Zenna Henderson
Encyclopedia
Zenna Chlarson Henderson (November 1, 1917 – May 11, 1983) was an American
science fiction and fantasy
novella and short story author, and an elementary school teacher.
, the daughter of Louis Rudolph Chlarson and Emily Vernell Rowley. She received a bachelor of arts in education from Arizona State College
in 1940, and taught school in the Tucson area. She also taught in France, as well as to Japanese-American children in a Japanese relocation camp in Sacaton, Arizona
, during World War II
. She married Richard Harry Henderson in 1943, but they were divorced seven years later.
Henderson was one of the first female science fiction
authors, and never used a male pen name. Although her work could not be considered feminist, Henderson was one of the few writers in the 1950s and 1960s writing science fiction from a female perspective. She began reading science fiction at age 12 from magazines such as Astounding Stories, Amazing Stories
, and fantasy from Weird Tales
.
The standard reference Contemporary Authors lists her religion as Methodist, though there is no known record of her being a member of any Methodist church. She was born and baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But after her marriage, she was no longer a churchgoing Latter-day Saint, though she never renounced her membership. In an interview, she stated that she often included religious themes because her readers, particularly her young readers, liked them. She felt it was good to offer a word for "Our Sponsor" in her stories. In her later years, she attended an independent charismatic fellowship.
Zenna Henderson died of cancer in 1983 in Tucson, Arizona
, and was buried in the St. David Cemetery, St. David, Arizona
.
, humanoid beings from a faraway planet who are forced to emigrate to (among other places) Earth when their home world is destroyed in a natural disaster. Scattered mostly throughout the American Southwest during their landing before 1900, they are set apart by their desire to preserve their home culture, including their religious and spiritual beliefs. Their unusual abilities ("Gifts") include telepathy
, telekinesis, prophecy
and healing, mostly manipulated through the "Signs and Persuasions". The stories describe groups of The People, as well as lonely isolated individuals, most often as they attempt to find communities and remain distinct in a world that does not understand them. This aspect of individuality was a common theme in most of Henderson's writing. New York Times reviewer Basil Davenport described the stories as "haunting". Aldiss and Wingrove
noted that "As a sentimental portrait of the alien [the series] out-Simaks Simak
."
Beginning with Ararat (1952), Henderson's People stories appeared in magazines and anthologies, as well as the novelized Pilgrimage: The Book of the People (1961) and The People: No Different Flesh (1966). Other volumes include The People Collection (1991) and Ingathering: The Complete People Stories (1995).
Unlike the People stories, a more bitter, angry tone can be seen in stories collected in two volumes, The Anything Box and Holding Wonder, which in particular uses elementary teachers as narrators. She touches on mental illness in several tales, including obsessive-compulsive disorder
in "Swept and Garnished", and agoraphobia
in "Incident After". In "One Of Them", a woman's latent telepathic powers cause her to lose her identity as she unwittingly probes the minds of her co-workers. In "The Believing Child", a young daughter of a migrant worker believes so strongly in an imaginary magic word that its powers come true; she then uses her newfound powers to take revenge on her abusive classmates. And in "You Know What, Teacher?" a young girl confides in her teacher of her father's philandering, and of her mother's plan for revenge.
In the short story "The Closest School", a xenophobic school board president reaches outside himself to admit a gentle child who happens to be a furry, purple 14-eyed alien.
-TV Movie, The People, starring William Shatner
, Kim Darby
and Diane Varsi
, and following the story of a group of humanoid extraterrestrials who live in an isolated rural community. It was the directorial debut for John Korty
and was produced by his sometime partner Francis Ford Coppola
.
in 1959 for her novelette Captivity, and remains a favorite author of many science fiction fans worldwide, despite the fact that her books were long out of print until the 1995 release of Ingathering: The Complete People Stories of Zenna Henderson, published by the New England Science Fiction Association Press.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
science fiction and fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
novella and short story author, and an elementary school teacher.
Biography
Henderson was born in 1917 in Tucson, ArizonaTucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
, the daughter of Louis Rudolph Chlarson and Emily Vernell Rowley. She received a bachelor of arts in education from Arizona State College
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
in 1940, and taught school in the Tucson area. She also taught in France, as well as to Japanese-American children in a Japanese relocation camp in Sacaton, Arizona
Sacaton, Arizona
Sacaton is a census-designated place in Pinal County, Arizona, United States. The population was 1,584 at the 2000 census...
, during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. She married Richard Harry Henderson in 1943, but they were divorced seven years later.
Henderson was one of the first female science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
authors, and never used a male pen name. Although her work could not be considered feminist, Henderson was one of the few writers in the 1950s and 1960s writing science fiction from a female perspective. She began reading science fiction at age 12 from magazines such as Astounding Stories, Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories was an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction...
, and fantasy from Weird Tales
Weird Tales
Weird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine first published in March 1923. It ceased its original run in September 1954, after 279 issues, but has since been revived. The magazine was set up in Chicago by J. C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre....
.
