Charles G. Finney
Charles G. Finney was an American author born in Sedalia, Missouri, who gained prominence for his novel, *The Circus of Dr. Lao*, published in 1935. After attending the University of Missouri, he served in the U.S. Army and worked at the Arizona Daily Star, where he rose through the editorial ranks. Finney's literary career is marked by his unique blend of satire and fantasy, particularly evident in *The Circus of Dr. Lao*, which earned the National Booksellers Award for originality and was later adapted into the film *The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao* in 1964. He published additional works, including *The Unholy City* and *Past the End of the Pavement*, and later, short stories set in the fictitious town of Manacle, Arizona. Finney's writing style has been associated with influential literary movements, and while often regarded as a one-book author, *The Circus of Dr. Lao* has maintained a dedicated following and is recognized for its impact on subsequent authors like Ray Bradbury. Finney's exploration of themes in his works reflects a distinctive voice and a significant contribution to American literature before his passing in 1984.
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Charles G. Finney
Fiction Writer
- Born: December 1, 1905
- Birthplace: Sedalia, Missouri
- Died: April 16, 1984
Biography
Charles G. Finney was born in Sedalia, Missouri, the son of Norton J, Finney, a railroad superintendent, and Florence (Bell) Finney. He attended the University of Missouri in 1925, and served in the U. S. Army from 1927 to 1930, with a stint in Tienstin, China, as part of the Fifteenth Infantry Division. Upon his return to the United States, he began his long career at the Arizona Daily Star, in Tucson, Arizona. He initially was a proofreader and was later promoted to several editorial positions, eventually serving as financial editor from 1965 to 1970. Finney married Marie Doyle in 1939, and they had two daughters, Sheila and Felice.
His most famous work, The Circus of Dr. Lao, was begun in China. Published in 1935, with memorable illustrations by Boris Artzybasheff, it won the National Booksellers Award for the most original novel of 1935. It was later adapted for film as The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao in 1964. The film is generally derided by readers who love the novel and praised by others who enjoy the special effects created by director George Pal.
Two more novels followed quickly: The Unholy City in 1937, another fantastic satire, this one about a downed airman in a mythical city, and Past the End of the Pavement in 1939, a semiautobiographical novel about growing up in a small town. Finley did not produce any new work for about a decade, but he published stories during the 1950’s and 1960’s that were set in the fictitious town of Manacle, Arizona, and collected in The Ghosts of Manacle (1964). One story, “The Life and Death of a Western Gladiator,” about a rattlesnake, was turned into a television documentary in 1976. Finney’s memoir of his days in China, The Old China Hands, was published in 1962. His last work of long fiction,The Magician out of Manchuria, was published along with a reissue of The Unholy City in 1968.
Finney died in 1984. He is, perhaps unfairly, fated to be known as a one-book author but that book, The Circus of Dr. Lao, has maintained a steady cult status since its publication. A product of the period in American literature that produced such satirical fantasists as James Branch Cabell, Thorne Smith, and John Collier, The Circus of Dr. Lao is more than the sum of its satirical parts; some critics have seen premature signs of magic realism in its descriptions or postmodernism in its narrative presentation. It was certainly influential; one cannot imagine certain aspects of Ray Bradbury’s fiction without it, and Finney’s traces have been detected in the works of R. A. Lafferty and Avram Davidson. In the end, though, Finney’s voice remains uniquely his own.