Paul Van Herck
Paul Van Herck was a Belgian writer born on May 19, 1938, in Berchem, near Antwerp, where he spent most of his life. He worked as a schoolteacher and gained local fame through his radio plays for the Dutch national broadcasting company, particularly in the science-fiction genre. Van Herck’s literary contributions include a collection of short stories titled "De Cirkels," published in 1965, and notable works such as the celebrated novel "Sam, of der Pluterdag," which won the Europa Award at the first European Science Fiction Convention in 1972. This novel, satirizing social inequality through the concept of an extra day reserved for the elite, was translated into English as "Where Were You Last Pluterday?" His other significant work, "Caroline, O Caroline," offered a satirical alternative history involving Adolf Hitler and was successful in French but not translated into English. Despite his impactful contributions to European science fiction, including various short stories and novellas, his career was tragically cut short by his death in 1989. Van Herck remains an important figure in the genre, particularly in the context of continental European literature.
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Paul Van Herck
Fiction Writer
- Born: May 19, 1938
- Birthplace: Berchem, near Antwerp, Belgium
- Died: 1989
Biography
Paul van Herck was born on May 19, 1938, in Berchem, near Antwerp, Belgium. He remained in the vicinity throughout his life. He married and had children while working in the city as a schoolteacher. His local celebrity was primarily based on radio plays he wrote for the Dutch national broadcasting company, most of which were science-fiction tales, but his international reputation was based on his novels and short stories. His first book was the short-story collection De Cirkels, published in 1965, one of whose inclusions, the fabular vignette “Regen,” was translated into English as “Rain” in New Worlds from the Lowlands (1982) edited by Manuel van Loggem.
The only other short story by van Herck to be translated into English was “Parallel Worlds,” originally published in 1978, which appeared in Richard Nolane’s Terra SF in 1981, although he wrote many others, ranging from “Conseil de guerre,” published in Atalanta in 1966 to the novella De Spin met de tien Poten (1986). He made several notable contributions to the Dutch science-fiction magazine Apollo, including the novella “Apollo XXI” (1973).
Van Herck’s most widely translated work was his first novel, which won the Europa Award at the first European Science Fiction Convention in 1972, Sam, of der Pluterdag, originally published in 1968 and translated into English for Donald A. Wollheim’s DAW Books as Where Were You Last Pluterday? by Danny de Laet and Willy Magiels. The story is an enterprising satire in which the world’s social elite have the privilege of an extra day in the week, reserved for their sole use, and Earth is infested with little green men from Mars. The novel was also successful in French and German translations.
Van Herck’s other novel, Caroline, O Caroline, was equally successful in French translation, but was not translated into English. (DAW’s translations were never commercially successful, although they established a significant archive of translated European science fiction.) Caroline, O Caroline is a striking satirical comedy of alternative history featuring the very different career followed by Adolf Hitler in a twentieth century resulting from a historical sequence instituted when the battle of Waterloo had a different outcome. Along with his radio plays, his work in text form established Van Herck as one of the most significant writers of science fiction in continental Europe, but his flourishing career was interrupted by his relatively early demise in 1989.