The standard reference Contemporary Authors lists her religion as Methodist, though there is no known record of her being a member of any Methodist church. She was born and baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But after her marriage, she was no longer a churchgoing Latter-day Saint, though she never renounced her membership. In an interview, she stated that she often included religious themes because her readers, particularly her young readers, liked them. She felt it was good to offer a word for "Our Sponsor" in her stories. In her later years, she attended an independent charismatic fellowship.
Zenna Henderson died of cancer in 1983 in Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
, and was buried in the St. David Cemetery, St. David, Arizona
St. David, Arizona
St. David is a census-designated place in Cochise County, Arizona, United States. The population was 1,744 at the 2000 census.-History:...
.
Works
Most of her stories focus on the theme of being different, and often feature children or young people. Most are part of her series on the history of "The People"The People (Zenna Henderson)
"The People", a fictional creation of science-fiction writer Zenna Henderson, are a group of humanoid extraterrestrials who fled their planet's destruction, with many of them marooned on Earth in the American southwest since the late 19th century. They differ from humans mostly in their pacifism...
, humanoid beings from a faraway planet who are forced to emigrate to (among other places) Earth when their home world is destroyed in a natural disaster. Scattered mostly throughout the American Southwest during their landing before 1900, they are set apart by their desire to preserve their home culture, including their religious and spiritual beliefs. Their unusual abilities ("Gifts") include telepathy
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
, telekinesis, prophecy
Prophecy
Prophecy is a process in which one or more messages that have been communicated to a prophet are then communicated to others. Such messages typically involve divine inspiration, interpretation, or revelation of conditioned events to come as well as testimonies or repeated revelations that the...
and healing, mostly manipulated through the "Signs and Persuasions". The stories describe groups of The People, as well as lonely isolated individuals, most often as they attempt to find communities and remain distinct in a world that does not understand them. This aspect of individuality was a common theme in most of Henderson's writing. New York Times reviewer Basil Davenport described the stories as "haunting". Aldiss and Wingrove
David Wingrove
David Wingrove is a British science fiction writer. He is well-known as the author of the Chung Kuo novels . He is also the co-author of the three Myst novels....
noted that "As a sentimental portrait of the alien [the series] out-Simaks Simak
Clifford D. Simak
Clifford Donald Simak was an American science fiction writer. He was honored by fans with three Hugo awards and by colleagues with one Nebula award and was named the third Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1977.-Biography:Clifford Donald Simak was born in...
."
Beginning with Ararat (1952), Henderson's People stories appeared in magazines and anthologies, as well as the novelized Pilgrimage: The Book of the People (1961) and The People: No Different Flesh (1966). Other volumes include The People Collection (1991) and Ingathering: The Complete People Stories (1995).
Unlike the People stories, a more bitter, angry tone can be seen in stories collected in two volumes, The Anything Box and Holding Wonder, which in particular uses elementary teachers as narrators. She touches on mental illness in several tales, including obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive–compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry, by repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety, or by a combination of such obsessions and compulsions...
in "Swept and Garnished", and agoraphobia
Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder defined as a morbid fear of having a panic attack or panic-like symptoms in a situation from which it is perceived to be difficult to escape. These situations can include, but are not limited to, wide-open spaces, crowds, or uncontrolled social conditions...
in "Incident After". In "One Of Them", a woman's latent telepathic powers cause her to lose her identity as she unwittingly probes the minds of her co-workers. In "The Believing Child", a young daughter of a migrant worker believes so strongly in an imaginary magic word that its powers come true; she then uses her newfound powers to take revenge on her abusive classmates. And in "You Know What, Teacher?" a young girl confides in her teacher of her father's philandering, and of her mother's plan for revenge.
In the short story "The Closest School", a xenophobic school board president reaches outside himself to admit a gentle child who happens to be a furry, purple 14-eyed alien.
Adaptions in other media
In 1971, Henderson's story "Pottage" was made into an ABCAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
-TV Movie, The People, starring William Shatner
William Shatner
William Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...
, Kim Darby
Kim Darby
Kim Darby is an American actress perhaps best known for co-starring with John Wayne and country singer/actor Glen Campbell in the 1969 western True Grit.-Early life and film career:...
and Diane Varsi
Diane Varsi
Diane Marie Antonia Varsi was an American film actress best known for her performances in Peyton Place – her film debut, and for which she was nominated for an Academy Award – and the cult film Wild in the Streets...
, and following the story of a group of humanoid extraterrestrials who live in an isolated rural community. It was the directorial debut for John Korty
John Korty
John Korty is an American film director and animator, best known for the television film The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and the documentary Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?, as well as the theatrical animated feature Twice Upon a Time...
and was produced by his sometime partner Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
.
Awards
She was nominated for a Hugo AwardHugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
in 1959 for her novelette Captivity, and remains a favorite author of many science fiction fans worldwide, despite the fact that her books were long out of print until the 1995 release of Ingathering: The Complete People Stories of Zenna Henderson, published by the New England Science Fiction Association Press.
External links
- Zenna Henderson Home Page Unofficial fan page with many commentaries and reviews
- Past Masters - Zenna Henderson by Bud Webster at Galactic Central
- "Zenna" by L. Neil SmithL. Neil SmithL. Neil Smith , also known to readers and fans as El Neil, is a libertarian science fiction author and political activist. He was born on May 12, 1946 in Denver...