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Tanith Lee

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Tanith Lee
A woman with blonde hair using a sharpie to sign something.
Raising money for theAlzheimer's Research Trustduring the 2011 campaign Match It For Pratchett (Terry Pratchett)
Born(1947-09-19)19 September 1947
London, England
Died24 May 2015(2015-05-24)(aged 67)
East Sussex,England
Pen nameEsther Garber[1]
Judas Garbah
OccupationWriter
GenreSpeculative fiction
Notable awards1980British Fantasy Award,1983 & 1984World Fantasy Award
Spouse
John Kaiine
​
(m.1992)​

Tanith Lee(19 September 1947 – 24 May 2015) was a British science fiction and fantasy writer. She wrote more than 90 novels and 300 short stories, and was the winner of multiple World Fantasy Society Derleth Awards, the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award and the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement in Horror.[2]She also wrote a children's picture book (Animal Castle), and many poems. She wrote two episodes of theBBCscience fiction seriesBlake's 7(SandandSarcophagus).[3][4]

She was the first woman to win theBritish Fantasy Awardbest novel award (also known as theAugust Derleth Award), for her bookDeath's Master(1980).[1][5]

Biography

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Early life

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Tanith Lee was born on 19 September 1947 in London, to professional dancers Bernard and Hylda Lee.[6][7][8]Despite a persistent rumour, she was not the daughter ofBernard Lee(the actor who played "M" in theJames Bondseries films between 1962 and 1979). According to Lee, although her childhood was happy, she was the "traditional kid that got bullied," and had to move around frequently due to her parents' work.[8][9]Although her family was poor, they maintained a large paperback collection, and Lee readweird fiction,including "Silken Swift" byTheodore Sturgeonand "Gabriel Ernest" bySaki,and discussed such literature asHamletandDraculawith her parents.[10]Lee attended many different schools in childhood. She was at first "incapable" of reading due to a mild form of dyslexia, which was diagnosed later in life, but when she was aged 8, her father taught her to read in about a month, and she began to write at the age of 9.[9]

Education

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Because Lee's parents had to move for jobs, Lee attended numerous primary schools, then thePrendergast Grammar School for Girls.[7][8]After secondary school, Lee attendedCroydon Art Collegefor a year. Realising that was not what she wanted to do, she dropped out of her course and held a number of jobs, including file clerk, waitress, shop assistant, and assistant librarian.[7][8][11]

Writing career

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She began publishing withThe Betrothed(1968), a short story privately printed by a friend, but started serious writing with several children's fantasies. Of these,The Dragon Hoard(1971), her first novel, is a comic fantasy, in which an enchantress compels the quest-ridden protagonist to shapeshift into a raven at unpredictable moments.Princess Hynchatti & Some Other Surprises(collection of linked stories in 1972) puts its cast through various travails. InCompanions on the Road(1975) the companions are the villains, a trio of hellish revenants who kill through their control of Dreams as they search for the holders of a magic chalice.The Winter Players(1976) – assembled with the previous book asCompanions on the Road and The Winter Players: Two Novellas(1977) – dramatises the interaction between a young woman and the accursed wanderer whom she ultimately redeems. Even in these early works, several characteristic motifs dominate: the Rite of Passage whereby a young protagonist comes to terms – often via Metamorphosis – with his or her extraordinary nature, and strives for Balance in a riven world; vivid, but indeterminate, landscapes serving as almost interchangeable backdrops for psychic dramas; and a fine indifference to any moralistic settling of scores, her tales tending to close with Good and Evil characters settling into uneasy equipoise.[12]

Her first professional sale came from "Eustace," a ninety-word vignette at the age of 21 in 1968. She continued to work in various jobs for almost another decade, due to rejection of her books.[7][11]Her first novel (for children) wasThe Dragon Hoard,published in 1971 byMacmillan.[7]Her career took off with the acceptance in 1975 by DAW Books USA of her adult fantasy epicThe Birthgrave– a mass-market paperback. Many British publishers rejectedThe Birthgraveso she approachedDAW Books.Lee subsequently maintained a prolific output in popular genre writing.[6][7][13][14]The Birthgraveallowed Lee to be a full-time writer and stop doing "stupid and soul-killing jobs."[15]

