Fiction writer Robert Sheckley was best known for his short stories written in the 1950s. These stories are distinguished by a paradoxical author’s view of things and phenomena and, as a rule, an unexpected end. Sheckley's style is not without reason compared with O. Henry. But attention deserves not only creativity, but also a biography of a science fiction writer
Sheckley - the master of short form
Robert Sheckley was born in New York City, a city of great opportunity. And very early on he tried to start an independent life independent of his parents. It is known that in the second half of the forties, Sheckley served in Korea, and upon returning to university in New York and enrolled in literary courses by Irwin Shaw. But the circumstances were such that the university had to quit and go to work at the factory. And in 1951 (Sheckley was then about 23 years old) begins a literary career - the young man liked the stories of the editor of Imagination magazine and he published them.
The work of Shekley the narrator is distinguished by sparkling, but generally harmless humor. However, in some stories a certain anxiety and fears of the author are felt. This is especially true of those works that show the inability of people to limit themselves to something, to cope with internal demons. As an example, here we can cite the famous story "Absolute weapons" (publication year - 1953). This story is about the explorers of Mars, who found on the surface of the planet a kind of superweapon. The heroes wanted to take him to Earth and sell it there. However, they completely forgot that weapons can kill themselves.
Sheckley as the author of novels and short stories
In total, Sheckley created more than 400 stories, of which 13 compilations were compiled. Of course, Sheckley also tried himself in large literary forms (novels, novels). But often this was dictated by market requirements. In the sixties, the popularity of TV in the United States began. Fantastic magazines specializing in small forms began to lose their audience, many of them were forced to significantly reduce the fees of their authors or completely close.
Mention is worthy, for example, of the novels "Exchange of minds, " "Civilization of Status, " "Corporation" Immortality ", " Coordinates of Miracles. They received great recognition not only in America, but also in the USSR, and then in Russia.
