|
Walter M. Miller Jr.
| born |
January 23, 1923
|
| died |
January 09, 1996 |
| gender |
male |
| place of birth |
New Smyrna Beach, Florida, The United States |
| genre |
Literature & Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy
|
about this author
Walter M. Miller Jr. was born to Ruth and Walter Miller. He grew up in the American South and studied in University of Tennessee for two years. During World War II, he took part in the Army Air Force as a radioman and tail gunner aboard B-25 bombers and participated in the bombing of Italy and the Balkans, including the Benedictine Abbey of Monte Cassino, which he later regarded as a traumatic experience. He married Anna Louise Becker and had four children. After studying at the University of Texas, he worked as a railway engineer, and lived on Social Security. He moved to Florida with his family in the 1950s and spent his life avoiding family members and visitors.
Miller published short stories that concern the relationship between humankind and technology, the decay and rebirth of civilization, religion, and human emotion. One of his short works, 'Darfsteller', won the Hugo Award in 1955. He is best known for his classic post-apocalyptic novel, A Canticle for Leibowitz, his only novel published in his lifetime, earning him the Hugo Award for best novel in 1961. After his success, he did not publish any more.
Walter M. Miller Jr. shot himself on January 9, 1996 in Daytona Beach, Florida, after suffering from depression for decades. His second novel Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman was finished by Terry Bisson and published posthumously in 1997.
|
|