During the nineties her "career went through the doldrums" because of trends in publishing.[16]Major publishing companies were less accepting of Lee's later works.[11][17]The companies which Lee worked with for years refused to look at her proposals.[18]Smaller companies were publishing just a few of Lee's works. The refusals did not stop her from writing and she had numerous unpublished novels and short stories.[18]Letters from fans asked if she were dead because no new work had been published.[18]Lee tried changing her genre, but to no success. However, Internet sales succeeded in reviving her writing.[16]

Book sales

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Lee had "quietly phenomenal sales" at certain periods throughout her career.[18]When she tried changing genres, some of her works were liked by critics and published by small publishers, but it made no difference. The royalties were good before the publishers went bankrupt.[18]

Personal life and death

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In 1987, Lee met artist and writer John Kaiine.[7]In 1992, the couple married.[7]They lived in the south of England.[9]

Lee died at her home inEast Sussexof breast cancer on 24 May 2015.[19][20]

Works

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Lee often uses the transitional character of thebildungsroman,or coming-of-age stories. For instance, the protagonist of Lee'sThe Birthgraveundertakes a journey to understanding her identity and culture.[21]

Lee's two longestwerewolfstories, "Wolfland" andLycanthia,follow Lee's custom of reversing the images of popular culture icons. Lee approximates the werewolves' behaviours according to the social and hunting patterns of wild wolves. In altering this trope, she endows werewolf stories with a new and more positive mythos.[22]

Lee's 1971 debut was the children's bookThe Dragon Hoard;her first adult book wasThe Birthgravein 1975.[23]Lee's prolific output spans a host of different genres, including adultfantasy,children's fantasy, science fiction,horror,Gothichorror, Gothic romance, and historical fiction. Her series of interconnected tales calledThe Flat-Earth Cycle,beginning withNight's MasterandDeath's Master,is similar in scope and breadth toJack Vance'sThe Dying Earth.[24]

Night's Mastercontains allegorical tales involving Azhrarn, a demonic prince who kidnaps and raises a beautiful boy and separates him from the sorrow of the real world. Eventually, the boy wants to know more about the earth, and asks to be returned, setting off a series of encounters between Azhrarn and mankind, some horrific and some positive. Later tales are loosely based onBabylonian mythology.In the science fictionFour-BEEseries, Lee explores youth culture and identity in a society which grants eternally young teenagers complete freedom. They are even killed and receive new bodies, gender and/or identity over and over again. Lee has also written a historical novel withThe Gods are Thirsty,set during theFrench Revolution.[24]
During the late 1980s she published three collections -Dreams of Dark and Light(1986),Women as Demons(1989) andThe Forests of the Night(1989).[16]

A large part of Lee's output was children's fantasy, which has spanned her career fromThe Dragon Hoardin 1971 to the more recentThe Claidi JournalscontainingWolf Tower,Wolf Star,Wolf QueenandWolf Wingin the late 1990s and early 2000s.[25]

Lee was published by various imprints, particularly depending on whether she is offering adult fiction or children's fantasy. Her earlier children's fantasy novels were published in hardcover by Macmillan UK and subsequently printed as paperbacks in the US often by DAW, with occasional hardcovers by St. Martin's Press. Some of her work was only printed in paperback, mainly in the US by DAW in the 1970s to the early 1980s. She has received some small press treatment, such as the Arkham House edition of short storiesDreams of Dark and Light: The Great Short Fiction of Tanith Leein 1986, and in the first "Night Visions" instalment published by Dark Harvest.[6]

Writing style

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Lee's style is frequently remarked upon for its use of richpoetic proseand strikingimagery.[24]Critics describe her style as weird, lush, vibrant, exotic, erotic, rich, elegant, perverse, and darkly beautiful.[26][27]The technique she used is very descriptive and poetic to match the themes she used in her mythical stories.[28]She was praised for her ability to balance her weird style with the challenges of writing a faraway world,[29]but some critics counter that her style is not always easy on the reader; she sometimes leaves the reader with unanswered questions.[28]

