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NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2008
PROFILE
Professor puts academic sheen on the science fiction genre
BY DEVIN LOWELL
editor@kansan.com
James Gunn leans back in his chair as he speaks, his legs crossed and hands locked behind a full head of silver-gray hair. He sits in an office filled with books bearing titles that promise visions of the future; "The Dreamers," "Star Bridge" and "The Immortals." Most of the volumes have his name stamped on the spine.
Gunn has written 26 books and more than 100 short stories and worked at the University of Kansas for the better part of his life.
Gunn, professor emeritus of English, was in second grade when
Professor emeritus James Gunn keeps his 2007 Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Grand Master Award in his office in Wescue Hall. The annual award is given in recognition of an exceptional career in science fiction and fantasy writing.
he found a stack of Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Tarzan" books in his grandparents' back closet. This discovery led Gunn to a lifelong relationship with science fiction.
G u n n remembers his father bringing home the second issue of a pulp magazine called "Doc Savage" in 1933 when he was 10 years old. In a Kansas City, Mo., magazine store, he discovered "Amazing Stories," one of
"Novels are like family members you like them for different reasons."
the first science fiction pulp magazines.
Ryan Waggoner/KANSAN
of that experience came his novel "Kampus."
"It was our form of cheap entertainment during the Depression years," Gunn said.
Because it came from personal experience, "Kampus" remains one of Gunn's favorite novels, although
JAMES GUNN Professor emeritus of English
After serving in World War II, Gunn returned home and finished college at the University. He began writing his own science fiction in 1948. After submitting his short stories to several magazines and getting rejection letters from famous editors like John Campbell at "Astounding Stories," Gunn finally found success.
"A magazine called 'Thrilling Wonder Stories' bought my story for $80 and I thought that was a pretty good deal." Gunn said.
Gunn went back to school to get a master's in English and earned the distinction of having the only master's thesis ever serialized in a pulp magazine. He also published his first novel, "This Fortress World."
"The first one was the most important, because it proved I could do it," Gunn said.
In 1955, Gunn moved back to Lawrence and started teaching English courses at the University. After he finished two more novels, then-Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe asked him to be in charge of public relations for the University.
During his tenure at University Relations, Gunn witnessed campus unrest in the 1960s that culminated in the burning of the top floor of the Kansas Union. Out
he said it was difficult to have favorites.
"Novels are like family members you like them for different reasons." Gunn said.
Gunn left University Relations and went back to
teaching English in 1970. He taught courses in science fiction and fiction writing until he retired from teaching full time in 1993. Despite retirement, Gunn still works as the director of the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University, which is a program he started to coordinate various resources for scholars and students of the genre.
"That's the amazing thing about Jim, is that he's been retired for more than 10 years, but he's in the office every day," said Chris McKitterick, lecturer in English and associate director of the center.
Through the center, Gunn teaches a summer course every year called the "Intensive Institute on the Teaching of Science Fiction."
Gunn started the course as a way to give fellow teachers a
around the world that gives awards for the year's best novel and short
background in the history of science fiction so they could teach the subject with more confidence.
"I would get letters from teachers across the country, saying, 'I want to teach a class in science fiction. What do I teach?'" Gunn
teach?"' Gunn said.
"That's the amazing thing about Jim, is that he's been retired for more than 10 years, but he's in the office every day."
The course coincides with the Campbell Conference, a gathering of science fiction writers from
story.
CHRIS MCKITTERICK Lecturer in English
"He's brought the best writers here, and that's been exciting, to get to meet and talk with them," said Mary Klayder, honors lecturer in English.
teaching and scholarship of science fiction has inspired many of his colleagues and former students, such as Nate Williams.
Gunn's work in the
Williams, graduate teaching assistant in English, got out of reading science fiction in college, but rediscovered it later when he found that there were scholars like Gunn who studied the genre in a more rigorous way.
"I saw James Gunn give a presentation at a convention in Kansas City, where he talked about a story called 'Cold Equations,' and I immediately had to go out and read it, because I'd never heard anyone talk about science fiction that way before," Williams said.
In 2007, the Science Fiction Writers of America awarded Gunn the title of Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master for his lifetime of work in the field.
"That award had as much to do with his writing and teaching as with the people he's influenced," McKitterick said. "I know I wouldn't be the writer I am today if it weren't for James Gunn."
Gunn has a great deal of advice for budding science fiction writers and scholars.
“There's an old saying, that if you can discourage someone from going into writing, you should," Gunn said. "It's a hard career filled with work, rejection, and disappointment, but if it's the only thing that makes people happy, they should go for it."
Edited by Kelsey Hayes
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