S P A C E L I G H T
INDEX
VITAL STATISTICS
Name: LAFFERTY, Raphael Aloysius
Aged: 87
Born: November 7, 1914
Where: Neola, Iowa
Died: March 18, 2002
Where: Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
Interred: St. Rose Catholic Cemetery; Perry, Oklahoma
Married: (lifelong bachelor - lived with a sister)
Awarded: 1973 Hugo for "Eurema's Dam," a short story; the 1990 World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement; and in 1995, the Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award, given by the Oklahoma Dept. of Libraries.
R. A. Lafferty
"When you have shot and killed a man you have in some measure clarified your attitude toward him. You have given a definite answer to a definite problem. For better or worse you have acted decisively. In a way, the next move is up to him."
Expected to arrive on St. Raphael's Day in 1914 to a Catholic family, Lafferty was two weeks late but received the name anyway. He liked to give his birth date as November 7, 1914 - January 1, 2001. Lafferty was late for the latter date, too. His whole life was late, becoming a writer in his late 40's. Meanwhile, after four and a half years in the military during WWII, 1942-1946, Lafferty studied electrical engineering through a correspondence course from the University of Tulsa using the GI Bill, becoming an electrician for contract builders.
Pretty much, everything about Lafferty was unorthodox, including his publishing. So its hard to tell how many 'books' and how many 'collections' were published in the traditional way and how many were published in pamphlet form or in chap books or completed novels, rendered in a sequence of chap books. There will almost certainly be a publishing rush to gather up his works and all of this may soon be cleared up. Traditionally, he wrote about 225 short stories with most gathered in 8 or 9 collections, and about 13 or 14 novels across two decades before being hit by a stroke that ended his writing career. A few years later, a second stroke put him in the nursing home at Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
But during the 1960's and 1970's, Lafferty was quite prolific, and wrote fantasy as often as science fiction. Signature collections were Nine Hundred Grandmothers (1970 Ace), Does Anyone Else Have Something Further to Add? (1972 Scribner's), Strange Doings (1972 Scribner's), & Through Elegant Eyes (1983 Corroboree). Fantasy novels included The Reefs of Earth (1968 Berkley) and Not to Mention Camels, (1976 Bobbs Merrill), while science fiction novels included Arrive at Easterwine (1971 Scribners), Aurelia (1982 Starblaze) & Annals of Klepsis (1983 Ace).
As a writer Lafferty was untrained and rough edged, which made him a far stronger writer in the short form than in the novel, as what was charm in a short story could become wearisome in a novel. But Lafferty had a strong following of fans in both the fantasy and science fiction genres and his work was bought by the best editors of the time. Had be begun writing in his teens or twenties, who knows what he might have accomplished.
Lafferty donated his collected papers to the McFarlin Library, Special Collections, at the University of Tulsa.
"It is an awful and sickening thing to see a good man grow rich and respected."
Thumbnail from a larger, color photo by Frank Olynk.
PEN NAMES: None known.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mine here.
WWII DATA: Army SN 38126532. Lafferty, Raphael A. Res. Oklahoma. Born 1914, Iowa. Enlisted Tulsa, April 1, 1942. Pvt. 4 years high school. Single. White.
MILITARY MARKER: "Raphael Aloysius Lafferty; Nov 7, 1914 - Mar 18, 2002; SSgt, U.S. Army, WW II."
