Cordwainer Smith Рpronounced CORDwainer Smith Рwas the pseudonym used by American author Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger (July 11, 1913 РAugust 6, 1966) for his science fiction works. Linebarger was also a noted East Asia scholar and expert in psychological warfare. A pseudonym (Greek: false name) is a fictitious name used by an individual as an alternative to his or her legal name. ... An author is the person who creates a written work, such as a book, story, article or the like. ... July 11 is the 192nd day (193rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 173 days remaining. ... 1913 (MCMXIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... August 6 is the 218th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (219th in leap years), with 147 days remaining. ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link goes to calendar) // Events January January 1 - In a coup, Colonel Jean-B̩del Bokassa ousts president David Dacko and takes over the Central African Republic. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Geographic scope of East Asia East Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms. ... The U.S. Department of Defense defines psychological warfare (PSYWAR) as: The planned use of propaganda and other psychological actions having the primary purpose of influencing the opinions, emotions, attitudes, and behavior of hostile foreign groups in such a way as to support the achievement of national objectives. ...

Linebarger also employed the literary pseudonyms "Carmichael Smith" (for his political thriller Atomsk), "Anthony Bearden" (for his poetry) and "Felix C. Forrest" (for the novels Ria and Carola). Poetry (ancient Greek: ποιεω (poieo) = I create) is traditionally a written art form (although there is also an ancient and modern poetry which relies mainly upon oral or pictorial representations) in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. ...

Biography

Linebarger was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His father was Paul M.W. Linebarger, a lawyer and political activist with close ties to the leaders of the Chinese revolution of 1911. As a result of those ties, Linebarger's godfather was Sun Yat-sen, considered the father of Chinese nationalism. When he later pursued his father's interest in China, Linebarger became a close confidant of Chiang Kai-shek. As a child, Linebarger was blinded in his left eye; the vision in his remaining eye was impaired by infection. His father moved his family to France and then Germany while Sun Yat-sen was struggling against contentious warlords in China. As a result of these experiences, Linebarger was familiar with six languages by adulthood. At the age of 23, he received a Ph.D. in Political Science from Johns Hopkins University. Nickname: The City of Festivals, The Genuine American City, Cream City, Brewtown/Brew City Motto: Official website: http://www. ... A lawyer is a person licensed by the state to advise clients in legal matters and represent them in courts of law and in other forms of dispute resolution. ... Activism, in a general sense, can be described as intentional action to bring about social or political change. ... The Xinhai Revolution (or Hsinhai Revolution, Chinese: 辛亥革命; pinyin: Xīnhài Gémìng), named for the Chinese year of Xinhai (1911), was the overthrow (October 10, 1911-February 12, 1912) of Chinas ruling Qing Dynasty, sometimes known as the Manchu Dynasty, and the establishment of the Republic of China. ... A godparent, in Christianity, is someone who sponsors a childs baptism. ... Sun Yat-sen (November 12, 1866–March 12, 1925) was a Chinese revolutionary and political leader who had a significant role in the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty. ... Chiang Kai-shek (October 31, 1887 – April 5, 1975) was a Chinese military and political leader who assumed the leadership of the Kuomintang (KMT) after the death of Sun Yat-sen in 1925. ... Blindness can be defined physiologically as the condition of lacking visual perception. ... The Johns Hopkins University is a private institution of higher learning located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. ...

From 1937 to 1946, Linebarger held a faculty appointment at Duke University, where he began producing highly regarded works on Far Eastern affairs. While retaining his professorship at Duke after the beginning of World War II, he began serving as a second lieutenant of the U.S. Army, where he was involved in the creation of the Office of War Information and of the Operation Planning and Intelligence Board. He also helped organize the Army's first psychological warfare section. In 1943 he was deployed to China to coordinate U.S.-China military intelligence operations. By the end of the war, he had risen to the rank of major. 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Duke Chapel Duke University is a private, coeducational, research university located in Durham, North Carolina, USA. Although founded in 1924, Duke traces its roots back to 1838. ... Combatants Allied Powers Axis Powers Commanders {{{commander1}}} {{{commander2}}} Strength {{{strength1}}} {{{strength2}}} Casualties 17 million military deaths 8 million military deaths {{{notes}}} World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a military conflict that took place between 1939 and 1945. ... The Army is the branch of the United States armed forces which has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ... The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was a government agency created during World War II to consolidate government information services. ...