Themes

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Lee's writing frequently featured nonconformist interpretations offairy tales,vampire stories,myths,and the fantasy genre;[24]as well as themes offeminismandsexuality.[1][30]She also wrotelesbian fictionunder the pseudonym Esther Garber.[31]Other than feminism and sexuality, Lee used a wide range of other themes in her stories. From 1975 to 1980, she began writing Gothic science fiction; her first Gothic novel "Sabella or the Bloodstone" features themes of loneliness and fear.[26]Lee's most celebrated story "Elle Est Trois", which examines the relationship between self-destruction and creativity "has themes of psychosis and sexuality, the subjugation of women, and the persuasive power of myth interwoven through it". Myth is again apparent (along withrace) in her stories "The Storm Lord", "Anackire", and "The White Serpent".[24]Three unique horror series were produced by Lee in the '90s; the first story,The Book of the Damned,features themes of body thievery and shape-shifting. Themes ofhomophobia,racism,andsexismare seen in Lee's sequenceThe Blood Opera,andThe Venus Cyclefeatures themes of love, loss, and revenge. Her collectionDisturbed By Her Songfeatures themes oferoticism,despair, isolation, and the pressure of an unforgiving and unwelcoming society.[32]These themes reoccur in her 1976 novelDon't Bite the Sunwhere the characters are involved in a very erotic lifestyle and the protagonist experiences despair. Eroticism shows up again in her novel "Death's Master" which examines the childhood origins of eroticism and the "later conflicts that arise from it". The sequel toDon't Bite the Sun,Drinking Sapphire Wine,is thematically similar to her other works, in that it features themes of Death and renewal, sexuality, and love. The theme of recognition also appears inDrinking Sapphire Wine,where the characters are forced to recognize others and themselves in a world where physical form is so readily alterable.[24]

Influences

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Tanith Lee was influenced by multiple genres, including other writers, music, movies, and "small things".[33]HerFlat Earth Serieswas inspired by a game she played with her mother; some of her other works are influenced by fairy tales her mother told her. Much of her work comes from "small things" rather than major inspirations.[34]

Authors

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Lee was inspired by writers and playwrights, includingGraham Greene,Rebecca West,Elizabeth Bowen,Jack Vance,Fritz Leiber,Theodore Sturgeon,Angela Carter,Jane Gaskell,Charles Dickens,William Shakespeare,William Blake,Anton Chekov,Harold Pinter,Tennessee Williams,Arthur Miller,Ibsen,August Strindberg,Ivan Turgenev,Ivan Bunin,James,Rosemary Sutcliff,Mary Renault,Jean Rhys,John Fowles,John le Carré,Brontë family,E.M. Forster,W. Somerset Maugham,Isabel Allende,Margaret Atwood,Ruth Rendell,Lawrence Durrell,Elroy Flecker, andTed Hughes.[35]Lee consideredVirginia WoolfandC.S. Lewisto be influential on her from a young age.[23]

Other genres

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Lee was influenced by painters, movies, television, and music. She citesSergei Prokofiev,Sergei Rachmaninoff,Dmitri Shostakovich(whose symphonies influenced certain scenes in Anackire),George Frideric Handel,Annie LennoxandJohnny Cashas musical influences. Film influences includeBen-Hur,Caesar and Cleopatra(withVivien LeighandClaude Rains), Coppola'sDracula,TheBrotherhood of the Wolf(subtitled version), Olivier'sHamlet.The variousQuatermassTV series and films inspired Lee, along with the filmsForbidden Planet(1956),Ingmar Bergman'sThe Seventh Seal(1957) andPlunkett & Macleane(1999). The TV version ofGeorg Büchner's playDanton's Death(1978), inspired her to write her French historical novel. The painters that have inspired her includeVincent van Gogh,Cotman,J. M. W. Turner,Gustav Klimt,Rousseau,Leonardo da Vinci,Sandro Botticelli,Lawrence Alma-Tadema,and several pre-Raphaelites.[23][33]

