Draft:Patrick Wonderland

Patrick Wonderland

Patrick Wonderland
Born	1891.07.08 Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Died	1956.07.14 Douai, France
Occupation	Novelist
Years active	1916-1938

Patrick Wonderland (08.07.1891, Boston, Massachusetts, USA - 14.07.1956, Douai, France) – american novelist, best known for his novel "Generation of Ether".

Biography

Patrick was born in Boston in a middle-class family. His father, Jonathan Wonderland, was an ophthalmologist and the mother, Mary Wonderland,was a literature teacher at Boston Latin School. The family had three children: Patrick was the youngest child in the family. Patrick Wonderland studied at Harvard, where he attended social sciences courses: sociology and anthropology. After his studies, he moved to Los Angeles, where he began his writing career.

Personal life

In 1917, after moving to Los Angeles, he met his future wife, Emma Miller, with whom gave birth to two daughters: Bertha and Mary. The couple divorced in 1936.

Writing activity

The first book that brought Patrick Wonderland wide popularity and money was the science fiction novel "Generation of Ether". It's a fairly commercial book about a future where scientists discovered a new form of energy called "ether," produced by a mysterious substance that's supposed to permeate the entire universe. The main character, a young inventor called Jonathan Webb, becomes part of an experiment that aims to use the ether to create the first interplanetary spaceship.

The following period of his writing activity was based on different genres like autofiction and stream of consciousness. "Shadows Within" is a book about a woman who abandoned her baby child, and many years later, she returns to her hometown after the death of her mother and gradually begins to realize that her past did not leave her. The text is a continuous flow of thoughts, where memories of the child intertwine with feelings of guilt, justification, fears and questions to oneself.

Another example of Patrick's work during this period is "Calm before the Storm". The life of the main character, John Harper, encompasses deep uncertainty: job loss, financial problems, social isolation, and the breakdown of traditional family values. The text is presented as a continuous stream of John's thoughts that reveal fears, doubts, losses and despair. Through disordered thoughts, he analyzes his place in society, thinks about the male role and the loss of identity that he previously associated to his work and the ability to provide for the family.

Wonderland's works are often marked by a gloomy mood. In his pieces of art, he combines scientific knowledge with deep philosophical reflections, and this very combination makes his books very fascinating for readers. The influence of the ideas of the Buddhist philosophy is felt in his books.

The ones written in this period were not as successful as his first tales; this leads the writer back to science fiction. The novel "Quanta" is written in a fairly short period of time in the fall of 1938 during a trip to Europe under the influence of pre-war sentiments. The novel takes place in a hotel in Swiss Alps in 1938 and in 2024 and revolves around the disappearance of the Italian physicist Ettore Majorana. “Quanta” was published with Édition de Minuit — small french publishing house, in only 100 copies, most of them desappeared. "Quantа" was the last book written by the author.

Patrick Wonderland moved to the French city of Douai where he started teaching English at the Lycée Jean-Baptiste Corot à Douai and never returned to America.

Novels

• "Generation of Ether" (1916)
• "Shadows Within" (1920)
• "Calm before the Storm" (1923)
• "Endless August" (1927)
• "Edge of Silence" (1934)
• "Quanta" (1938)