John Bellairs

John Anthony Bellairs (January 17, 1938 – March 8, 1991) was an American author best known for his fantasy novel '' The Face in the Frost'' and many Gothic mystery novels for children featuring the characters Lewis Barnavelt, Rose Rita Pottinger, Johnny Dixon, and Anthony Monday. Most of his books were illustrated by Edward Gorey. Thirteen unfinished and original sequels to Bellairs' books have been written by Brad Strickland. At the time of his death, Bellairs' books had sold a quarter-million copies in hard cover and more than a million and a half copies in paperback.

Biography

Early life and education

Bellairs was born in Marshall, Michigan, the son of Virginia (Monk) and Frank Edward Bellairs, a saloonkeeper. His hometown inspired the fictional town of New Zebedee, where he set his trilogy about Lewis Barnavelt and Rose Rita Pottinger. Shy, overweight, and often bullied as a child, he became a voracious reader and a self-described "bottomless pit of useless information" by the time he graduated from Marshall High School and entered the University of Notre Dame in 1955. He competed in the College Bowl and wrote a regular humor column for the student magazine '' Scholastic''.

Bellairs received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English ''magna cum laude'' from the University of Notre Dame in 1959 and a Master of Arts degree in English from the University of Chicago in 1960. He received a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship in 1959.

Career and interests

Bellairs taught English at the College of Saint Teresa (1963–65), Shimer College (1966–67), Emmanuel College (1968–69), and Merrimack College (1969–71) before turning full-time to writing in 1971. In the late 1960s, he spent six months living and writing in Bristol, UK, where he began writing '' The Face in the Frost''. Bristol would later feature in his novel ''The Secret of the Underground Room''. His personal interests included archaeology, architecture, history, Latin, baseball, kitschy antiques, bad poetry, visits to the UK, and trivia of all kinds. His favorite authors included Charles Dickens, Henry James, M.R. James, Garrett Mattingly, and C.V. Wedgwood.

Alongside Christopher Tolkien, Bellairs was a guest of honor at the 18th Annual Mythopoeic Conference at Marquette University in 1987, hosted by the Mythopoeic Society.

Death and legacy

Bellairs died suddenly of cardiovascular disease at his home in Haverhill, Massachusetts, in 1991. He was 53 years old. He was survived by his wife, Priscilla (Braids) Bellairs, whom he had married on June 24, 1968, and their son Frank J. Bellairs. Frank Bellairs died in 1999 at the age of 29. Priscilla Bellairs is alive and lives in Newburyport.

In 1992, a historical marker was placed in front of the historic Cronin House in Bellairs's hometown of Marshall, Michigan. Built in 1870 for local merchant Jeremiah Cronin, this imposing Italianate mansion with its 60-foot tower had inspired the titular house of his 1973 book.

Bellairs was inducted into the Haverhill Citizens Hall of Fame in 2000.

Writings

Books for adults

Bellairs' first published work, '' St. Fidgeta and Other Parodies'' (1966), is a collection of short stories satirizing the rites and rituals of Second Vatican Council-era Catholicism. The title story of St. Fidgeta grew out of humorous stories Bellairs made up and shared with friends while living in Chicago. After committing one such story to paper, he sent it to the Chicago-based Catholic magazine ''The Critic'', which published the story in summer 1965. The following year, the hagiography of St. Fidgeta was supplemented by eleven other humorous stories, including an essay on lesser-known popes of antiquity, a cathedral constructed over the course of centuries, and a spoof letter from a modern-day Xavier Rynne about the escapades at the fictional Third Vatican Council. ''Library Journal'' hailed ''St. Fidgeta'' as "religious burlesque" that delivered "strokes of inspired foolishness." A writer for the ''National Catholic Reporter'' called it a "gem."

''The Pedant and the Shuffly'', his second book, is a short illustrated fable featuring the evil magician Snodrog (the titular pedant), who ensnares his victims with inescapable (and nonsensical) logic until the kindly sorcerer, Sir Bertram Crabtree-Gore, enlists the help of a magical Shuffly to defeat Snodrog. The book was originally published in 1968 and rereleased in 2001 and 2009.

Bellairs undertook his third book, '' The Face in the Frost'' (1969), while living in Britain and after reading J.R.R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings''. Bellairs said of his third book:

"''The Face in the Frost'' was an attempt to write in the Tolkien manner. I was much taken by ''The Lord of the Rings'' and wanted to do a modest work on those lines. In reading the latter book I was struck by the fact that Gandalf was not much of a person—just a good guy. So I gave Prospero, my wizard, most of my phobias and crotchets. It was simply meant as entertainment and any profundity will have to be read in."

Writing in 1973, Lin Carter described ''The Face in the Frost'' as one of the three best fantasy novels to appear since ''The Lord of the Rings''. Carter stated that Bellairs was planning a sequel to ''The Face in the Frost'' at the time. An unfinished sequel titled ''The Dolphin Cross'' was included in the anthology ''Magic Mirrors'' ( New England Science Fiction Association Press, 2009).

Books for children

Bellairs's next novel, '' The House with a Clock in Its Walls'' (1973), was originally written as a contemporary adult fantasy. To improve the novel's marketability, his publisher suggested rewriting it as a young readers' book. The result was ''The House with a Clock in Its Walls'', which was named as one of ''The New York Times'' Outstanding Books of 1973 and nominated for other awards.

Following the success of ''The House with a Clock in Its Walls'', Bellairs focused on writing Gothic fantasy adventures aimed at elementary and middle-school children. "I write scary thrillers for kids because I have the imagination of a 10-year-old," remarked Bellairs. "I love haunted houses, ghosts, witches, mummies, incantations, secret rituals performed by the light of the waning moon, coffins, bones, cemeteries and enchanted objects." Bellairs also wrote his hometown influenced his creative bent: “In my imagination I repeatedly walk up and down the streets of the beautiful old Michigan town where I grew up. It’s full of old Victorian mansions and history, and it would work on the creative mind of any kid.”

Writing for ''The New York Times'', Marilyn Stasio

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