Thomas Burnett Swann
Thomas Burnett Swann (1928-1976) was an American writer and poet known for his contributions to fantasy literature. Born in Tampa, Florida, he was influenced early on by authors such as A. A. Milne and Edgar Rice Burroughs, with a particular affinity for themes of childhood and classical mythology. Swann earned a B.A. from Duke University and later a Ph.D. from the University of Florida, during which he also taught English at various universities in the South.
His literary career began with poetry, culminating in the publication of his first volume in 1952 and transitioning to fiction writing in 1969. Swann's works often explore the classical world and themes of lost childhood, with a notable emphasis on the worship of goddesses and the critique of patriarchal religions. His novels typically feature a unique structure, sometimes presenting stories in reverse chronological order. Notable works include "The Day of the Minotaur" and "The Manor of Roses," which received Hugo Award nominations. Swann’s legacy is enriched by his sensitive portrayal of same-sex relationships, contributing to a renewed interest in his fantasy narratives and their poignant, elegiac tone. He passed away in 1976 due to cancer.
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Thomas Burnett Swann
- Born: October 11, 1928
- Birthplace: Tampa, Florida
- Died: May 5, 1976
- Place of death: Winter Haven, Florida
Biography
Thomas Burnett Swann was born in Tampa, Florida, in 1928, the son of Thomas B. Swann, a banker, and Margaret (Gaines) Swann. During his youth, he enjoyed the Martian novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs, but these were influential for him only in their exoticism. By far the most important author for Swann was A. A. Milne, whose childhood idylls and memorable yet imperfect animal heroes Swann reimagined in his own classical fantasies. Swann received a B. A. from Duke in 1950, and then served in the U. S. Navy during the Korean War, from 1950 to 1954. His first volume of poetry was published in 1952; he would later use some of his verse in his novels. He received an M.A. from the University of Tennessee in 1955 and a Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 1960, and became an English professor at several universities in the South from 1960 to 1969, including Florida Southern College in Lakeland and Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. During his academic career, Swann wrote several studies of authors he admired and enjoyed, including the subject of his thesis, Christina Rossetti, and also H. D. (Hilda Doolittle), Ernest Dowson, and, of course, A. A. Milne. Even in these Swann concentrated on the subjects of his fiction: fantasy, the classical world, and the lost world of childhood. From 1969 until his death he was a full-time fiction writer. His first story, “Winged Victory,” about the famous statue of Nike in the Louvre, appeared in the magazine Fantastic Universe in 1958, and other stories were published in the British magazine Science Fantasy and the American Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Swann appears not have cared much about how his longer fiction was published; his British agent seems not to have served him well, and most of his novels first appeared as paperback originals, often under the imprint of Donald A. Wollheim’s DAW books. This longer fiction was often expanded from shorter works—sometimes detrimentally—and most often concerned the classical world, stretching in time from Pharaonic Egypt to Davidic Israel to classical Rome, with a few ventures into more modern eras. The plots are variations on Robert Graves’s thesis in The White Goddess (1948): that the religions of the classical world originally centered on a beneficent mother goddess, whose worship was violently usurped by patriarchal faiths. These works also exhibit a nostalgia for childhood and an easy-going attitude toward sex as exemplified in the Latin admonition carpe diem, “seize the day.” Also, many of Swann’s series of novels are composed backwards, with the last novel to appear being the first in the sequence. Three of Swann’s works, The Day of the Minotaur, “Where is the Bird of Fire?” (1963) and “The Manor of Roses” (1967), were nominated for Hugo awards. Swann died of cancer in 1976 his parents’ home in Winter Haven, Florida. Swann’s portrayal of same-sex relationships has renewed interest in his fiction. The overwhelming elegiac mood of his fantasies remains his most significant accomplishment.