Bibliography

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Main article:Tanith Lee bibliography

Awards

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Nebula Awards

  • 1975: The Birthgrave (nominated, best novel)
  • 1980: Red As Blood (nominated, best short story)

World Fantasy Awards[36]

  • 1979: Night's Master (nominated, best novel)
  • 1983: "The Gorgon" (winner, best short story)
  • 1984: "Elle Est Trois, (La Mort)" (winner, best short story)
  • 1984: "Nunc Dimittis" (nominated, best novella)
  • 1984:Red As Blood, or, Tales From The Sisters Grimmer(nominated, best anthology/collection)
  • 1985:Night Visions 1(nominated, best anthology/collection)
  • 1987:Dreams of Dark And Light(nominated, best anthology/collection)
  • 1988:Night's Sorceries(nominated, best anthology/collection)
  • 1999: "Scarlet And Gold" (nominated, best novella)
  • 2006: "Uous" (nominated, best novella)
  • 2013: Life Achievement Award[37]

World Horror Convention

  • 2009: Grand Master Award[38]

British Fantasy Awards

  • 1979:Quest for the White Witch(nominated, best novel)
  • 1980:Death's Master(winner, best novel)[39]
  • 1980: "Red As Blood" (nominated, best short story)
  • 1981:Kill The Dead(nominated, best novel)
  • 1999: "Jedella Ghost" (nominated, best short story)
  • 2000: "Where Does The Town Go at Night?" (nominated, best short story)

Lambda Awards

  • 2010:Disturbed by Her Song(nominated, best LGBT speculative fiction)

Infinity Award

  • 2024: Posthumous lifetime achievement award[40]

