HIDDEN
WYNDHAM: LIFE, LOVE, LETTERS
By
Amy Binns
Grace
Judson Press 2019
£10.95
Paperback
Not
without reason was John Wyndham (real name John Wyndham Beynon Harris) known as
the “invisible man of science fiction”. Even friends like Arthur C. Clarke were
unaware he had been living with a partner for thirty years, till he married
Grace Wilson at the age of 60. “Incredibly, after years of friendship, I knew
very little of John – I had no idea he had a girlfriend!”
Few
writers have what could be called an exciting life, though some do have
peculiar ones – and few are more peculiar than Wyndham’s.
His
parents split-up when he was only young, but even before this momentous event
he spent most of his childhood at boarding schools, between seven or eight in
total. He knew little about a normal family life, neither parent being close to
him. After graduating at university, he lived an almost monklike life at the
Quaker-run Penn Club in London, where he rented a room (cleaned by the club’s
servants) and enjoyed communal meals – a life significantly similar to that he
had known at school. He lived in a fairly spartan single room in the club for
the next thirty years, broken only with his time in the army during World War
Two, though he returned back to it after being demobbed. Most of that time he
and Grace had adjoining rooms. Only after they were married did they buy a
house of their own for the last few years of his life. Grace was a schoolteacher and it was partly because
they weren’t married that their relationship had to be kept secret as it would
have meant instant dismissal for her if it ever came out in those days. Why
they didn’t marry till after she retired is puzzling, except that Wyndham had
little respect for the institution of marriage after what he witnessed of his
parents.
During
the 1930s, despite a steady sales mainly to American science fiction magazines
he had no significant success as a writer, and it was only because he lived a
frugal life at the Penn Club and had a modest allowance from his wealthy maternal
grandfather he was able to survive. Most
of his stories were sold under pseudonyms, mainly John Beynon, though he did
write several novels, mainly hardboiled detectives with touches of the
fantastic, none doing particularly well. It was not until after the War, when
he wrote his breakthrough novel The Day of the Triffids as John Wyndham
that he suddenly became a success, going on to write The Midwich Cuckoos,
The Kraken Wakes, Chocky, and The Chrysalids. Being almost
obsessively private, though, he shied from publicity. In 1957 the World Science
Fiction Convention was held in London and Wyndham was elected President of its
committee, yet apart from presenting prizes his presence was remarkably lowkey.
As Amy Binns writes: “There are several galleries of pictures online, but it’s
notable how little the president of the affair features. Jack is there handing
out prizes at the luncheon, and introducing the guest of honour, John W.
Campbell, but he seems to be missing from the fun. He is not amongst the
dancers at the ball or sitting with the drinkers and merrymakers. He doesn’t
feature in anecdotes or memories.”
Amy
Binns’ biography is detailed, interesting and sympathetic to a writer she
obviously likes and admires. It is impressively researched, with some excellent
black and white photographs, including magazine and book covers, and a detailed
analysis of his major novels and short stories, noting any significant links
they might have with his life.
It
is all in all a fascinating book, shedding considerable light on one of the
most important science fiction writers of the second half of the twentieth
century, a man whose influence still extends far beyond his death in 1969 aged
65. He redefined science fiction, especially in Britain, and is one of the few
writers whose works never date, with several adaptations of both The Day of
the Triffids and The Midwich Cuckoos (aka Village of the Damned)
on TV and film, not to mention the radio, and no one would be a surprised to
see more of both in the future. It is one of the best literary biographies I
have ever read and a must for anyone interested in the history of science
fiction, especially in the UK.
Dr
Amy Binns teaches journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston.
She has a wide range of research interests, including difficult behaviour on
social media, interwar feminism and local reporting. She is the author of one
previous book, Valley of a Hundred Chapels: the Lives and Legacies of the
Nonconformists.
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