Pat Frank
| Pat Frank | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Harry Hart Frank Jr. May 5, 1907 Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| Died | October 12, 1964 (aged 57) Jacksonville, Florida, USA |
| Occupation | Journalist and author |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | American |
| Citizenship | United States of America |
| Alma mater | University of Florida |
| Notable work(s) | Alas, Babylon, Mr. Adam |
| Children | Perry Frank Patrick Frank |
Pat Frank (May 5, 1907 – October 12, 1964) is the pen name of the American writer, newspaperman, and government consultant Harry Hart Frank.[1] Frank's best known work is the 1959 post-apocalyptic novel Alas, Babylon. His other books include Mr. Adam and Forbidden Area.
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[edit] Biography
Frank was born in Chicago in 1907. Frank spent many years as a journalist and information handler for several newspapers, agencies, and government bureaus.[2] During his early career, he lived mainly in New York and Washington (and service overseas during World War II, when he worked for the Office of War Information and was a correspondent in Italy, Austria, Germany, and Turkey). He died on October 12, 1964 in Jacksonville, Florida, age 57, of acute pancreatitis.[3]
[edit] Works
Nearly all men are sterile in Mr. Adam (1946), Frank's first published work. His other novels include Hold Back the Night, An Affair of State, and Forbidden Area. Frank's experiences reporting on the Korean War are described in his autobiographical travelogue The Long Way Round and influenced Hold Back the Night.
Frank wrote his most popular work, the post-apocalyptic novel Alas, Babylon, while living in Tangerine, Florida, on Lake Beauclaire near Mount Dora. Vivian Owens, an author familiar with local history, states that "Pistolville," the name Frank gave to an area near Fort Repose in the novel, was in fact a location situated just between the southern edge of Mount Dora to its north and Tangerine to its south.[4] According to Owens, greater Mount Dora was intended by Frank to be the model for his semi-fictional Fort Repose.[5]
Frank also authored a 160 page non-fiction book, How To Survive the H Bomb And Why (1962).
His short story "The Girl Who Almost Got Away" was the basis for the Howard Hawk's movie Man's Favorite Sport.
Frank received the American Heritage Foundation Award in 1961.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Notes
- ^ "Milestones: Oct. 23, 1964". Time Magazine. 23 October 1964. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,897355,00.html. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
- ^ "Pat Frank". HarperCollinsPublishers. http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/3279/Pat_Frank/index.aspx?authorID=3279. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
- ^ "Pat Frank Biography". The New York Times. http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=212183&mod=bio.
- ^ Owens 2000, p. ?.
- ^ "Alas, Babylon: Mount Dora, Florida.". Everything2.com. 18 October 2006. http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1226500. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
- Bibliography
- Owens, Vivian W. The Mount Dorans: African American History Notes of a Florida Town. Waynesboro, VA: Eschar Publications, 2000. ISBN 0962383988.
