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I. O. Evans
| Full Name: |
Idrisyn
Oliver
Evans |
| Born: |
November 11, 1894
Bloemfontein, South Africa |
| Died: |
February 13, 1977 |
| Occupation: |
Editor, Author, Civil Servant |
| Nationality: |
South African |
| Links: |
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Biography
South-African-born editor and author, in UK from an early age, and a UK civil servant from 1912; he was in active service throughout World War One. His first book of science fiction relevance was the nonfiction The World of Tomorrow--A Junior Book of Forecasts (1933), focusing on possible future Inventions, partly illustrated with reproductions of artwork from science fiction magazines, and thus--almost accidentally--the first Anthology of science fiction illustration; Anthology of Armageddon (1935) with Bernard Newman assembled stories directly related to World War One, mostly nonfantastic. Tales like Gadget City: A Story of Ancient Alexandria (1944)--which features an ancient Briton enslaved in Alexandria, where he is enthralled by the Inventions in which it glories, including a giant steamship--incorporate some sf anomalies into narratives that are, again, mostly nonfantastic. The Coming of a King; A Story of the Stone Age (1950) is Prehistoric science fiction.
As editor and translator, Evans specialized in the works of Jules Verne, beginning with Jules Verne--Master of Science Fiction (coll 1956), which assembles extracts from Verne's novels; in 1958 he began to publish the Arco Publications Fitzroy edition of Verne's work in translation; some of these were reprinted by Ace Books. Unfortunately, in editing Verne Evans modified but did not necessarily improve some dubious early translations, sometimes abridging them cruelly, partly in obedience to publisher restrictions on page count, but also preserving an unfortunate English-language tradition of presenting texts of Verne carefully stripped of adult themes and other complications, a distortion intensified by frequent errors both literal and tonal. Many of these books require some research to identify, as Evans often gave them titles of his own manufacture. Jules Verne and his Work (1965) is a useful primer. Evans also edited Science Fiction through the Ages 1 (anth 1966) and Science Fiction through the Ages 2 (anth 1966), the first volume of which is restricted to pre-twentieth-century sf. The Borgo Press series, I O Evans Studies in the Philosophy and Criticism of Literature, was initiated in the 1980s in his honour.
Works in the WWEnd Database
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