In 1936, Linebarger married Margaret Snow, and they had a daughter in 1942. They had a second child, another daughter, in 1947, and divorced in 1949. In 1950, Linebarger married for the second time, to Genevieve Collins; they remained married until his death in 1966. 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article is about the year. ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) is a common year starting on Saturday. ... 1950 (MCML in Roman) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link goes to calendar) // Events January January 1 - In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa ousts president David Dacko and takes over the Central African Republic. ...

In 1947, Linebarger moved to the Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC, where he served as Professor of Asiatic Studies. He used his experiences in the war to write the book Psychological Warfare (1948), which is regarded by many in the field as a classic text. He eventually rose to the rank of colonel in the reserves. He was recalled to advise the British forces in the Malayan Emergency and the U.S. Eighth Army in the Korean War. While he was known to call himself a "visitor to small wars", he refrained from becoming involved in Vietnam, but is known to have done undocumented work for the Central Intelligence Agency. He traveled extensively and became a member of the Foreign Policy Association, and was called upon to advise then-U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Image File history File links Book cover of Psychological Warfare by Paul M.A. Linebarger (aka Cordwainer Smith). ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Categories: University stubs ... The Malayan Emergency was an insurrection and guerrilla war of the Malay Races Liberation Army against the British and Malayan administration from 1948-1960 in what is now Malaysia. ... The Korean War, from June 25, 1950 to cease-fire on July 27, 1953 (the war has not ended officially), was a conflict between North Korea and South Korea. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Foreign Policy Association (FPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring the American public to learn more about the world. ... John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to as John F. Kennedy, JFK, or Jack Kennedy, was the 35th President of the United States. ...

Linebarger expressed a wish to retire to Australia, which he had visited in his travels, but died at age 53. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Section 35, Grave Number 4712. His widow, Genevieve Collins Linebarger, was interred with him on 16 November 1981. Arlington Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia, is an American military cemetery established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Robert E. Lees home. ... November 16 is the 320th day of the year (321st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 45 days remaining. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Science fiction writing

A notable characteristic of Linebarger's science fiction is that most of his stories are set in the same universe, with a unified chronology; some anthologies of Linebarger's fiction include a chart, with each of his stories inserted into the appropriate slot in the timeline.

Linebarger's stories are unusual, even, arguably, by the standards of science fiction, sometimes being written in narrative styles closer to traditional Chinese stories than to most English-language fiction. His science fiction is relatively small in volume, due to his time-consuming profession and his early death. Smith's writings consist of only one novel, originally published in two volumes in edited form as The Planet Buyer, a.k.a. The Boy Who Bought Old Earth (1964), and The Underpeople (1968), later restored to its original form as Norstrilia (1975); and around 30 short stories (all of them gathered in The Rediscovery of Man and previously in incomplete collections). All these writings suggest a rich universe developing over long periods of time, but leave much to be guessed by the reader. Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... // Ancient texts The Four Books (四书, Sì shū) are The Great Learning, (大学, Dà Xué). The Doctrine of the Golden Mean (中庸, Zhōng Yóng). ... For the Nintendo 64 emulator, see 1964 (Emulator). ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... Norstrilia is the only novel published by Paul Linebarger under the pseudonym Cordwainer Smith. ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... It has been suggested that Rediscovery of man be merged into this article or section. ...

Linebarger's cultural links to China are partially expressed in the pseudonym "Felix C. Forrest", which he used in addition to "Cordwainer Smith": Sun Yat-Sen suggested to Linebarger, his godson, that he adopt the Chinese name "Lin Ba-lo", which may be roughly translated as "Forest of Incandescent Bliss". In his later years, Linebarger proudly wore a tie with the Chinese characters for this name embroidered on it. Sun Yat-sen (November 12, 1866–March 12, 1925) was a Chinese revolutionary and political leader who had a significant role in the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty. ...

As an expert in psychological warfare, Linebarger was very interested in the then-newly developing fields of psychology and psychiatry, and inserted many of their concepts into his fiction. His fiction also often has religious overtones or motifs, in particular in characters who have no control of their actions. In Christianity In the Science Fiction of "Cordwainer Smith" James P. Jordan argued for the importance of Anglicanism to Linebarger's works back to 1949. However, Linebarger's daughter has indicated that he did not become an Anglican until 1950 and was not strongly interested in religion until later still [1]. In the introduction to the collection Rediscovery of Man it is indicated that from around 1960 he became more devout and expressed this in his writing. Linebarger's works are sometimes included in analyses of Christianity in fiction, along with the works of authors such as C. S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien. Psychology (ancient Greek: psyche = soul or mind, logos/-ology = study of) is an academic and applied field involving the study of the mind and behavior, both human and nonhuman. ... Psychiatry is the branch of medicine that studies, diagnoses and treats mental illness and behavioral disorders. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... C.S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (22 November 1888 – 25 November 1963), commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis was an English author and scholar, born into a Protestant family in Belfast, though mostly resident in England. ... J. R. R. Tolkien in 1916. ...

