Lilith Lorraine was the pen-name of Mary Maude Dunn Wright (March 19, 1894 — November 9, 1967) an American pulp fiction author, poet, journalist and editor.
Lilith Lorraine | |
|---|---|
 Lilith Lorraine, from a 1943 publication | |
| Born | Mary Maude Dunn March 19, 1894 Corpus Christi, Texas, US |
| Died | November 9, 1967 (aged 73) Corpus Christi, Texas, US |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 1920s–1967 |
| Genre | Science fiction, poetry |
| Spouse |
|
Early life
editMary Maude Dunn was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, the daughter of John Beamond "Red" Dunn and Lelia Nias Dunn.[1] Her father was a Texas Ranger.[2] She attended the Incarnate Word Academy in Corpus Christi, and earned a teaching certificate at age 16. She taught in a rural Texas school as a young woman.[3]
Career
editJournalism
editAfter marrying at the age of 18, Lorraine worked in the 1920s as a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner, and later for other west coast papers. During World War II she wrote for the San Antonio Evening News.[1]
Fiction
editLorraine's feminist utopia novelette, The Brain of the Planet, was published as a chapbook in 1929.[4] Other stories by Lorraine included "Into the 28th Century" (Science and Wonder, 1929),[5] a time-travel story featuring artificial wombs, eugenics, inhaled nutrition, hovercraft, and a woman as President of the United States in 1955;[6][7] "The Jovian Jest" (Astounding Stories, 1930), "The Celestial Visitor" (Wonder Stories, 1935), "The Isle of Madness" (Wonder Stories, 1935), "Books Hold That Line" (1935), "Entropy" (Orb, 1952), and "Ancestors" (The Avalonian, 1952).[3] Though this represents the sum known total of Lorraine's science fiction, her work was well-received at the time of publication and Lorraine is notable for being a comparatively early example of a successful female science fiction author whose gender was not disguised.[1][3][6]
Poetry
editLorraine was an editor of poetry magazines and early zines.[8] She published several collections of her poetry in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.[9] In the 1940s she was billed as the "founder-director of the Avalon National Poetry Shrine",[10][11] later known as the Avalon World Arts Academy.[12] In connection with Avalon, she wrote a textbook, Character against Chaos (1947).[13] Her Wine of Wonder (1951) was billed as the first volume of science fiction poetry.[14]
Pseudonyms
editThere may be some poetry (and possibly fiction) of Lorraine's that was published under unknown pseudonyms, which Lorraine refused to divulge. "Three of my pen-names are masculine," she explained to a reporter in 1965, "and if the editors and publishers knew I was a woman they wouldn't pay me more than half what they do now."[1] By the time of this quote, Lorraine was exclusively a writer of poetry, saying of editors that "whenever they see a woman's name on a piece of verse, they immediately think it will be too sentimental or mushy. They would consider the same verse strong and dynamic under a man's name."[1]
Personal life
editMary Maude Dunn married Cleveland Lamar Wright in 1912. Both were native born Texans, and lived the majority of their lives in Texas -- though not all of it. The two lived in California for long stretches of time from the 1920s. The 1940 U.S. census shows them living in Texas, as does a 1942 draft registration card for Cleveland, but the 1950 census lists them living in Benton, Arkansas. According to Lorraine's own account, they also lived in Mexico for seven years, and at various points lived in New Orleans, New York City, and (circa 1929) in Tucson. Both Wrights moved back to Lorraine's home town of Corpus Christi in 1962; both Wrights died there in 1967, Mary Maude a few months after her husband. After she died, the Odessa Poetry Society named an annual prize "The Lilith Lorraine Memorial Award".[15]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e Georgia Nelson, "Retirement Busy for Local Poet" Corpus Christi Caller-Times (November 7, 1965): 22. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Funeral Services for J. B. Dunn are Held This Morning" The Corpus Christi Caller-Times (November 4, 1940): 1. via Newspapers.com
- ^ a b c Jane Donawerth, "Lilith Lorraine: Feminist Socialist Writer in the Pulps" Science Fiction Studies 17(2)(July 1990): 252-258.
- ^ Lilith Lorraine, The Brain of the Planet (Stellar, 1929).
- ^ "Miss Lorraine Writes Story for Quarterly" Arizona Republic (January 12, 1930): 17. via Newspapers.com
- ^ a b Lisa Yaszek, Patrick B. Sharp, eds., Sisters of Tomorrow: The First Women of Science Fiction (Wesleyan University Press 2016): 106-108. ISBN 9780819576255
- ^ Jane L. Donawerth, "Science Fiction by Women in the Early Pulps" in Jane L. Donawerth, Carol A. Kolmerten, eds., Utopian and Science Fiction by Women: Worlds of Difference (Syracuse University Press 1994): 139-140. ISBN 9780815626190
- ^ Everett Franklin Bleiler, Richard Bleiler, Science-fiction: The Gernsback Years (Kent State University Press 1998): 260-261. ISBN 9780873386043
- ^ Lilith Lorraine, Beyond Bewilderment (Banner Press 1942).
- ^ Vivian Yeiser Laramore, "Miami Muse" Miami Daily News (November 14, 1943): 27. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Press and Authors Club to Present Lilith Lorraine" The Montgomery Advertiser (March 10, 1946): 33. via Newspapers.com
- ^ Sid Porter, "Noted Writer Visits in Deland" Orlando Sentinel (November 21, 1957): 20. via Newspapers.com
- ^ Lilith Lorraine, Character against Chaos (Avalon Press 1947).
- ^ JD/JC, Lilith Lorraine, SFE: The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (August 12, 2018).
- ^ "Poetry Awards" The Odessa American (March 8, 1970): 24. via Newspapers.com
External links
edit- Lilith Lorraine at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Works by Lilith Lorraine at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- "Lilith Lorraine as a Fortean" From an Oblique Angle (February 10, 2015), a blogpost about the life of Mary Maude Dunn Wright, with photographs.
- Jane Donawerth, Frankenstein's Daughters: Women Writing Science Fiction (Syracuse University Press 1997): 114. ISBN 9780815603955
