Paul Victor Ableman (13 June 1927 – 25 October 2006) was an English playwright and novelist. He was the writer of much erotic fiction and novelisations, and a freelance writer who turned his hand to non-fiction.

Life and career

Ableman was born in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, Yorkshire to a Jewish family. He was the son of Jack Ableman, a trouser cutter at a tailoring factory, and Gertrude (née Gould), an actress and writer. Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, vol. 2, R. Reginald, 1979, pg 789 Following his parents' divorce, he lived with his mother and stepfather, Thurston B. Macauley, a journalist (sometime London correspondent for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'') in New York. After National Service in the Education Corps based in

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, he read English at

King's College, London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

, but did not take a degree. His experimental novel, ''I Hear Voices'', was published in 1958 by the Olympia Press, and his plays include ''Green Julia'' (1966), a witty two-hander in which two young men discuss an absent mistress, and ''Tests'' (1966), which collects surreal playlets written for Peter Brook's Theatre of Cruelty.The Oxford Companion to English Literature, 6th Edition. Edited by Margaret Drabble, Oxford University Press, 2000 p.2 Ableman lived in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

, London in the United Kingdom. He was married twice: first to Tina Carrs-Brown in 1958- they had one son, then divorced; then to Sheila Hutton-Fox in 1978 until his death in 2006- they had one son. Ableman was of Russian ancestry on his father's side and German on his mother's side.

Novels

* ''I Hear Voices'' (1958) * ''As Near As I Can Get'' (1962) * ''Vac'' (1968) * '' The Twilight of the Vilp'' (1969) * ''Bits: Some Prose Poems'' (1969, poems) * ''The Mouth and Oral Sex'' (1969, psychology) * ''Tornado Pratt'' (1978, novel) * ''Porridge: The Inside Story'' (1979) * ''

A Killing on the Exchange ''A Killing on the Exchange'' is a six-part British television crime drama series, first broadcast on 6 March 1987, that aired on ITV. The series centres on Detective Superintendent Lance Thorne (John Duttine), who investigates the murder of a t ...

'' (1979, novelization of his own miniseries teleplays) * ''Shoestring'' (1979) * ''Shoestring's Finest Hour'' (1980) * ''County Hall'' (1982, novel) * ''The Doomed Rebellion'' (1983) * ''Hi De Hi: The Novel'' (1983) * ''Straight Up: The Autobiography of Arthur Daley'' (1991) * ''Waiting for God'' (1994)

Plays

* ''Green Julia'' (1966) * ''Tests'' (playlets) (1966) * ''Blue Comedy: Madly in Love, Hawk's Night'' (1968)

References

External links

Obituary in ''The Independent'', 31 October 2006

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ableman, Paul English Jewish writers English people of German-Jewish descent English people of Russian descent Writers from Leeds 20th-century English novelists 1927 births 2006 deaths British male dramatists and playwrights English male novelists 20th-century English dramatists and playwrights 20th-century English male writers Royal Army Educational Corps soldiers 20th-century British Army personnel