The bulk of Cordwainer Smith's stories are set in an era starting some 14,000 years in the future. The Instrumentality of Mankind rules Earth and goes on to control other planets later inhabited by humanity. The Instrumentality attempts to revive old cultures and languages in a process known as the Rediscovery of Man. This rediscovery can be seen either as the initial period when humankind emerges from a mundane utopia and the nonhuman underpeople gain freedom from slavery, or as a continuing process begun by the Instrumentality, encompassing the whole cycle, where mankind is constantly at risk of falling back to its bad old ways. In the fictional works of Cordwainer Smith, the Instrumentality of Mankind is the central government of the human race. ...

Smith's stories describe a long future history of Earth, from a postapocalyptic landscape with walled cities defended by agents of the Instrumentality to a state of utopia in which freedom can be found only deep below the surface, in long-forgotten and buried anthropogenic strata. These features may place Smith's works within the Dying Earth subgenre of Science Fiction, but it can be argued that they are ultimately more optimistic and distinctive. A future history is a postulated history of the future that some science fiction authors construct as a common background for some of their stories. ... ... Anthropogenic effects or processes are derived from human activities, as opposed to effects or processes that occur in the natural environment without human influences. ... The Dying Earth subgenre is a sub-category of science fantasy which takes place at the end of Time, when the Sun slowly fades and the laws of the Universe themselves fail, with the science becoming indistinguishable from magic. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ...

Smith's most important short story is perhaps his first-published, "Scanners Live in Vain", which led many of its earliest readers to assume that "Cordwainer Smith" was a new pen name for one of the established giants of the genre. It was selected as one of the best SF short stories of the pre-Nebula Award period by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and appeared in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume One, 1929-1964. The Nebula is an award given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the two previous years. ... Science Fiction Writers of America, or SFWA (pronounced siff-wah or seff-wah), was founded in 1965 by Damon Knight. ... The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume One, 1929-1964, first published by Doubleday in 1970 and subsequently reprinted by Orb, is a one volume anthology of the greatest Science Fiction stories of all time, as chosen by the members of the Science Fiction Writers of America, edited by Robert...

Linebarger's stories feature strange and vivid creations, such as:

• Planet Norstrilia, a semi-arid planet where an immortality drug is harvested from gigantic virus-infected sheep, each weighing more than 100 tons
• The punishment world of Shayol (cf. Sheol), where criminals are punished by the regrowth and harvesting of their organs for transplanting in the manner of Prometheus's punishment
• Planoforming spacecraft, which are crewed by humans telepathically linked with cats and which defend themselves against the attacks of unknown malevolent entities in space with the flash of small atomic weapons (these entities are perceived by humans as dragons, and by cats as gigantic rats)
• The Underpeople, animals modified genetically into human form to fulfill servile roles, and treated as property. Several stories feature clandestine efforts to liberate the underpeople and grant them equal rights. They are seen everywhere throughout regions controlled by the Instrumentality.
• Habermen and their supervisors, Scanners, whose sensory nerves have been cut to block the "pain of space", and who perceive only by vision and various life-support implants. Other modes of perception can be temporarily restored to scanners by "cranching".

Norstrilia is the only novel published by Paul Linebarger under the pseudonym Cordwainer Smith. ... Sheol (שאול) is the Hebrew language word denoting the abode of the dead; the underworld, grave or pit. In the Hebrew Bible it is portrayed as a comfortless place beneath the earth, beyond gates, where both the bad and the good, slave and king, pious and wicked must go after death... This article is about the mythological figure; for other uses, see Prometheus (disambiguation). ... Ariane 5 lifts off with the Rosetta space probe on March 2, 2004. ... Nerves (yellow)    Nerves redirects here. ...

Published non-fiction works

American University (AU) is an internationally-known private university in the United States located at Ward Circle, straddling the Spring Valley and American University Park areas of Northwest Washington, D.C. Roughly 5,000 undergraduate students and the same number of graduate students are currently enrolled. ...

External links

• The Remarkable Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith Maintained by his daughter Rosana.
• Cordwainer Smith at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Personal data on Paul Linebarger
• Arlington National Cemetery: Linebarger
• Unofficial Cordwainer Smith Biography Page