View source for Damon Knight

{{Short description|American science fiction writer, editor and critic (1922–2002)}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name = Damon Knight
| image = 
| imagesize =
| caption = Damon Knight
| pseudonym   = Conanight, Stuart Fleming{{efn|[[Futurians]] Chester Cohen and Knight used the name Conanight jointly for two 1942 illustrations. Knight wrote three 1943–1944 short stories as Stuart Fleming.<ref name="isfdb ..." />}}
| birth_name  = Damon Francis Knight
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1922|09|19}}
| birth_place = [[Baker City, Oregon]], U.S.
| death_date  = {{death date and age|2002|04|15|1922|09|19}}
| death_place = [[Eugene, Oregon]], U.S.
| occupation  = {{flatlist|
* Author
* editor
* critic
}}
| period      = 1940–2002
| genre       = Science fiction, primarily [[short stories]]
| subject     =
| movement    =
| notableworks =
| spouse      = {{plainlist|
{{marriage|Helen M. Schlaz|1960}}
{{marriage|[[Kate Wilhelm]]|1963}}
}}
| signature =
| website = {{URL|DamonKnightLibrary.com}}
}}
[[File:If 195501.jpg|thumb|right|Knight's novella "The Earth Quarter" was the cover story of the January 1955 issue of ''[[If (magazine)|If]]'']]
[[File:Galaxy 196304.jpg|thumb|right|Knight's novella "The Visitor at the Zoo" took the cover of the April 1963 issue of ''[[Galaxy Science Fiction]]'']]

'''Damon Francis Knight''' (September 19, 1922 – April 15, 2002) was an American [[science fiction author]], editor, and [[literary criticism|critic]].  He is the author of "[[To Serve Man (short story)|To Serve Man]]", a 1950 short story [[film adaptation|adapted]] for ''[[The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]''.<ref name="DBTZ">Stanyard, ''Dimensions Behind the Twilight Zone'', p.&nbsp;51.</ref>  He was married to fellow writer [[Kate Wilhelm]].

==Biography==
Knight was born in [[Baker City, Oregon]], in 1922, and grew up in [[Hood River, Oregon]]. He entered science-fiction fandom at the age of eleven and published two issues of a fanzine titled ''Snide''.<ref name="oregonencyclopedia.org">{{cite web|last=Battistella|first=Edwin|title=Damon Knight (1922-2002)|url=http://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/knight_damon_1922_2002_/|publisher=The Oregon Encyclopedia|access-date=31 July 2012}}</ref>

Knight's first professional sale was a cartoon drawing to a science-fiction magazine, ''[[Amazing Stories]]''.<ref name=HC>Knight, "Knight Piece," Brian W. Aldiss & Harry Harrison, ''Hell's Cartographers'', Orbit Books, 1976, p.&nbsp;105.</ref>  His first story, "The Itching Hour", appeared in the Summer 1940 number of ''[[Futuria Fantasia]]'', edited and published by [[Ray Bradbury]].<ref name="isfdb ..." />  "Resilience" followed in the February 1941 number of ''Stirring Science Stories'', edited by [[Donald A. Wollheim]].<ref name="isfdb ..." />  An editorial error made the latter story's ending incomprehensible;<ref name=SFWAGM3>Pohl, ''SFWA Grand Masters Volume Three'', p.&nbsp;202.</ref> it was reprinted in a 1978 magazine in four pages with a two-page introduction by Knight.<ref name="isfdb ..." /><!--http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?161451-->

At the time of his first story sale he was living in New York and was a member of the [[Futurians]].<ref name=SFE3_DK/> One of his short stories describes paranormal disruption of a science fiction fan group and contains cameo appearances of various Futurians and others under thinly-disguised names; for instance, non-Futurian SF writer [[H. Beam Piper]] is identified as "H. Dreyne Fifer".

