naturalist/explorer, Alice Sheldon travelled the world with her parents from an early age. She was a graphic artist and a professional painter, and an art critic for the Chicago Sun until World War II. Sheldon was married to William Davey 1934– 1941.
In 1942 she joined the US military and worked in the Air Intelligence division. In 1945 she married her second huband, Huntington Sheldon , and she was discharged from the military in 1946, at which time she set up a small business in partnership with her husband. The same year her first story ("The Lucky Ones") was published in The New Yorker. In 1952 she and her husband were invited to be involved in the establishment of the CIA, a position she resigned from in 1955 as she wished to attend college.
She studied for her bachelor of arts degree at American University (1956–59), going on to achieve a doctorate in Experimental Psychology in 1967. Unsure what to do with her new degrees and her new/old careers, she began to write.
Sheldon adopted the pseudonym of James Tiptree, Jr. in 1968 because "I was tired of always being the first woman in some damn profession..." The name "Tiptree" came from a jar of marmalade. The imposture was successful until the late 1970s, possibly aided by a misunderstanding that it was intended to protect the professional reputation of an intelligence community official.
When asked for biographical details, Tiptree was forthcoming in everything but gender. Many of the details given above (the Air Force career, the Ph.D.) were mentioned in letters she wrote. Readers were permitted to assume gender, and invariably they assumed "male."
When all was revealed, two prominent science fiction writers suffered some embarrassment. Robert SilverbergRobert Silverberg (born January 15, 1935 in Brooklyn, NY) is a prolific author best known for writing science fiction, a multiple winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards. Silverberg, a voracious reader from childhood on, began submitting stories to the had written an introduction to Warm Worlds and Otherwise, arguing on the basis of selections from stories in the collection that Tiptree could not possibly be a woman. Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula Kroeber Le Guin (born October 21, 1929), is an American author. While she has written novels, poetry, childen's books, and essays, she is best known for her science fiction and fantasy, which she has written in the form of novels and short stories. had prevented Tiptree from adding "his" signature to a petition by female science fiction authors, believing Tiptree to be a man. Both acted understandably under the circumstances, and both felt compelled to defend their positions later in print.
The revelation of her sex had no adverse impact on people's opinions of her talent; her final Nebula AwardThe Nebula is an award given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), for the best science fiction stories published in the United States during the two previous years. See rolling eligibility below. There is no cash prize a (for " The Screwfly SolutionThe Screwfly Solution" by Raccoona Sheldon received the Nebula Award for Best Novelette in 1977. Sheldon was better known as James Tiptree, Jr. but both were pseudonyms for psychologist Alice Sheldon. The story can be read in its entirety.") was awarded in 1977.
Sheldon continued writing under the Tiptree pen name for another decade. On May 19, 1987, Sheldon took the life of her 86 year-old blind and bedridden invalid husband, and then took her own. They were found dead, hand in hand in bed, in their Virginia home; the suicide note Sheldon left had been written years earlier, and saved until needed. In an interview with Charles Platt in the early 1980sMillennia: 1st millennium 2nd millennium 3rd millennium Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s Years: 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 Events and trends Sheldon spoke of her emotional problems and previous suicide attempts. Much of her work contains dark and pessimistic elements, which in retrospect can be seen as reflective of her troubled emotions.
The James Tiptree, Jr. AwardThe James Tiptree, Jr. Award is an annual literary prize for works of science fiction or fantasy that expand or explore our understanding of gender. It was initiated in February of 1991 by SF authors Pat Murphy and Karen Joy Fowler, subsequent to a discus is given in her honor each year for a work of science fiction or fantasy that expands or explores our understanding of gender; funds for the award are raised in part by bake sales.
| Politics | Business | Finance |
 |
 |
 |
|