University Daily Kansan / Thursday, April 13, 1989
5
Science fiction 'pioneer' keeps blazing trails
by Brett Brenner Kansan staff writer
Kansan staff writer
When James Gunn was a child, he found some Edgar Rice Burroughs novels in a back closet of his grandmother's house.
What started that day has grown into a career devoted to writing and studying science fiction.
James E. Gunn, professor of English, has written 19 science fiction books.
He said he grew up reading pulp fiction magazines that had stories about heroes and space.
Gunn, professor of English and a University of Kansas graduate, is a prolific writer and teacher of science fiction.
He said he soon discovered a store in downtown Kansas City, Mo. that sold used science-fiction magazines.
"My father and uncles would bring me her pulp magazines," he said. "They were magazines like 'Doo Sadah' and 'The Shadow.' I read them all."
"I could trade them two for one, he said. "They had titles like 'Astounding Stories' and 'Amazing Stories.' I liked them better because they had adventure and originality of thought."
In 1948, Gunn wrote a story titled "Paradox."
"I sent it away, and the third magazine bought it," he said. "In those days, you only got 1 or 2 entals a word, so it was difficult to make a living at it. I think I got around $80 for it."
In 1955, Gunn wrote his first books. "This Fortress World" and "Star Bridge."
"Writing books is where more money can be made." he said.
of Science Fiction," for which he was awarded a Science Fiction Achievement Award, a Hugo.
Gunn's last project was The New Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, which he edited. He has edited six other books.
The encyclopedia, which was published last November, took Gunn four years to compile.
"Far too long," Gunn said. "It is about the length of five novels."
He is now working on a book about the year 2000.
"It is about the way we feel about the end of the second million," he said "The title right now is trophee, but I don't know if I'll use it."
Stephan Goldman, associate professor of English, said that Gunn was a pioneer in the field of science fiction.
"Saying he is respected is an understatement," Goldman said. "He has defined what it takes to be a scholar in this field."
Paula D. HofakerKANSAN
He said that Gunn had an advantage in that he was both a writer and a critic of science fiction.
"He works very well in the field because he sees it from both sides." Goldman said. "His writings have an innovative in both style and form."
Gunn regularly teaches a science fiction class.
"Like any other genre, science fiction has its own particular form, history, criteria and standards of excellence." Gunn said. "Simply the exercise of exploring it is challenging in itself."
In addition to his regular science fiction class, Gunn conducts the intensive English Institute on the subject of Science Fiction during the summer.
The institute, which is in its 10th year, features two weeks of intensive discussion of science fiction. This year, two leading authors of science fiction, Barry Malzberg and Freddie Cox, visit the institute to talk about their works.
Gunn teaches the institute with Goldman.
"Intensive is the right word for it,"
Goldman said.
The classes for the institute begin
at 9 a.m. and end at 4:30 or 5 p.m.
Gunn started the institute in 1974 as an experimental program.
"Students usually scatter their interests," he said. "I decided that it would be not only good academically but also economically advantageous."
He said he had a specific idea in mind when he started the program.
"We started off originally with the idea that there were a lot of teachers being asked to teach science fiction courses," he said.
Gunn said that science fiction was able to incorporate the one thing about the world that is indisputably true — change.
"It is the only literature that, in my mind, does deal with this quality." he said. "This is a characteristic of our times."
He also said that science fiction had a particular advantage as a field of study because it was still flexible.
"It is in the process of becoming,' he said. "The authors aren't comfortably dead."
Haworth's remodeling to begin in June
bv a Kansan reporter
Two floors in Haworth Hall will be remodeled this summer, said Dave Schaeher, assistant director of facilities planning.
Bids for the project will be received the first week in May, he said. The entire project will be completed by summer 1991.
The first phase, the remodeling of the north half of the first floor in the original section of Haworth Hall, will
Schaecher said the $898,000 project would be conducted in two phases.
"We need to get them out of Snow Hall so we can do remodeling there," Schaecher said.
begin in June. The department of human anatomy will move from Snow Hall to the remodeled section of Haworth, he said.
The division of biological sciences also will move into the north half of the first floor in Haworth.
In the second phase, the rest of first floor and all of the second floor will be remodeled. Schaecher said.
Local Briefs
MED CENTER FIRE: A fire broke out yesterday morning in a subbasement area of the University of Colorado at Denver. A sided Center spokesman said.
About 50 employees were evacuated when a small fire broke out in the paint shop in the older section of the Med Center, said Nancy Miller, the spokesman. Because the fire was not in the Bell Memorial Hospital, no patients were evacuated.
"There was never any danger at anytime to anyone, particularly the patients." Miller said.
The fire, which started about 11:40 a.m., caused the alarm and sprinkler system to activate, she said.
Mike Myers, Kansas City, Kan., Fire Department dispatcher said damage was estimated at $1500.
Myers said spontaneous combustion occurred when paint fumes built up in the room's fan
motor. Spray painting was being done in the room, he said.
INGE FILMS SHOWING: Two films written by William Inge, who has won a Pulitzer prize and an Academy Award, will be shown at the University of Kansas on Friday.
It took firemen about 12 minutes to extinguish the fire.
Inge also is a 1935 KU graduate. "Bus Stop," starring Marilyn
Monroe, will be at 3:45 p.m. and "Picnic," 1535 Pulitzer Prize winner starring William Holden and Rosalind Russell, will be at 7 p.m. The films will be shown at Downs Auditorium in Dvche Hall.
The event is sponsored by the University Press of Kansas, which is publishing an Inge biography of Samuel H. Weisberg. The Straits of Triumph," by Rush F. Voss, an English professor at the University of Alabama.
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