Knight's forte was the [[short story]]; he is widely acknowledged as having been a master of the genre.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Best of Damon Knight|publisher=[[Nelson Doubleday]]|year=1976|editor-last=Malzberg|editor-first=Barry N.|editor-link=Barry N. Malzberg}}
</ref>  To the general public he is best known as the author of "[[To Serve Man (short story)|To Serve Man]]", a 1950 short story [[film adaptation|adapted]] for ''[[The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]''.<ref name="DBTZ" />  It won a 50-year [[Retro-Hugo]] in 2001 as the best short story of 1950.<ref name="SFAwards" /> Knight was also a science fiction critic, a career which began when he wrote in 1945 that [[A. E. van Vogt]] "is not a giant as often maintained. He's only a pygmy who has learned to operate an overgrown typewriter."<ref name="oregonencyclopedia.org"/> He ceased reviewing when ''[[Fantasy & Science Fiction]]'' refused to publish his review of [[Judith Merril]]'s novel ''[[The Tomorrow People (novel)|The Tomorrow People]]''.<ref name="budrys196712">{{Cite magazine
 |last=Budrys
 |first=Algis
 |date=December 1967
 |title=Galaxy Bookshelf
 |url=https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v26n02_1967-12_modified#page/n113/mode/2up
 |magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction
 |pages=187–194
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Knight |first1=Damon |title=[[In Search of Wonder|In Search of Wonder: Essays on Modern Science Fiction]] |chapter=Author's Notes; To the Second Edition |date=2016 |publisher=ReAnimus Press |location=Golden, Colorado |isbn=9781539833697 |pages=20, 260 |edition=3rd |quote=I resigned as ''F&SF''{{'}}s book reviewer in 1960 because the then editor, now my agent and a good friend, declined to publish one of my reviews as written. (The review in question appears here for the first time, in Chapter 10 [The Tomorrow People].)}}</ref> These reviews were later collected in ''[[In Search of Wonder]]''.<ref name=SFE3_DK/>

[[Algis Budrys]] wrote that Knight and "William Atheling Jr." ([[James Blish]]) had "transformed the reviewer's trade in the field",<ref name="budrys196506">{{Cite magazine
 |last=Budrys
 |first=Algis
 |date=June 1965
 |title=Galaxy Bookshelf
 |url=https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v23n05_1965-06#page/n163/mode/2up
 |magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction
 |pages=164–169
}}</ref> in Knight's case "without the guidance of his own prior example".{{r|budrys196712}} The term "[[idiot plot]]", a story that only functions because almost everyone in it is an idiot, became well known through Knight's frequent use of it in his reviews, though he believed the term was probably invented by Blish.<ref name="SOS">Gary K. Wolfe, "Coming to Terms", in Gunn & Candelaria, ''Speculations on Speculation'', p.&nbsp;18.</ref> Knight's only non-Retro-Hugo Award was for "Best Reviewer" in 1956.<ref name="SFAwards" />

Knight was the founder of the [[Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America]] (SFWA),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sfwa.org/about/history-and-statistics/|title=Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America History and Statistics|publisher=Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc|access-date=1 October 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003123251/http://www.sfwa.org/about/history-and-statistics/|archive-date=3 October 2011}}</ref> cofounder of the [[National Fantasy Fan Federation]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.n3f.org/N3Fhistory.shtml#2.13 |title=The History of N3F |publisher=The National Fantasy Fan Federation |access-date=1 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927112131/http://www.n3f.org/N3Fhistory.shtml |archive-date=27 September 2011 }}</ref> cofounder of the [[Milford Writer's Workshop]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.milfordsf.co.uk/history.htm|title=Milford History|publisher=Milford Speculative Fiction Writers|access-date=1 October 2011|archive-date=10 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220810212534/http://milfordsf.co.uk/history.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> and cofounder of the [[Clarion Writers Workshop]].<ref name="SFE3_RSW">{{cite web|url=http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/wilson_robin_scott|title=Robin Scott Wilson|publisher=Gollancz/SFE Ltd.|access-date=15 October 2011}}</ref>  The SFWA officers and past presidents named Knight its 13th Grand Master in 1994 (presented 1995).  After his death, the associated award was renamed the [[Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award]] in his honor.<ref name=SFAwards/><ref name=SFE3_DK/><ref name=SFWA/>  The [[EMP Museum#Science Fiction Hall of Fame|Science Fiction Hall of Fame]] inducted him in 2003.<ref name=sfhof-old/>

Until his death, Knight lived in [[Eugene, Oregon]], with his second wife, author [[Kate Wilhelm]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/17/obituaries/17KNIG.html|title=Damon Knight, 79, Writer and Editor of Science Fiction, Dies|date=17 April 2002|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>  His papers are held in the University of Oregon Special Collections and University Archive.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://around.uoregon.edu/story/academics/celebrating-csws-40th-le-guin-feminist-science-fiction-fellowship|title = Celebrating CSWS 40th with the le Guin Feminist Science Fiction Fellowship|date = 7 July 2013}}</ref>

