Keith Roberts
Keith Roberts was an English author born in 1935 in Kettering, Northamptonshire, known for his contributions to the science fiction genre. Initially focused on visual arts, he earned a diploma in design before transitioning to writing, where he penned over one hundred short stories, with his first published piece appearing in 1964. Roberts' writing style was distinctive; he constructed novels from interconnected novellas rather than intricate plots, which set him apart from many of his contemporaries. His notable works often explored post-holocaust themes and alternate histories, with "Pavanne" being highly regarded for its imaginative portrayal of a world where the Reformation never occurred. Despite his unique voice and winning the British Science Fiction Award four times, Roberts struggled with commercial success and faced challenges later in life, including a battle with multiple sclerosis, which affected his morale. He continued to write until his death in 2000, leaving behind a legacy that is recognized for its individuality and thought-provoking nature, even as it remains less well-known in the broader literary landscape.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Keith Roberts
- Born: September 20, 1935
- Birthplace: Kettering, Northamptonshire, England
- Died: October 5, 2000
- Place of death: Salisbury, Wiltshire, England
Biography
Keith Roberts was born in Kettering, Northamptonshire, England, in 1935. His early interests lay in the visual arts; he earned a diploma in design from the Northampton School of Art in 1956 and studied at Leicester College of Art for a year. His first jobs, in advertising and at an animated film company, were art-related. Roberts started his writing career with short stories, eventually writing more than one hundred. His first published story, “Escapism,” appeared in the September, 1964, Science Fantasy. This magazine, later titled SF Impulse, boosted his career in several ways. Besides being a market for many of his early stories, it offered him paying cover-art assignments, and eventually he served as its editor.
Unlike most writers, who design a larger or more intricate plot, interweaving its elements for their novels’ structure, Roberts built his novels with more-or-less independent novellas or tales. Even with this peculiarity, he wrote some books that are counted major achievements of British science fiction, although they never attracted a large audience or commercial success.
Two other features typified his major work. One is the post- holocaust premise following an extraordinary disaster, a frequent type of science-fiction tale in the post-World War II era. Roberts’s The Furies falls into this class, as does his later Kiteworld. The latter book tells of a society built around a Kitecorps organized for defense, a idea somewhat reminiscent of Anne McCaffrey’s dragon riders, but in a much darker world. The other common thread in Roberts’s work is history. Alternate histories, future history, and the prehistoric connections of British landscape and culture all typify his work. Pavanne, his second novel and often considered his best, shows a world in which the Reformation never happened, and steam- powered road wagons are the peak of technology.
Roberts’s spirits and reputation, never robust, took a turn for the worse in the late 1980’s. Always a difficult writer to deal with, his constant suspicion of his publishers and editors seems to have collided with new trends, which made a marginally selling curmudgeon’s work hardly worth handling. Kerosina, a small press founded by science-fiction readers, picked up some of his newer work. In 1990, Roberts discovered he had multiple sclerosis. This was nearly the last blow to his morale. He did manage to write and publish a memoir and some further fiction in the next decade, but his outlook grew steadily gloomier. He died in 2000.
Roberts won the British Science Fiction Award four times. His other recognitions were all given for his short fiction: Nebula nominations for several novellas. An article in British Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers Since 1960 concludes that Roberts’s obscurity shows the price of always following his own vision. While neglected, his work stands as unique and thought-provoking.