References

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  1. ^abcRobin Anne Reid (2009).Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy: Overviews.ABC-CLIO. pp. 38, 199, 219.ISBN978-1-4391-5014-6.
  2. ^"Tanith Lee | Penguin Random House".PenguinRandomhouse.com.Retrieved6 April2019.
  3. ^"Blake's 7 - SARCOPHAGUS - Review".www.hermit.org.Retrieved15 May2024.
  4. ^"Blake's 7 - SAND - Review".www.hermit.org.Retrieved15 May2024.
  5. ^Alison Flood (2010)."World of fantasy: Death's Master by Tanith Lee".The Guardian.Archived fromthe originalon 30 June 2011.Retrieved25 July2011.
  6. ^abcDarrell Schweitzer (1994).Speaking of Horror: Interviews with Writers of the Supernatural.Wildside Press LLC. pp. 59–60.ISBN978-1-880448-81-6.
  7. ^abcdefghJim Pattison; Paul A. Soanes & Allison Rich (17 April 2011)."Author Biography: Tanith Lee".Daughter of the Night†: An Annotated Tanith Lee Bibliography.Retrieved25 July2011.
  8. ^abcdMoran, Maureen F (2002). "Tanith Lee".British Fantasy and Science-Fiction Writers Since 1960 in Dictionary of Literary Biography.261.
  9. ^abcJeff Carlson (2 August 2011)."StarShipSofa Interrogation: Tanith Lee in StarShipSofa No.175".StarShipSofa.Retrieved1 October2012.- An audio interview with Tanith Lee
  10. ^Luis Rodrigues (2011)."Tanith Lee on the Weird".Weird Fiction Review.Retrieved15 October2012.
  11. ^abcCraig Gidney (13 September 2010)."Tanith Lee: Channeling Queer Authors".Retrieved16 October2012.
  12. ^"Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997) – Lee, Tanith".sf-encyclopedia.uk.Retrieved6 April2019.
  13. ^George R. R. Martin & Gardner Dozois (2010).Songs of Love and Death: All-Original Tales of Star-Crossed Love.Simon and Schuster. p. 361.ISBN978-1-4391-5014-6.
  14. ^"Tanith Lee – Author Guest of Honour".World Horror Convention 2010. 2010. Archived fromthe originalon 30 June 2011.Retrieved25 July2011.
  15. ^David Carroll; Kyla Ward (1994)."A History of Horror: On the Lee Side".Retrieved16 October2012.
  16. ^abcKaveney, Roz (1 June 2015)."Tanith Lee obituary".The Guardian.Retrieved9 October2022.
  17. ^Alison Flood (27 August 2010)."World of Fantasy: Death's Master by Tanith Lee".The Guardian.Retrieved16 October2012..Contains different text than other Alison Flood article.
  18. ^abcdeDarrell Schweitzer (2011)."Interview: Tanith Lee".Realms of Fantasy. Archived fromthe originalon 30 March 2012.Retrieved16 October2012.
  19. ^"Locus Obituary".26 May 2015.
  20. ^Roberts, Sam(1 June 2015)."Tanith Lee, Fantasy and Horror Novelist, Dies at 67".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on 2 June 2015.Retrieved24 August2023.
  21. ^Haut, Mavis (12 November 2015).The Hidden Library of Tanith Lee: Themes and Subtexts from Dionysos to the Immortal Gene.McFarland.ISBN9780786483686.
  22. ^Heldreth, Lillian M. (1989). "Tanith Lee's Werewolves Within: Reversals of Gothic Traditions".Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts.2(1 (5)): 14–23.ISSN0897-0521.JSTOR43310205.
  23. ^abc"Tanith Lee: Love & Death & Publishers".Locus Online.April 1998.Retrieved17 March2009.
  24. ^abcdefMavis Haut (2001).The hidden library of Tanith Lee: themes and subtexts from Dionysos to the immortal gene.Wildside Press LLC.ISBN978-0-7864-1085-9.
  25. ^Pam Spencer Holley (2009).Quick and Popular Reads for Teens.ALA Editions. p. 146.ISBN978-0-8389-3577-4.
  26. ^abCraig L. Gidney (March 2005)."Delirium's Mistress: The Weird & Beautiful Fiction of Tanith Lee".Morbid Outlook.Retrieved15 October2012.
  27. ^Desirina Boskovich (3 September 2011)."101 Weird Writers: Tanith Lee".Weird Fiction Review.Retrieved16 October2012.
  28. ^ab"Two Reviews: Thor (2011) and Night's Master by Tanith Lee".Wordpress. 30 September 2012.Retrieved16 October2012.
  29. ^Alison Flood (27 August 2010)."World of Fantasy: Death's Master by Tanith Lee".The Guardian.Retrieved16 October2012.
  30. ^Angel Fernandez (2003)."Tanith Lee".Modern and Traditional Fairy Tales, San José State University.Retrieved25 July2011.
  31. ^Donald Haase (2008).The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales: G-P.Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 568–569.ISBN978-0-313-33443-6.
  32. ^Mandelo, Lee (20 September 2010)."Queering SFF: New Books-Disturbed by Her Song by Tanith Lee".Tor.com.Retrieved15 October2012.
  33. ^abAdministrator (17 November 2009)."Tanith Lee Interview".Innsmouth Free Press.Retrieved15 October2012.- An interview with Tanith Lee
  34. ^T.J. McIntyre (March 2011)."Author Spotlight: Tanith Lee".Fantasy Magazine.Retrieved15 October2012.- An interview with Tanith Lee
  35. ^Teresa Edgerton (November 2004)."The Object of Desire – Our Interview with Tanith Lee - Science Fiction Fantasy Chronicles: Forums".SFF Chronicles. Archived fromthe originalon 3 December 2012.Retrieved15 October2012.- Our interview with Tanith Lee
  36. ^World Fantasy Convention."Award Winners and Nominees".Archived fromthe originalon 1 December 2010.Retrieved4 February2011.
  37. ^"Announcing the 2013 World Fantasy Award Winners".Tor.com. 3 November 2013.Retrieved28 June2014.
  38. ^Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2 June 2006. Web. 13 October 2015.
  39. ^Hardy, Graham. "August Derleth Award." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 5 October 2014. Web. 13 October 2015.
  40. ^"Tanith Lee Announced as 2024 SFWA Infinity Award Recipient".SFWA. 12 March 2024.Retrieved12 March2024.

Further reading

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