==Selected works==
{{Main|Damon Knight bibliography}}

===Novels===
* ''[[Hell's Pavement]]'' (1955)
* ''[[A for Anything]]'' (1961) (original version titled ''The People Maker'', 1959)
* ''[[Masters of Evolution]]'' (1959)
* ''[[The Sun Saboteurs]]'' (1961)
* ''[[Beyond the Barrier]]'' (1964)
* ''[[Mind Switch]]'' (1965)
* ''[[The Rithian Terror|Double Meaning]]'' (1965)
* ''[[The Sun Saboteurs|The Earth Quarter]]'' (1970)
* ''World without Children'' (1970)
* ''The World and Thorinn'' (1980)
* ''[[The Man in the Tree]]'' (1984)
* ''[[CV (novel)|CV]]'' (1985)
* ''[[The Observers]]'' (1988)
* ''A Reasonable World'' (1991)
* ''God's Nose'' (1991)
* ''Why Do Birds'' (1992)
* ''Humpty Dumpty: An Oval'' (1996)

===Short stories and other writings===
* "The Third Little Green Man" (1948)
* "PS's Feature Flash" (1948)
* "[[Not with a Bang (short story)|Not with a Bang]]" (1949)
* "The Star Beast" (1949)
* "[[To Serve Man (short story)|To Serve Man]]" (1950)
* "Ask Me Anything" (1951)
* "Don't Live in the Past" (1951)
* "Cabin Boy" (1951)
* "Catch that Martian" (1952)
* "The Analogues" (1952)
* "Beachcomber" (1952)
* "Ticket to Anywhere" (1952)
* "Anachron" (1953)
* "[[Babel II (short story)|Babel II]]" (1953)
* "Four in One" (1953)
* "[[Special Delivery (short story)|Special Delivery]]" (1953)
* "Natural State" (1954)
* "Rule Golden" (1954)
* "[[The Country of the Kind]]" (1955)
* "[[Dulcie and Decorum]]" (1955)
* "[[You're Another]]" (1955)
* "This Way to the Regress" (1956)
* "[[Extempore (short story)|Extempore]]" (1956)
* "[[The Last Word (Knight short story)|The Last Word]]" (1956)
* "Stranger Station" (1956)
* "Dio" (1957)
* "The Dying Man" (1957)
* "An Eye for a What?" (1957)
* "[[The Enemy (short story)|The Enemy]]" (1958)
* "[[Be My Guest (short story)|Be My Guest]]" (1958)
* "Eripmav" (1958)
* "[[Idiot Stick]]" (1958)
* "[[Thing of Beauty (short story)|Thing of Beauty]]" (1958)
* "To Be Continued" (1959)
* "The Handler" (1960)
* "[[Time Enough]]" (1960)
* "Auto-Da-Fe" (1961)
* ''A Century of Science Fiction'' (1962) (editor)
* "The Visitor at the Zoo" (1963)
* "The Big Pat Boom" (1963)
* "An Ancient Madness" (1964)
* ''God's Nose'' (1964)
* ''Maid to Measure'' (1964)
* "[[Shall the Dust Praise Thee?]]" (1967)
* "[[Masks (short story)|Masks]]'" (1968)
* "The Star Below" (1968)
* ''I See You'' (1976)
* ''Forever'' (1981)
* ''O'' (1983)
* ''Point of View'' (1985) (illustrated by [[Chris Van Allsburg]])
* ''Strangers on Paradise'' (1986)
* ''Not a Creature'' (1993)
* ''Fortyday'' (1994)
* ''Life Edit'' (1996)
* "Double Meaning"
* "In the Beginning"

===Literary criticism and analysis===
* ''[[In Search of Wonder]]'' (1956) (collected reviews and critical pieces)
* ''Creating Short Fiction'' (1981) (advice on writing short stories)
* ''Turning Points'' (editor/contributor: critical anthology)
* ''[[Orbit (anthology series)|Orbit]]'' (editor)
* ''The Futurians'' (1977, memoir/history)

===Short story collections===
* ''[[Far Out (book)|Far Out]]'' (1961) (contains "[[To Serve Man (short story)|To Serve Man]]")
* ''[[In Deep (book)|In Deep]]'' (1963) (contains "[[The Country of the Kind]]")
* ''[[Off Center (short story collection)|Off Center]]'' (1965) (contains "[[Be My Guest (short story)|Be My Guest]]")
* ''[[Turning On]]'' (1966)

