BRODERICK, Damien (Francis)

(1944-)

   Australian writer, editor and critic; he has a PhD in the semiotics of fiction, science and sf with special reference to the work of Samuel R. DELANY. He has edited three anthologies of Australian sf: The Zeitgeist Machine (anth 1976), Strange Attractors (anth 1985) and Matilda at the Speed of Light (anth 1988).DB's first professionally published sf, "The Sea's Furthest End" in NEW WRITINGS IN SF 1 (anth 1964) ed John CARNELL, much later formed the basis for his novel The Sea's Furthest End (1993). He has written short stories intermittently ever since, some to be found in A Man Returned (coll 1965) and The Dark Between the Stars (coll 1991). His first novel was Sorcerer's World (1970 US); however, he hit his stride only with his second, The Dreaming Dragons: A Time Opera (1980), followed by The Judas Mandala (1982 US; rev 1990 Australia). Both books are crammed with ideas, and like The Black Grail (1986 US) - a far more complex and sophisticated rewrite of Sorcerer's World - depend upon elaborate plotting involving alternative timelines and temporal paradoxes. His work is indebted to structural LINGUISTICS, and Noam Chomsky - apparently venerated by DB as a political radical and a universal grammarian - is offered explicit homage when DB names a future language in The Judas Mandala and a planet in Valencies (1983, with Rory Barnes) after him. The Judas Mandala is more explicitly influenced by French structuralism. DB has since shown a cautious interest in literary deconstruction, most obviously in his criticism and in his one mainstream novel, Transmitters (1984), a formidable but surprisingly funny book about sf fans (RECURSIVE SF). Striped Holes (1988) reads like a comic version of The Dreaming Dragons or The Judas Mandala, with familiar temporal paradoxes and embedded plotting, but the style is classic sf comedy in the vein of Robert SHECKLEY or, perhaps, Kurt VONNEGUT Jr in a good mood. His 1993 novel The Sea's Furthest End completed his Faustus Hexagram sequence, comprising also The Dreaming Dragons, The Judas Mandala, Transmitters, The Black Grail and Striped Holes.

   RuB

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