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Alfred van Vogt, Edenburg / Hollywood, Dies at 87

by Lawrence Klippenstein

In the wider world Alfred van Vogt was known as a Science Fiction Master, as the late John Dyck put it in his brief biography of the man. But John then went on to say, “Few readers of the fiction written by this Hollywood writer suspect that his roots are in southern Manitoba.

The fact is that Alfred Vogt, as he was known as a child, was the son of Heinrich and Aganetha (Buhr)Vogt, grandson of Heinirch and Judith (Wiebe) Vogt, and the great grandson of Wilhelm and Anna (Quiring) Vogt. These families lived for a time in Edenburg, a village a few miles east of Gretna, Manitoba. Edenburg was the place where Alfred was born on April 27, 1912. His father became a lawyer and the Henry Vogts then moved to Neville, Saskatchewan, where the father set up a law practice. The great grandparents had moved to Dallas, Oregon already in 1890, but were nevertheless listed in the Bergthal Church Register No. 1 when it was begun around 1903. (Anna Vogt nee Quiring died in Oregon in 1895). They spent some years in the village of Altbergthal as well, possibly before moving to Oregon.

Alfred’s own career took off in 1940 when he moved with his family to Hollywood where he lived for many years. His last book of fiction was published in 1980. By then he had written 85 books and short story collections. The Voyage of the Space Beagle was one of his best-known science fiction titles. He became a grandmaster of the genre in 1997.

It has been said that Vogt was definitely influenced by his Mennonite tradition – a social life centring around the church, radio broadcasts from Moody Bible Institute, travelling Mennonite evangelists from the United States, as well as self-help salesmen and the motivational industry promoted by men like Dale Carnegie and Earl Nightingale.

One of Vogt’s biographers has said that “during the forties and fifties this (former West Reserve) Manitoban was the most popular science fiction writer in the world surpassing Asimov, Clarake and Heinlein”. His books have been widely translated and his reputation remains undimmed in Europe and South America.

Vogt, not really a Winnipeg-born author (though he attended high school there), as the Winnipeg Free Press stated, died in February earlier this year and was buried in Los Angeles, California.

Sources

Dyck, John, “Alfred van Vogt: Science Fiction Writer”, Preservings No. 10, Part II, (June, 1997), p. 66. Ellis, Scott, “Surrational Dreams: A.E. van Vogt and Mennonite Science Fiction”, Prairie Fire Vol. 15, No. 2 (Summer, 1994) pp. 204-219. West Reserve Bergthal Church Register No. 1 and No. 2. Mennonite Heritage Centre Achives, Volume 718 and 719.

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Last modified October 30, 2000.

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