==See also==
{{Portal-inline|Speculative fiction/Science fiction}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist |25em |refs=
<ref name="isfdb ...">
{{ISFDB name |633}} (ISFDB). Retrieved 2013-04-04.</ref>
<ref name=SFE3_DK>
{{cite web | url = http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/Entry/knight_damon | title=Damon Knight| access-date = 15 October 2011 |publisher=Gollancz/SFE Ltd.}}</ref>

<!-- some awards refs -->
<ref name=SFAwards>
{{cite web
 |url=http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NomLit72.html#2895 
 |title=Knight, Damon 
 |work=The Locus Index to SF Awards: Index to Literary Nominees 
 |publisher=[[Locus Publications]] 
 |access-date=2013-04-04 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016202109/http://locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NomLit72.html 
 |archive-date=2012-10-16 
}}</ref>
<ref name=SFWA>
{{cite web |url= http://www.sfwa.org/nebula-awards/nebula-weekend/events-program/grandmaster/ |title= Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master |publisher= Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) |access-date= 2013-04-04 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130308182313/http://www.sfwa.org/nebula-awards/nebula-weekend/events-program/grandmaster/ |archive-date= 2013-03-08 }}</ref>
<ref name=sfhof-old>
 {{cite web
 |url=http://www.midamericon.org/halloffame/ 
 |title=Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame 
 |publisher=Mid American Science Fiction and Fantasy Conventions, Inc. 
 |access-date=2013-03-22 
 |quote=This was the official website of the hall of fame to 2004 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521070009/http://www.midamericon.org/halloffame/ 
 |archive-date=May 21, 2013 
}}</ref>

}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book |last1= Aldiss |first1= Brian W. |last2= Harrison |first2= Harry |date= 1976 |title= Hell's Cartographers |location= London |publisher= Futura |isbn= 0-86007-907-4 |ref=none }}
*{{cite book |last1= Gunn |first1= James E. |last2= Candelaria |first2= Matthew |date= 2005 |title= Speculations on Speculation: Theories of Science Fiction |location= Lanham, MD |publisher= [[Scarecrow Press]] |isbn= 0-8108-4902-X |ref=none }}
*{{cite book |last= Pohl |first= Frederik |date= 2002 |title= The SFWA Grand Masters |volume=  3 |location= New York |publisher= Macmillan |isbn= 0-312-86876-6 |ref=none }}
*{{cite book |last= Stanyard |first= Stewart T. |date= 2006 |title= Dimensions Behind the Twilight Zone: A Backstage Tribute to Television's Groundbreaking Series |location= Chicago |publisher= [[ECW Press]] |isbn= 978-1-55022-744-4 |ref=none }}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
*[http://DamonKnightLibrary.com Damon Knight – Official Website]
* {{Gutenberg author | id=25414| name=Damon Knight}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Damon Francis Knight}}
* {{Librivox author |id=957}}
* {{sfhof|940|Damon Knight}}
* {{ISFDB name|633}}
* {{cite web |url= http://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/k/knight_d.htm |title= Damon Knight papers |publisher= [[Syracuse University]] }}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.archive.sfwa.org/news/knight.htm |publisher=[[Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America|SFWA]] |title=Obituary |date=April 17, 2002 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811182249/http://archive.sfwa.org/news/knight.htm |archive-date=2011-08-11 }}
* {{cite web |url= http://www.locusmag.com/2002/News/News04Log.html |work= News Log |title= Obituary |date= April 15, 2002 |publisher= Locus |quote= Complete obituary follows in May issue }}
* {{LCAuth|n79108377|Damon Knight|60|}}
{{Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Awards}}{{Retro Hugo Award Best Short Story}}{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Damon}}
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:2002 deaths]]
[[Category:American science fiction writers]]
[[Category:Futurians]]
[[Category:Hugo Award–winning writers]]
[[Category:Writers from Eugene, Oregon]]
[[Category:SFWA Grand Masters]]
[[Category:American science fiction critics]]
[[Category:American science fiction editors]]
[[Category:Science Fiction Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:Novelists from Oregon]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:American male short story writers]]
[[Category:People from Hood River, Oregon]]
[[Category:20th-century American short story writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association]]